I don’t know about you but if you spend any amount of time in Photoshop (or any application for that matter) you no doubt understand the value and time saving abilities of using keyboard shortcuts.

Knowing that and being able to remember them is another thing.  With Adobe Photoshop CS4 there are literally 100′s of key combination’s you can use to simplify many tasks, even the ones you don’t use often.  Some may even test your dexterity (e.g.: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Backspace).  But I have always had an issue of remembering most of them and have to look them up which basically negates the point of using keyboard shortcuts anyways.

Many graphic designers use the cheat sheet provided by Adobe (Adobe Photoshop CS4 Keyboard Shortcuts) and as long as you don’t mind reading through the 4 pages of shortcuts it works.  At least its comprehensive and official.

Well thanks to the good people over at Smashing Magazine they have release a handy pdf of the most useful keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop CS4 (most keyboard shortcuts are backward compatible with older versions).

“The cheat sheet is a mousepad-sized image featuring a typical PC keyboard. Photoshop’s keyboard shortcuts are listed for each key, with the shortcut and its icon printed on the individual key. In red is the shortcut you will get by hitting the key in combination with the Ctrl key. For example, typing "t" in Photoshop will activate the Type tool, while typing Ctrl+t will allow you to use the Transformation tool. Additional shortcuts requiring more than two keys are listed as well.” – Smashing Magazine

You can download the cheat sheet for free here!

This is a great addition to any designers arsenal and you can rest assured its tapped to the wall next to monitor

A thanks and a hat tip to the cheat sheets creator Kenneth Setzer

“Originally, I intended to buy a keyboard overlay with Photoshop shortcuts, but couldn’t find any for a PC, just for Macs. So I compiled a list of keyboard shortcuts, and thought they would fit nicely on a mousepad. I think printing it out and hanging it by the monitor works just as well. I hope those learning Photoshop will find it useful, as well as the more advanced users who may have forgotten some of the less-often-used shortcuts. They save a lot of time, and can impress your boss!”