10 custom keyboard shortcuts you need to be using _ psdtuts+

8/13/2019 10 Custom Keyboard Shortcuts You Need to Be Using _ Psdtuts+

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By default, Photoshop comes packed with keyboard shortcuts that you can use to speed up your

workflow. What you might not know however is that there are also a lot of commands that do not have

keyboard shortcuts assigned to them. In this tutorial, we will show you a few of our favorite custom

keyboard shortcuts that you can use to work much faster in Photoshop. Lets get started!

Custom Keyboard Shortcuts You Need to Be Using | Psdtuts+ http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/tools-tips/10-custom-keyboard-shortcu...

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1. Show, Hide, and Isolate LayersThis one is a big time saver. Once you start using it, you will never click on the eye icons in the Layers

Panelever again. The great thing about setting up a custom keyboard shortcut for this feature is that it can

turn on or off the visibility of a selected layer or layers. This makes it especially useful. If you want to

check your composition without a specific layer or set of layers, all you need to do is select them and

press the shortcut you assigned to the Show/Hide Layerscommand.


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Set F3to Show/Hide layer. Set Command/Ctrl + F3on a selected layer to isolate it.

2. Convert to Smart Objects and Edit Contents

Smart Objects are probably the most important element of a non-destructive workflow in Photoshop, but

strangely there is no default shortcut assigned to them. I like to use two shortcuts with Smart Objects, one

for converting layers into them and one to edit their contents. For editing a Smart Objects contents you

can also double click on the layers thumbnail, but that also takes time. Around 1 second each time you do

it, but if you have to do that around 100 times a day that means you have wasted 2 minutes. That is 10

minutes a week and around 10 hours a year. One simple custom shortcut can save you a whole working

day a year.


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Set F5to Convert to Smart Objects. Set Command/Ctrl + F5to edit its contents.

3. Adjustments and Properties Panels

The process of showing and hiding panels can also be assigned keyboard shortcuts. I prefer to use the

function keys for this as they can be used without having to hold down Command/Ctrltogether with

them. I have custom shortcuts assigned to these two panels as they are the ones I always want to see or

hide. I dont like having them always visible because they take up quite a lot of real estate on the screen.


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Set Command/Ctrl + Fto arrange as tiles. Set Command/Ctrl + Shift + Fto consolidate all

to Tabs.

5. Camera Raw Filter

The Camera Raw filter makes it possible to use all the features of the Camera Raw plug-in directly in any

of your layers in Photoshop. You can even use them completely non-destructively as Smart Filters if youapply them to a Smart Object.

This new filter was introduced in Photoshop CC and it came with no default keyboard shortcuts. I love to


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work with Camera Raw adjustments so I immediately assigned a shortcut to it and it saves me a lot of

time. This filter can only be used in RGB mode but there is a trick that will allow you to use it in a

CMYK document. If the Smart Objects source is set to RGB, the main document can still be in CMYK

color mode.

Set Command/Ctrl + Shift + Rto activate the Camera Raw Filter.

6. Convert to Paragraph/Point Text

There are two ways to create separate, fully editable Type layers in Photoshop. If you just click with the

Type Tool anywhere on the canvas you will create a Point Type Layer, which wont automatically breakthe lines of your text. For automatic line-break you will need to create a Paragraph Type Layer, for

which you need to click and drag with the Type Tool on the canvas to define an area for the paragraph. In

the type menu, you will find a feature that can convert these two types to one another.


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Set Command/Ctrl + Shift + Pto convert to Paragraph/Point text.

7. Deselect All Layers

In some cases you might want to make sure that you dont have any layers selected in Photoshop. For

that, there is no default keyboard shortcut, but there is a feature under the Select Menu called Deselect

Layers. I like to use Command/Ctrl + Shift + Afor this, that keyboard shortcut performs the same task

in InDesign by default.


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Set Command/Ctrl + Shift + Ato Deselect All Layers.

8. Share on Behance

Behance is a great addition to the Creative Cloud set of services. Once you have an account you can linkthat to Photoshop and save any of your work directly from Photoshop into your portfolio on Behance. I

use this option frequently so I decided to set up a custom shortcut for it, which is similar to saving the file

to the desktop (Command/Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S). You can upload your work-in-progress to Behance, as

well, and re-upload it at every stage. This will make the whole revision process much faster between you

and your client.


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Set Command/Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Sto share your work on Behance.

9. Show/Hide All Effects

In documents where you have several layers with Layer Styles it might be difficult to quickly check the

effect of all the Layer Styles used in the document. With the Show/Hide All Effectscommand from the

Layer menu you can do this easily but it can be even faster by assigning a custom keyboard shortcut to it.


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Set Command/Ctrl + Shift + Hto Show/Hide All Effects.

10. Mixer Brush ToolLast but not least, it is worth mentioning that the Mixer Brush deserves its own unique custom keyboard

shortcut. This tool is mainly used together with the Brush Tool, which is set Bby default. So why not

assign Nto the Mixer Brush, which is directly next to Bon the keyboard? Nby default is assigned to a

3D Tool, but that tool is used much less than the Mixer Brush Tool, which can beautifully merge

different colors together and can even reduce the noise of your photos.


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Set the Nkey to the Mixer Brush Tool.

Additional Reading

For more information about setting custom keyboard shortcuts, take a look at the following URLs.

Universal Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Photoshops Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Tags: adjustments panelcamera raw filterconsolidate all to tabscustom shortcutdeselect layershide all

effectsisolate layerkeyboard shortcutproperties panelshare on behanceshortcutsmart objecttileVideos

By Martin PerhiniakMartin is a Hungarian graphic designer, digital artist and an Adobe Certified Expert and Instructor

(Design Master). He is currently teaching and working in London but usually travels around the UK and

share his love for Adobe products and graphic design. You can follow him on his blogor on Twitter.


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