Want to look like a wiz at Photoshop while becoming more productive? Try learning a keyboard shortcut during each project in Photoshop. Zipping around any program without using the mouse will save you tons of time to do other important things like read blogs on @Bar.

I’m hoping everyone already uses shortcuts to open, save and print, but just in case:

Open:    Cmd/Ctrl-O
Save:     Cmd/Ctrl-S
Print:     Cmd/Ctrl-P
Copy:    Cmd/Ctrl-C
Paste:    Cmd/Ctrl-V
Cut:       Cmd/Ctrl-X
Select All:    Cmd/Ctrl-A

NOTE: These will also work in most other programs.

1 - Here’s an easy trick to help you learn the shortcuts in all Adobe programs:

Move the mouse over a tool or button and wait a few seconds for the tool tip to appear. It will show you the name or description of the tool and it’s shortcut.
*You must have the “Show Tool Tips” active in your Preferences > Interface

2- Change your view. Press the F key while you’re using any tool except the type tool and Photoshop will change the screen mode. Go from a window, to a full neutral grey background, to a black background.

Added Bonus Tip: Show off your work by hiding the rulers Cmd/Ctrl-R and pressing the Tab key to hide all the palettes and tools. Press Tab again to make them reappear.

3- Toggle Tools.

Once you’ve learned the keyboard shortcuts for the tools, you might feel the need to use the mouse to get to another tool within that same button. To switch from the standard lasso to the polygonal lasso press Shift + L.

4- Move with ease. If you’ve had to navigate a large image on a tiny monitor these will be helpful. First, switch into full screen mode (press F twice on a Mac) then use the spacebar to move your image around. Press Cmd/Ctrl-+ or Cmd/Ctrl - (plus or minus key) to zoom in and out quickly.

5- D is for Default.

At first glance, this may seem like a useless tip, but really it’ll save you tons of time. If you’ve selected different foreground and background colors and want to get back to good ol’ black and white press the letter D. Photoshop will set the foreground color to black and background color to white.

Added Bonus Tip: Press the letter X to switch between the foreground and background colors. This will make you more efficient with layer masks — no more moving the mouse all the way over to the other side of the monitor when editing layer masks.