Bortonia: All Things Vector

Difficulty Level: Beginner

Drawing in Illustrator while continually clicking back and forth to your Toolbar to change your options is a drag. We strongly suggest that you take a few minutes to memorize keyboard commands: it’ll save time and help reduce strain on your mouse (or tablet!) hand.

Please note these commands were written for Mac; PC users can use the key ‘Control’ instead of ‘Command’.

Here are some commands I use most (in no particular order):

Tool Shortcuts

A: Direct Selection Tool (white arrow)

V: Selection Tool (black arrow)

P: Pen Tool

N: Pencil Tool

I: Eyedropper Tool

C: Slice Tool

X: Toggles between fill and stroke colors

Shift X: Swaps your fill and stroke colors

T: Type Tool

M: Shape Tool

Pen Tool Shortcuts

Option: Convert anchor point

Spacebar: Move an anchor point as you’re drawing

Option: Switch between your add and delete pen tools

Command: Switch between your pen tool and direct select

Shift: Draw on 45˚, 90˚, 135˚ or 180˚ axis

Drawing Shapes

Option: Draws from the center

Spacebar: Move an object while you’re drawing

Shift: Constrains the proportions

Option Shift: Constrains the proportions while drawing from the center

Option and Mouse release: Closes a path with the pencil or paintbrush tools as you’re finishing drawing

Copying and Moving Shapes

Command Shift [: Move an object behind all other shapes

Command Shift [: Move an object in front of all other shapes

Command Shift ]: Move an object behind next shape

Command Shift ]: Move an object in front of next shape

Command C: Copy

Command V: Paste

Command F: Paste in front

Command B: Paste behind

Option: Creates a copy when dragging from a shape

Arrow Keys: Moves selected object

Shift and Arrow Keys: Moves selected objects in larger increments

Option Shift: Makes a copy on a 45˚, 90˚, 135˚ or 180˚ axis while dragging on a selected shape

Viewing and Guides

Spacebar: Brings up your Hand Tool (but don’t use it when editing type!)

Command +: Zoom in

Command -: Zoom out

Command 0: View full artboard

Tab: Show and hide your palettes

Command: Show and hide your guide lines

Command Option ;: Lock and unlock your guide lines

Command R: Show and hide your page rulers

Command N: Create a new document

There are, of course, TONS of other keyboard shortcuts if you want to play around! A complete list of shortcuts can be found here (http://www.nobledesktop.com/shortcuts-illustratorcs4-mac.html).

© 2009 Jennifer Borton