How to Use Simple Keyboard Shortcuts in Photoshop to Improve Your Workflow

Learning - and using! - some of the keyboard shortcuts available in Photoshop can really save a lot of time. This tutorial covers how to create, open, save and close files with keyboard shortcuts.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A computer
• Adobe Photoshop

1. 
   Common Key Symbols

   Open Photoshop. If you look through the options in the top menu bar, you will see descriptions with symbols to the right. These are keyboard shortcuts or "hot keys". The picture shows what the most common of these symbols mean.
   
   PCs and Macs use slightly different shortcuts, and I'll give the shortcuts for both OS's.

2. 
   Where to start

   • To create a new file, press Control N (PC) or Command N (Mac).
   
   • To open a file, press Control O (PC) or Command O (Mac).
   
   • If you're are running a CS1 or greater version of Photoshop, you can browse in Bridge for the image you want to open by pressing Alt Control O (PC) or Option Command O (Mac).

3. 
   Save Options

   • To save changes to an existing file, press Control S (PC) or Command S (Mac).
   
   • To save as a new file, press Shift Control S (PC) or Shift Command S (Mac).
   
   • To save a file that's optimized for web or mobile Device use, press Alt Shift Control S (PC) or Option Shift Command S (Mac). This opens a dialogue that lets you define file size, format and quality, and will export based on your selections.

4. 
   Closing Options

   • To close a file, press Control W (PC) or Command W (Mac).
   
   • To close a file and go to Bridge, press Shift Control W (PC) or Shift Command W (Mac.
   
   • To close all open files, press Alt Control W (PC) or Option Command W (PC).

5. In the next tutorial, we'll cover keyboard shortcuts for tools.

Tips & Warnings

• This tutorial assumes that you are working with the default keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop CS4. Most of these shortcuts will work with previous versions of Photoshop, except in for tools that were introduced in later versions, for example PS7 doesn't have to Healing Brush.

[arriviste]

on 2/24/2009 You're very welcome, Casey. If there's anything else specific you want to know, drop me a line

[CaseyCarlton]

on 2/23/2009 Thanks so much. I just bought Photoshop and have not had a chance yet to work with it. 5 stars and a recommend