Mac Keyboard Shotcuts not working in Photoshop

Hi ​@marathongranny212,

Thanks for chiming in; your additional detail helps clarify the issue. The fact that you switched to a new computer and that Photoshop is "defaulting to macOS shortcuts" (rather than simply not responding at all) tells me this is likely a macOS-level shortcut conflict combined with a preset migration issue. Let me walk through what's probably happening and how to fix it.
 

Targeted troubleshooting:

• Check if macOS "App Shortcuts" are overriding Photoshop. On macOS, you (or a previous migration) may have App Shortcuts defined that override Photoshop's menu commands. Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. If you see entries there using the same key combinations as your Photoshop custom shortcuts, uncheck them; they take priority over anything Photoshop sets internally.

• You mentioned you can see the shortcuts in Photoshop's settings, but after a computer change, Photoshop may have loaded the set name without properly applying it. Try this:

  • Go to Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts

  • In the Set dropdown, switch to "Photoshop Defaults," click OK

  • Re-open Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts, switch back to your custom set, and click OK

  • Test immediately

This forces Photoshop to fully re-read the .kys file rather than relying on a cached state from migration.

• Manually verify the .kys shortcut file migrated correctly. Your custom keyboard shortcut presets live at:

  ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop 2026/Presets/Keyboard Shortcuts

  (The ~/Library folder is hidden by default; hold Option while clicking Go in Finder to reveal it.)

  Open that folder and confirm your custom .kys file is present, is not 0 KB (corrupt), and has a recent "Date Modified." If it's missing or corrupted, copy it from the equivalent folder on your old machine or from a Time Machine backup.

• Check whether macOS Migration Assistant brought over conflicting preferences. If you used Migration Assistant to transfer to the new Mac, it may have carried over the Photoshop preferences folder (which points to your custom set) but not the actual preset file, or vice versa. This mismatch causes exactly what you're seeing: the shortcut set "appears" in settings but doesn't function.

• Try resetting Photoshop preferences using the manual folder rename method (more reliable than the in-app method):

  Navigate to: ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings/

  Rename the folder to Adobe Photoshop 2026 Settings.old

  Relaunch Photoshop (it creates fresh defaults)

  Then re-import your .kys shortcut file

• Check for Input Source conflicts. If you have multiple keyboard languages/input sources active on the new Mac (e.g., ABC + another layout), macOS can intercept modifier-key combinations to switch input. Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources > Edit and confirm you only have one active, or disable the "Select next source" shortcut in Keyboard Shortcuts > Input Sources.

A few clarifying questions that will help narrow this further:

• When you say it "defaults to macOS shortcuts," can you give a specific example? (For instance, are you pressing Cmd+Space expecting a Photoshop action but macOS Spotlight opens instead? Or is it something else?)

• Did you use Migration Assistant, Time Machine restore, or a fresh install + Creative Cloud sync on the new computer?

• Are your custom shortcuts only tied to Photoshop Actions, or did you also customize tool and menu shortcuts?

Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Anshul Saini