GIMP Keyboard Shortcuts: Do you ever wish that you could change faster or better? If so, learning a few basic computer shortcuts for GIMP will save you time and make your work go more smoothly.
GIMP’s shortcut menu gives users a lot of ways to speed up editing tasks, like changing layers and picture transformations, navigating menus, and running commands. In this blog post, we’ll look at the most useful shortcuts in GIMP and learn how to use them most effectively.
GIMP Tool Keyboard Shortcuts
Some of the tools in GIMP are the same as those in Photoshop.
Also Read: Most Useful Adobe Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts
Also Read: Most Useful Adobe Illustrator Keyboard Shortcuts
If you’ve ever used an app for changing photos, you’ll know most of them immediately. They’ll help you choose what to do with the image and its parts and how to connect with them.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS | |
| Move Tool |  | M | M |
| Rectangle selection tool |  | R | R |
| Ellipse selection tool |  | E | E |
| Free select tool |  | F | F |
| Scissors select tool |  | I | I |
| Fuzzy select tool |  | U | U |
| Eraser tool |  | Shift + E | Shift + E |
| Select by Color |  | Shift + O | Shift + O |
| Crop tool |  | Shift + C | Shift + C |
| Bucket fill |  | Shift + B | Shift + B |
| Gradient |  | G | G |
| Paintbrush |  | P | P |
| Pencil |  | N | N |
| Airbrush |  | A | A |
| Ink |  | K | K |
| MyPaint Brush |  | Y | Y |
| Clone |  | C | C |
| Heal |  | H | H |
| Paths |  | B | B |
| Smudge |  | S | S |
| Text |  | T | T |
| Color Picker |  | O | O |
Note: some tools are grouped so that you will see only some in the tool menu. For example, the Paintbrush group includes Pencil, Airbrush, Ink, and MyPaintBrush. The same applies to the Ellipse selection tool; you can find it with the Rectangular selection tool.
GIMP Additional Selection Keyboard Shortcuts
Here are some shortcuts that will help you choose things differently and deal with different choices. We picked the most common things to do, which are easy to understand.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS |
| Select All | CTRL + A | Command + A |
| Toggle selections | CTRL + T | Command + T |
| Deselect all | Shift + CTRL + A | Shift + Command + A |
| Invert selection | CTRL + I | Command + I |
| Float selection | Shift + CTRL + L | Shift + Command + L |
| Select from Path | Shift + V | Shift + V |
GIMP Editing Keyboard Shortcuts
Use these keyboard shortcuts to speed up editing your text or file.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS |
| Crop and Resize | Shift + C | Shift + C |
| Rotate | Shift + R | Shift + R |
| Scale | Shift + T | Shift + T |
| Shear | Shift + S | Shift + S |
| Perspective | Shift + P | Shift + P |
| Flip | Shift + F | Shift + F |
| Blend | L | L |
| Dodge or Burn | Shift + D | Shift + D |
| Swap Colors | X | X |
| Default Colors | D | D |
| Undo previous action | CTRL + Z | Command + Z |
| Redo last action | CTRL + Y | Command + Y |
| Copy | CTRL + C | Command + C |
| Cut | CTRL + X | Command + X |
| Paste | CTRL + V | Command + V |
| Paste in place | CTRL + Alt + V | Command + Option + V |
| Increase Brush Size | ] | ] |
| Decrease Brush Size | [ | [ |
| Show or Hide Selection | CTRL + T | Command + T |
Note: The Paste in Place action lets you copy the contents of your clipboard and paste them into a new file in the same place they were in the original file.
GIMP File Keyboard Shortcuts
This part shows you how to use keyboard shortcuts to open and work with different files and images in GIMP.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS |
| Open new file | CTRL + N | Command + N |
| Open Image | CTRL + O | Command + O |
| Open Image as new layer | CTRL + Alt + O | Command+ Option + O |
| Open recent image 01 | CTRL + 1 | Command + 1 |
| Open recent image 02 | CTRL + 2 | Command + 2 |
| Open recent image 03 | CTRL + 3 | Command + 3 |
| Create a new image from clipboard | Shift + CTRL + V | Shift + Command + V |
| Save with a new name | Shift + CTRL + S | Shift + Command + S |
| Close All Files | Shift + CTRL + W | Shift + Command + W |
| Quit GIMP | CTRL + Q | Command + Q |
Note: The same command can open a recent picture after 03; just change the number to the right one. CTRL (Command) + 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.
GIMP View and Action Keyboard Shortcuts
Here are some computer shortcuts that will help you use GIMP. You can quickly move through its menus, turn on and off its guides or rulers, and change the colour of the background.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS |
| Main Menu | F10 | F10 |
| Drop-down menu | Shift + F10 | Shift + F10 |
| Full Screen | F11 | F11 |
| Toggle quickmask | Shift + Q | Shift + Q |
| Close document window | CTRL + W | Command + W |
| Shrink wrap | CTRL + E | Command + E |
| Fit image in the document window | Shift + CTRL + E | Shift + Command + E |
| Toggle rulers | Shift + CTRL + R | Shift + Command + R |
| Toggle guides | Shift + CTRL + T | Shift + Command + T |
| Clear selection | CTRL + K | Command + K |
| Fill with Foreground Color | CTRL + , | Command + , |
| Fill with background color | CTRL + . | Command + . |
| Fill with pattern | CTRL + : | Command + : |
GIMP Dialogs Keyboard Shortcuts
With these tools, you can change the way Dialogs work in GIMP. Dialogues are moving windows showing tool options used for a specific job. Opening the dialogs makes it easy to see and change all of their choices.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS |
| Layers | CTRL + L | Command + L |
| Brushes | Shift + CTRL + B | Shift + Command + B |
| Patterns | Shift + CTRL + P | Shift + Command + P |
| Tool Options | Shift + CTRL + T | Shift + Command + T |
| Palettes | CTRL + P | Command + P |
| Info | Shift + CTRL + I | Shift + Command + I |
| Navigation | Shift + CTRL + N | Shift + Command + N |
| Close the current window | Alt + F4 | Option + F4 |
| Go to next widget | Tab | Tab |
| Go to previous widget | Shift + Tab | Shift + Tab |
| Set new value | Enter | Option |
| Activate current button on the list | Space bar | Space bar |
| Toggle between tabs | CTRL + Alt + Page up | Command + Option + Page up |
| Open location | Shift + L | Shift + L |
| Down folder | Alt + Down arrow | Option + Down arrow |
| Up folder | Alt + Up arrow | Option + Up arrow |
| Home folder | Alt + Home key | Option + Home key |
| Close current dialog | Esc | Esc |
GIMP Layers Keyboard Shortcuts
Layers are an essential part of any picture editing tool. If you do it quickly, you’ll finish your job quickly. What better way to get what you want done soon than to use computer shortcuts? Use the tools in this table to quickly and easily work with layers.
| Action | Windows & Linux | macOS |
| New layer | Shift + CTRL + N | Shift + Command + N |
| Duplicate selected layer | Shift + CTRL + D | Shift + Command + D |
| Anchor layer | CTRL + H | Command + H |
| Select the layer above | Page up | Page up |
| Select the layer below | Page down | Page down |
| Select the first layer | Home key | Home key |
| Select the last layer | End key | End key |
| Merge all visible layers | CTRL + M | Command + M |