ILLUSTRATOR SHORTCUT KEY

  ILLUSTRATOR SHORTCUT KEY

Files

Ctrl-N

New Document dialog box

Ctrl-O

Open dialog box in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-W

Close

Ctrl-S

Save

Ctrl-Shft-S

Save As dialog box in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Alt-S

Save a Copy dialog box

Ctrl-Alt-P

Document Setup dialog box

Ctrl-Q

Quit/Exit Illustrator

Tools

V

Selection

A

Direct-selection

Y

Lasso

Q

Direct-select Lasso

P

Pen

T

Type

L

Ellipse

M

Rectangle

B

Paintbrush

N

Pencil

R

Rotate

S

Scale

O

Reflect

E

Free Transform

W

Blend

J

Column Graph

U

Gradient Mesh

G

Gradient

I

Eyedropper

C

Scissors

H

Hand

Z

Zoom

+

Add-anchor-point

-

Delete-anchor-point

Shft-C

Convert-anchor-point

Dialog boxes

Tab

Highlight next field/option in Adobe Illustrator dialog boxes

Shft-Tab

Highlight previous field/option

Esc

Cancel

Enter

OK

Palettes

Tab

Show/hide all palettes

Shft-Tab

Show/hide all palettes except Toolbox

Enter

Apply value in palette field in Adobe Illustrator

Shft-Enter

Apply value in field, keep field selected

Tab

Highlight next field (pointer in palette)

Shft-Tab

Highlight previous field (pointer in palette)

Views

Ctrl-Y

Preview/Outline view toggle

Ctrl-Alt-Y

Pixel Preview view on/off in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-Y

Overprint Preview view on/off

Caps lock

Use crosshair pointer (drawing tools)

Ctrl-H

Show/Hide Edges

Double-click Hand tool

Display entire artboard in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-0

Fit In Window

Double-click Zoom tool or Ctrl-1

100% view size

Alt-click

Zoom out (Zoom tool selected)

Ctrl-Spacebar-click or Ctrl-+

Zoom in (any tool selected)

Ctrl-Alt-Spacebar-click or Ctrl--(minus)

Zoom out (any tool selected)

Drag with Zoom tool, then Spacebar-drag

Adjust Zoom marquee position

Drag Zoom tool or Ctrl-drag in Navigator palette

Zoom in on specific area of artboard

Spacebar

Use Hand tool (any tool selected)

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-3

Hide all unselected objects in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Alt-3

Show All

Ctrl-Shft-W

Show/Hide Template(s)

Ctrl-Shft-B

Show/Hide Bounding Box

Ctrl-Shft-D

Show/Hide Transparency Grid

F with menu bar/Full screen mode

Standard screen mode/Full screen mode

Undo/redo

Ctrl-Z

Undo last operation in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Shft-Z

Redo last undone operation

Create objects

Alt-drag

Draw object from center using Rectangle, Rounded Rectangle, or Ellipse tool in Adobe Illustrator

Shft-drag

Draw circle with Rectangle or Rounded Rectangle tool; square with Ellipse tool

Polygon, Star, Spiral tools

Spacebar

Move object as you draw with Polygon, Star, or Spiral tool

Shft

Constrain orientation as you draw with Polygon, Star, or Spiral tool

Up or down arrow

Add or subtract sides as you draw with the Polygon tool, points as you draw with the Star tool, or segments as you draw with the Spiral tool

Alt

Align shoulders as you draw with Star tool

Ctrl

Increase or decrease outer radius as you draw with Star tool or decay as you draw with Spiral tool

Select/Copy

Ctrl-6

Select Again (last used command on Edit menu > Select submenu)

Ctrl

Use last-used selection tool (any non-selection tool chosen)

Ctrl-Tab

Toggle between Selection tool and Direct-selection tool or Group-selection tool

Alt

Toggle between Group-selection and Direct-selection tools

Ctrl-A

Select All in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Shft-A

Deselect All

Ctrl-Alt-[-click

Select an object hidden behind another object

Shft-drag

Add to selection with either lasso tool in Adobe Illustrator

Alt-drag

Subtract from selection with either lasso tool

Move

Double-click Selection tool

Move dialog box

Alt-drag

Drag copy of object

Any arrow key

Move selected object the current Keyboard Increment (Preferences > General)

Shft-arrow key

Move selection 10x Keyboard Increment in Adobe Illustrator

Shft

Constrain movement to multiple of 45º

Clipboard

Ctrl-X

Cut

Ctrl-C

Copy

Ctrl-V

Paste

Ctrl-F

Paste In Front

Ctrl-B

Paste In Back

Transform

Alt-click

Transform tool dialog/set origin (any transform tool except Free Transform)

