Welcome to the Windows 8 keyboard shortcut cheat sheet! Here, you will learn all the keyboard shortcuts available in Windows 8! Some of them you’ll recognize from Windows 7, but many of them are fresh and new. Perhaps these keyboard shortcuts will help mitigate the shortcomings of working with a system that is more designed for touchscreen environments.
Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
---|---|
Win | Open the charms |
Win+B | Gets you out of the Modern interface and into the desktop, then selects the tray notification area. If you're already on the desktop, this just selects the tray notification area. |
Win+C | Opens the 'Charms' menu. This menu allows you to quickly access Windows settings and features such as search, shutdown, and restart. |
Win+D | Brings you to the desktop. Pressing the key combination again will bring you back to the original active window. |
Win+E | Opens Windows Explorer. This quickly lets you browse the contents of your device. |
Win+F | Opens Search charm. It's a quick way to search through all your apps. Alternatively, you can just type away in the Start screen. The app search console appears immediately as you start typing in the Start screen. |
Win+H | Opens Share charm. Allows you to share a selected item to your friends and other people you know. |
Win+I | Opens Settings charm. Here, you may configure PC settings such as resolution, app notifications, and user accounts. |
Win+J | Switch the main app and snapped app |
Win+K | Opens Devices charm. Allows you to see a list of devices connected to your computer. |
Win+L | Locks the screen. You may have to log back in to the computer to unlock it. Keep this in mind when using this shortcut. |
Win+M / Win+Shift+M | Minimizes every window. It works like Win+D, but it isn't reversible when you press the combination again. You must press 'Shift' along with it in order to restore the windows. |
Win+O | Lock the screen orientation (portrait or landscape) |
Win+P | Choose the display mode. You may duplicate the image on two displays, extend the display onto a second monitor, move the image to a projector, or keep the image on one single monitor. |
Win+Q | Search through apps installed on your computer. |
Win+R | Opens the ever-friendly 'Run' dialog box for running things such as the command prompt. (An easier alternative would just be to type your search term in the Start screen) |
Win+T | Cycle through pinned programs on the taskbar. If you reach a pinned application that's not currently opened, you can open it with 'Enter.' |
Win+U | Opens the Ease of Access Center. This lets you access tools such as the magnifier, which zooms in on portions of the screen. |
Win+V / Win+Shift+V | Cycle through 'toast' notifications. It shows you different notifications your apps generate. 'Win+Shift+V' does this in reverse order. |
Win+W | Search through your settings. |
Win+X | On the Windows 8 desktop, this displays a context menu that leads you to various locations. It comes up on the lower left corner of the screen, where the Windows 7 Start button used to be. |
Win+Z | Brings up the app bar in the Modern interface. |
Win+Period (.) | Snaps an app to the right of the screen. Pressing 'Shift' along with this combination snaps the app to the left. |
Win+Print Screen | Takes a screenshot and saves it to your Pictures folder. Pressing 'Print Screen' on its own will just save the image to your clipboard, and you'll have to paste it into a photo editor. This is much more convenient. |
Shift+Delete | Bypass the Recycle Bin and just delete the selected file permanently. |
Win+0-9 | Launch a particular application pinned to the taskbar or bring it into view. |
Win+Shift+0-9 | Launch a new instance of an application pinned to the taskbar. This launches a new clone even if the application is already open. |
Win+Spacebar | Display the current language and keyboard layout. In Windows 7, this combination would show you a peek into the desktop. |
Win+Ctrl+Spacebar | Change to a previously selected input |
Win+Plus (+) / Win+Minus (-) | Opens the magnifier and zooms the view in or out, depending on the character used. Obviously, the plus sign zooms in and the minus sign zooms out. |
Win+Esc | Gets out of the magnifier application. |
Win+Tab / Win+Shift+Tab | Cycles through Metro/Modern apps. The 'Shift' key indicates, as usual, reverse order. In Windows 7, this triggered a feature called 'Aero Flip,' which flipped through open windows in a three-dimensional plane. |
Win+Ctrl+Tab | Cycle through open apps (except desktop apps) and snap them as they are cycled |
Win+Comma (,) | Get a peek into the desktop. In Windows 7, the combination used to be 'Win+Spacebar.' |
Win+PageUp | Move the Start screen and apps to the monitor on the left (Apps in the desktop won't change monitors) |
Win+PageDown | Move the Start screen and apps to the monitor on the right (apps in the desktop won't change monitors) |
Win+Down Arrow / Win+Up Arrow | Minimizes or maximizes the current window. Minimize with the down arrow and maximize with the up arrow. |
Win+Left Arrow / Win+Right Arrow | Maximizes the current desktop application on the side of the screen indicated by the direction of the arrow you pressed. 'Win+Left Arrow' will maximize the current window on the left side. This works much like app snapping in the Modern interface. |
Win+Shift+Up Arrow | Stretch the desktop window to the top and bottom of the screen |
Win+Shift+Down Arrow | Restore/minimize active desktop windows vertically, maintaining width |
Win+Home | Minimize all but the active desktop window (restores all windows on second stroke) |
Win+Enter | Brings up the narrator. It will read the text you have in front of you. |
Win+Start typing | Search your PC |
Ctrl+plus (+) or Ctrl+minus (-) or Ctrl+scroll wheel | Zoom in or out of a large number of items, like apps pinned to the Start screen |
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If you work with Excel on a daily basis, it’s worth spending an extra 10 minutes to sharpen and improve on your shortcut games, because this 10 minutes investment will pay back exponentially in no time. Without further ado let’s dive in.
Basic & General
Start with some basic and most frequently used ones in all kind Excel workflow. The key is to minimize the use of the mouse and do as much as you can with the keyboard to save you time and improve accuracy.
- F2 – Edit Cell, Show Formula (avoiding double-click)
- F2 + F9 – Show as input number *useful for checking numbers but press ESC after (or you’ll change formulas into an input)
- Alt + H + 0 – Add one decimal *requires pressing all keys at the same time
- Alt + H + 9 – Remove one decimal *requires pressing all keys at the same time
- Ctrl + Z – Undo Last Action
- Ctrl + Y – Redo (Reverse Undo)
- Ctrl + O – Open File
- Ctrl + S – Save File & F12 – Save As
- F9 – Recalculate Workbook
- Ctrl + ; – Insert Current Date
- Alt + W + Q – Zoom in (type in % zoom, helpful with large dataset)
- Ctrl X – Cut
- Ctrl C – Copy
- Ctrl + Alt + V – Paste special, will trigger the prompt for more options.
Selection & Navigation
Navigating through Excel spreadsheet could be time-consuming, especially if you are dealing with a large data-set.
- Ctrl + Arrowkey – Jump to Edge of Content
- Ctrl + Spacebar – Select Column
- Shift + Spacebar – Select Row
- Ctrl + Plus (# pad) – Insert Row / Insert Column
- Ctrl + Minus (# pad) – Delete Row / Delete Column
- Ctrl + F – Find
- Ctrl + H – Find & Replace
- Shift + Tab – Switch Workbooks (tabs)
- Ctrl + Pageup / Pagedown – Move to Next / Previous Worksheet Tab
- Ctrl + Home – Move to Cell A1 (top left)
- Ctrl + End – Move to Bottom Right Cell
Formatting
If your Excel sheet is full of color you might want to master this section of keyboard shortcuts.
