To be a successful professional user, free lance user, or even home user you have to be able to get projects done, productivity is the key. One of the best ways to increase your speed is to master the shortcut keys. I’ve compiled a list of what I believe is the best 20 general Photoshop keyboard shortcuts. These are shortcuts that I use on almost every project and when implemented correctly can cut work time almost in half.

1. Ctrl+N (New File)
2. Ctrl+O (Open File)
3. Ctrl+S (Save File)
4. Ctrl+Shft+S (Save File As)
5. Spacebar+Left Mouse Click (Move View)
6. Ctrl+Spacebar+Left Mouse Click (Click to Zoom In)
7. Alt+Spacebar+Left Mouse Click (Click to Zoom Out)
8. Ctrl+Z (Toggle Undo / Redo)
9. Ctrl+Alt+Z (Undo)
10. Ctrl+Shft+Z (Redo)
11. Ctrl+A (Select All)
12. Ctrl+D (Deselect All)
13. Ctrl+Shift+I (Invert Selection)
14. Ctrl+H (Hide Selection)
15. Ctrl+C (Copy)
16. Ctrl+V (Paste)
17. Ctrl+T (Free Transform)
18. Ctrl+E (Merge Current Layer Down)
19. Ctrl+L (Image Adjust Levels)
20. Ctrl+U (Image Adjust Hue and Saturation)

The Ctrl, Shft, and Alt keys can also usually be used to modify open tools and windows in Photoshop. An example of this is when using Free Transform holding the Ctrl key allows you to pull and skew the image. Also aside from the shortcuts listed above it’s helpful to know all one letter tool shortcuts such as the “B” key is for the Brush Tool. These are less important though because of the usual proximity of the tools window with your open project.

If you find yourself hating all the factory defined keyboard shortcuts you can change them. Just follow the edit tab all the way to the bottom where you’ll see a menu item called “Keyboard Shortcuts” (Different for early versions of Adobe Photoshop, Version CS2 pictured to the left). However, I recommend trying to get adjusted to the supplied default shortcuts because most are not just and Adobe standard, they are an industry standard (such as Ctrl+Z usually causes an Undo).

Here is a great printable PDF list of all Photoshop Shortcuts (photoshop-cs2-shortcuts.pdf).