Shft-drag

Transform object along multiple of 45º (Shear, Reflect, Rotate tool)

Shft-drag

Scale object uniformly (Scale, Free Transform tools)

F-11

Show/Hide Attributes palette in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-D

Transform Again

~ drag

Transform pattern fill, not object(any transform tool)

Start dragging, then Alt-drag

Transform copy of object (any transform tool) in Adobe Illustrator

Modify value, then press Alt-Enter

Transform copy of object (Transform palette)

Modify W or H value, then press trl-Enter

Scale object uniformly (Transform palette)

Ctrl-Alt-D

Transform Each dialog box

Bounding box

Shft-drag handle

Scale object uniformly using bounding box(Free Transform or Selection tool)

Alt-drag handle

Resize object from center using bounding box in Adobe Illustrator

Blends

Ctrl-Alt-B

Blend > Make

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-B

Blend > Release

Free Transform tool

Alt-drag a handle

Transform from center

Start dragging corner handle, then Ctrl-drag

Distort

Start dragging side handle, then Ctrl-drag

Skew

Start dragging corner handle, then Ctrl-Alt-Shft-

Make Perspective

Pen/Reshape

Alt

Add-anchor-point and Delete-anchor-point tool toggle (either selected)

Alt

Use Add-anchor-point tool (Scissors tool selected)

Alt

Use Convert-anchor-point tool (Pen tool selected)

Alt

Smooth and Pencil tools toggle in Adobe Illustrator

Shft-drag

Constrain direction line angle to multiple of 45º with Direct-selection or Convert-anchor-point tool

Ctrl-J

Join two selected endpoints

Ctrl-Alt-J

Average two selected endpoints

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-J

Average and Join two selected endpoints

Drag, then Alt-release

Close path while drawing with Pencil or Paintbrush tool

Alt-drag tool

Cut in a straight line with Knife tool in Adobe Illustrator

Alt-Shft

Cut in 45º increment with Knife tool

Fill & Stroke

F-10

Show/Hide Stroke palette

D

Default fill/stroke

Alt

Eyedropper and Paint Bucket tool toggle (either one selected)

X

Fill/Stroke box toggle (Toolbox and Color palette)

< (comma)

Apply last-used solid color in Adobe Illustrator

/

Apply fill/stroke of None

Color palette

Ctrl-I or F-6

Show/Hide Color palette

Alt-click or drag color spectrum bar on Color pale

Change fill color if Stroke box on Toolbox is selected, or vice versa

Shft-click color spectrum bar

Cycle through color models in Adobe Illustrator Color pallete

Shft-X

Swap fill/stroke

Swatches palette

Ctrl-Alt-click list, start typing name name

Select a swatch name in Adobe Illustrator Swatches pallete

Layers

F-7

Show/Hide Layers palette in Adobe Illustrator

Grouping

Ctrl-G

Group

Ctrl-Shft-G

Ungroup

Restacking (keyboard)

Ctrl-Shft-]

Bring To Front

Ctrl-Shft-[

Send To Back in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-]

Bring Forward

Ctrl-[

Send Backward

Select

Click selection square or Alt-click name

Select layer, sublayer, group, or object

Shft-click square

Add to selection in Adobe Illustrator

Alt-drag-square

Copy selection to new layer, sublayer, group

Views

Alt-click eye icon

Hide/show all other layers

Ctrl-click eye icon

View a layer in Outline/Preview view

Ctrl-Alt-click eye icon

View all other layers in Outline/ Preview view

Alt-click blank box in second column

Lock/unlock all other layers in Adobe Illustrator

Create top-level layers

Ctrl-L

Create layer above currently selected layer

Ctrl-click New Layer button

Create layer at top of list

Ctrl-Alt-click New Layer button

Create layer below currently selected layer

Lock/unlock (keyboard)

Ctrl-2

Lock (selected object)

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-2

Lock all unselected objects

Ctrl-Alt-2

Unlock All

Type

Ctrl-T

Show/Hide Character palette

Ctrl-M

Show/Hide Paragraph palette

Enter

Hard Return

Shft-Enter

Soft Return

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-M

Highlight font field on Character palette

Ctrl-Shft-T

Show/hide Tab Ruler palette

Ctrl-Shft-(hyphen key)

Force hyphenate a word in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Shft-O

Create Outlines

Type tools

Alt

Use Area Type tool (Type tool selected, over open path)

