Keyboard & Mouse Commands

General Canvas Controls

Pan image (does not work while typing with the Text tool)

Hold spacebar + drag with left mouse button

Scroll up / down

Mouse Wheel up / down

Scroll left / right

Shift + Mouse Wheel up / down

Zoom in / out

Ctrl + Mouse Wheel

Deselect (remove selection)

Esc or Enter

Shift current tool per pixel

Arrow Keys (May not work in all tools)

Image List and Image Navigation

Next tab

Ctrl + Tab

Previous tab

Ctrl + Shift + Tab

Show Image List

Ctrl + Q

Switch to image #, for images 1 through 10

Ctrl + # or Alt + #, where # is 1 through 9 for images 1 through 9, or 0 for image 10

Scroll image list

Mouse wheel (only if the mouse cursor is in the image list area)

Toolbar

Decrease brush width by 1

[

Decrease brush width by 5

Ctrl + [

Increase brush width by 1

]

Increase brush width by 5

Ctrl + ]

Move Tools

Resize the selection

Drag one of the corner or edge nubs

Resize the selection while maintaining its original aspect / proportions

Hold down Shift while dragging one of the corner nubs

Move the selection

Drag anywhere except on the nubs with the left mouse button

Rotate the selection

Drag anywhere with the right mouse button

Selection Tools (except Magic Wand)              

Note: While a selection is active, all drawing, and many other commands, will only draw or have effect inside the selection.

Create new selection, replacing any old selection if there was one

Draw with left mouse button

Add to the current selection (union)

Draw with Ctrl + left mouse button

Subtract from the current selection (difference)

Draw with Alt + left mouse button

Invert a given area of the selection (exclusive-or)

Draw with Ctrl + right mouse button

Get the intersection of the current selection and a new one

Draw with Alt + right mouse button

Constrain to square (Rectangle Select), or circle (Ellipse Select)

Hold Shift while drawing

Move the new selection while still drawing it

While drawing with left mouse button, also hold the right mouse button and move mouse

Move the new selection while still drawing it

While drawing with right mouse button, also hold the left mouse button and move mouse

(Move Selected Pixels Tool Only) Manipulate a copy of the selected area instead of the original pixels

Hold Ctrl while using the tool

Colors Window 

Swap primary and secondary colors

X

Switch the active color in the dropdown box

C

Magic Wand Tool

Create new selection from pixels in the surrounding area that resemble the pixel you clicked on, replacing any old selection if there was one (resemblance is determined by the Tolerance setting)

Left mouse click

Add to the current selection (union)

Ctrl + Left mouse click

Subtract from the current selection (difference)

Alt + Left mouse click

Invert a portion of the selection (exclusive-or)

Ctrl + Right mouse click

Get the intersection of the current selection and the new area as determine by the Magic Wand

Alt + Right mouse click

Do a global selection across the entire layer based on the color you click on and the Tolerance setting

Hold Shift with one of the five commands listed above

Text Tool

Temporarily hide the cursor and nub

Hold Ctrl

Toggle the nub's visibility

Tap Ctrl

Finish text and commit it to the layer

Esc

Paintbrush Tool

Draw with the primary color

Draw with left mouse button

Draw with the secondary color

Draw with right mouse button

Eraser Tool

Erase an area (set the pixels to transparent)

Draw with left or right mouse button

Clone Stamp Tool

Set the source point, or "origin"

Ctrl + Left click

Copy pixels (you must have already set the source point, or "origin", with Ctrl + left click)

Draw with left mouse button

Recolor Tool

Pick up the color under the mouse cursor, and set it as the primary color

Ctrl + Left click

Pick up the color under the mouse cursor, and set it as the secondary color

Ctrl + Right click

Draw with the primary color, but only over pixels that resemble the secondary color (resemblance is determined by the Tolerance setting)

Draw with left mouse button

Draw with the secondary color, but only over pixels that resemble the primary color (resemblance is determined by the Tolerance setting)

Draw with right mouse button

Paint Bucket Tool

Fill the surrounding area with the primary color.

