Introduction
I recently did a clean reinstall of my harddrive and in the process also needed to reinstall Photoshop. After doing so, it wasn't long before I was reminded that my custom keyboard shortcuts had disappeared. My fingers kept going to the right places, but to no avail! This little experience made me realize just how handy this little Photoshop feature is, so I'm going to share with you the process for creating your own keyboard shortcuts, as well as my list of can't-do-without custom keystrokes!

Creating your own shortcuts
Step 1 -- Finding the Keyboard Shortcut Window
If you've never noticed this little feature before you're in for a treat -- Look under the "Edit" menu, all the way towards the bottom and you'll see "Keyboard Shortcuts...". Choose that baby, and you get the keystroke editing window. All the changes you need to make can be done from this window.

Step 2 -- Saving a custom set for editing
Near the top of the Keyboard Shortcuts window, you'll see a dropdown menu. This contains the list of saved shortcut sets. To its right there are three buttons. The first saves any changes you've made to the current set. The second button will create a copy of the current set as a starting point for making your own set. The third button will delete the set you're working on.

For our purposes we just want to create a new set of shortcuts to modify, so click on button #2 (the floppy disk -- lol! -- with the arrow) and then give your new set a name. By default, Photoshop will save these sets in the Presets -- Keyboard Shortcuts folder on your harddrive. Of course you could choose a different location if you'd like, but this is a good place to keep your set. You're now ready to start making your own shortcuts!

Step 3 -- Choose what type of shortcuts to modify
Below the set dropdown, there is another dropdown (named "Shortcuts For:") where you can choose the type of shortcuts you would like to customize. The folks at Adobe have grouped them into 3 categories for us: Application Menus, Palette Menus, and Tools.

"Application Menus" allows you to modify all the items available from your main pulldown menus at the top of your screen. "Palette Menus" allows you to make changes to the menus available in the various Photoshop palettes (like Styles and Layers). Finally, "Tools" gives you access to the shortcuts on your tool bar. When you're making custom shortcuts, don't forget this little dropdown, as you can create many handy dandy shortcuts for the palettes and tools as well!

Step 4 -- Customize, Customize, Customize!
Now it's time to start making your own changes to the shortcut set. Expand one of the arrows (if you're editing application or palette menus) on the left hand side, and then scroll down to see all of the choices. Some of the items will already have shortcuts assigned, and others will be blank. You can either change ones already assigned or make a new one.

Simply click in the "Shortcut" column in the row of the item you'd like to change, and you get a cursor for editing. Now simply depress the keys that you'd like to use for this item, and then hit "Return" (or "Enter") to assign that keystroke. Note: you must use one or more modifier keys (Shift, Control, Option/Alt, and Command) in conjunction with a letter, number or symbol.

Sometimes you may assign a keystroke that is already in use somewhere else, in which case a warning will pop up telling you of the conflict and giving you options to accept and override the other command or cancel. If this occurs and you do not want to change the shortcut of the item in conflict, simply keep trying other shortcuts until you have something acceptable.

This simple process should open up many new time-saving options for you in your Photoshop workflow! Below you can see some of my favorites and perhaps get some ideas for your own!

My must-have custom shortcuts