Keyboard Shortcuts: Using keyboard tools in Adobe Illustrator will help you make art faster so you can spend more time on the creative side. If you use them often, you won’t have to switch between windows to pick, find the right tool, or make new shapes. This will eliminate the need to click repeatedly to do what you want.
As you look through the tools page, you’ll see that a keyboard shortcut follows the name of each tool in parentheses. For example, next to the pen tool, you’ll see a (P). So press P on your computer, and you won’t have to go to the Tools menu and choose the Pen by hand.
But there are a lot more options than just tools in Adobe Illustrator. You can use them to pick, copy, group, and do other things with items. This piece lists the ones that both experts and newcomers use the most. So use our lists of keyboard shortcuts as cheat sheets. Also, look at our list of the best keyboard tools for GIMP to get the most done.
Most Popular Keyboard Shortcuts
With these keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly work with Adobe Illustrator and do many different things. Most people use them because no matter what they are working on, they need to do the same things repeatedly.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
| Undo | CTRL + Z | Command + Z |
| Redo | Shift + CTRL + Z | Shift + Command + Z |
| Copy | CTRL + C | Command + C |
| Cut | CTRL + X | Command + X |
| Paste | CTRL + V | Command + V |
| Paste in front | CTRL + F | Command + F |
| Paste at the back | CTRL + B | Command + B |
| Paste in Place | Shift + CTRL + V | Shift + Command + V |
| Paste on all open artboards | Alt + Shift + CTRL + V | Option + Shift + Command + V |
| Check Spelling | CTRL + I | Command + I |
| Open Color Settings Dialog Box | Shift + CTRL + K | Shift + Command + K |
| Open General Preference Dialog Box | CTRL + K | Command + K |
| Access Help Menu | F1 | F1 |
| Quit Illustrator App | CTRL + Q | Command + Q |
Documents Related Keyboard Shortcuts
The shortcuts in the following table will help you set up and work with your text in different ways. Use them to quickly make new documents or save the ones you already have. You can even use a shortcut to print your work instead of going through all the choices.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
| Create a New Document | CTRL + N | Command + N |
| Create a New Document from a Template | Shift + CTRL + N | Shift + Command + N |
| Create a Document without the dialog box | Alt + CTRL + N | Option + Command + N |
| Open a Document | CTRL + O | Command + O |
| Input a File in a Document | Shift + CTRL + P | Shift + Command + P |
| Open 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 all changes made in Document | CTRL + S | Command + S |
| Save a copy of the document | Alt + CTRL + S | Option + Command + S |
| 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 |
| Print the Document | CTRL + P | Command + P |
Adobe Illustrator Tool Keyboard Shortcuts
You’ll often use many valuable tools in Adobe Illustrator in your projects. As already said, shortcuts are written next to the names of many tools, but some are grouped, so you’d have to move around the toolbox a lot to find them. The best thing to do is memorize the ones you use most often. So, when you need to switch tools, you won’t have to spend time looking through the tools page.
| Action | 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 |
| Type (Text) Tool | T | T |
| Rectangle Tool | M | M |
| Ellipse Tool | L | L |
| Pencil Tool | N | N |
| Paintbrush Tool | B | B |
| Rotate Tool | R | R |
| Reflect Tool | O | O |
| Scale Tool | S | S |
| Free Transform Tool | E | E |
| 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 |
| Scissors Tool | C | C |
| Hand Tool | H | H |
| Zoom Tool | Z | Z |
| Curvature Tool | Shift + ~ | Shift + ~ |
| Blob Brush Tool | Shift + B | Shift + B |
| Add Anchor Point | + | + |
| Remove Anchor Point | – | – |
| Switch to Anchor Point Tool | Shift + C | Shift + C |
| Touch Type Tool | Shift + T | Shift + T |
| Shaper Tool | Shift + N | Shift + N |
| Warp Tool | Shift + R | Shift + R |
| Width Tool | Shift + W | Shift + W |
| Shape Builder Tool | Shift + M | Shift + M |
| Perspective Grid | Shift + P | Shift + P |
| Perspective Selection | Shift + V | Shift + V |
| Symbol Sprayer | Shift + S | Shift + S |
| Paint Selection Tool | Shift + L | Shift + L |