- Ctrl + B – Bold
- Ctrl + I – Italics
- Alt + H + B + P – Top Border *for adding lines
- Alt + E + S + F – Paste Formula (after Ctrl + C ) * F4 repeats the same action to other cells after pasting once
- Alt + E + S + T – Paste Formatting (after Ctrl + C ) * F4 repeats the same action to other cells after pasting once
- Alt + E + S + V – Paste Values (after Ctrl + C ) * F4 repeats the same action to other cells after pasting once
- Alt + H + H – Fill Colour
- Alt + H + L + C + S – Delete Conditional Format
- Alt + H + F + C – Font Colour
- Alt + H + F + S – Font Size
- Ctrl + 1 – Open Formatting Dialogue
Data Manipulation
This is useful if you need to routinely working with columns and rows and Excel formulas.
- Shift + F2 – Add Comment
- Alt + R + D – Delete Comment
- Alt + D + G + G – Group Rows / Columns
- Alt + D + G + U – Ungroup Rows / Columns
- Alt + D + G + H – Hide Grouped Rows / Columns
- Alt + D + G + S – Show Grouped Rows / Columns
- Alt + = – Auto-sum Adjacent Cells
Other Miscellaneous
Apart from the above, here are few others shortcuts that you might find useful. Without going to Excel macro there are still quite a handful of keyboard shortcuts you can master.
- Ctrl + K – Edit Hyper Link
- Alt + T + U + T – Trace Precedents
- Alt + T + U + D – Trace Dependents
- Alt + T + U + A – Remove Precedent / Dependent Arrows
- Ctrl + Shift + [ – Highlight All Precedents *F5 + [Enter] – to go back
- Ctrl + Shift + ] – Highlight All Dependents
- Ctrl + [ – Highlight Direct Precedents *F5 + [Enter] – to go back
- Ctrl + ] – Highlight Direct Dependents
- Alt + ` – Show All Formula
- Alt + W + F + F – Freeze/Unfreeze Panes Around Current Cell
Related Posts
Windows 10 is the best operating system that's come along from Microsoft in a long time. It's a shape-shifter that changes its interface depending upon whether you're using a traditional computer or a touch-based one. It undoes the damage wrought by Windows 8, including eliminating the awkward Charms bar and bringing back the long-mourned Start menu. A lot more has changed as well, with a new default browser called Edge, the integration of the Cortana digital assistant, links to Microsoft’s cloud-based OneDrive cloud storage service and plenty more.
Share this story: IT pros, we hope you’ll pass this guide on to your users to show them the Windows 10 ropes. Also see our printable PDF of Windows 10 gestures and shortcuts.
Whether you've upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 8 or an earlier version of Windows, or if you've got it on a new PC, this cheat sheet will get you up to speed on it. I'll cover everything you need to know, and I've also provided quick-reference charts listing useful keyboard shortcuts, touchscreen gestures and touchpad gestures.
Keep in mind that there have been six major updates to Windows 10 since its initial release in July 2015. This story is based on the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, so the features that are described here and the screenshots you see may differ from what you see on-screen if you have an older version of Windows 10.
Note: If you want to get the most out of Windows 10, you'll have to use a Microsoft ID as your user account. Without a Microsoft ID, you won't be able to use a number of Windows 10 apps or sync settings among multiple devices. So when you set up Windows 10 for the first time, sign in with an existing Microsoft ID or create a new one.
Before we get started, a few words about some terminology you'll need to know. Microsoft has sowed enormous confusion with a set of lightweight apps that were originally designed for the Windows 8 touch-oriented Start screen interface. It first called them Metro apps, and then through the years changed their names to Modern apps, Windows Store apps, and then Universal Windows apps. Now it's settled simply on Windows apps, although at times the company also calls them Universal Windows apps, to get across the point that they will run on all versions of Windows 10, including for mobile phones. In this article, we'll refer to them as Windows apps.
What about apps designed for the desktop? Microsoft now calls them Windows desktop applications. In this article we'll call them desktop applications, for simplicity's sake.
The new Start menu
The loudest complaint that desktop users had about Windows 8 was the death of the Start menu. In Windows 10 it's back with a vengeance. When you use Windows 10 on a desktop or laptop, you boot directly into the desktop. Click the Start button at the lower left of the desktop to bring up the Start menu — command central for traditional PC users. (Those who use Windows 10 on a tablet will instead see a Start screen; more on that later.)
The menu is divided into two sections. Down its left side you'll find the following:
All Apps: Up at the top left of the screen is a “hamburger menu” (three parallel horizontal lines) that when clicked is a toggle for turning on or off a list of all Windows apps and desktop applications, in alphabetical order. (By default, the list is turned on.) Click any to run it.
At the very top of the All Apps list is a list of the apps and applications you use most frequently. Right-click any and you’ll see a list of the files you’ve recently opened in it. Click the file to open the application or app, with the file loaded into it.
In some instances you’ll see a folder with a down arrow next to it rather than an icon — that means there are several options there, for example, to run the Dropbox app or visit the Dropbox website. Click the folder to show all the options, then click the option you want to run. (Also note that in some instances, there will be a folder, but when you click it, you only get one option, to run the app or application.)
Account: Down toward the bottom left of the screen is a set of stacked icons, starting with an icon for your user account. Click it to sign out of Windows, lock your PC or change your account settings. When you choose to change your account settings, you'll be sent to a screen that lets you change your account picture, your password, and a variety of other settings.
Documents, Pictures, Settings, Power: These icons at the bottom left of the Start menu are no mystery: Documents opens the Documents folder using File Explorer; Pictures opens the Pictures folder using File Explorer; Settings brings you to the Windows Settings app (more on that later); and Power lets you put your PC to sleep, shut it down or restart it. Click any icon to run it.
The right side of the Start menu has tiles for Windows apps and desktop applications. They're grouped into two Microsoft-created categories — Life at a glance and Play and explore — and then, if you have more apps than fit in those two, they're grouped into unnamed categories below that. New tiles will be added to the unnamed groups as you install new apps and desktop applications. (Note that if you’re using an enterprise edition of Windows 10, your IT department may have configured other groupings, such as productivity applications or support tools, to appear on the right side of the Start menu.) Click any tile to run the app associated with it.
Some tiles are 'live' — that is, real-time information gets piped into them. So the Mail tile, for example, shows your latest email, the Weather shows the weather and so on. Only Windows apps have live tiles. Desktop applications, such as Microsoft Office, don't. Each group of tiles is three columns wide, with most tiles taking up one column by default.
The Start menu is highly customizable. To change its height, hover your cursor over its top edge until a two-headed arrow appears, then drag it up or down to expand or shrink it. On some Windows 10 installations you can do the same thing at the right edge of the menu to expand it to the right or shrink it back again, although this doesn't work for everybody.
