Illustrator

Keys for drawing

This is not a complete list of keyboard shortcuts. This table lists only those shortcuts that are not displayed in menu commands or tool tips.

Result	Windows	Mac OS
Constrain a shape’s proportions or orientation to: equal height and width for rectangles, rounded rectangles, ellipses, and grids Increments of 45° for line and arc segments Original orientation for polygons, stars, and flares	Shift-drag	Shift-drag
Move a shape while drawing it	spacebar-drag	spacebar-drag
Draw from the center of a shape (except for polygons, stars, and flares)	Alt-drag	Option-drag
Continuously duplicate a shape	‘ (grave accent)-drag	‘ (grave accent)-drag
Increase or decrease polygon sides, star points, arc angle, spiral winds, or flare rays	Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow
Keep the inner radius of a star constant	Start dragging, then hold down Ctrl	Start dragging, then hold down Command
Keep the sides of a star straight	Alt-drag	Option-drag
Switch between an open and closed arc	Start dragging, then hold down C	Start dragging, then hold down C
Flip an arc, keeping the reference point constant	Start dragging, then hold down F	Start dragging, then hold down SF
Add or subtract winds from a spiral while increasing the length of the spiral	Alt-drag	Option-drag
Change the decay rate of a spiral	Ctrl-drag	Command-drag
Add or remove horizontal lines from a rectangular grid or concentric lines from a polar grid	Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow	Start dragging, then press the Up Arrow or Down Arrow
Add or remove vertical lines from a rectangular grid or radial lines from a polar grid	Start dragging, then press the Right Arrow or Left Arrow	Start dragging, then press the Right Arrow or Left Arrow
Decrease the skew value for horizontal dividers in a rectangular grid or radial dividers in a polar grid by 10%	Start dragging, then press F	Start dragging, then press F
Increase the skew value for horizontal dividers in a rectangular grid or radial dividers in a polar grid by 10%	Start dragging, then press V	Start dragging, then press V
Decrease the skew value for vertical dividers in a rectangular grid or concentric dividers in a polar grid by 10%	Start dragging, then press X	Start dragging, then press X
Increase the skew value for vertical dividers in a rectangular grid or concentric dividers in a polar grid by 10%	Start dragging, then press C	Start dragging, then press C
Create and expand a Live Trace object in one step	Alt-click Live Trace in the Control panel, or hold down Alt and select a tracing preset.	Option-click Live Trace in the Control panel, or hold down Option and select a tracing preset.