| Slice Tool | Shift + K | Shift + K |
| Eraser Tool | Shift + E | Shift + E |
| Toggle between Smooth and Blob Brush Tool | Press Alt | Press Option |
View and Navigation Keyboard Shortcuts
With the shortcuts in the following table, you can quickly look at your text and move to any part of it.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
| Toggle between Screen Modes | F | F |
| Magnify 100% | CTRL + 1 | Command + 1 |
| Hide Bounding Box | Shift + CTRL + B | Shift + Command + B |
| Hide Unselected objects | CTRL + Alt + Shift + 3 | Command + Option + Shift + 3 |
| Show Document Template | CTRL + H | Command + H |
| Show or Hide Artboards | CTRL + Shift + H | Command + Shift + H |
| Show or Hide Artboard Rulers | CTRL + R | Command + Option + R |
| View All Artboards in Window | CTRL + Alt + 0 | Command + Option + 0 |
| Exit Artboard Tool Mode | Esc | Esc |
| Navigate to next document | CTRL + F6 | Command + F6 |
| Navigate to Previous Document | CTRL + Shift + F6 | Command + Shift + F6 |
| Exit Full Screen Mode | Esc | Esc |
| Toggle Between Online and GPU Preview | CTRL + Y | Command + Y |
| Toggle Between GPU and CPU Preview | CTRL + E | Command + E |
| Zoom in | CTRL + = | Command + = |
| Zoom Out | CTRL + – | Command + – |
| Hide Guides | CTRL + ; | Command + ; |
| Lock Guides | Alt + CTRL + ; | Option + Command + ; |
| Show Grid | CTRL + ‘ | Command + ‘ |
Work with a Choice Keyboard Shortcuts
It can be tiring to work with choices. Work like this is very complicated, and you must do much of it to get good at it. But these shortcuts could help you get things done faster.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
| Select Artwork in active artboard | CTRL + Alt + A | Command + Option + A |
| Select All | CTRL + A | Command + A |
| Deselect | Shift + CTRL + A | Shift + Command + A |
| Reselect | Ctrl + 6 | Command + 6 |
| Group the selections | CTRL +G | Command + G |
| Ungroup selections | Shift + CTRL + G | Shift + Command + G |
| Lock selected objects | CTRL + 2 | Command + 2 |
| Unlock selection | Alt + CTRL + 2 | Option + Command +2 |
| Hide selected objects | CTRL + 3 | Command + 3 |
| Show all selections | Alt + CTRL + 3 | Option + Command + 3 |
| Bring selected object forward | CTRL + ] | Command + ] |
| Move selection to the front | Shift + CTRL + ] | Shift + Command + ] |
| Send Selected objects to the Back | CTRL + [ | Command + [ |
| Move selection to the Back | Shift + CTRL + [ | Shift + Command + [ |
Work with Text Keyboard Shortcuts
Text can be a big part of your projects with Adobe Illustrator. Here are some quick ways to change words that you can do with the keyboard.
| Action | Windows | macOS |
| Open Character Panel | CTRL + T | Command + T |
| Open Paragraph Panel | Alt + CTRL + T | Option + Command + T |
| Align paragraph left, right, or center | CTRL + Shift + L,R, or C | Command + Shift + L,R, or C |
| Increase font size | Alt + CTRL + . | Option + Command + . |
| Decrease font size | Alt + CTRL + , | Option + Command + , |
| Increase font size by step | Alt + up arrow + CTRL + . | Option + up arrow + CTRL + . |
| Decrease font size by step | Alt + up arrow + CTRL + , | Option + up arrow + CTRL + , |
| Highlight Kerning | CTRL + Alt + K | Command + Option + K |
| Track Kerning | Alt + CTRL + K | Option + CTRL + K |
| Reset Kerning tracking | CTRL + Alt + Q | Command + Option + Q |
| Insert Bullets | Alt + 8 | Option + 8 |
| Insert Copyright symbol | Alt + G | Option + G |
| Justify Text Left | CTRL + Shift + J | Command + Shift + J |
| Justify all lines | Shift + CTRL + F | Shift + Command + F |
| Superscript | Shift + CTRL + = | Shift + Command + = |
| Subscript | Alt + Shift + CTRL + = | Option + Shift + Command + = |
| Insert Hyphen | Shift + CTRL + – | Shift + Command + – |
| Display Hidden Characters | Alt + CTRL + I | Option + Command + I |
With the many helpful keyboard tools in Adobe Illustrator, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to work faster and more accurately on your design projects. Using this better way to work can save you time and stress, whether you’re a first-time user or a professional graphic artist with years of experience. Learning these skills may take some time and practice, but if you work at it, that time will be well spent. Remember to check out our other posts if you want to learn more about how to use Adobe software.