To rename a group of tiles, click the group name and type in a new name for it. You can also move tiles around the Start menu by dragging them from one group to another, or, to create a new group, drag tiles to a blank area on the menu. You can name any unnamed group by clicking on the blank area above it and typing in a name.
You can also widen the groups in the Start menu so that tiles take up four columns rather than three. To do it, from the Start menu select Settings > Personalization > Start and in the 'Show more tiles' setting, move the slider to On. The tiles will now take up four columns, but to take advantage of the extra space you’ll have to manually drag tiles to the fourth column. You can personalize many other aspects of the Start menu from this Settings page, including whether to show your most used apps, have the Start screen run full screen and more.
When you right-click a tile, a menu pops up. Here's where things get a bit confusing, because not every Windows app and desktop application has the same pop-up menu, and depending on your installation you might have to click 'More' to see some of these options. Most have some combination of these choices:
Unpin from Start: Select this and the tile vanishes from the Start menu.
Resize: As you would expect, this lets you resize the tile. You can choose Small, Medium or Large, and some tiles also have a Wide choice that makes it span two columns in its group.
Turn live tile off: This stops real-time information from streaming into the tile. If it's already off, you'll get a Turn live tile on choice.
Pin to taskbar: As it says, this pins the app to the taskbar. If it's already pinned, you'll get an Unpin from taskbar choice.
Uninstall: This uninstalls the app. Some Windows apps created by Microsoft, such as Weather and Mail, can't be uninstalled.
Rate and review: This option is available only for apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store. It brings you to a page that lets you rate the app on a one-to-five-star basis and write a review. The rating and review appear in the app’s description in the Microsoft Store.
Share: This lets you share a link to the app using a variety of methods, including email, Twitter and others.
Run as an administrator: This lets you run the app or application as an administrator.
Windows Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet Excel
Open file location: Opens File Explorer to the folder where the application lives.
Some Windows apps have other choices as well, depending on their purposes. For example, right-click the This PC app and you get choices such as mapping or unmapping a network drive.
You can also right-click the icons for the 'Most used' apps on the left side of the menu as well as the File Explorer, Settings and Power icons underneath them. (If you right-click All Apps, no menu appears.) Windows apps and desktop applications on the 'Most used' app menu typically have similar choices to those already outlined (with some hidden under the 'More' submenu). In addition, you might find these additional options:
Pin to Start: This moves the app from the 'Most used' list to the right side of the Start menu.
Run as a different user: This lets you run the app as someone other than the person currently logged in.
Don't show in this list: Takes the app off the 'Most used' list.
Cortana
Windows 10 introduces Microsoft's Siri-like digital assistant Cortana to computers. (It was first introduced on Windows Phones in 2014.) Cortana is a kind of a Jane-of-all-Trades and does everything from searching your computer and the internet for files and information to keeping track of your schedule, alerting you to upcoming events, tracking news and more.
Cortana is automatically turned on when you start Windows 10 and has no on/off switch. (Before the Windows 10 Anniversary Update was released in August 2016, there was a switch that let you turn it on and off, available from Cortana’s settings. Now turning Cortana off requires a registry hack.)
Whenever you have a question you want Cortana to answer or an action you want it to take, type it into the search box in the lower left of your screen, just to the right of the Start button. If you also want Cortana to respond to voice commands, not just typed text, you need to make sure that switch is turned on. To do it, click in the search box, then click the Settings icon (it’s a gear) toward the lower left of the screen that appears. You’ll be sent to Cortana’s settings page. Click “Talk to Cortana” on the left side of the screen, and then in the “Hey Cortana” section, move the switch to On in the “Let Cortana respond to Hey Cortana” section. From now on, you can say, 'Hey Cortana' and tell it what you want to do, or else put your cursor in the search box and type in your request.
The most basic thing you'll probably do is search. Cortana uses the Bing search engine to look through your files, your Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage, your videos and music, the apps on your PC, your settings, your email and the web. When you do a search, a series of tabs appears across the top of the screen:
- All displays all search results.
- Apps shows any app-related matches.
- Documents shows documents on your PC that match the search.
- Email shows results from your email.
- Web displays results from the web.
- More shows results from other places, including individual folders and apps including Music, People, Photos, Settings and Videos. You’ll have to click the down arrow next to More to see them all.
Search results are displayed in a flyout panel that appears on the right side of the screen. The panel is essentially a mini-browser with the same information that you’d get if you did a search from inside your browser — photos, links and so on.
Getting the most out of Cortana starts with learning how to control it better. To do that, click in the search box and use the menu that appears on the left side of the screen, six icons that appear underneath the 'hamburger' menu of three stacked horizontal lines. The six icons are divided into two sections, three at the top just underneath the hamburger menu, and at three the bottom, just above the Start button.
The top icon, Home, navigates you to Cortana's main interface — what you see if you put your cursor in the search box. Beneath that is the Notebook icon. Here you can set reminders, create and keep lists, and add what are called “skills” to Cortana, such as controlling your home and its appliances, connecting Cortana to music services such as Spotify, tracking your fitness and more. Below the Notebook icon is the Devices icon. It lets you set up and manage devices that have Cortana built into it, such as speakers.
Down toward the bottom of the screen is an icon for signing in and out of your account. Beneath that is the Settings icon, which we used above to ensure that voice activation was turned on. And below that is a Feedback icon that lets you provide feedback about Cortana.
It's worth going through all these settings, because part of Cortana’s usefulness is not just answering your questions — it's sending you news, weather and alerts. After you customize the settings, when you click the Search box or say 'Hey Cortana,' it can show you the current weather, news you're interested in, daily events from your calendar and more, depending on what you've told it about your interests.
Cortana is tied to your Microsoft ID, so it has the same information about you on all the Windows devices you use, including smartphones. The more you use it on all your devices, the more it learns about you, and the more useful it'll be. But that means that Microsoft knows more about you as well. So when deciding what to tell it about yourself, you'll need to find the right balance between Cortana's usefulness and your privacy.
You can also tweak how Cortana appears on-screen. Right-click any empty portion of the taskbar and choose Cortana from the menu that appears. Select 'Hidden' to hide the search box, 'Show Cortana icon' to show an icon instead of a search box, or 'Show search box' to show the search box. If you choose to show the icon, when you click it, the search box and the Cortana window both appear.
You can also use Cortana to lock Windows, sign out and shut down or turn off your PC. Say things such as, “Hey, Cortana, lock PC,” and it will do your bidding. You can also do all this from the lock screen, without having to log into Windows. And you can do more with Cortana from the lock screen as well, including making notes to yourself and creating reminders.
There’s a surprising amount of intelligence built into Cortana. You can, for example, snap a picture of a poster for an event, and Cortana will detect the dates on it and ask if you want to create a reminder to attend it. There’s no documentation for this kind of thing, and behind the scenes Microsoft is continually making Cortana smarter. So your best bet is to experiment and see what new tricks it has up its sleeve.
