Adobe Illustrator CS3 Keyboard Shortcuts

SHORTCUT	ACTION
Selecting tools
V	Selection tool
A	Direct Selection tool
Y	Magic Wand tool
Q	Lasso tool
P	Pen tool
=+ (plus)	Add Anchor Point tool
=- (minus)	Delete Anchor Point tool
Shft + C	Convert Anchor Point tool
T	Type tool
\ (backslash)	Line Segment tool
M	Rectangle tool
L	Ellipse tool in Adobe Illustrator
B	Paintbrush tool
N	Pencil tool
R	Rotate tool
O	Reflect tool
S	Scale tool
Shft + R	Warp tool
E	Free Transform tool
Shft + S	Symbol Sprayer tool
J	Column Graph tool
U	Mesh tool in Adobe Illustrator
G	Gradient tool
I	Eyedropper tool
W	Blend tool
K	Live Paint Bucket tool
Shft + L	Live Paint Selection tool
Shft + O	Crop Area tool
Shft + K	Slice tool
Shft + E	Eraser tool
C	Scissors tool
H	Hand tool
Z	Zoom tool
Viewing artwork
F	Toggle between screen modes: Standard, Full,Full with menu bar, and Maximized
Double-click Hand tool	Fit imageable area in window
Double-click Zoom tool	Magnify 100%
Spacebar	Switch to Hand tool (when not in text-edit mode)
Ctrl + Spacebar	Switch to Zoom tool in magnify mode
Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar	Switch to Zoom tool in reduce mode
Spacebar	Move Zoom marquee while dragging with theZoom tool
Ctrl + Alt + Shft + 3	Hide unselected artwork
Alt-drag guide	Convert between horizontal and vertical guide in Adobe Illustrator
Ctrl + Shft-double-click guide	Release guide
Drawing
Shft-drag	Constrain a shape's proportions or orientation to: equal height and width for rectangles, rounded rectangles,ellipses, and grids Increments of 45º for line and arc segments Original orientation for polygons, stars, and flares
spacebar-drag	Move a shape while drawing it
Alt-drag	Draw from the center of a shape (except for polygons, stars, and flares)
Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Increase or decrease polygon sides, star points,arc angle, spiral winds, or flare rays
Start dragging, then hold down Ctrl	Keep the inner radius of a star constant
Alt-drag	Keep the sides of a star straight
Start dragging, then hold down C	Switch between an open and closed arc
Start dragging, then hold down F	Flip an arc, keeping the reference point constant
Alt-drag	Add or subtract winds from a spiral while increasing the length of the spiral
Ctrl-drag	Change the decay rate of a spiral
Alt-click Live Trace in the Ctrl panel, or hold down Alt and select a tracing preset.	Add or remove horizontal lines from a rectangular grid or concentric lines from a polar grid
Start dragging, then press the Right Arrow or Left Arrow	Add or remove vertical lines from a rectangular grid or radial lines from a polar grid
Start dragging, then press F	Decrease the skew value for horizontal dividers in a rectangular grid or radial dividers in a polar grid by 10%
Start dragging, then press V	Increase the skew value for horizontal dividers in a rectangular grid or radial dividers in a polar grid by 10%
Start dragging, then press X	Decrease the skew value for vertical dividers in a rectangular grid or concentric dividers in a polar grid by 10%
Start dragging, then press C	Increase the skew value for vertical dividers in a rectangular grid or concentric dividers in a polar grid by 10%
Alt-click Live Trace in the Ctrl panel, or hold down Alt and select a tracing preset.	Create and expand a Live Trace object in one step
Selecting
Ctrl	Switch to last-used selection tool (Selection tool,Direct Selection tool, or Group Selection tool) in Adobe Illustrator
Alt	Switch between Direct Selection tool and Group Selection tool
Shft-click	Add to a selection with Selection tool,Direct Selection tool, Group Selection tool, Live Paint Selection tool, or Magic Wand tool
Shft-click	Subtract a selection with Selection tool, Direct Selection tool, Group Selection tool, or Live Paint Selection tool
Alt-click	Subtract from selection with Magic Wand tool
Shft-drag	Add to selection with Lasso tool
Alt-drag	Subtract from selection with Lasso tool in Adobe Illustrator
Caps Lock	Change pointer to cross hair for selected tools
Moving selections
Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow	Move selection in user-defined increments
Shft + Right Arrow, Left Arrow, Up Arrow, or Down Arrow	Move selection in 10x user-defined increments in Adobe Illustrator
Ctrl + Alt + Shft + 2	Lock all deselected artwork
Hold down Shft	Constrain movement to 45º angle (except whenusing Reflect tool)
Editing shapes
Alt	Switch Pen tool to Convert Anchor Point tool
Alt	Switch between Add Anchor Point tool and Delete Anchor Point tool
