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Learn how to customize, define, clear, or delete shortcuts in Illustrator.

Keyboard shortcuts make you more productive in Illustrator. You can use the default shortcuts included with Illustrator, or add and customize shortcuts to suit your needs.

You can define your own sets of shortcuts, change individual shortcuts within a set, and switch between sets of shortcuts. You can create separate sets for different workspaces by going to Window > Workspace.

Following are the locations where the custom Illustrator keyboard shortcuts are saved by default:

macOS:

user/Library/Preferences/Illustrator CC Settings/[language]/mycustomshortcut.kys

Windows:

<rootdir>\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator
CC Settings\[language]\mycustomshortcut.kys
Note:

In addition to using keyboard shortcuts, you can access many commands using context-sensitive menus. Context-sensitive menus display commands that are relevant to the active tool, selection, or panel. To display a context-sensitive menu, right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac OS) in the document window or panel.

If you've previously saved a set of keyboard shortcuts other than the default, then the keyboard shortcuts are stored in a .kys file in the preferences folder. You can copy this file into the same location on the new computer. You can then choose this set from the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.

You can use the same .kys file across platforms as long as the modified shortcuts are valid.

Define new keyboard shortcuts

  1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

  2. Select a set of shortcuts from the Set options in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.

  3. Select a shortcut type from the menu above the shortcut display.

    Menu Commands

    You can customize keyboard shortcuts for items in the menu bar and panel menus.

    Tools

    You can customize keyboard shortcuts for tools in the toolbox.

  4. Follow any of these options:

    • Select OK to activate the set of shortcuts.

    • Select the Shortcut column of the scroll list and type a new shortcut to change an existing one. You'll view an alert if you enter a shortcut assigned to another command or tool. Select Undo to undo the change, or select Go To to go to the other command or tool and give it a new shortcut. In the Symbol column, type the symbol that will appear in the menu or tool tip for the command or tool. You can use any of the characters allowed in the Shortcut column.

    Note:

    macOS does not allow you to assign Command+Option+8 as a menu shortcut.

    • Select OK to save changes to the current shortcuts. (You can't save changes to the set named Illustrator Defaults.)
    • Select Save to save a new set of shortcuts. Enter a name for the new shortcut set, and select OK. The new key set will appear in the pop‑up menu under the new name.
    • Select Export Text to export the displayed shortcuts into a text file. In the Save Key Set File As dialog box, enter a filename for the current key set that you're saving, and select Save. You can use this text file to print out a copy of your keyboard shortcuts.

Example: Create a custom keyboard shortcut for Crop Image

  1. Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

  2. Select Menu Commands.

  3. Select Object > Crop Image.

  4. Type a new shortcut.

    An alert appears if the keyboard shortcut is already assigned to another command or tool in the set. Reassign a shortcut, select OK and Go To Conflict to assign a new shortcut to the other command or tool.

  5. Enter a name for the saved keyset.

  6. Select OK.

Clear shortcuts from a command or tool

  1. Select Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

  2. In the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box, select the command or tool name whose shortcut you want to delete.

  3. Select Clear and then select OK.

Delete a set of shortcuts

  1. Choose Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.

  2. Select the shortcut set you want to delete in the Set drop-down list.

  3. Select the Delete  icon and then select OK.

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