Windows apps
In Windows 8, Windows apps and the desktop didn't get along. Windows apps could only be run from the Start screen, not from the desktop. What's more, they didn't appear in traditional application windows; you could only run them full-screen or side by side with another Windows app (but not a desktop application) so the two apps filled the full screen. That meant you couldn't have multiple Windows apps running in separate windows on the desktop alongside desktop applications. It was just one more way in which Windows 8 felt like two separate operating systems.
That's no longer the case in Windows 10. You can resize, minimize and close Windows apps in the same familiar way as desktop applications. Drag the edges of a Windows app to resize it. Use the familiar icons on the upper right of the app window for minimizing, maximizing and closing the app.
Windows apps also get a better way to access all of their features. On the left side or bottom of the app window you'll typically see a series of icons for the different features in the app. The icons change depending on the app. For example, the Weather app has icons for news, maps, historical weather in your location and so on. And the Money app has icons for markets, currencies, a mortgage calculator, and so on.
Most of the apps show useful information by default, but it's worth investigating the customization options for each app. To customize the News app so it shows exactly the kind of news you're interested in, for instance, click the icon that looks like a star with a row of lines next to it — it's just below the home icon. Once you do that, you'll be able to tell the app your news preferences — Top Stories, US, World, Crime, Technology, Entertainment and so on.
You can set up the Mail app not only to work with Microsoft's web-based mail service (currently called Outlook.com), but also with other web-based services, including Gmail. To add an account after you launch Mail, click Accounts, and from the Manage accounts screen that appears, click Add Account. Then select the kind of mail account you want to add (Outlook.com, Google, Exchange, Yahoo, Outlook.com, POP and IMAP mail, and so on) and follow the prompts. For web-based accounts, it's straightforward. For POP and IMAP accounts, you'll need your account information ready, including POP and SMTP server names and passwords.
You can also combine mail from multiple accounts into a single, unified inbox. To do it, click Accounts, and from the screen that appears, click “Link inboxes” and combine the accounts you’d like.
The Calendar app will connect to your mail accounts automatically and display their calendars. For example, if you set up both an Outlook.com account and a Gmail account in Mail, the calendars associated with them automatically appear in the Calendar app.
The powered-up Windows Clipboard
The Windows Clipboard, introduced more than 30 years ago in Windows 1.0, has always been underpowered and not particularly useful. But with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Microsoft finally gave it some serious attention, and it’s now surprisingly useful.
The new clipboard does much more than merely hold a single clip at a time so you can paste it into a document, which is what the old one did. Now, it stores multiple clips, lets you preview clips and choose which one you’d like to paste into a document, share clips across Windows 10 devices store clips permanently.
You’ll have to switch these new features on. To do it, go to Settings > System > Clipboard. In the “Clipboard history” section, move the slider from Off to On. If you’d like to sync your Clipboard history across multiple Windows 10 devices, move the slider from Off to On in the “Sync across devices” section.
To copy an item to the Clipboard, do what you’ve done in the past: Highlight what you want to copy and press Ctrl-C, or else use an application’s menu, such as Insert > Copy in Office applications. There are other ways as well, such as right-clicking an image on the web and selecting Copy Image from the menu that appears.
After you’ve copied clips into it, you can scroll through them, preview them, and choose which to paste into a document. To do it, put your cursor in the location in the document where you want the clip placed. Then press the Windows key and V. A small window appears on the lower right of the screen with the clips you’ve pasted to the Clipboard. Scroll through, and when you find the clip you want to paste, click it. If you only want to paste your most recent clip into a document. Just press Ctrl-V as you do in earlier versions of Windows.
The clips you save while logged into your Microsoft account are also sent to the cloud and then to the Clipboard of any other devices running the Windows 10 October 2018 Update or later. So they’re always available, no matter which device you’re using.
When you turn off your PC, your clips are deleted. But you can save some permanently. To do it, launch the Clipboard, move your cursor over a clip in the list and click the small pin icon. That pins the clip to the Clipboard. It stays there permanently until you unpin it. all pinned clips, the pin icon faces down and to the right.
You can also manually clean out your Clipboard by deleting individual clips or by deleting them all at once. Move your cursor over a clip you want to delete and click the small X on its upper right. To delete all your clips, when you open the Clipboard, click Clear all at the top right of the screen. Pinned clips won’t be deleted unless you delete them individually.
Keep in mind that the Clipboard has some limitations. It won’t hold any clip over 4MB. You can still copy and paste clips larger than that into documents, but you won’t be able to see and manage them in the Clipboard. And only clips that are 100K or smaller are shared via the cloud with other devices.
Illustrator provides many shortcuts to help you get work done faster. Many keyboard shortcuts appear when you hover over icons in the command menu.
Notes:
- The following list includes the most helpful shortcuts. You may find additional shortcuts in menu commands and tool tips.
- You can customize the keyboard shortcuts in Illustrator. See Customize keyboard shortcuts.
Download and print a handy one page reference of some helpful keyboard shortcuts for Illustrator.
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Undo | Ctrl + Z | Command + Z |
Redo | Shift + Ctrl + Z | Shift + Command + Z |
Cut | Ctrl + X | Command + X |
Copy | Ctrl + C | Command + C |
Paste | Ctrl + V | Command + V |
Paste in front | Ctrl + F | Command + F |
Paste at back | Ctrl + B | Command + B |
Paste in place | Shift + Ctrl + B | Shift + Command + B |
Paste on all artboards | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + B | Option + Shift + Command + B |
Check spelling | Ctrl + I | Command + I |
Open the Color Settings dialog box | Shift + Ctrl + K | Shift + Command + K |
Open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K | Option + Shift + Command + K |
Open the Preferences dialog box | Ctrl + K | Command + K |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Create a document | Ctrl + N | Command + N |
Create a document from a template | Shift + Ctrl + N | Shift + Command + N |
Create a document without opening the New Document dialog box | Alt + Ctrl + N | Option + Command + N |
Open a document | Ctrl + O | Command + O |
Place a file in the document | Shift + Ctrl + P | Shift + Command + P |
Open the File Information dialog box | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + I | Option + Shift + Command + I |
Open the Document Setup dialog box | Alt + Ctrl + P | Option + Command + P |
Browse in Adobe Bridge | Alt + Ctrl + O | Option + Command + O |
