Adobe’s software and tools enable the creation of amazing digital works, whether you're using Photoshop to whip up multi-layered visuals, putting together a print magazine with InDesign or stitching together a video in Premiere.
Adobe programs are known for their tool palettes, usually lined up around the edges. They're essential for many actions, but pointing and clicking on common actions can often slow you down.
That's why we've rounded up a collection of handy shortcuts to keep in mind as you work to significantly increase your speed when using Adobe programs -- and many of these tips translate between different programs, too. Let's take a look:
Shortcuts for every program
No matter what program you’re using, you’ll always want to go back to your selection/move tool, which looks like the standard black cursor. Regardless of the tool you’re using, hit V to turn your cursor back into the move tool. You can also hover over any specific tool you use often to see which key it’s bound to in parentheses.
Here are also the basic shortcuts you need to master for every Adobe application:
Command/Ctrl+A: select your entire current layer
Command/Ctrl+C: copy your selection
Command/Ctrl+X: copy/cut your selection
Command/Ctrl+V: paste what you copied
Z: switch to the zoom tool
Command/Ctrl++: zoom in
Command/Ctrl+-: zoom out
When you have several projects, canvases or file windows in any of the Adobe programs, you can easily flip through them on Macs with Command+~ and Ctrl+~ on PCs.
Photoshop shortcuts
The tools you’ll probably use the most are the marquee selection tool, which is M, the color picker (eyedropper) tool, I, the brush tool, B, and the eraser tool E.
If you’re using lots of layers, switch between them using Alt+[ and Alt+] to go down and up. For quick layer creation, hit Ctrl+Shift+N on PC and Command+Shift+N on Mac.
Premiere and After Effects shortcuts
Jumping around frames when you’re working on a video project can be painstaking, especially if you want to view your full timeline while doing so.
If you’re editing on a computer with a full keyboard, you can use the Page up and Page down keys to move left and right through frames, and if you hit those while holding Shift, you’ll jump 10 frames at a time.
When moving through keyframes, use J to move left and K to move right. This will also work in the nearly dead Adobe Flash.
To sift through effect properties in your current layer, hit P for position, R for rotation, S for scale and T for opacity.
InDesign shortcuts
The most important shortcut to know for InDesign is Ctrl/Command+D, which is the shortcut for placing files in the program, which can include images and documents. InDesign will automatically convert multiple kinds of text files including Word .docs into normal text if you use the place shortcut, which is easier than copying text in.
Once getting your text in, easily switch to your text tool by hitting T. To bold, italicize or underline your text, hit Command/Ctrl+Shift+B, +I or +U respectively.
If you’re using master elements, which are elements you place that appear on every page in the publication you’re creating, you may want to take them off of some pages. You can Ctrl/Command+Shift+click them to get rid of one element on a single page, or drag your click if you want to delete multiple master elements on that page.
To see how everything looks without grids and extra lines, switch between normal view and preview mode by hitting W.
With all of this knowledge, you'll be whipping up projects like a pro in no time at all. Did we forget any big ones?