Alt	Switch Scissors tool to Add Anchor Point tool
Alt	Switch Pencil tool to Smooth tool in Adobe Illustrator
Spacebar-drag	Move current anchor point while drawing with Pen tool
Alt-drag	Cut a straight line with Knife tool
Shft + Alt-drag	Cut at 45º or 90º with Knife tool
Alt + Shape mode	Turn shape mode buttons in Pathfinder panelinto Pathfinder commands
Painting objects
X	Toggle between fill and stroke in Adobe Illustrator
D	Set fill and stroke to default
Shft + X	Swap fill and stroke
>	Select gradient fill mode
<	Select color fill mode
/ (forward slash)	Select no stroke/fill mode
Shft + Eyedropper tool	Sample color from an image or intermediatecolor from gradient
Alt + Shft-click + Eyedropper tool	Sample style and append appearance of currentlyselected item
Ctrl + / (forward slash)	Add new fill
Ctrl + Alt + / (forward slash)	Add new stroke
Ctrl-click gradient button in Tools panel or Gradient panel	Reset gradient to black and white in Adobe Illustrator
Working with Live Paint groups
Alt-click Live Paint Bucket tool	Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample fill and/or stroke
Alt Shft-click Live Paint Bucket tool	Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample color from an image or intermediate color from a gradient
Shft Live Paint Bucket tool	Select opposite Live Paint Bucket tool options(if Paint Fills and Paint Strokes are currently selected, switch to Paint Fills only)
Double-click + Live Paint Bucket tool	Fill across unstroked edges into adjacent faces
Triple-click Live Paint Bucket tool	Fill all faces that have same fill and strok eall edges that have same stroke in Adobe Illustrator
Alt-click + Live Paint Selection tool	Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample fill and/orstroke
Alt + Shft-click + Live Paint Selectiontool	Switch to Eyedropper tool and sample color froman image or intermediate color from a gradient
Shft-click + Live Paint Selection tool	Add to/subtract from a selection
Double-click + Live Paint Selection tool	Select all connected faces /edges with same fill/stroke
Triple-click Live Paint Selection tool	Select all faces/edges with same fill/stroke in Adobe Illustrator
Transforming objects
Alt-click	Set origin point and open dialog box when using Rotate tool, Scale tool, Reflect tool, or Shear tool
Alt-drag	Duplicate and transform selection when using Selection tool, Scale tool, Reflect tool, or Shear tool
Tilde (~)-drag	Transform pattern (independent of object) when using Selection tool, Scale tool, Reflect tool, or Shear tool in Adobe Illustrator
Working with type
Right Arrow or Left Arrow	Move one character right or left
Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Move up or down one line
Ctrl + Right Arrow or Left Arrow	Move one word right or left
Ctrl + Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Move up or down one paragraph
Shft Ctrl Right Arrow or Left Arrow	Select one word right or left when working with Adobe Illustrator type
Shft + Ctrl + Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Select one paragraph before or after
Shft-click	Extend existing selection
Ctrl + Shft + L, R, or C	Align paragraph left, right, or center
Ctrl + Shft + J	Justify paragraph
Shft + Enter	Insertsoft return
Ctrl + Alt + K	Highlight kerning
Ctrl Shft X	Reset horizontal scale to 100% when working with Adobe Illustrator type
Ctrl + Shft + > or <	Increase or decrease type size
Alt + Up or Down Arrow (horizontal text) or Right or Left Arrow (vertical text)	Increase or decrease leading
Double-click leading icon in the Character panel	Set leading to the type size
Ctrl + Alt + Q	Reset tracking/kerning to 0
Alt + Right or Left Arrow (horizontal text) or Up or Down Arrow (vertical text)	Add or remove space (kerning) between two characters
Ctrl + Alt + Right or Left Arrow (horizontal text) or Up or Down Arrow (vertical text)	Add or remove space (kerning) between charactersby five times the increment value
Alt + Shft + Up or Down Arrow (horizontal text) or Right or Left Arrow (vertical text)	Increase or decrease baseline shift when working with Adobe Illustrator type
Shft	Switch between Type and Vertical Type, AreaType and Vertical Area Type, and Path Type and Vertical Path Typetools
Alt-click Type tool	Switch between Area Type and Type, Path Typeand Area Type, and Vertical Path Type and Vertical Area Type tools
Using panels
Alt-click New button	Set options (except for Actions, Brushes, Swatches,and Symbols panels)
