Illustrators and graphic designers use Adobe Illustrator to create scalable vector graphics for logos, animations, web, print, and mobile applications. Features include the ability to work with different types of text and symbols, various drawing tools that create natural lines, myriad colour management options, special effects such as blending brush strokes and adding perspective changes to images.
Here, we have provided a list of documents, select tools, view artwork, selections, edit shapes keyboard shorts for Adobe Illustrator so you can work faster with this application on your computer.
Documents Keyboard Shortcuts
- Create a document Ctrl + N
- Create a document from a template Shift + Ctrl + N
- Create a document without opening the New Document dialog box Alt + Ctrl + N
- Open a document Ctrl + O
- Place a file in the document Shift + Ctrl + P
- Open the File Information dialog box Alt + Shift + Ctrl + I
- Open the Document Setup dialog box Alt + Ctrl + P
- Browse in Adobe Bridge Alt + Ctrl + O
- Close the document window Ctrl + W
- Save changes made to the document Ctrl + S
- Open the Save As dialog box Shift + Ctrl + S
- Save a copy of the document Alt + Ctrl + S
- Save the document as script files Ctrl + F12
- Open the Export for screens dialog box Alt + Ctrl + E
- Open the Save For Web dialog box Alt + Shift + Ctrl + S
- Package the document Alt + Shift + Ctrl + P
- Print Ctrl + P
- Exit the application by pressing Ctrl + Q
Select tools Keyboard Shortcuts
- Artboard tool Shift + O
- Selection tool V
- Direct Selection tool A
- Magic Wand tool Y
- Lasso tool Q
- Pen tool P
- Curvature tool Shift + ~
- Blob Brush tool Shift + B
- Add Anchor Point tool + (plus)
- Delete Anchor Point tool - (minus)
- Switch to Anchor Point tool Shift + C
- Type tool T
- Touch Type tool Shift + T
- Line Segment tool \ (backslash)
- Rectangle tool M
- Ellipse tool L
- Paintbrush tool B
- Pencil tool N
- Shaper tool Shift + N
- Rotate tool R
- Reflect tool O
- Scale tool S
- Warp tool Shift + R
- Width Tool Shift+W
- Free Transform tool E
- Shape Builder Tool Shift+M
- Perspective Grid Tool Shift+P
- Perspective Selection Tool Shift+V
- Symbol Sprayer tool Shift + S
- Column Graph tool J
- Mesh tool U
- Gradient tool G
- Eyedropper tool I
- Blend tool W
- Live Paint Bucket tool K
- Live Paint Selection tool Shift + L
- Slice tool Shift + K
- Eraser tool Shift + E
- Scissors tool C
- Hand tool H
- Zoom tool Z
- Switch to Smooth tool while using Blob Brush tool Press Alt
View Artwork Keyboard Shortcuts
- Toggle between screen modes: Normal Screen Mode, Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar, Full Screen Mode F
- Fit imageable area in window Double-click Hand tool
- Magnify 100% Double-click Zoom tool or press Ctrl + 1
- Switch to Hand tool (when not in text-edit mode) Spacebar
- Switch to Zoom tool in magnify mode Ctrl + Spacebar
- Switch to Zoom tool in reduce mode Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar
- Move Zoom marquee while dragging with the Zoom tool Spacebar
- Hide bounding box Shift + Ctrl + B
- Hide unselected artwork Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 3
- Convert between horizontal and vertical guide Alt-drag guide
- Release guide Ctrl + Shift-double-click guide
- Show document template Ctrl + H
- Show/Hide artboards Ctrl + Shift + H
- Show/Hide artboard rulers Ctrl + R
- Show transparency grid Shift + Ctrl + D
- View all artboards in window Ctrl + Alt + 0 (zero)
- Paste in place on the active artboard Ctrl + Shift+V
- Exit Artboard tool mode Esc
- Create artboard inside another artboard Shift-drag
- Select multiple artboards in the Artboards panel Ctrl + click
- Navigate to next document Ctrl + F6
- Navigate to previous document Ctrl + Shift + F6
- Navigate to next document group Ctrl + Alt + F6
- Navigate to previous document group Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F6
- Toggle between Outline and GPU Preview of the document Ctrl + Y
- Toggle between GPU and CPU Preview of the document Ctrl + E
- View the document in Overprint Preview mode Alt + Shift + Ctrl + Y
- View the document in Pixel Preview mode Alt + Ctrl + Y
- Exit Full Screen mode Esc
- Zoom in Ctrl + =
- Zoom out Ctrl + -
- Hide guides Ctrl + ;
- Lock guides Alt + Ctrl + ;
