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Learn about the Adobe Illustrator type shortcuts to help you modify basic character formatting such as type size, leading, tracking & kerning, baseline shift, align and justify text. Illustrator Type Shortcuts Increase Type Size in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Ctrl + Shift + Right Angle Bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + Right Angle Bracket (Mac) Decrease Type Size in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Ctrl + Shift + Left angle bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + Left angle bracket (Mac) Increase Type Size by 10 Points ▶ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right angle bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Option + Shift + Right angle bracket (Mac) What is Leading in Typography Leading is the amount of vertical space between lines of text and the increments are the same as the font size we set inside the Preferences panel. Increase Leading in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Alt + Down Arrow Key (Windows) ▶ Opt + Down Arrow Key (Mac) Decrease Leading in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Alt + Up Arrow Key (Windows) ▶ Opt + Up Arrow Key (Mac) What is Tracking & Kerning in Typography In typography, tracking refers to the amount of space between a group of letters which means controlling the uniform spacing between all the letters in a piece of text. Kerning refers to the spacing between two specific letters. To change the tracking for an entire group of letters, first select the letters you want to change. Increase Tracking in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Ctrl + Shift + Right bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + Right bracket (Mac) Decrease Tracking in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Ctrl + Shift + Left bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + Left bracket (Mac) Reset Tracking to Zero (0) ▶ Ctrl + Alt + Q (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Option + Q (Mac) What is Kerning in Typography For the Kerning I am going to place the cursor in between two letters. Loosen the kerning and give character breathing room ▶ Ctrl + Shift + Right bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + Right bracket (Mac) Bring Two Type Characters Closer ▶ Ctrl + Shift + Left bracket (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + Left bracket (Mac) Reset Kerning to Zero (0) ▶ Ctrl + Alt + Q (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Option + Q (Mac) What is Baseline Shift in Typography Use Baseline Shift to move selected characters up or down relative to the baseline of the surrounding text.
Increase Baseline Shift in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Alt + Shift + Up Arrow (Windows) ▶ Option + Shift + Up Arrow (Mac) Decrease Baseline Shift in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Alt + Shift + Down Arrow (Windows) ▶ Option + Shift + Down Arrow (Mac) Align Text in Adobe Illustrator The most commonly used text modifications keyboard shortcuts are the ones that align text left, right, or center. Align Text Left in Adobe Illustrator ▶ Ctrl + Shift + L (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + L (Mac) Align Type Right ▶ Ctrl + Shift + R (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + R (Mac) Align Type Center ▶ Ctrl + Shift + C (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + C (Mac) Justify Text in Adobe Illustrator Text is justified when it is aligned with both edges. You can justify all text in a paragraph either including or excluding the last line. Justify Text with Last Line Flushed to the Left ▶ Ctrl + Shift + J (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + J (Mac) Justify Text with all Edges Flushed and the Last Line to Be Spaced All the Way Across. ▶ Ctrl + Shift + F (Windows) ▶ Cmd + Shift + F (Mac) More from Elias Sarantopoulos ❤ Creative tutorials from Elias Sarantopoulos. Helping you develop your skills with Affinity Designer, Adobe Illustrator, After Effects, and Bootstrap tutorials. ▶ Helping You Develop - Flickr!
I've been having this issue too, notably with single key shortcuts to tools as well as those involving modifier keys. I'm running Illustrator 17.0.0 and Mac OS X 10.8.3. Click Here to Download a cheat sheet for Adobe Illustrator Source.