Keyboard shortcuts are the best way to speed up and increase productivity for any task, as they limit your time spent opening things. These Adobe Illustrator shortcuts will literally make your workflow easy.

You might have been using shortcut keys for your daily windows task but here we will see a better way to task your Adobe Illustrator workflow.
You may use Illustrator daily for graphic designing or something else or sometimes for basic graphic designing . After utilizing these shortcuts you will be working more efficiently at your workflow.
Maybe you are doing the same things that I was doing before knowing these shortcuts like you find a tool and click it with a mouse. How good it would be if there is a shortcut key that exists for a particular task. First, this will seem hard, but after using these Adobe Illustrator shortcuts you will find it very easy.
By pressing a few keys as Adobe Illustrator shortcuts you can select tools, manipulating images, and can even adjust your project’s canvas. All of these shortcut keys will effectively run on both Windows and Mac systems but for some shortcut keys, it could be different. Whereby Mac has a command key and Windows has a CTRL-key.
I assure you that after this article you won’t need to search for Adobe Illustrator shortcuts.
Adobe Illustrator shortcuts
Basic Shortcuts
1. Zoom In and Zoom out
Z (for Windows and Mac both)
Or
Alt + Mouse Wheel (for windows)
Option + Mouse Wheel (For Mac)
2. To save work in .ai
Control + S (for Windows)
Command + S (for Mac)
3. To save as
Control + Alt + S (for Windows)
Command + Option + S (for Mac)
4. To create new .ai file
Control + N (for Windows)
Command + N (for Mac)
5. To create new canvas
Control + N (for Windows)
Command + N (for Mac)
6. To open existing .ai file or Open file
Control + O (for Windows)
Command + O (for Mac)
7. To open PNG or Jpg file in your .ai file
Control + O (for Windows)
Command + O (for Mac)
8. Undo
Control + Z (for Windows)
Command + Z (for Mac)
9. Redo
Control+ Shift + Z (for Windows)
Command + Shift + Z (for Mac)
10. Copy
Control + C (for Windows)
Command + C (for Mac)
11. Cut
Control + X (for Windows)
Command + X (for Mac)
12. Paste
Control + V (for Windows)
Command + V (for Mac)
13. Paste in front
Ctrl + F (for Windows)
Command + F (for Mac)
14. Paste at back
Ctrl + B (for Windows)
Command + B (for Mac)
15. Paste on all artboards
Alt + Shift + Ctrl + B (for Windows)
Option + Shift + Command + B (for Mac)
16. To check spelling
Ctrl + I (for Windows)
Command + I (for Mac)
17. To check spelling
Shift + Ctrl + K (for Windows)
Shift + Command + K (for Mac)
18. Open the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box
Alt + Shift + Ctrl + K (for Windows)
Option + Shift + Command + K (for Mac)
Selecting and moving || Shortcuts for layers:
19. To move shape
Spacebar+Drag (for Windows and Mac both)
20. To access selecting or direction selection tool
CTRL or V (for Windows)
Command or V (for Mac)
21. To make copy (duplicate) while dragging
Alt (for Windows)
Opion (for Mac)
22. To move layers in a perfectly horizontal or vertical line
Shift (for Windows)
Shift (for Mac)
23. To move selected layer in moderate level
Any arrow key – up, down, left, right (for Windows or Mac)
24. To move selected layer in 10 points
Any arrow key – up, down, left, right (for Windows or Mac)
25. To send selected layer forward
Ctrl + [ (for WIndows)
Command + ] (for Mac)
26. To send selected layer backword
Ctrl + [ (for WIndows)
Command + ] (for Mac)
Shortcuts for tools
Shortcuts | Windows | macOS | |
---|---|---|---|
27 | For Artboard tool | Shift + O | Shift + O |
28 | To select the selection tool | V | V |
29 | Direct Selection tool | A | A |
30 | Magic wand tool | Y | Y |
31 | For lasso tool | Q | Q |
32 | To select the pen tool | P | P |
33 | For curvature tool | Shift + ~ | Shift + ~ |
34 | To access Blob Brush tool | Shift + B | Shift + B |
35 | To Add Anchor Point tool | + (plus) | + (plus) |
36 | To delete Anchor Point tool | – (minus) | – (minus) |
37 | For Switch to Anchor Point tool | Shift + C | Shift + C |
38 | Access Type tool | T | T |
39 | To access the Touch Type tool | Shift + T | Shift + T |
40 | For Line Segment tool | \ (backslash) | \ (backslash) |
41 | For Rectangle tool | M | M |
42 | For Ellipse tool | L | L |
43 | Select Paintbrush tool | B | B |
44 | Selection of Pencil tool | N | N |
45 | Select Shaper tool | Shift + N | Shift + N |
46 | Access Rotate tool | R | R |
47 | For Reflect tool | O | O |
48 | To select the Scale tool | S | S |
49 | To access Warp tool | Shift + R | Shift + R |
50 | Access Width Tool | Shift+W | Shift+W |
51 | To access Free Transform tool | E | E |
52 | Shape Builder Tool | Shift+M | Shift+M |
53 | Perspective Grid Tool | Shift+P | Shift+P |
54 | Perspective Selection Tool | Shift+V | Shift+V |
55 | Access Symbol Sprayer tool | Shift + S | Shift + S |
56 | Shortcut for Column Graph tool | J | J |
57 | To access Mesh tool | U | U |
58 | Use Gradient tool | G | G |
59 | To use Eyedropper tool | I | I |
60 | Shortcut for Blend tool | W | W |
61 | Access Live Paint Bucket tool | K | K |
62 | To access Slice tool | Shift + K | Shift + K |
63 | Shortcut to use Eraser tool | Shift + E | Shift + E |
64 | For Scissors tool | C | C |
65 | Access Zoom tool | Z | Z |
So these are all useful Adobe Illustrator Shortcuts.
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