Software & Apps Design Photoshop Fill Shortcuts Using keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop saves time by Sue Chastain Writer Sue Chastain is a former Lifewire writer and a graphics software authority with web design and print publishing credentials. She's also skilled in WordPress administration. our editorial process LinkedIn Sue Chastain Updated on April 28, 2020 The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts Introduction Windows Timesavers The Best Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Better Productivity How to Use the Shortcut Alt + Underline Shortcut to Create New Folders Essential Shortcuts for iTunes Mac, iOS & iPad Quick Tricks The Best Mac Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder Mac Startup Keyboard Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App iPad Keyboard Tips and Smart Keyboard Shortcuts Android & iPhone Shortcuts The Best Android Shortcuts You Should Be Using Create and Use iPhone X Shortcuts Email Shortcuts The 30 Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts for 2020 How to Use Yahoo Mail Keyboard Shortcuts The Complete Apple Mail Shortcut List Shortcuts in iOS Mail Delete Shortcut Keys for Popular Email Programs How to Use Outlook.com Keyboard Shortcuts Create Text Snippets With Shortcuts in Mac OS X Mail Online & Browser Shortcuts Top 36 Shortcuts for Edge and IE 11 Keyboard Shortcuts: Google Chrome for Windows Create Web Page Shortcuts in Chrome for Windows Control Safari Windows With Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts for Safari Toolbars Shortcuts for Safari on OS X & Sierra Excel Shortcuts The 23 Best Excel Shortcuts Shortcut Excel's Fill Down Command Shortcut the Current Date/Time Formatting Numbers Adding Worksheets Shortcut to Saving Your Work Creating a Chart MAX Function Shortcut More Office Shortcuts Top 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts The 5 Best Hidden Word Shortcuts Add Shortcut Keys to AutoText Entries Uppercase Shortcut Key How to Reset Keyboard Shortcuts in Word Shortcut to Speed Up PowerPoint Presentations Other Useful Shortcuts The Best Google Docs Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon Changing Linux Mint Cinnamon Shortcuts Fedora GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts Maya Keyboard Shortcuts Create or Reassign Keyboard Shortcuts in MS Office Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop CC Time-Saving Fill Tool Shortcuts in Photoshop The 5 Most Useful GIMP Keyboard Shortcuts How to Use the GIMP Keyboard Shortcut Editor Shortcuts to Type a Tilde Mark Tweet Share Email Using keyboard shortcuts in any program makes projects a bit easier. You don't have to hunt for menus or pause from the task at hand. Once you start using shortcuts, you'll probably forget where the menu item attached to that shortcut is found in the Photoshop menus. You don't have to go to the toolbar or menus to fill a layer in Photoshop. Just commit your favorite shortcuts to memory and let your fingers loose on the keyboard. These instructions apply to Photoshop CS5 and later. Some menu items and shortcuts may be different between versions. Shortcut Formats Shortcuts are listed beside menu items. Depending on your operating system, you may need to press a modifier key. The common modifier keys used with shortcuts are: Command on a Mac or Ctrl on a PCOption on a Mac or Alt on a PCShift For example, to deselect a selection in Photoshop, the keyboard command on a Mac is Command+D. On a PC, it is Ctrl+D. Most of the tools in Photoshop have their own, single-key shortcuts. Here some important ones: Use Shift with these commands to cycle through different types of tools, if they're available. For example, Pressing Shift + M lets you switch between the elliptical and rectangular marquees. V: MoveM: MarqueeL: LassoW: Magic WandC: CropB: BrushG: Paint BucketT: TextU: Shape Keyboard Shortcuts to Fill Layers To fill a Photoshop layer or selected area with the foreground color, use the keyboard shortcut Alt+Backspace in Windows or Option+Delete on a Mac. Fill a layer with the background color using Ctrl+Backspace in Windows or Command+Delete on a Mac. Preserve Transparency With a Shortcut Add the Shift key to the fill layers shortcuts to preserve transparency while you're filling. For example, use Shift+Ctrl+Backspace for background color. This shortcut only fills the areas that contain pixels. Add the Shift key to preserve transparency when filling from history. This shortcut doesn't work in Elements. Open the Edit > Fill Dialog Use Shift+Backspace in Windows or Shift+Delete on a Mac to open the Edit > Fill dialog for other fill options in Photoshop. Swapping or Undoing Colors Use the X key to swap foreground and background colors. Use the D key to reset foreground or background colors back to black and white. Other Handy Shortcuts There are plenty of other keyboard shortcuts for Photoshop, including: Use Ctrl+Alt+Backspace in Windows or Command+Delete on a Mac to fill from the active history state.Pressing a number key when an object is selected increases or decreases opacity by 10 percent. For example, pressing the 1 key reduces the opacity to 10 percent. Pressing the 0 key returns the selection to 100 percent opacity. Press two numbers quickly to set transparency to other numbers, like 56 percent.Using Shift plus any numeric key changes opacity and fills a selected layer. It can also change the opacity and fill of the tool if you're using a drawing tool.Use Command+I on a Mac or Ctrl+I in Windows to invert parts of a layer when you invert colors of a layer mask. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E in Windows or Command+Option+Shift+E on a Mac allows you to keep all of your layers but merge them so that you can convert them into a flattened layer. This shortcut also allows you to duplicate a merged layer.Use Ctrl+Alt+Shift in Windows or Command+Option+Shift on a Mac while you're loading Photoshop if you want to go back to the default settings and user interface. Hold these buttons while the program loads. You can create custom shortcuts by selecting Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! 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