Close the document window | Ctrl + W | Command + W |
Save changes made to the document | Ctrl + S | Command + S |
Open the Save As dialog box | Shift + Ctrl + S | Shift + Command + S |
Save a copy of the document | Alt + Ctrl + S | Option + Command + S |
Save the document as script files | Ctrl + F12 | Command + F12 |
Open the Export for screens dialog box | Alt + Ctrl + E | Option + Command + E |
Open the Save For Web dialog box | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + S | Option + Shift + Command + S |
Package the document | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + P | Option + Shift + Command + P |
Ctrl + P | Command + P | |
Exit the application | Ctrl + Q | Command + Q |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Artboard tool | Shift + O | Shift + O |
Selection tool | V | V |
Direct Selection tool | A | A |
Magic Wand tool | Y | Y |
Lasso tool | Q | Q |
Pen tool | P | P |
Curvature tool | Shift + ~ | Shift + ~ |
Blob Brush tool | Shift + B | Shift + B |
Add Anchor Point tool | + (plus) | + (plus) |
Delete Anchor Point tool | - (minus) | - (minus) |
Switch to Anchor Point tool | Shift + C | Shift + C |
Type tool | T | T |
Touch Type tool | Shift + T | Shift + T |
Line Segment tool | (backslash) | (backslash) |
Rectangle tool | M | M |
Ellipse tool | L | L |
Paintbrush tool | B | B |
Pencil tool | N | N |
Shaper tool | Shift + N | Shift + N |
Rotate tool | R | R |
Reflect tool | O | O |
Scale tool | S | S |
Warp tool | Shift + R | Shift + R |
Width Tool | Shift+W | Shift+W |
Free Transform tool | E | E |
Shape Builder Tool | Shift+M | Shift+M |
Perspective Grid Tool | Shift+P | Shift+P |
Perspective Selection Tool | Shift+V | Shift+V |
Symbol Sprayer tool | Shift + S | Shift + S |
Column Graph tool | J | J |
Mesh tool | U | U |
Gradient tool | G | G |
Eyedropper tool | I | I |
Blend tool | W | W |
Live Paint Bucket tool | K | K |
Live Paint Selection tool | Shift + L | Shift + L |
Slice tool | Shift + K | Shift + K |
Eraser tool | Shift + E | Shift + E |
Scissors tool | C | C |
Hand tool | H | H |
Zoom tool | Z | Z |
Switch to Smooth tool while using Blob Brush tool | Press Alt | Press Option |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Toggle between screen modes: Normal Screen Mode, Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar, Full Screen Mode | F | F |
Fit imageable area in window | Double-click Hand tool | Double-click Hand tool |
Magnify 100% | Double-click Zoom tool or press Ctrl + 1 | Double-click Zoom tool or press Command + 1 |
Switch to Hand tool (when not in text-edit mode) | Spacebar | Spacebar |
Switch to Zoom tool in magnify mode | Ctrl + Spacebar | Spacebar + Command |
Switch to Zoom tool in reduce mode | Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar | Spacebar + Command + Option |
Move Zoom marquee while dragging with the Zoom tool | Spacebar | Spacebar |
Hide bounding box | Shift + Ctrl + B | Shift + Control + B |
Hide unselected artwork | Control + Alt + Shift + 3 | Command + Option + Shift + 3 |
Convert between horizontal and vertical guide | Alt-drag guide | Option-drag guide |
Release guide | Ctrl + Shift-double-click guide | Command + Shift-double-click guide |
Show document template | Ctrl + H | Command + H |
Show/Hide artboards | Ctrl + Shift + H | Command + Shift + H |
Show/Hide artboard rulers | Ctrl + R | Command + Option + R |
Show transparency grid | Shift + Ctrl + D | Shift + Command + D |
View all artboards in window | Ctrl + Alt + 0 (zero) | Command + Option + 0 (zero) |
Paste in place on the active artboard | Ctrl + Shift+V | Command + Shift + V |
Exit Artboard tool mode | Esc | Esc |
Create artboard inside another artboard | Shift-drag | Shift-drag |
Select multiple artboards in the Artboards panel | Ctrl + click | Command + click |
Navigate to next document | Ctrl + F6 | Command + F6 |
Navigate to previous document | Ctrl + Shift + F6 | Command + Shift + F6 |
Navigate to next document group | Ctrl + Alt + F6 | Command + Option + F6 |
Navigate to previous document group | Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F6 | Command + Option + Shift + F6 |
Toggle between Outline and GPU Preview of the document | Ctrl + Y | Command + Y |
Toggle between GPU and CPU Preview of the document | Ctrl + E | Command + E |
View the document in Overprint Preview mode | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + Y | Option + Shift + Command + Y |
View the document in Pixel Preview mode | Alt + Ctrl + Y | Option + Command + Y |
Exit Full Screen mode | Esc | Esc |
Zoom in | Ctrl + = | Command + = |
Zoom out | Ctrl + - | Command + - |
Hide guides | Ctrl + ; | Command + ; |
Lock guides | Alt + Ctrl + ; | Option + Command + ; |
Make guides | Ctrl + 5 | Command + 5 |
Release guides | Alt + Ctrl + 5 | Option + Ctrl + 5 |
Show/ hide smart guides | Ctrl + U | Command + U |
Show/ hide perspective grid | Ctrl + Shift + I | Command + Shift + I |
Show grid | Ctrl + ' | Command + ' |
Snap to grid | Shift + Ctrl + ' | Shift + Command + ' |
Snap to point | Alt + Ctrl + ' | Option + Command + ' |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Switch to last-used selection tool (Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, or Group Selection tool) | Ctrl + ` | Command + ` |
Switch between Direct Selection tool and Group Selection tool | Alt | Option |
Add to a selection with Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, Group Selection tool, Live Paint Selection tool, or Magic Wand tool | Shift-click | Shift-click |
Subtract a selection with Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, Group Selection tool, or LIve Paint Selection tool | Shift-click | Shift-click |
Subtract from selection with Magic Wand tool | Alt-click | Option-click |
Add to selection with Lasso tool | Shift-drag | Shift-drag |
Subtract from selection with Lasso tool | Alt-drag | Option-drag |
Change pointer to cross hair for Lasso tool | Caps Lock | Caps Lock |
Select artwork in active artboard | Ctrl + Alt + A | Command + Option + A |
Create crop marks around selected object | Alt + C + O | |
Select all | Ctrl + A | Command + A |
Deselect | Shift + Ctrl + A | Shift + Command + A |
Reselect | Ctrl + 6 | Command + 6 |
Select the object above the current selection | Alt + Ctrl + ] | Option + Command + ] |
Select the object below the current selection | Alt + Ctrl + [ | Option + Command + |
Select behind an object | Press Ctrl+click twice | Press Command+click twice |
Select behind in isolation mode | Ctrl+click twice | Command+click twice |
Group the selected artwork | Ctrl + G | Command + G |
Ungroup the selected artwork | Shift + Ctrl + G | Shift + Command + G |
Lock a selection | Ctrl + 2 | Command + 2 |
Unlock a selection | Alt + Ctrl + 2 | Option + Command + 2 |
Hide a selection | Ctrl + 3 | Command + 3 |
Show all selections | Alt + Ctrl + 3 | Option + Command + 3 |
Move selection in user-defined increments | Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow | Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow |
Move selection in 10x user-defined increments | Shift + Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow | Shift + Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow |
Lock all deselected artwork | Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2 | Command + Option + Shift + 2 |
Constrain movement to 45° angle (except when using Reflect tool) | Hold down Shift | Hold down Shift |
Bring a selection forward | Ctrl + ] | Command + ] |
Move a selection to the front | Shift + Ctrl + ] | Shift + Command + ] |
Send a selection backward | Ctrl + [ | Command + [ |
Move a selection to the back | Shift + Ctrl + [ | Shift + Command + [ |
Note:
Set keyboard increments in General Preferences (Ctrl/ Cmd + K).
