Most menu commands in Paint, and several tool options, can be reached from the keyboard. Below, the shortcuts are grouped the way the menus are, followed by the keys that work on a selection, the keys that change a tool's size, the keys you hold while drawing and the keys that open the menus. Ctrl means the Control key, also on a Mac. Only keys this editor actually responds to are listed, so a key you know from another program may be missing on purpose.
Create, open and save pictures, and undo mistakes
These cover the File and Edit menus. Undo has no fixed limit, so you can keep pressing Ctrl+Z to walk back through as many changes as you need. Cut, copy and paste go through the browser's clipboard, so an image already sitting on the clipboard can be pasted in as well. Some browsers keep Ctrl+N and Ctrl+Shift+N for opening a new window, so use File > New or Image > Clear Image if the key opens a window instead.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+N | Starts a new picture |
| Ctrl+O | Opens a picture |
| Ctrl+S | Saves the picture |
| Ctrl+Shift+S | Saves the picture under a new name (Save As) |
| Ctrl+Z | Undoes the last change |
| F4 | Repeat: brings back the change you just undid |
| Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z | Redo |
| Ctrl+X | Cuts the selection |
| Ctrl+C | Copies the selection |
| Ctrl+V | Pastes the selection or an image from the clipboard |
| Ctrl+A | Selects the whole picture (Select All) |
Shortcuts for the View and Image menus
The Image menu has the most keys. The zoom commands in View have none, so zooming is done from the menu. Stretch/Skew also has no key and opens only from the Image menu, while flipping and rotating have both a dialog key and two direct rotate keys that turn the picture a quarter turn without opening anything.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl+F | View Bitmap: shows the picture full screen |
| Ctrl+I | Invert Colors |
| Ctrl+E | Opens Attributes..., which holds the Transparent or Opaque choice |
| Ctrl+Shift+N | Clear Image |
| Ctrl+R | Opens Flip/Rotate |
| Ctrl+. or Ctrl+] | Turns the picture 90 degrees clockwise |
| Ctrl+, or Ctrl+[ | Turns the picture 90 degrees counterclockwise |
| Ctrl+Shift+G | Render History As GIF, which works even while the Extras menu is hidden |
Move, resize and drop a selection with the keyboard
After you mark an area with Select or Free-Form Select, these keys act on it. The plus and minus keys meant here sit on the numeric keypad. With nothing selected, Escape cancels the stroke or shape you are drawing; with a drawing tool such as the Pencil it can also undo the last change, which F4 brings back.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| Arrow keys | Nudge the selection one pixel in that direction |
| Enter | Places the selection onto the picture |
| Escape | Also places the selection onto the picture |
| Keypad + | Makes the selection twice as large |
| Keypad - | Makes the selection half as large |
| Delete | Clear Selection, removes the selected area |
Change brush and line thickness from the keypad
With nothing selected, the numeric keypad + and - keys make the current tool thicker or thinner. This works for the Brush, Eraser/Color Eraser, Airbrush and Pencil, and it sets the line width for Line, Curve, Rectangle, Ellipse, Polygon and Rounded Rectangle. The size can go as high as 500 and as low as 1, but the Pencil tops out at 50.
Keys to hold while you draw or drag
Some keys only do something while a mouse button is down. The mouse buttons themselves pick the color: a stroke made with the left mouse button takes the primary color; switch to the right button for the secondary color.
| Hold | With | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl | Any drawing tool | Draws in the third color, if you have set one |
| Ctrl | A click on a swatch in the color box | Makes that swatch the third color |
| Shift | Fill With Color | Swaps the clicked color for the new one everywhere it appears |
| Shift | Line or Curve | Keeps the line to 45 degree steps |
| Shift | Rectangle, Ellipse or Rounded Rectangle | Keeps width and height equal, for a square or circle |
| Ctrl | Select | Crops the picture to the rectangle you drag out |
| Ctrl | Dragging a selection | Leaves a copy of the selection behind where it started |
| Shift | Dragging a selection | Smears a trail of the selection along the path |
Open the menus without the mouse
- Press Alt together with the underlined letter in a menu name to open that menu, such as Alt+F for File.
- Use the arrow keys to step through the open menu and across to the menus beside it.
- In an open menu, press an item's underlined letter to pick it, or press Enter to run the item that has focus.
- Click outside the menu to close it.
Why shortcuts stop working while you type text
As long as the cursor is inside a text field, the editor sets its own shortcuts aside. Keys like Ctrl+Z then act on the words being typed, not on the picture.