Master These Photoshop Shortcuts for Lightning-Fast Editing

Professional Photoshop users know that keyboard shortcuts are the key to efficiency. While most people rely on menus and toolbars, experts use shortcuts to work 3x faster. Here are the shortcuts that will transform your workflow.

Essential Selection Shortcuts

Ctrl/Cmd + D: Deselect – Use this constantly instead of clicking outside selections
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I: Inverse Selection – Perfect for selecting backgrounds
Alt + Click: Subtract from selection – Hold Alt while using selection tools

Layer Management Shortcuts

Ctrl/Cmd + J: Duplicate layer – Much faster than right-clicking
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + N: New layer with dialog box
Alt + Delete: Fill with foreground color
Ctrl/Cmd + Delete: Fill with background color

Brush and Tool Shortcuts

B: Brush tool
E: Eraser tool
V: Move tool
Spacebar: Temporarily switch to hand tool for panning

Pro Tip: Create custom keyboard shortcuts for your most-used actions in Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts. This can save even more time on repetitive tasks.