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Ilmomi
Ilmomi
Participant
Feb 28, 2019 4:38 PM UTC
Answered

CTRL + "key" shortcuts not working in Photoshop

Hi,

Today I came across this issue. So any of the CTRL + "key" shortcuts are not working in Photoshop. In other programs as well as in Illustrator and InDesign all seems to work fine. I have tried to reset preferences and reinstall the program and even install previous versions, but the problem persists. Photoshop is stock, with no plugins and no additional gear (drawing pads etc.). OS is the latest Windows 10 update (1809), and PS the latest version.

Does anyone know how to solve this?

EDIT: It seems that any of the letter key shortcuts don't work. So the letter keys themselves seem not to work.

      SAFAAALICorrect answer
      Participant
      Oct 28, 2025 1:38 PM UTC

      this solve my issue

      View reply

      34 replies

      SAFAAALICorrect answer
      Participant
      Oct 28, 2025 1:38 PM UTC

      this solve my issue

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      defaultspcl6dv5uu3q
      Participant
      Dec 8, 2024 3:20 PM UTC

      Had this problem with the newest version of Adobe applications too (in my case with Photoshop). The solution, some of you posted, works because of what I think might be the case.
      If you export or save the default shorcuts to a file, you see that's a simple XML File and an example entry might be:

       

      <command kind="static" id="2711" name="Bring to Front">
	<shortcut>Shift+Ctrl+]</shortcut>
</command>

       

      I've installed the english language version of Photoshop, but my regional formatting is german (Germany). That shortcut is in english and all of these defined shortcuts are perfectly fine with a german layout.
      However it seems that the part of application, responsible for changing these shortcuts, can't "translate" these shortcuts from the systems language to the application language. And/Or it has just an very unprofessional bug.

      Whatever it is, you can change ALL entries in that XML as you like, as long as you use the corresponding application language for it.
      Steps (I'm on Windows; might be the same on MacOS):

      1. Export the current settings into a new file
      2.  Watch were you save your file
        You must use the path, where it pops the dialog up! In my case it was in my users AppData folder, e.g.
        "C:\Users\MyUser\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop 2025\Presets\Keyboard Shortcuts"
      3. Close your Adobe Application
      4. Use an editor like notepad++ and change the saved file accordingly to the xml structure and syntax. Copy from defined shortcuts and put it together exactly how you want it.
      5. Start you Adobe Application
      6. Change your set to your defined file.

         

        Hope that helps!

        Again, that's a very lousy bug. Come on, Adobe!

       

       

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        rtom098
        Participating Frequently
        Mar 26, 2024 10:35 AM UTC

        Is this behaviour back? After the latest update now CTRL always activates auto select. Before I used CTRL+W to close my window tabs all time and now this doesn't work anymore. Annoying

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        Sanel22652006ftsq
        Participant
        Jan 16, 2024 7:58 PM UTC

        Hey all,

        Dealing with the same Photoshop shortcut issue. Pretty annoyed that Adobe's pushing users to mess with Windows settings to fix their bug. Also not a fan of the aggressive charges and hefty cancellation fees. Adobe, step up and do the work and fix it yourselves! 

        Not cool

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        anees747
        Participant
        Dec 18, 2022 12:27 PM UTC

        I found the problem in my system. All my shortcuts involving Ctrl+Shift+<key> weren't working. Simply turn off the HOTKEYS option from your Graphics Cards Settings Program. I have AMD RX6600. In my case, it was AMD Software Adrenaline Edition (or Pro Edition). Ctrl+Shift+S and all other shortcuts are working back however, Adobe has reduced the list of formats I can export in the "Save As" menu and moved all of them to the "Save As Copy" menu. I'm on Windows 10 22H2, and Photoshop 24.1.0.

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          Abambo
          Community Expert
          AbamboCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          Dec 18, 2022 1:05 PM UTC

          Any program monopolizing hotkeys will disable this for programs in focus. You should limit that to very few keys that are normally not used by your application. 

           

          Photoshop always switched to Save as Copy when using formats that did not allow to save all the file with all layers and settings. For some reason Apple OS change reason, the Save as did not work correctly anymore. So Adobe needed to change this on Apple OS. To stay consistent, they introduced this change also to the Windows eco system.

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          ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer
          VisualDigits
          VisualDigits
          Inspiring
          Nov 8, 2023 7:22 PM UTC

          Just in case somebody stumbles across this - hopefully before going mad...

          Okay some modern predecessor which eats up your key strokes is Microsoft Powertoys. Most of the shortcuts are listed within the settings dialog. But the one eresponsible to make ctrl+alt+shift+e not working was the "mouse without borders" tool (foud this by disabling one tool after the other).

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            Lucy25527889loh8
            Participant
            Aug 4, 2022 11:01 PM UTC

            I literally signed in to say thank you for the solution - it was also the language setting on my computer for me. Changed it back to English and it's working!! I spent so long looking for an answer to this!

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            Chris219500709r7n
            Participant
            Feb 10, 2022 1:31 PM UTC

            Thanks so much.  This has been driving me mad.  I had set to English (Austria) and nothing worked.  Changed to English (UK) and now all fine. So weird 

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            ivanlan
            Participating Frequently
            May 4, 2022 9:46 PM UTC

            Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  I just noticed today that other shortcuts work, but not ctrl+0. In addition, even though the image is roughly 1/2 the height of my Photoshop, not only doesn't the shortcut work but selecting "Fit on Screen" on the View menu does not work.

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            Pajabba
            Participant
            May 30, 2022 1:53 PM UTC

            Did you find a fix?  I'm having the same problem.

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            Antonio5C73
            Participant
            Jan 26, 2021 9:19 PM UTC

            Thanks @Ilmomi it solved also the issue for me as well.

            Latest version of Photoshop and Windows 10 installed but language set to English (German), now it's set to English (United States) and it works.

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            JAH2578
            Participant
            Jan 10, 2021 3:26 PM UTC

            Thanks for this answer but my language was always English USA.  I did notice that there was a checkbox for "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys."  See picture below.  That worked for me....

             

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            VijayCKanth
            Participant
            Feb 13, 2020 7:25 AM UTC

            Nevermind!

            It looks like the issue was Screenshot Studio. After closing this program, Ctrl+D started working normally again.

            Hope this helps someone else!

             
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              mido22
              Participant
              Apr 26, 2020 5:20 PM UTC

              Here's HOW I fixed mine : 
              I had two keyboard languages on my system , English UK and arabic , whenever I switch to arabic , the ctrl key doesn't work 
              If I switch to Englis all shortcuts containing ctrl work just fine

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