Left mouse click

Fill the surrounding area with the secondary color

Right mouse click

Do a global fill across the entire layer based on the color you click on and the Tolerance setting

Hold Shift with one of the two commands listed above

Text and Shape Tools

Draw shape. Outline uses the primary color, interior uses the secondary color.

Draw with left mouse button

Draw shape. Outline uses the secondary color, interior uses the primary color.

Draw with right mouse button

Constrain to square (Rectangle), rounded square (Rounded Rectangle), circle (Ellipse), or 15° angle (Line / Curve)

Hold Shift while drawing

Line/Curve Tool

Cycle start-cap style

, (comma)

Cycle dash style

. (period)

Cycle end-cap style

/ (forward slash)

Tool shortcuts

Note: If more than one tool shares a shortcut key, you will need to press the shortcut key multiple times to cycle through the tools that share the particular shortcut key.

Rectangle Select

S

Lasso Select

S

Ellipse Select

S

Magic Wand

S

Move Selected Pixels

M

Move Selection

M

Zoom

Z

Pan ("hand")

H

Paint Bucket

F

Gradient

G

Paintbrush

B

Eraser

E

Pencil

P

Color Picker

K

Clone Stamp

L

Recolor

R

Text

T

Line / Curve

O

Rectangle

O

Rounded Rectangle

O

Ellipse

O

Freeform Shape

O

File menu

New

Ctrl + N

Open

Ctrl + O

Close

Ctrl + W, or Ctrl + F4

Save

Ctrl + S

Save As

Ctrl + Shift + S

Print

Ctrl + P

Exit

Alt + F4, or Alt + F then X, or Ctrl + W when no images are open

Edit menu

Undo

Ctrl + Z

Redo

Ctrl + Y

Cut

Ctrl + X, or Shift + Delete

Copy

Ctrl + C, or Ctrl + Insert

Paste

Ctrl + V, or Shift + Insert

Paste in to New Layer

Ctrl + Shift + V

Paste in to New Image

Ctrl + Alt + V

Erase Selection

Delete

Fill Selection

Backspace

Invert Selection

Ctrl + I

Select All

Ctrl + A

Deselect

Ctrl + D

Image menu

Crop to Selection

Ctrl + Shift + X

Resize

Ctrl + R

Canvas Size

Ctrl + Shift + R

Rotate 90° (clockwise)

Ctrl + G

Rotate 90° (counter-clockwise)

Ctrl + H

Rotate 180°

Ctrl + J

Flatten

Ctrl + Shift + F

Layers menu

Add New Layer

Ctrl + Shift + N

Delete Layer

Ctrl + Shift + Delete

Duplicate Layer

Ctrl + Shift + D

Merge Layer Down

Ctrl + M

Rotate / Zoom

Ctrl + Shift + Z

Layer Properties

F4

Adjustments menu

Auto-Level

Ctrl + Shift + L

Brightness / Contrast

Ctrl + Shift + C

Curves

Ctrl + Shift + M

Black & White

Ctrl + Shift + G

Hue / Saturation

Ctrl + Shift + U

Invert Colors

Ctrl + Shift + I

Levels

Ctrl + L

Posterize

Ctrl + Shift + P

Sepia

Ctrl + Shift + E

Effects menu

Repeat last effect

Ctrl + F

View menu

Zoom In

Ctrl + +

Zoom Out

Ctrl + -

Zoom to Window

Ctrl + B

Zoom to Selection

Ctrl + Shift + B

Actual Size

Ctrl + Shift + A or Ctrl + Alt + 0

Window menu

Tools (toggle)

F5

History (toggle)

F6

Layers (toggle)

F7

Colors (toggle)

F8

Show Image List

Ctrl + Q

Next Tab

Ctrl + Tab

Previous Tab

Ctrl + Shift + Tab

Help menu

Help Topics

F1

Paint.NET Search

Ctrl + E