By Design Bundles
14 Nov 2016
11 Mins

Adobe Illustrator Short Cut / Hot Keys

Here we display a list of Illustrator hot keys and short cuts to make your designing a little quicker and easier! Follow the guide below.

TOOL SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Selection	V	V
Direct Selection	A	A
Group Selection	Shift	Shift
Magic Wand	Y	Y
Lasso	Q	Q
Pen	P	P
Add Anchor Point	+	+
Delete Anchor Point	-	-
Convert anchor point	Shift+C	Shift+C
Type	T	T
Touch type	Shift+T	Shift+T
Line segment	\	\
Rectangle	M	M
Ellipse	L	L
Paintbrush	B	B
Pencil	N	N
Blob brush	Shift+B	Shift+B
Artboard	Shift+O	Shift+O
Eraser	Shift+E	Shift+E
Scissors	C	C
Rotate	R	R
Reflect	O	O
Scale	S	S
Width	Shift+W	Shift+W
Warp	Shift+R	Shift+R
Free transform	E	E
Shape builder	Shift+M	Shift+M
Live paint bucket	K	K
Live paint selection	Shift+L	Shift+L
Perspective grid	Shift+P	Shift+P
Perspective selection	Shift+V	Shift+V
Mesh	U	U
Gradient	G	G
Eyedropper	I	I
Blend	W	W
Symbol sprayer	Shift+S	Shift+S
Column graph	J	J
Slice	Shift+K	Shift+K
Hand	H	H
Zoom	Z	Z
Toggle fill and stroke	X	X
Default fill and stroke	D	D
Swap fill and stroke	Shift+X	Shift+X
Gradient	.	.
Colour	,	,
None	/	/
Toggle 3 screen modes	F	F
Show/hide all panels	Tab	Tab
Show/hide all but toolbox	Shift+Tab	Shift+Tab
Increase diameter	]	]
Decrease diameter	[	[
Symbolism tools: increase	Shift+}	Shift+}
Symbolism tools: decrease	Shift+{	Shift+{
Toggle drawing mode	Shift+D	Shift+D

FILE COMMAND SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
New	Ctrl+N	Cmd+N
New from template	Shift+Ctrl+N	Shift+Cmd+N
Open	Ctrl+O	Cmd+O
Browse in bridge	Alt+ctrl+O	Opt+ Cmd+O
Close	Ctrl+W	Cmd+W
Save or save as	Ctrl+S or shift+ctrl+S	Cmd+S or Shift+ Cmd+S
Save for web	Alt+shift+ctrl+S	Opt+shift+ Cmd+S
Revert	Alt+ctrl+Z	Opt+ Cmd+Z
Scripts> other script	Ctrl+F12	Cmd+F12
Package	Alt+shift+ctrl+P	Opt+shift+ Cmd+P
Document setup	Alt+ctrl+P	Opt+ Cmd+P
File info	Alt+shift+ctrl+I	Opt+shift+Cmd+I
Print	Ctrl+P	Cmd+P
Exit	Ctrl+Q	Cmd+Q

EDIT COMMANDS SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Cmd+Z
Redo	Shift+ctrl+Z	Shift+cmd+Z
Cut	Ctrl+X copy	Cmd+X
Copy	Ctrl+C	Cmd+C
Paste	Ctrl+V	Cmd+V
Paste in front	Ctrl+F	Cmd+F
Paste in back	Ctrl+B	Cmd+B
Paste in place	Shift+ctrl+V	Shift+cmd+V
Paste on all artboards	Alt+shift+ctrl+V	Opt+shift+cmd+V
Check spelling	Ctrl+I	Cmd+I
Color settings	Shift+ctrl+K	Shift+cmd+K
Keyboard shortcuts	Alt+shift+ctrl+K	Opt+shift+cmd+K
Preferences > general	Ctrl+K	Cmd+K

VIEWING ARTWORK SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Toggle between screen modes: normal screen mode, full screen mode with menu bar, full screen mode	F	F
Fit imageable area in window	Double click hand tool	Double click hand tool
Magnify 100%	Double click zoom tool	Double click zoom tool
Switch to hand tool (when not in text-edit mode)	spacebar	spacebar
Switch to zoom in magnify mode	Ctrl+ spacebar	Spacebar + Cmd
Switch to zoom in reduce mode	Ctrl+alt+spacebar	Spacebar + Cmd+ option
Move zoom marquee while dragging with the zoom tool	Spacebar	Spacebar
Hide unselected artwork	Ctrl+alt+shift+3	Cmd+option+shift+3
Convert between horizontal and vertical guide	Alt- drag guide	Option- drag guide
Release guide	Ctrl+ shift – double click guide	Cmd+shift – double click guide
Show/hide artboards	Ctrl+shift+H	Cmd+shift+H
Show/hide artboard rulers	Ctrl+alt+R	Cmd+option+R
View all artboards in window	Ctrl+alt+0 (zero)	Cmd+option + 0 (zero)
Paste in place on the active artboard	Ctrl+shift+V	Cmd+shift+V
Exit artboard tool mode	Esc	Esc
Create artboard inside another artboard	Shift-drag	Shift+drag
Select multiple artboards in the artboard panel	Ctrl+click	Cmd+ click
Navigate to next document	Ctrl+F6	Cmd+F6
Navigate to previous document	Ctrl+shift+F6	Cmd+shift+F6
Navigate to next document group	Ctrl+Alt+F6	Cmd+ option+ F6
Navigate to previous document group	Ctrl+alt+shift+F6	Cmd+option+shift+F6
Exit full screen mode	Esc	Esc
Save multiple artboards to Ai CS3 or earlier format	Alt+v