Alt-click Delete button	Delete without confirmation (except for Layerspanel)
Shft Enter	Apply value and keep text box active when using Adobe Illustrator panels
Shft-click	Select range of actions, brushes, layers, links,styles, or swatches
Ctrl-click	Select noncontiguous actions, brushes, layers(same level only), links, styles, or swatches
Tab	Show/Hide all panels when using Adobe Illustrator panels
Shft + Tab	Show/Hide all panels except the Tools panel andControl panel
Actions panel
Alt-click expansion triangle	Expand/Collapse entire hierarchy for action set
Double-click folder icon	Set options for action set
Alt-click Play button	Play a single command in Adobe Illustrator actions panel
Alt-click New Action button	Begin recording actions without confirmation
Brushes panel
Double-click brush	Open Brush Options dialog box
Drag brush to New Brush button	Duplicate brush
Character and Paragraph panels
Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Increase/decrease the selected value bya small increment
Shft + Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Increase/decreases the selected value bya large increment
Ctrl + Alt + Shft + F	Highlight the font name field in the Characterpanel
Color panel
Ctrl-click color bar	Select the complement for the current color fill/stroke
Alt-click color bar	Change the nonactive fill/stroke in Adobe Illustrator color panel
Ctrl + Alt-click color bar	Select the complement for the nonactive fill/stroke
Ctrl + Shft-click color bar	Select the inverse for the current fill/stroke
Ctrl + Shft + Alt-click color bar	Select the inverse for the nonactive fill/stroke
Shft-click color bar	Change the color mode
Shft-drag color slider	Move color sliders in tandem in Adobe Illustrator color panel
Double-click to right of a numerical field	Switch between percentage and 0-255 valuesfor RGB
Gradient panel
Alt-drag	Duplicate color stops
Alt-drag color stop onto another stop	Swap color stops
Alt-click swatch in the Swatches panel	Apply swatch color to active (or selected) colorstop
Layers panel
Alt-click layer name	Select all objects on the layer in Adobe Illustrator
Alt-click eye icon	Show/hide all layers but the selected one
Ctrl-click eye icon	Select Outline/Preview view for the selected layer
Ctrl + Alt-click eye icon	Selects Outline/Preview view for all other layers
Alt-click lock icon	Lock/unlock all other layers
Alt-click expansion triangle	Expand all sublayers to display entire hierarchy
Alt-click New Layer button	Set options as you create new layer
Alt-click New Sublayer button	Set options as you create new sublayer
Ctrl Alt-click New Sublayer button	Place new sublayer at bottom of layer list in Adobe Illustrator
Ctrl-click New Layer button	Place layer at top of layer list
Ctrl + Alt-click New Layer button	Place layer below selected layer
Alt-drag selection	Copy the selection to a new layer, sublayer, orgroup
Swatches panel
Ctrl-click New Swatch button	Create new spot color
Ctrl + Shft-click New Swatch button	Create new global process color
Alt-drag a swatch over another	Replace swatch with another
Ctrl Alt-click in the swatch color list	Select swatch by name (using keyboard) in Adobe Illustrator
Transform panel
Shft + Enter	Apply a value and keep focus in edit field
Alt Enter	Apply a value and copy object when using Adobe Illustrator transform panel
Ctrl Enter	Apply a value and scale option proportionately for width or height
Transparency panel
Alt-click on mask thumbnail	Change mask to grayscale image for editing
Shft-click on mask thumbnail	Disable opacity mask
Shft-click on disabled mask thumbnail	Re-enable opacity mask in Adobe Illustrator Transparency panel
Click opacity field + Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Increase/decrease opacity in 1% increments
Shft-click opacity field + Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Increase/decrease opacity in 10% increments
Function keys
F1	Invoke Help
F2	Cut
F3	Copy
F4	Paste
F5	Show/hide Brushes panel
F6	Show/hide Color panel in Adobe Illustrator
F7	Show/hide Layers panel
F8	Create new symbol
Ctrl F8	Show/hide Info panel in Adobe Illustrator
Ctrl + F9	Show/hide Gradient panel
Ctrl + F10	Show/hide Stroke panel
Ctrl + F11	Show/hide Attributes panel
F12	Revert
Shft + F5	Show/hide Graphic Styles panel
Shft F6	Show/hide Appearance panel in Adobe Illustrator
Shft + F7	Show/hide Align panel
Shft + F8	Show/hide Transform panel
Shft + Ctrl + F9	Show/hide Pathfinder panel
Shft + Ctrl + F10	Show/hide Transparency panel
Shft + Ctrl + F11	Show/hide Symbols panel