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Constrain a shape’s proportions or orientation to:
| Shift-drag | Shift-drag |
Move a shape while drawing it | spacebar-drag | spacebar-drag |
Draw from the center of a shape (except for polygons, stars, and flares) | Alt-drag | Option-drag |
Increase or decrease polygon sides, star points, arc angle, spiral winds, or flare rays | Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Keep the inner radius of a star constant | Start dragging, then hold down Ctrl | Start dragging, then hold down Command |
Keep the sides of a star straight | Alt-drag | Option-drag |
Switch between an open and closed arc | Start dragging, then hold down C | Start dragging, then hold down C |
Flip an arc, keeping the reference point constant | Start dragging, then hold down F | Start dragging, then hold down SF |
Add or subtract winds from a spiral while increasing the length of the spiral | Start dragging, then Alt-drag | Start dragging then Option-drag |
Change the decay rate of a spiral | Start dragging then Ctrl-drag | Start dragging then Command-drag |
Add or remove horizontal lines from a rectangular grid or concentric lines from a polar grid | Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Add or remove vertical lines from a rectangular grid or radial lines from a polar grid | Start dragging, then press the Right Arrow or Left Arrow | Start dragging, then press the Right Arrow or Left Arrow |
Decrease the skew value for horizontal dividers in a rectangular grid or radial dividers in a polar grid by 10% | Start dragging, then press F | Start dragging, then press F |
Increase the skew value for horizontal dividers in a rectangular grid or radial dividers in a polar grid by 10% | Start dragging, then press V | Start dragging, then press V |
Decrease the skew value for vertical dividers in a rectangular grid or concentric dividers in a polar grid by 10% | Start dragging, then press X | Start dragging, then press X |
Increase the skew value for vertical dividers in a rectangular grid or concentric dividers in a polar grid by 10% | Start dragging, then press C | Start dragging, then press C |
Increase size of Blob Brush | ] (right square bracket) | ] (right square bracket) |
Decrease size of Blob Brush | [ (left square bracket) | [ (left square bracket) |
Constrain Blob Brush path horizontally or vertically | Shift | Shift |
Switch through drawing modes | Shift + D | Shift + D |
Join two or more paths | Select the paths, then press Ctrl + J | Select the paths, then press Command + J |
Average two or more paths | Select the paths, then press Alt + Ctrl + J | Select the paths, then press Option + Command + J |
Create corner or smooth join | Select the paths, then press Shift + Ctrl + Alt + J | Select the anchor point, then press Shift + Command + Option + J |
Create a compound path | Ctrl + 8 | Command + 8 |
Release a compound path | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + 8 | Option + Shift + Command + 8 |
Edit a pattern | Shift + Ctrl + F8 | Shift + Command +F8 |
Perspective Grid Tool | Shift + P | Shift + P |
Perspective Selection Tool | Shift + V | Shift + V |
Perspective Grid | Ctrl + Shift + I | Command + Shift + I |
Moving objects perpendicularly | Press the number 5 key, then click and drag the object | Press the number 5 key, then click and drag the object |
Switching perspective planes | Use the Perspective Selection tool and then press 1 for left grid, 2 for horizontal grid, 3 for right grid, or 4 for no active grid | Use the Perspective Selection tool and then press 1 for left grid, 2 for horizontal grid, 3 for right grid, or 4 for no active grid |
Copying objects in perspective | Ctrl + Alt + drag | Command + Alt + drag |
Repeat transforming objects in perspective | Ctrl + D | Command + D |
Switching between drawing modes | Shift + D | Shift + D |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Switch Pen tool to Convert Anchor Point tool | Alt | Option |
Switch between Add Anchor Point tool and Delete Anchor Point tool | Alt | Option |
Switch Scissors tool to Add Anchor Point tool | Alt | Option |
Switch Pencil tool to Smooth tool | Alt | Option |
Move current anchor point while drawing with Pen tool | Spacebar-drag | Spacebar-drag |
Cut a straight line with Knife tool | Alt-drag | Option-drag |
Cut at 45° or 90° with Knife tool | Shift + Alt-drag | Shift + Option-drag |
Use shape mode buttons in Pathfinder panel to create compound paths | Alt + Shape mode | Option + Shape mode |
Erase unwanted closed regions created using Shape Builder tool | Alt + click the closed region | Option + click the closed region |
Select the Shape Builder tool | Shift + M | Shift + M |
Display rectangular marquee to easily merge multiple paths (when using Shape Builder tool) | Shift + click + drag | Shift + click + drag |
Increase the intensity of symbols (when using Symbolism tool) | Shift + } | Shift + } |
Decrease the intensity of symbols (when using Symbolism tool) | Shift + { | Shift + { |
Blend objects | Alt + Ctrl + B | Option + Command + B |
Finish adding objects to the blend | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + B | Option + Shift + Command + B |
Distort objects using a warp-shaped envelope | Alt + Ctrl + Shift + W | Option + Command + Shift + W |
Distort objects using a mesh as the shape of the envelope | Alt + Ctrl + M | Option + Command + M |
Distort objects using another object as the shape of the envelope | Alt + Ctrl + C | Option + Command + C |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample fill and/or stroke | Alt-click + Live Paint Bucket tool | Option-click + Live Paint Bucket tool |
Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample color from an image or intermediate color from a gradient | Alt + Shift-click + Live Paint Bucket tool | Option + Shift-click + Live Paint Bucket tool |
Select opposite Live Paint Bucket tool options (if Paint Fills and Paint Strokes are currently selected, switch to Paint Fills only) | Shift + Live Paint Bucket tool | Shift + Live Paint Bucket tool |
Fill across unstroked edges into adjacent faces | Double-click + Live Paint Bucket tool Convert pdf to word. | Double-click + Live Paint Bucket tool |
Fill all faces that have same fill and stroke all edges that have same stroke | Triple-click + Live Paint Bucket tool | Triple-click + Live Paint Bucket tool |
Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample fill and/or stroke | Alt-click + Live Paint Selection tool | Option-click + Live Paint Selection tool |
Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample color from an image or intermediate color from a gradient | Alt + Shift-click + Live Paint Selection tool | Option + Shift-click + Live Paint Selection tool |
Add to/subtract from a selection | Shift-click + Live Paint Selection tool | Shift-click + Live Paint Selection tool |
Select all connected faces /edges with same fill/stroke | Double-click + Live Paint Selection tool | Double-click + Live Paint Selection tool |
