Manic Monday Photoshop Tips: Type Tip—Visually Adjust Kerning

May 2, 2011

Manic Monday Photoshop Tips: Type Tip—Visually Adjust Kerning

Sorry PSE users but this tip will only work in the full version of Photoshop. Today we’re going to look at keyboard shortcuts that will let you visually control the spacing of the letters in your type. To set the tracking tighter (decrease the space between letters in a word or group) highlight the type with the Type Tool (T), then press Alt-Left Arrow (Mac Opt-Left Arrow) to tighten. Press Alt-Right Arrow (Mac Opt-Right Arrow)  to increase or add more space between a selected group or letters or words. To adjust the space between two individual letters (this is called kerning) click your cursor between the two letters and use the same keyboard shortcuts as mentioned above.

Now I want you to go type a word in Photoshop and use the shortcut to track an entire word and then use the shortcut again to kern the space between two letters. Go on…I’ll wait. Back? Good! I realized that I know a lot of shortcuts but if I don’t use them I forget them so I’ve made an effort to use them every day and I’ve noticed I’m working much more efficiently by using the keyboard shortcuts. Try adding one or two shortcuts a day into your workflow and before you know it you’ll be a pro at it!

Marcie