BRUSHES PANEL SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Opne brush options dialog box	Double click brush	Double click brush
Duplicate brush	Drag brush to new brush button	Drag brush to new brush button

SWATCHES PANEL SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Create new spot colour	Ctrl- click new swatch button	Cmd- click new swatch button
Create new global process colour	Ctrl+ shift- click new swatch button	Cmd+ shift- click new swatch button
Replace swatch with another	Alt- drag a swatch over another	Option- drag a swatch over another

FUNCTION COMMANDS SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Invoke help	F1	F1
Cut	F2	F2
Copy	F3	F3
Paste	F4	F4
show/hide brushes panel	F5	F5
Show/hide colour panel	F6	F6
Show/hide layers panel	F7	F7
Create new symbol	F8	F8
Show/hide info panel	Ctrl+F8	Cmd + F8
Show/hide gradient panel	Ctrl+F9	Cmd+F9
Show/hide stroke panel	Ctrl+F10	Cmd+F10
Show/hide attributes panel	Ctrl+F11	Cmd+F11
Revert	F12	F12
Show/hide graphics style panel	Shift+F5	Shift+ F5
Show/hide appearance panel	Shift+F6	Shift+F6
Show hide align panel	Shift+F7	Shift+F7
Show/hide transform panel	Shift+F8	Shift+F8
Show/hide pathfinder panel	Shift+ctrl+F9	Shift+Cmd+F9
Show/hide transparency panel	Shift+ctrl+F10	Shift+cmd+F10
Show/hide symbols panel	Shift+ctrl+F11	Shift+cmd+F11
Show/hide perspective grid	Ctlr+shift+I	Cmd+shift+I

MOVING SELECTIONS SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Move selection in user-defined increments	Right arrow, left arrow, up arrow, or down arrow Shift+ right arrow, left	Right arrow, left arrow, up arrow, or down arrow Shift+ right arrow, left
Move selection in 10x user defined increments	Arrow, up arrow, or down arrow	Arrow, up arrow, or down arrow
Lock all deselected artwork	Ctrl+alt+shift+2	Cmd+opt+shift+2
Constrain movement to 45o angle (except when using Reflect tool)	Hold down shift	Hold down shift

EDITING SHAPES SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Switch pen tool to convert anchor point tool	Alt	Option
Switch between add anchor point tool and delete anchor point tool	Alt	Option
Switch scissors tool to add anchor point tool	Alt	Option
Switch pencil tool to smooth tool	Alt	Option
Move current anchor point while drawing with pen tool	Spacebar- drag	Spacebar – drag
Cut a straight line with knife tool	Alt – drag	Option – drag
Cut 45o or 90o with knife tool	Shift+ alt - drag	Shift + option – drag
Use shape mode buttons in pathfinder panel to create compound paths	Alt+ shape mode	Option + shape mode
Erase unwanted closed regions created using shape builder tool	Alt+ click the closed region	Option + click the closed region
Select shape builder tool	Shift + M	Shift+M
Display rectangular marquee to easily merge multiple paths(when using shape builder tool)	Shift + click + drag	Shift+click+drag

SELECTION COMMANDS SHORTCUTS	WINDOWS	MAC
Switch to last-used selection tool (selection tool, direct tool or group selection tool)	Ctrl	Cmd
Switch between direct selection tool and group selection tool	Alt	Option
Add to selection with selection tool, direct selection tool, group selection tool, live paint section tool or magic wand tool	Shift – click	Shift – click
Subtract a selection with selection tool, direct	Shift – click	Shift – click
Subtract from selection with magic wand tool	Alt - click	Option – click
Add to selection with lasso tool	Shift – drag	Shift – drag
Subtract from selection with lasso tool	Alt – drag	Option – drag
Change pointer to cross hair for lasso tool	Caps lock	Caps lock
Select artwork in active artboard	Ctrl + alt+A	Cmd+ opt+A
Create crop marks around selected object	Alt + c + o
Select behind an object	Ctrl + click x2(click twice)	Cmd + click x2(click twice)
Select behind in isolation mode	Ctrl + click x2(click twice)	Cmd + click x2(click twice)

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