- Make guides Ctrl + 5
- Release guides Alt + Ctrl + 5
- Show/ hide smart guides Ctrl + U
- Show/ hide perspective grid Ctrl + Shift + I
- Show grid Ctrl + '
- Snap to grid Shift + Ctrl + '
- Snap to point Alt + Ctrl + '
Selections Keyboard Shortcuts
- Switch to last-used selection tool (Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, or Group Selection tool) Ctrl + `
- Switch between Direct Selection tool and Group Selection tool Alt
- Add to a selection with Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, Group Selection tool, Live Paint Selection tool, or Magic Wand tool Shift-click
- Subtract a selection with Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, Group Selection tool, or LIve Paint Selection tool Shift-click
- Subtract from selection with Magic Wand tool Alt-click
- Add to selection with Lasso tool Shift-drag
- Subtract from selection with Lasso tool Alt-drag
- Change pointer to cross hair for Lasso tool Caps Lock
- Select artwork in active artboard Ctrl + Alt + A
- Create crop marks around selected object Alt + C + O
- Select all Ctrl + A
- Deselect Shift + Ctrl + A
- Reselect Ctrl + 6
- Select the object above the current selection Alt + Ctrl + ]
- Select the object below the current selection Alt + Ctrl + [
- Select behind an object Press Ctrl+click twice
- Select behind in isolation mode Ctrl+click twice
- Group the selected artwork Ctrl + G
- Ungroup the selected artwork Shift + Ctrl + G
- Lock a selection Ctrl + 2
- Unlock a selection Alt + Ctrl + 2
- Hide a selection Ctrl + 3
- Show all selections Alt + Ctrl + 3
- Move selection in user-defined increments Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow
- Move selection in 10x user-defined increments Shift + Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow
- Lock all deselected artwork Ctrl + Alt + Shift + 2
- Constrain movement to 45° angle (except when using Reflect tool) Hold down Shift
- Bring a selection forward Ctrl + ]
- Move a selection to the front Shift + Ctrl + ]
- Send a selection backward Ctrl + [
- Move a selection to the back Shift + Ctrl + [
- Select only the objects that are completely inside the marquee Press E while dragging the marquee
Edit Shapes Keyboard Shortcuts
- Switch Pen tool to Convert Anchor Point tool Alt
- Switch between Add Anchor Point tool and Delete Anchor Point tool Alt
- Switch Scissors tool to Add Anchor Point tool Alt
- Switch Pencil tool to Smooth tool Alt (Enable Alt key toggles to Smooth Tool from Pencil Tool Options)
- Move current anchor point while drawing with Pen tool Spacebar-drag
- Cut a straight line with Knife tool Alt-drag
- Cut at 45° or 90° with Knife tool Shift + Alt-drag
- Use shape mode buttons in Pathfinder panel to create compound paths Alt + Shape mode
- Erase unwanted closed regions created using Shape Builder tool Alt + click the closed region
- Select the Shape Builder tool Shift + M
- Display rectangular marquee to easily merge multiple paths (when using Shape Builder tool) Shift + click + drag
- Increase the intensity of symbols (when using Symbolism tool) Shift + }
- Decrease the intensity of symbols (when using Symbolism tool) Shift + {
- Blend objects Alt + Ctrl + B
- Finish adding objects to the blend Alt + Shift + Ctrl + B
- Distort objects using a warp-shaped envelope Alt + Ctrl + Shift + W
- Distort objects using a mesh as the shape of the envelope Alt + Ctrl + M
- Distort objects using another object as the shape of the envelope Alt + Ctrl + C
- Toggle between fill and stroke X
- Set fill and stroke to default D
- Swap fill and stroke Shift + X
- Select gradient fill mode >
- Hide gradient annotator (when using the Gradient tool) Alt + Ctrl + G
- Select color fill mode <
- Select no stroke/fill mode / (forward slash)
- Sample color from an image or intermediate color from gradient Shift + Eyedropper tool
- Sample style and append appearance of currently selected item Alt + Shift-click + Eyedropper tool
- Add new fill Ctrl + / (forward slash)
- Add new stroke Ctrl + Alt + / (forward slash)
- Reset gradient to black and white Ctrl-click gradient button in Tools panel or Gradient panel
- Make Live Paint (when using the Paint Bucket tool) Alt + Ctrl + X
- Decrease Bristle brush size [
- Increase Bristle brush size ]