Select all faces/edges with same fill/stroke | Triple-click + Live Paint Selection tool | Triple-click + Live Paint Selection tool |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Set origin point and open dialog box when using Rotate tool, Scale tool, Reflect tool, or Shear tool | Alt-click | Option-click |
Duplicate and transform selection when using Selection tool, Scale tool, Reflect tool, or Shear tool | Alt-drag | Option-drag |
Transform pattern (independent of object) when using Selection tool, Scale tool, Reflect tool, or Shear tool | Tilde (~)-drag | Tilde (~)-drag |
Reapply a transformation to an object | Ctrl + D | Command + D |
Apply last pathfinder effect to the selected object | Ctrl + 4 | Command + 4 |
Move an object | Shift + Ctrl + M | Shift + Command + M |
Open the Transform Each dialog box | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + D | Option + Shift + Command + D |
Make a clipping mask | Ctrl + 7 | Command + 7 |
Release a clipping mask | Alt + Ctrl + 7 | Option + Command + 7 |
Toggle between fill and stroke | X | X |
Set fill and stroke to default | D | D |
Swap fill and stroke | Shift + X | Shift + X |
Select gradient fill mode | > | > |
Hide gradient annotator (when using the Gradient tool) | Alt + Ctrl + G | Option + Command + G |
Select color fill mode | < | < |
Select no stroke/fill mode | / (forward slash) | / (forward slash) |
Sample color from an image or intermediate color from gradient | Shift + Eyedropper tool | Shift + Eyedropper tool |
Sample style and append appearance of currently selected item | Alt + Shift-click + Eyedropper tool | Option + Shift-click + Eyedropper tool |
Add new fill | Ctrl + / (forward slash) | Command + / (forward slash) |
Add new stroke | Ctrl + Alt + / (forward slash) | Command + Option + / (forward slash) |
Reset gradient to black and white | Ctrl-click gradient button in Tools panel or Gradient panel | Command-click gradient button in Tools panel or Gradient panel |
Make Live Paint (when using the Paint Bucket tool) | Alt + Ctrl + X | Option + Command + X |
Decrease Bristle brush size | [ | [ |
Increase Bristle brush size | ] | ] |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Select multiple width points | Shift+click | Shift+click |
Create non-uniform widths | Alt+drag | Option+drag |
Create a copy of the width point | Alt+drag the width point | Options+drag the width point |
Change the position of multiple width points | Shift+drag | Shift+drag |
Delete selected width point | Delete | Delete |
Deselect a width point | Esc | Esc |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Move one character right or left | Right Arrow or Left Arrow | Right Arrow or Left Arrow |
Move up or down one line | Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Move one word right or left | Ctrl + Right Arrow or Left Arrow | Command + Right Arrow or Left Arrow |
Move up or down one paragraph | Ctrl + Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Command + Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Select one word right or left | Shift + Ctrl + Right Arrow or Left Arrow | Shift + Command + Right Arrow or Left Arrow |
Select one paragraph before or after | Shift + Ctrl + Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Shift + Command + Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Extend existing selection | Shift-click | Shift-click |
Align paragraph left, right, or center | Ctrl + Shift + L, R, or C | Command + Shift + L, R, or C |
Justify text left | Ctrl + Shift + J | Command + Shift + J |
Justify all lines | Shift + Ctrl + F | Shift + Command + F |
Toggle line composer | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + C | Option + Shift + Command + |
Insert soft return | Shift + Enter | Shift + Return |
Highlight kerning | Ctrl + Alt + K | Command + Option + K |
Reset horizontal scale to 100% | Ctrl + Shift + X | Command + Shift + X |
Increase or decrease font size | Ctrl + Shift + . or , | Command + Shift + . or , |
Increase or decrease font size by steps | Alt + Ctrl + Shift + . or , | Option + Command +Shift + . or , |
Increase or decrease leading | Alt + Up or Down Arrow (horizontal text) or Right or Left Arrow (vertical text) | Option + Up or Down Arrow (horizontal text) or Right or Left Arrow (vertical text) |
Select tracking value | Alt + Ctrl + K | Option + Command + K |
Reset tracking/kerning to 0 | Ctrl + Alt + Q | Command + Option + Q |
Increase or decrease kerning and tracking | Alt + Right or Left Arrow (horizontal text) or Up or Down Arrow (vertical text) | Option + Right or Left Arrow (horizontal text) or Up or Down Arrow (vertical text) |
Increase or decrease kerning and tracking by five times | Ctrl + Alt + Right or Left Arrow (horizontal text) or Up or Down Arrow (vertical text) | Command + Option + Right or Left Arrow (horizontal text) or Up or Down Arrow (vertical text) |
Increase or decrease baseline shift | Alt + Shift + Up or Down Arrow (horizontal text) or Right or Left Arrow (vertical text) | Option + Shift + Up or Down Arrow (horizontal text) or Right or Left Arrow (vertical text) |
Switch between Type and Vertical Type, Area Type and Vertical Area Type, and Path Type and Vertical Path Type tools | Shift | Shift |
Switch between Area Type and Path Type, Vertical Area Type and Vertical Path Type tools | Alt | Option |
Create outlines | Shift + Ctrl + O | Shift + Command + O |
Open the Character panel | Ctrl + T | Command + T |
Open the Paragraph panel | Alt + Ctrl + T | Option + Command + T |
Open the Tabs panel | Shift + Ctrl + T | Shift + Command + T |
Open the OpenType panel | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + T | Option + Shift + Command + T |
Insert bullets | Alt + 8 | Option + 8 |
Insert copyright symbol | Alt + G | Option + G |
Insert ellipsis | Alt + ; | Option + ; |
Insert paragraph symbol | Alt + 7 | Option + 7 |
Insert section symbol | Alt + 6 | Option + 6 |
Insert trademark symbol | Alt + 2 | Option + 2 |
Insert registered trademark symbol | Alt + R | Option + R |
Superscript | Shift + Ctrl + = | Shift + Command + = |
Subscript | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + = | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + = |
Insert em dash | Alt + Shift + - | Option + Shift + - |
Insert en dash | Alt + - | Option + - |
Insert discretionary hyphen | Shift + Ctrl + - | Shift + Command + - |
Toggle auto-hyphenation | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + H | Option + Shift + Command + H |
Insert double left quotation marks | Alt + [ | Option + [ |
Insert double right quotation marks | Alt + Shift + [ | Option + Shift + [ |
Insert single left quotation marks | Alt + ] | Option + ] |
Insert single right quotation marks | Alt + Shift + ] | Option + Shift + ] |
Insert em space | Shift + Ctrl + M | Shift + Command + M |
Insert en space | Shift + Ctrl + N | Shift + Command + N |
Insert thin space | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + M | Option + Shift + Command + M |
Show hidden characters | Alt + Ctrl + I | Option + Command + I |
Note:
To change the increment value for type shortcuts, choose Edit > Preferences >Type (Windows) or Illustrator > Preferences >Type (macOS). Enter the values you want in the Size/Leading, Baseline Shift, and Tracking text boxes, and click OK.
