Handy Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts For Working With Type In Photoshop

Cool Photoshop Tricks, Timesaving Tips and Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

In this Photoshop tips & tricks tutorial, we're going to look at some handy tricks and keyboard shortcuts for working with type inside Photoshop. We'll be looking at things like how to quickly select words, lines and paragraphs, how to easily switch between fonts, how to quickly access bold and italic font styles, leading, tracking and kerning, resizing, aligning and justifying text, and more!

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Selecting All Text On A Type Layer

Here's some sample text that I borrowed from our tutorial on image pixels:

Some sample text.

All of this text is on a single Type layer in the Layers palette. To select all the text on a Type layer, simply double-click directly on the Type layer's thumbnail:

Double-clicking directly on the Type layer's thumbnail.

Double-click directly on the Type layer's thumbnail (the "T") to select all text on the layer at once.

All the text is now selected:

All the text on the Type layer is now selected.

After double-clicking on the Type layer's thumbnail, all the text on the layer is selected.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Selecting A Single Word

To quickly select an entire word in Photoshop, simply double-click directly on the word. Here I've double-clicked on the word "photograph":

Double-clicking directly on the word 'photograph' to select it.

Double-click directly on a word to instantly select it.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Selecting An Entire Line Of Text

To quickly select an entire line of text, just triple-click anywhere on the line. Here I've triple-clicked on the second line of text from the top:

Triple-clicking directly on the second line from the top to select it.

Triple-click anywhere on a line of text to select the entire line.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Selecting An Entire Paragraph

To quickly select an entire paragraph of text, quadruple-click anywhere on the paragraph. Here I've quadruple-clicked on the first paragraph to select it:

Quadruple-click anywhere in a paragraph to select it.

Quadruple-click anywhere inside a paragraph to select it.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Instantly Make Text Bold

If you need to make some text bold, simply highlight the text with your mouse and press Ctrl+Shift+B (Win) / Command+Shift+B (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut to make it bold.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift+B" (Win) / "Command+Shift+B" (Mac) to make it bold.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Instantly Italicize Text

To instantly italicize text, simply highlight it and then press Ctrl+Shift+I (Win) / Command+Shift+I (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut to make it italic.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift+I" (Win) / "Command+Shift+I" (Mac) for italics.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Superscript Text

To superscript text, highlight it and then press Ctrl+Shift++ (Win) / Command+Shift++ (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut to superscript text.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift++" (Win) / "Command+Shift++" (Mac) to superscript text.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Subscript Text

To subscript text, highlight it and then press Ctrl+Shift+Alt++ (Win) / Command+Shift+Option++ (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut to subscript text.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift+Alt++" (Win) / "Command+Shift+Option++" (Mac) to subscript text.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Strike-Thru Text

To strike-thru text, highlight it and then press Ctrl+Shift+Alt++ (Win) / Command+Shift+Option++ (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut for strike-thru text.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift+/" (Win) / "Command+Shift+/" (Mac) for strike-thru text.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Adjust Baseline Shift

To raise or lower the baseline shift by 2 points, hold down Shift+Alt (Win) / Shift+Option (Mac) and use the Up or Down arrow keys on your keyboard:

Adjusting the Baseline Shift by 2 points at a time.

Hold down "Shift+Alt" (Win) / "Shift+Option" (Mac) and use the Up or Down arrow keys to adjust the baseline shift by 2 points at a time.

To raise or lower the baseline shift by 10 points, hold down Ctrl+Shift+Alt (Win) / Command+Shift+Option (Mac) and use the Up or Down arrow keys:

Adjusting the Baseline Shift by 10 points at a time.

Hold down "Ctrl+Shift+Alt" (Win) / "Command+Shift+Option" (Mac) and use the Up or Down arrow keys to adjust the baseline shift by 10 points at a time.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Convert Text To All Caps

To quickly convert text into all caps, highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+K (Win) / Command+Shift+K (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut to convert it to all caps.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift+K" (Win) / "Command+Shift+K" (Mac) for all caps.

Type Tricks & Keyboard Shortcuts: Convert Text To Small Caps

To quickly convert text into small caps, highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+H (Win) / Command+Shift+H (Mac):

Highlight the text and use the keyboard shortcut to convert it to small caps.

Highlight the text and press "Ctrl+Shift+H" (Win) / "Command+Shift+H" (Mac) for all caps.

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