When you’re working in Photoshop you will very often need the zoom tool. By learning these few commonly used zooming shortcuts you will speed up your workflow and make your life a lot easier.
Using keyboard shortcuts is always my preferred method when working in post-production, it gets the job done a lot more quickly and you will be surprised at how much you use them once you’ve got the hang of it.
To be honest, I think if I had to go back to menus and mouse clicking for Photoshop work I would probably end up tearing my hair out, developing some form of RSI and ultimately having carpal tunnel surgery!
- Z – Selects the zoom tool
- Ctrl++(plus) – Enlarges image size
- Ctrl+-(minus) – Reduces image size
- Ctrl+0(zero) – Fits image to available screen size
- Ctrl+1 – Enlarges image to 100%
Another excellent shortcut when you are zooming is the spacebar. Hold this down and your cursor will turn into a hand, then just click and hold anywhere in the image and drag to move it around. Very handy when you’re viewing at large magnifications and so much more efficient than messing about with scrollbars.
And finally, but not technically a keyboard shortcut, click on the image and drag a selection box, releasing the mouse button will enlarge the selection.
Getting to know Photoshop’s keyboard shortcuts is never time wasted, just the opposite, in fact. Give it a try, you’ll never regret it and you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it before.