Shortcut Key Layouts of GIMP
We have summarized the shortcut key layouts of GIMP, a free photo retouching software. There are many keys you need to remember, but once you get used to using shortcut keys, you can dramatically speed up your work.
Posted at: 2022.7.7
Default Key Layout
On macOS, the CTRL key corresponds to the Command key.
Selection
Shortcuts related to selection, often used for layer operations, are as follows:
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Select All | CTRL + A |
| Feather Borders | CTRL + SHIFT + D |
| Invert Selection | CTRL + SHIFT + I |
| Deselect | CTRL + D |
| Rectangle Select | M |
| Free Select | L |
| Fuzzy Select | W |
Tools
The most important shortcuts to remember in GIMP are for tools. Many tools are assigned to single keys, making it much faster to call tools via shortcuts than selecting them from the tool palette.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Airbrush | J |
| Fill | SHIFT + G |
| Clone (Stamp) | S |
| Eyedropper | I |
| Blur/Sharpen | R |
| Crop | C |
| Ellipse Select | SHIFT + M |
| Eraser | E |
| Flip | F |
| Gradient | G |
| Handle Transform | SHIFT + L |
| Heal | H |
| Ink | K |
| Measure | U |
| Paintbrush | B |
| Pencil | N |
| Scale | CTRL + T |
| Text | T |
| Paths | P |
Which shortcuts you should remember depends on how you use GIMP, but shortcuts like "Move (V)", "Text (T)", "Eraser (E)", and "Scale (CTRL + T)" are always useful to know.
Layers
Layers are frequently used when doing photo retouching and other tasks in GIMP. Since layer operations such as bringing layers forward or backward are used quite often, it is convenient to memorize the shortcuts.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Duplicate Layer | CTRL + J |
| Send Layer Backward | CTRL + [ |
| Send Layer to Back | CTRL + { |
| Bring Layer Forward | CTRL + ] |
| Bring Layer to Front | CTRL + } |
| Merge Down Layer | CTRL + E |
Check the Window Menu If You Forget
You can also select operations from the Window menu in GIMP, and the characters shown in parentheses next to the menu names are the shortcuts. On macOS, these shortcuts are also shown grayed out on the far right.
Although it may be difficult to memorize at first, once you learn them, your workflow will speed up dramatically, so try to learn them little by little.