Have you been practicing your Photoshop Shortcuts since my last post? Using shortcuts in Photoshop can certainly improve your efficiency, but I know that learning them all at once can seem like learning a new language. These handy guides I’ve created can be printed and taped or propped up beside your monitor so that you can reference the sheet until the shortcuts become second nature to you.

Today I have a second set of shortcuts to share with you—all to do with the toolbar. In Photoshop (and other Adobe programs) most of the tools in the toolbar can be accessed with a single keystroke shortcut. A lot of these make sense, like T for Type Tool, P for Pen Tool, L for Lasso Tool, etc. But some will just require memorization, like J for the Healing Brush Tools or O for Dodge, Burn, and Sponge. There’s actually only one tool in the toolbar without a shortcut, and that is the Blur/Sharpen/Smudge Tool (which actually fits with how often I use those tools).

Remember that when there is a small black triangle in the bottom right corner of the tool icon, it means that more tools are nested underneath. Your Photoshop quick keys will access the tool that is on top. If you want to access one of the other tools nested below, for example, you want the Burn Tool, but currently the Dodge Tool is displayed, add “shift” to your quick key, and it will cycle through all the nested tools.

Best of luck becoming shortcut pros!