An Adobe shortcut for Windows users

The Adobe line of products is well known for the “5 ways to do one thing” methodology. The different palettes, options, menus, and keyboard shortcuts overlap each other from one product to the next. This methodology is done to ease the learning curve between products. Quark even uses similar keyboard shortcuts to the Adobe products, and vice versa - InDesign lets you use Quarks keyboard shortcuts. Everyone is vying for your business, so shorter learning curves and ease of use have become the industry standard.

Ridiculous shortcutting

The next step of shortcutting techniques is to combine a click of the mouse with a key combination. I refer to this as a ridiculous shortcut. So now you need one hand on the keyboard at all times and the other hand on the mouse. This is the best way to work (if you ask me). This style gives you complete control. It doesn’t matter if the action you need to take is hidden in a menu somewhere or part of a clickable field - you’ve got it all covered. And you’re ready to use both hands, which makes you that much more efficient.

Let's try it

We’ll test the “one hand on the keyboard and one on the mouse” technique in both InDesign and Photoshop. First, open InDesign and create a New Document, go to File > New > Document (Apple-N or [Ctrl-N in Windows]). Select the Text tool and add a line of text. Now highlight your line of text by tripple-clicking on the line with your mouse. Then, open your Paragraph window (commonly referred to as a “Palette”) by going to Window > Type & Tables > Paragraph. Let’s take a closer look at this window before moving on.

Window icons

Most of the windows in Adobe products are accompanied by small icons that detail what each setting is meant to alter. In the InDesign Paragraph window, the first icon with a text field is for adding a left indent (A).

With your line of text still selected, click once with your mouse on the Left Indent icon in the Paragraph window. Clicking the icon will highlight the value (B). Now, simply press the up or down arrows on your keyboard to increase or decrease the value (C). To further enhance this ridiculous shortcut, hold down the Shift key as you press the up and down arrows-now you’ll change the value in quarter-inch increments or by one full point.

Similar but different

Now we know how it works in InDesign, let’s see how this technique works in Photoshop. Open Photoshop, create a New Document (Apple-N or [Ctrl-N in Windows]), and then add a line of text with the Horizontal Type Tool . Highlight the line of text and open the Paragraph window by going to Window > Paragraph.

With your line of text still selected, hover your mouse over the Indent left margin icon. Your cursor will change to a pointing finger with a left and right arrow coming out of it (D). Hold down your left mouse button and drag to the right, the Indent left margin value will increase (E). Dragging to the left will make the value decrease.

Now, hold down the Shift key and drag. This time the value will increase or decrease in larger increments-just as it did when we were testing it in InDesign (F).

Always experiment

So there you have it-something that seems simple, but hidden to most designers. We'll continue to write about shortcuts and time saving tips in all of our issues. Try this tip on other windows and toolbars. Hey, you never know.

Article written by Ian Caspersson