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Set options (except for Actions, Brushes, Swatches, and Symbols panels) | Alt-click New button | Option-click New button |
Switch units of measurement | Alt + Shift + Ctrl + U | Option + Shift + Command + U |
Delete without confirmation (except for Layers panel) | Alt-click Delete button | Option-click Delete button |
Apply value and keep text box active | Shift + Enter | Shift + Return |
Select range of actions, brushes, layers, links, styles, or swatches | Shift-click | Shift-click |
Select noncontiguous actions, brushes, layers (same level only), links, styles, or swatches | Ctrl-click | Command-click |
Show/Hide all panels | Tab | Tab |
Show/Hide all panels except the Tools panel and Control panel | Shift + Tab | Shift + Tab |
Increase/ decrease values in logical fractions of the measurement unit | Ctrl + Up or Down Arrow | Command + Up or Down Arrow |
Increase/ decrease measurement unit by 10x | Shift + Up or Down Arrow | Shift + Up or Down Arrow |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Expand/Collapse entire hierarchy for action set | Alt-click expansion triangle | Option-click expansion triangle |
Set options for action set | Double-click folder icon | Double-click folder icon |
Play a single command | Ctrl-click Play Current Selection button | Command-click Play Current Selection button |
Begin recording actions without confirmation | Alt-click New Action button | Option-click New Action button |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Open Brush Options dialog box | Double-click brush | Double-click brush |
Duplicate brush | Drag brush to New Brush button | Drag brush to New Brush button |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Open the Character panel | Ctrl + T | Command + T |
Open the Paragraph panel | Alt + Ctrl + T | Option + Command + T |
Increase/decrease the selected value by a small increment | Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Increase/decreases the selected value by a large increment | Shift + Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Shift + Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Increase/decrease the selected value by a fraction | Ctrl + Up or Down Arrow | Command + Up or Down Arrow |
Highlight the font name field in the Character panel | Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F | Command + Option + Shift + F |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Select the complement for the current color fill/stroke | Ctrl-click color bar | Command-click color bar |
Change the nonactive fill/stroke | Alt-click color bar | Option-click color bar |
Select the complement for the nonactive fill/stroke | Ctrl + Alt-click color bar | Command + Option-click color bar |
Select the inverse for the current fill/stroke | Ctrl + Shift-click color bar | Command + Shift-click color bar |
Select the inverse for the nonactive fill/stroke | Ctrl + Shift + Alt-click color bar | Command + Shift + Option-click color bar |
Open Color Guide | Shift + F3 | Shift + F3 |
Change the color mode | Shift-click color bar | Shift-click color bar |
Move color sliders in tandem | Shift-drag color slider | Shift-drag color slider |
Switch between percentage and 0-255 values for RGB | Double-click to right of a numerical field | Double-click to right of a numerical field |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Duplicate color stops | Alt-drag | Option-drag |
Swap color stops | Alt-drag color stop onto another stop | Option-drag color stop onto another color stop |
Apply swatch color to active (or selected) color stop | Alt-click swatch in the Swatches panel | Option-click swatch in the Swatches panel Free sms app for windows. |
Reset the gradient fill to default black and white linear gradient | Ctrl-click Gradient Fill box in the Gradient panel | Command-click Gradient Fill box in the Gradient panel |
Show/Hide gradient arrow | Ctrl + Alt + G | Command + Option + G |
Modify angle and end-point together | Alt-drag end point of gradient annotator | Option-drag end point of gradient annotator |
Constrain Gradient tool or Gradient annotator while dragging | Shift-drag | Shift-drag |
View Gradient annotator in selected gradient filled object | G | G |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Add a layer | Ctrl + L | Command + L |
Add a layer while opening the New Layer dialog box | Alt + Ctrl + L | Option + Command + L |
Select all objects on the layer | Alt-click layer name | Option-click layer name |
Show/hide all layers but the selected one | Alt-click eye icon | Option-click eye icon |
Select Outline/Preview view for the selected layer | Ctrl-click eye icon | Command-click eye icon |
Selects Outline/Preview view for all other layers | Ctrl + Alt-click eye icon | Command + Option-click eye icon |
Lock/unlock all other layers | Alt-click lock icon | Option-click lock icon |
Expand all sublayers to display entire hierarchy | Alt-click expansion triangle | Option-click expansion triangle |
Set options as you create new layer | Alt-click New Layer button | Option-click New Layer button |
Set options as you create new sublayer | Alt-click New Sublayer button | Option-click New Sublayer button |
Place new sublayer at bottom of layer list | Ctrl + Alt-click New Sublayer button | Command + Option-click New Sublayer button |
Place layer at top of layer list | Ctrl-click New Layer button | Command-click New Layer button |
Place layer below selected layer | Ctrl + Alt-click New Layer button | Command + Option-click New Layer button |
Copy the selection to a layer, sublayer, or group | Alt-drag selection | Option-drag selection |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Create new spot color | Ctrl-click New Swatch button | Command-click New Swatch button |
Create new global process color | Ctrl + Shift-click New Swatch button | Command + Shift-click New Swatch button |
Replace swatch with another | Alt-drag a swatch over another | Option-drag a swatch over another |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Apply a value and keep focus in edit field | Shift + Enter | Shift + Return |
Apply a value and copy object | Alt + Enter | Option + Return |
Apply a value and scale option proportionately for width or height | Ctrl + Enter | Command + Return |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Apply last effect to the selected object | Shift + Ctrl + E | Shift + Command + E |
Apply last effect to the selected object by adjusting the values in the effects dialog box | Alt + Shift + Ctrl +E | Option + Shift + Command + E |
Change mask to grayscale image for editing | Alt-click on mask thumbnail | Option-click on mask thumbnail |
Disable opacity mask | Shift-click on mask thumbnail | Shift-click on mask thumbnail |
Re-enable opacity mask | Shift-click on disabled mask thumbnail | Shift-click on disabled mask thumbnail |
Increase/decrease opacity in 1% increments | Click opacity field + Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Click opacity field + Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Increase/decrease opacity in 10% increments | Shift-click opacity field + Up Arrow or Down Arrow | Shift-click opacity field + Up Arrow or Down Arrow |
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS |
---|---|---|
Invoke Help | F1 | F1 |
Cut | F2 | F2 |
Copy | F3 | F3 |
Paste | F4 | F4 |
Show/hide Brushes panel | F5 | F5 |
Show/hide Color panel | F6 | F6 |
Show/hide Layers panel | F7 | F7 |
Create new symbol | F8 | F8 |
Show/hide Info panel | Ctrl + F8 | Command + F8 |
Show/hide Gradient panel | Ctrl + F9 | Command + F9 |
Show/hide Stroke panel | Ctrl + F10 | Command + F10 |
Show/hide Attributes panel | Ctrl + F11 | Command + F11 |
Revert | F12 | F12 |
Show/hide Graphic Styles panel | Shift + F5 | Shift + F5 |
Show/hide Appearance panel | Shift + F6 | Shift + F6 |
Show/hide Align panel | Shift + F7 | Shift + F7 |
Show/hide Transform panel | Shift + F8 | Shift + F8 |
Show/hide Pathfinder panel | Shift + Ctrl + F9 | Shift + Command + F9 |
Show/hide Transparency panel | Shift + Ctrl + F10 | Shift + Command + F10 |
Show/hide Symbols panel | Shift + Ctrl + F11 | Shift + Command + F11 |
Windows Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet
Export keyboard shortcut list as a text document
You can export the list of default and custom keyboard shortcuts for tools and menu commands in Illustrator as a text document by following the steps given below:
Click Export Text on the lower-left corner of the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box.
Navigate to the desired location to save the text file.
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