Time is money. And when you are busy with a project, every second counts. Today I will continue the Photoshop Tricks issue that I have started earlier [read 15 Photoshop Tips & Tricks.

Shortcuts and hotkeys are really helpful and using them let's you concentrate more on the whole project rather than disturbing your mind with useless and time-consuming clicks. Of course we are talking only seconds here but concentration and focus are the main things in any process.

There are many shortcuts in Photoshop and I have chosen the best ones.

So get your paper and pen ready and let's start.

1. Quickly Load Layer Selection

To quickly load a layer selection just hold Ctrl and click on it:

2. Switch Between Documents

To save time while switching between document windows use Ctrl+Tab to switch forward and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to switch backwards:

3. Copy and Paste Merged Visible Layers

This one really saves time. Sometimes you want to merge all visible layers and copy/paste them into a new layer. This is how to do it:  Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E.

4. Opacity control

To quickly adjust Opacity of a selected layer just press number buttons [1=10%, 2=20%, 3=30%,... etc.]. If you have Brush Tool active, it will adjust the opacity of the Brush:

Note: if you press two numbers consequently and fast, then you will change the opacity to what you have pressed (i.e.: you will change it to 31% if you press 3 and 1 consequently).

5. Quickly Switch Between Tools

Some Tools have sub-menus. To browse through them you don’t have to click and hold your mouse if you know this little trick: (for Lasso tool) Shift+L. To use this, you have to know Tool shortcuts.

6. Panel Visibility

Sometimes you will want to see what you have come up with and all those active panels are just disturbing…Here are some tips: use F button to switch between screen sizes; press Tab to make all tool dialog boxes invisible (press Tab again to bring them back):

7. Precise Cursor

Turn Caps Lock on if you want your cursor to be precise:

8. Jump Through Blending Options

To quickly jump through blending options of a selected layer hold Shift and press -/+:

9. Hide Other Layers

To hide layers other than the selected one hold Alt and click on the eye icon:

10. Show/Hide Consequent Layers

If you want to show/hide layers in a row you can just click on the starting layer’s eye icon and without releasing move up/down until you reach the final layer:

11. Zoom to 100%

This one is the Very useful. To bring view to 100% just double click on the Zoom tool:

12.  Adjust Numeric Values

Almost every dialog box/panel in Photoshop has an adjustable numeric value box. You can use drag and drop property of your mouse there. Just put your cursor over the icon on the left of the value box, hold it and drag to right/left to increase/decrease the value. You can hold Shift while dragging if you want to jump by 10:

These are only some of all shortcuts. But knowing those will save your time for real. Next time I’ll post Tool Shortcuts. Check back!!

by Azamat "Bohed" E.

TrueKolor.net Owner. Professional Graphic Designer.

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