Alt

Use Path Type tool (Type tool selected, over closed path)

Shft with any type tool

Switch to vertical/horizontal type tool equivalent as you create type in Adobe Illustrator

Double-click with any selection tool

Switch to Type tool when selecting type block

Selecting type

Double-click

Select a word

Triple-click

Select a paragraph in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-A

Select all the type in a block

Ctrl-left/right arrow

Move insertion pointer left/right one word

Up/Down arrow

Move insertion pointer up/down one line

Alignment

Ctrl-Shft-L

Align left

Ctrl-Shft-C

Align center

Ctrl-Shft-R

Align right

Ctrl-Shft-J

Justify

Ctrl-Shft-F

Justify last line

Point size

Ctrl-Shft->

Increase point size in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Shft-<

Decrease point size

Leading

Alt-down arrow

Increase leading

Alt-up arrow

Decrease leading

Double-click leading button on Character palette

Set leading to the current font size in Adobe Illustrator

Horizontal scale

Ctrl-Shft-X

Reset horizontal scale to 100%

Kerning/tracking

Alt-right arrow

Increase kerning/tracking in Adobe Illustrator

Alt-left arrow

Decrease kerning/tracking

Ctrl-Alt right arrow

Increase kerning/tracking 5x

Ctrl-Alt left arrow

Decrease kerning/tracking 5x

Ctrl-Shft-Q

Reset kerning/tracking to 0

Baseline shift

Alt-Shft up arrow

Increase baseline shift

Alt-Shft down arrow

Decrease baseline shift

Ctrl-Alt-Shft up arrow

Increase baseline shift 5x

Ctrl-Alt-Shft down arrow

Decrease baseline shift 5x

Curly quotes

Alt-0146 (numeric keypad only)

'

Alt-0145

'

Alt-0148

"

Alt-0147

"

Brushes

F-5

Show/Hide Brushes palette in Adobe Illustrator

Combine Paths

Ctrl-8

Compound Path > Make

Ctrl-Alt-8

Compound Path > Release

Ctrl-4

Repeat last-used Pathfinder command in Adobe Illustrator

Gradients

F-9

Show/Hide Gradient palette in Adobe Illustrator

> (period)

Reapply last-used gradient

Ctrl-click thumbnail

Reset gradient palette to black and white

Alt-drag

Duplicate color stop

Alt-click swatch

Apply swatch color to active color stop in Adobe Illustrator

Shft-drag with Gradient Mesh tool

Move mesh point along one of its lines

Shft-click with Gradient Mesh tool

Add mesh point using adjacent mesh color

Alt-click with Gradient Mesh tool

Remove mesh point

Clipping masks

Ctrl-7

Clipping Mask > Make

Ctrl-Alt-7

Clipping Mask > Release

Transparency palette

Alt-click mask thumbnail

View only opacity mask in mask edit mode in Adobe Illustrator Transparency palette

Shft-click mask thumbnail

Disable opacity mask

Effects

Ctrl-Shft-E

Apply Last Effect

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-E

Last Effect (reopen last effect dialog box)

Appearances

Ctrl-/

Add new fill

Ctrl-Alt-/

Add new stroke

Alt-Shft-click with Eyedropper

Sample style and append appearance of selected object in Adobe Illustrator

Filters

Ctrl-E

Apply Last Filter in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Alt-E

Last Filter (reopen last filter dialog box)

Precision Tools

Ctrl-R

Show/Hide Rulers

Ctrl-;

Show/Hide Guides

Ctrl-5

Make Guides

Click selection square on Layers palette, then Ctr

Release Guides

Ctrl-Shft- double-click guide

Release a guide

Alt-drag new guide

Convert guide between horizontal/vertical orientation in Adobe Illustrator

Ctrl-Alt-;

Lock/Unlock Guides

Ctrl-"

Show/Hide Grid

Ctrl-Shft-"

Snap To Grid

Ctrl-Alt-"

Snap To Point (Pixel Preview off); Snap To Pixel (Pixel Preview on)

Ctrl-U

Smart Guides

Shft-drag with tool

Constrain Measure tool to multiple of 45º

Preferences

Ctrl-K

General Preferences dialog box in Adobe Illustrator

Export/Print

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-S

Save for Web

Ctrl-Shft-P

Page Setup/Print Setup dialog box

Ctrl-P

Print dialog box in Adobe Illustrator

F-8

Show/Hide Info

Shortcuts/Help

Ctrl-Alt-Shft-K

Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box in Adobe Illustrator

F1

Illustrator Help (online)