Who doesn’t love shortcuts? They get you to where you’re going faster so you can spend more time enjoying the destination. That’s why we’ve assembled this list of PicMonkey keyboard shortcuts. Use them to get to your photo editing and design destinations on the quick—because sometimes it isn’t about the journey.
PicMonkey keyboard shortcuts
| SHORTCUT | MAC | PC |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | CMD + Z | CTRL + Z |
| Redo | CMD + SHIFT + Z | CTRL + SHIFT + Z |
| Cut | CMD + X | CTRL + X |
| Copy | CMD + C | CTRL + C |
| Paste | CMD + V | CTRL + V |
| Delete object | DELETE | DELETE |
| Move canvas | SPACE + drag | SPACE + drag |
| Move 1 pixel | Arrow keys | Arrow keys |
| Move 10 pixels | SHIFT + arrow keys | SHIFT + arrow keys |
| Multi-select | SHIFT + click layer | SHIFT + click layer |
| Group | CMD + G | CTRL + G |
| Ungroup | SHIFT + CMD + G | SHIFT + CTRL + G |
| Deselect | ESC | ESC |
| Zoom in | + | + |
| Zoom out | - | - |
| Rotate by 15° | SHIFT + rotate handle | SHIFT + rotate handle |
| Apply effect | CMD + RETURN | CTRL + RETURN |
| Select all | CMD + A | CTRL + A |
| Duplicate selection | CMD + D | CTRL + D |
| Bypass alignment | CTRL + move object | CTRL + move object |
| Move selection on locked axis | SHIFT + move | SHIFT + move |
| Skew (not scale) object from bounding box corners | SHIFT + drag corner | SHIFT + drag corner |
View control shortcuts
Sometimes you wanna look at your images close up, so that you can get super detailed with your edits. Other times, you need to see the whole thing and assess. These keyboard shortcuts help you get juuuust the right view of your project-in-progress.
– (minus key) lets you zoom out a little.
+ (plus key) lets you zoom in a bit.
Shift and + (shift and the plus key) lets you set your view to exactly 100 percent.
Shift and – (shift and the minus key) fits your canvas to your window, so that you can get a good look at it supa fast.
Deleting, copying, and duplicating
Maybe you’ve customized a graphic to be just the way you want it—perfect size, killer colors, just-right degree of rotation—and you think to yourself, “Wow! I need to cover my entire canvas in these graphics!” Well, we have a few ways that you can just do that, lightning-fast. If you decide that maybe you’ve made a few too many copies of your awesome graphic (or text, or whatever other design element you want) you can delete it with the tap of one key.
Delete selection: Click an undesired design element and tap the delete key to get rid of it.
Copy selection: Use command (or control for windows) and C to copy graphics, text, etc.
Paste copied selection: After you’ve copied something, use command/control and V to paste.
Duplicate selection: Wanna skip copying and pasting, and make more of something even faster? Use command/control and D to duplicate.
Cut: Get rid of something, but reserve the right to bring it back if you change your mind with command/control and X.
Undo: No matter what you’re doing on your computer, command/control and Z is a combo you wanna know. Use it to undo your last action.
Redo: Do whatcha just did, all over again with the shift, command/control, and Z key combo.
Selecting and grouping
How much do we love grouping? Let us count the ways—and then consolidate those ways into one group, so that we can easily apply the same edits and effects to all of them. These New PicMonkey keyboard shortcuts make selecting the stuff you want to edit (and nothing else) a breeze.
Multi-select: Choose more than one design element, hold the shift key while you click the things you want.
Select all: Quickly select all the stuff on your canvas with command/control and the A keys.
Group: Once you have the parts of your design that you want to work with selected, condense them into one group with command/control and the G keys. Now you can easily apply edits to everything in that group at once.
Ungroup: If you’ve grouped design elements and now want to work with them individually, you can ungroup by clicking the group and then the shift, command/control, and G keys.
Deselect: Click on something you didn’t mean to? Tap the esc key to deselect it on the quick.
Moving stuff around
Whether you’re trying to nudge a bit of text a few pixels to the right or move your entire project around the workspace, we’ve got you covered with these keyboard shortcuts:
Move 1 pixel: Use the arrow keys to move any design element 1 pixel at a time.
Move 10 pixels: Pair the arrow keys with the shift key to move parts of your design 10 pixels at a time.
Move on locked axis: To make sure that you’re moving a text box, image, or graphic straight up and down, diagonally, or straight across without it getting out of line, hold the shift key while you move it.
Rotate 15 degrees: Turn parts of your design a little to the right or left by holding the shift key and turning the rotate handle (the one at the top of the bounding box that appears when you click a text box, image, or graphic).
Bypass alignment: Sometimes you just need to say, “Quit telling me what to do, helpful alignment tools! This graphic needs to be a little off-center!” To do that without having to turn alignment hints off, hold the control key while you move your object.
Move project around workspace: Hold the spacebar and drag your project to move it around the workspace (the light grey area surrounding your canvas).
Changing the look of objects
Use these two easy-peasy keyboard shortcuts to change how elements of your designs look, supa fast:
Apply an effect: Once you’ve adjusted the sliders and use the paintbrush and eraser tools to get an effect looking juuuust right, tap command/control and enter to apply it.
Skew object from bounding box corners: This one is a little tough to get at first, but try it out and you’ll soon realize how useful it is! Hold shift and drag the corners of the bounding box (box that appears when you click a text box, graphic, or image) to change its shape. This is helpful when you want an object to be taller but not wider, or vice versa.
