There are many keyboard shortcuts you can use in Krita. Knowing the keyboard shortcut in Krita is important. It takes time to use your mouse or stylus to choose the tool you want to use.
Pressing the required keyboard shortcut can improve your digital art workflow immensely. You can scroll down and see all available keyboard shortcuts in Krita for Windows and MacOS.
Remember that the Linux version of Krita has the same keyboard shortcut as the Windows OS version.
I will also detail how to customize the Krita shortcuts and reset if you make mistakes while customizing the keyboard shortcuts in Krita.
Table of Contents
Krita Windows OS Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keyboard Shortcut | Action |
| Ctrl + N | Create a New Document |
| Ctrl + O | Open a Document |
| Ctrl + S | Save the Document |
| Ctrl + Shift + S | Save As |
| Ctrl + Alt + S | Save Incremental |
| Ctrl + W | Close the Document |
| Ctrl + Shift + W | Close All Document |
| Ctrl + Q | Quit the Application |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo Previous Action |
| Ctrl + Shift + Z | Redo to Next Action |
| Ctrl + X | Cut (Image, Layer, Shape & Text) |
| Ctrl + C | Copy (Image, Layer, Shape & Text) |
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Copy Merged |
| Ctrl + V | Paste copied object |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Paste into New Image |
| Ctrl + Shift + R | Paste as Reference Image |
| Delete | Clear/Delete anything on a layer |
| F1 | Krita Handbook |
| F2 | Rename Current Layer |
| B | Freehand Brush Tool |
| Q | Multi-Brush Tool |
| T | Move a layer or selection |
| C | Crop Tool |
| Ctrl + T | Transform a layer or selection |
| G | Gradient Tool |
| E | Eraser Mode |
| P | Color Select Tool |
| Ctrl + R | Rectangular Select Tool |
| J | Elliptical Select Tool |
| F | Fill Tool/ Fill a Selection |
| M | Horizontal Mirror Tool |
| [ | Decrease Brush Size |
| ] | Increase Brush Size |
| I | Decrease Brush Opacity |
| O | Increase Brush Opacity |
| Ctrl + J | Duplicate Layer |
| Ctrl + E | Merge Down |
| Ctrl + Shift + E | Flatten All |
| Ctrl + G | Create a New Layer Group |
| Shift + Delete | Remove Layer |
| Shift + Backspace | Fill with Foreground Colour |
| Backspace | Fill with Background Colour |
| X | Switch Foreground and Background Color |
| D | Reset the Foreground Color to Black and the Background Color to White |
| Mouse right-click | Reset the Foreground Color to Black and the Background Color to White |
| K | Darken Color |
| L | Lighten Color |
| Ctrl + Shift + U | Desaturate |
| C | Show Common Color |
| H | Show Color History |
| Tab | Show Canvas Only |
| Ctrl + Shift + F | Full-Screen Mode |
| Ctrl + + / = | Zoom In |
| Ctrl + – | Zoom Out |
| 1 | Zoom 1:1 (100%) |
| 2 | Zoom to Fit |
| 3 | Zoom to Fit Width |
| Ctrl + ] or 6 | Rotate Right |
| Ctrl + [ or 4 | Rotate Left |
| 5 | Rotate Reset |
Recommended guide for Krita:
How to Work with Layers in Krita [Complete Guide]
How to Add and Import New Brushes in Krita
How to Modify, Remove and Blur Background in Krita
How to Enable Stabilization in Krita for Smoother Lines
Krita MacOS Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keyboard Shortcut | Action |
| Cmd ⌘ + N | Create a New Document |
| Cmd ⌘ + O | Open a Document |
| Cmd ⌘ + S | Save the Document |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + S | Save As |
| Cmd ⌘ + Alt + S | Save Incremental |
| Cmd ⌘ + W | Close the Document |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + W | Close All Document |
| Cmd ⌘ + Q | Quit the Application |
| Cmd ⌘ + Z | Undo Previous Action |
| Cmd ⌘+ Shift + Z | Redo to Next Action |
| Cmd ⌘ + X | Cut (Image, Layer, Shape & Text) |
| Cmd ⌘ + C | Copy (Image, Layer, Shape & Text) |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + C | Copy Merged |
