photoshop creative
Apr
29

Photoshop Tip: Select secondary tools with Shift

Posted in:
Tips & Tutorials, by Mark White
April 29, 2012

Quick-select hidden tools in Photoshop to speed up your editing workflow

Many of the tabs in the Toolbar hide more than one tool, such as the Marquee selection options.

To access these while working on an image, hold the Shift key and press the shortcut key multiple times to cycle through the other tools within that tab.

There is an alternative to this. If you go to Edit>Preferences>General and uncheck the box that says Use Shift Key For Tool Switch, you can cycle through to the next tool by just pressing the keyboard shortcut letter again.

shortcuts tools

  • Carolyn Summers

    What is the keyboard shortcut to create a new layer with a window that pops up with an option for 50% grey?

  • Simon Skellon

    hi Carolyn- This is Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+N for the New Layer box, then set Mode to Overlay (or Soft Light etc) to view the option for a 50% grey layer.