Selecting and Moving Objects

To work with an object, you ll typically need to select it. Photoshop offers plenty of keyboard shortcuts for selecting and moving objects.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Selecting Items

Windows [Ctrl]-[A], Mac [ z ]-[A]

Select all items

Windows [Ctrl]-[D], Mac [ z ]-[D]

Deselect the current selection

Windows [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[D], Mac [ z ]-[Shift]-[D]

Reselect the previous selection

After deselecting a selection and realizing you still need to work with it, you can press this shortcut to reselect the selection.

Windows [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[I], [Shift]-[F7], Mac [ z ]-[Shift]-[I], [Shift]-[F7]

Invert the selection

Windows [Spacebar]-drag, Mac [Spacebar]-drag

Reposition the marquee while creating a selection

This shortcut works with any marquee tool except the Single Column Marquee tool and the Single Row Marquee tool.

Windows [Shift]-drag, Mac [Shift]-drag

Add to the selection

This shortcut works when any of the selection tools is active.

Windows [Alt]-drag, Mac [Option]-drag

Subtract from the selection

This shortcut works when any of the selection tools is active.

Windows [Shift]-drag, Mac [Shift]-drag

Constrain the marquee

Hold down [Shift] to constrain the Rectangular Marquee tool to a square and the Elliptical Marquee tool to a circle. This shortcut works when no other selections are active.

Windows [Alt]-drag, Mac [Option]-drag

Draw the marquee from the center

This shortcut works when no other selections are active.

Windows [Alt]-[Shift]-drag, Mac [Option]-[Shift]-drag

Draw a constrained marquee from the center

Hold down [Shift] to constrain the Rectangular Marquee tool to a square and the Elliptical Marquee tool to a circle.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Moving Objects

Windows [Ctrl], Mac [ z ]

Switch to the Move tool

This shortcut works when a tool other than the Hand tool, the Slice tool, the Path tool, the Shape tool, the Rectangle tool, or a Pen tool is selected.

Windows [Alt]-drag, Mac [Option]-drag

Switch from the Magnetic Lasso tool to the Lasso tool

Windows [Alt]-click, Mac [Option]-click

Switch from the Magnetic Lasso tool to the Polygonal Lasso tool

Windows [Enter], Mac [Return]

Apply the Magnetic Lasso

This shortcut works when the Magnetic Lasso is selected.

Windows [Esc], Mac [Esc]

Cancel the Magnetic Lasso

This shortcut works when the Magnetic Lasso is selected.

Windows []] and Magnetic Lasso, Mac []] and Magnetic Lasso

Increase the detection width

Windows [[] and Magnetic Lasso, Mac [[] and Magnetic Lasso

Decrease the detection width

Windows [Alt]-drag with Move tool, Mac [Option]-drag with Move tool

Move a copy of the selection

Windows [], [], [], [], Mac [], [], [], []

Move the selection area by one pixel in the direction of the arrow pressed

This shortcut and the next move the selection area, not the selection.

Windows [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], Mac [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[]

Move the selection area by ten pixels in the direction of the arrow pressed

Windows [], [], [], [] and Move tool, Mac [], [], [], [] and Move tool

Move the selection by one pixel in the direction of the arrow pressed

Windows [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[] and Move tool, Mac [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[], [Shift]-[] and Move tool

Move the selection by ten pixels in the direction of the arrow pressed

Windows [Ctrl]-[], [Ctrl]-[], [Ctrl]-[], [Ctrl]-[], Mac [ z ]-[], [ z ]-[], [ z ]-[], [ z ]-[]

Move all objects on the layer by one pixel

This shortcut works only when there is no selection on the layer.

Windows [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[], [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[], [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[], [Ctrl]-[Shift]-[], Mac [ z ]-[Shift]-[], [ z ]-[Shift]-[], [ z ]-[Shift]-[], [ z ]-[Shift]-[]

Move all objects on the layer by ten pixels

This shortcut works only when there is no selection on the layer.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Cropping

Windows [Enter] and Crop tool, Mac [Return] and Crop tool

Accept the cropping

Windows [Esc] and Crop tool, Mac [Esc] and Crop tool

Cancel the cropping

Windows [/], Mac [/]

Toggle the crop shield on and off