| Cmd ⌘ + V | Paste copied object |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + N | Paste into New Image |
| Cmd ⌘+ Shift + R | Paste as Reference Image |
| Delete | Clear/Delete anything on a layer |
| F1 | Krita Handbook |
| F2 | Rename Current Layer |
| B | Freehand Brush Tool |
| Q | Multi-Brush Tool |
| T | Move a layer or selection |
| C | Crop Tool |
| Cmd ⌘ + T | Transform a layer or selection |
| G | Gradient Tool |
| E | Eraser Mode |
| P | Color Select Tool |
| Cmd ⌘ + R | Rectangular Select Tool |
| J | Elliptical Select Tool |
| F | Fill Tool/ Fill a Selection |
| M | Horizontal Mirror Tool |
| [ | Decrease Brush Size |
| ] | Increase Brush Size |
| I | Decrease Brush Opacity |
| O | Increase Brush Opacity |
| Cmd ⌘ + J | Duplicate Layer |
| Cmd ⌘ + E | Merge Down |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + E | Flatten All |
| Cmd ⌘ + G | Create a New Layer Group |
| Shift + Delete | Remove Layer |
| Shift + Backspace | Fill with Foreground Colour |
| Backspace | Fill with Background Colour |
| X | Switch Foreground and Background Color |
| D | Reset the Foreground Color to Black and the Background Color to White |
| K | Darken Color |
| L | Lighten Color |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + U | Desaturate |
| C | Show Common Color |
| H | Show Color History |
| Tab | Show Canvas Only |
| Cmd ⌘ + Shift + F | Full-Screen Mode |
| Cmd ⌘ + + / = | Zoom In |
| Cmd ⌘ + – | Zoom Out |
| 1 | Zoom 1:1 (100%) |
| 2 | Zoom to Fit |
| 3 | Zoom to Fit Width |
| Cmd ⌘ + ] or 6 | Rotate Right |
| Cmd ⌘ + [ or 4 | Rotate Left |
| 5 | Rotate Reset |
How to Customize Shortcut Keys in Krita
Not all tools or functions have shortcut keys in Krita. You can add, delete and customize shortcuts in Krita.
Add new Shortcut Keys in Krita
To add new shortcut keys, you need to open the shortcut menu.
Step 1:
To access the shortcut menu on Windows, open the Krita Application. On the top menu, select Settings > Configure Krita.
To access the shortcut menu on MacOS, open the application from the Desktop or Launchpad. On the top menu, select Krita > “Preferences..”
Step 2:
Then click the Keyboard Shortcuts menu on the left panel.
Step 3:
Click the “New..” button, choose the name for your shortcut schemes, and then click OK.
Step 4:
Choose an action you want to add to the shortcut. For example, I choose Layers > Add File Layer action.
Step 5:
Click the action and select the Custom option.
Step 6:
Click the left button next to the custom option. After clicking it, press your chosen keyboard shortcut. For example, because I use Krita in MacOS, I assign it to Cmd ⌘ + =
Step 7:
After assigning a new keyboard shortcut, click OK to save changes. Now, you can use your new keyboard shortcut in Krita.
Deleting a shortcut key in Krita
If you don’t like the shortcut key, you can delete it in Krita.
There are two ways to delete a shortcut key in Krita. The first method involves adding a new shortcut key with the same combination as the existing one.
The second method is by manually deleting the shortcut key.
On the Keyboard Shortcuts menu, select an action. Then click the second button next to the shortcut key. It will delete the current shortcut.
After deleting it, don’t assign a new key; simply click the OK button to save the changes.
Reset Keyboard Shortcuts in Krita
If you want to reset the keyboard shortcuts in Krita, there are two ways to do it.
The first way is by changing the current scheme to the default keyboard shortcuts scheme.
To do it, first click the shortcut schemes dropdown menu, then choose Default scheme. Then click OK.
The second way is by restoring your keyboard shortcuts setting to the default setting.
On the Keyboard Shortcuts menu, click the Restore Defaults button at the bottom of the panel.
A pop-up will warn you that it will delete all custom keyboard shortcut settings in Krita. Click OK to save changes.
