If you use MS Paint, Microsoft’s built-in paint and image editing program, you’ll want to know these handy keyboard shortcuts. If you use a program frequently or are working on a complicated project, keyboard shortcuts can end up saving you time. They are especially helpful for folks who have some issues using a mouse or touchpad.
The handiest and easiest keyboard trick is simply using the arrow keys to move a selection up, down, right or left. Then we move on to the keyboard combos.
Ready? Let’s start with the commands using the Ctrl key, located to the lower left of your keyboard. To use, press Ctrl and then the key that is listed after it.
| Ctrl + A | Select entire canvas |
| Ctrl + B | Bold selected text |
| Ctrl + C | Copy selected area |
| Ctrl + E | Shows image properties |
| Ctrl + G | Toggles grid lines |
| Ctrl + I | Make selected text italics |
| Ctrl + N | Create a new picture |
| Ctrl + Num Pad – | Scale down tool or shape |
| Ctrl + Num Pad + | Scale up and tool or shape |
| Ctrl + O | Open a picture |
| Ctrl + P | Print the picture |
| Ctrl + Page Down | Zoom out |
| Ctrl + Page Up | Zoom in |
| Ctrl + R | Show or hide the ruler |
| Ctrl + S | Save changes to a picture |
| Ctrl + U | Underline selected text |
| Ctrl + V | Paste clipboard data |
| Ctrl + W | Open the Resize and Skew dialog box |
| Ctrl + X | Cut selected area |
| Ctrl + Y | Redo action |
| Ctrl + Z | Undo last action |
Here are the shortcuts for the Alt key. That’s normally found to the left and right of your spacebar.
| Alt-Esc | Minimizes MS Paint interface |
| Alt-F | Opens the File menu |
| Alt-F4 | Close the window |
| Alt-H | Shows key help/ Switch to Home tab |
| Alt-Spacebar | Equivalent to right-clicking on the title bar |
| Alt-V | Switch to View tab |