Photoshop shortcuts not working in Windows 11? Causes and fixes in order

Photoshop has more shortcuts than almost any other program on Windows: single letters for tools, Ctrl combinations for commands, and long ones such as Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W for Export As. When some of them stop working, the cause is usually outside the shortcut itself. Here are the usual suspects, the quick ones first.

1. Photoshop is busy with something else

Many shortcuts are ignored while Photoshop is in a mode that takes the keyboard:

Editing text: with the Type tool active in a text layer, letters type text. V types a V instead of selecting the Move tool. Commit the text with Ctrl+Enter or press Esc.
Transform is active: after Ctrl+T, most commands wait until you confirm with Enter or cancel with Esc.
A field has focus: when the cursor is in a number field on the Options bar or in a panel, keys go into the field. Click on the canvas, then try again.
A dialog is open, even behind another window.

Check: press Esc, click on the canvas, and try the shortcut again.

2. The keyboard layout and AltGr

Windows can keep several keyboard layouts, and Win+Space or Alt+Shift switch them, sometimes by accident. Two things can change in another layout:

Ctrl+Alt is AltGr on many European layouts. Photoshop uses Ctrl+Alt a lot: Ctrl+Alt+I for Image Size, Ctrl+Alt+Z in some undo setups, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W for Export As. In such a layout, the combination can type a character instead.
Typed characters change in a Cyrillic or Greek layout, which matters wherever Photoshop expects text.

Check: if shortcuts stopped working right after a layout change, switch back with Win+Space and test. That tells you quickly whether the layout is involved.

Fix: keep the layout you edit in active while you work in Photoshop, or remove layouts you do not use in Settings > Time & language > Language & region.

3. Function keys and Fn Lock

F7 shows the Layers panel, F5 shows Brush Settings, F6 shows Color. On most laptops the top row controls brightness and volume first. Hold Fn with the key, or turn on Fn Lock (on many keyboards Fn+Esc).

4. The shortcut was changed

Photoshop lets you change every shortcut in Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+K). The dialog has sets, and a different set may be active, or a shortcut may have been reassigned.

Check: open the dialog and look at Set. Photoshop Defaults is the standard set. Find the command and see which key it has now.

Fix: pick Photoshop Defaults, or select the command and choose Use Default. If you have your own set, use the save button in the same dialog to keep a copy before you experiment.

One change is worth knowing about: in current Photoshop, Ctrl+Z undoes step by step and Shift+Ctrl+Z redoes, while older versions used Ctrl+Z to toggle the last step. If you want the old behavior, the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog has Use Legacy Undo Shortcuts; select it, choose OK and restart Photoshop.

5. Another program takes the keys first

Adobe's troubleshooting pages name utility programs that install system-wide shortcuts as a common cause, and they list older versions of password managers among them. Other suspects on Windows are screen capture tools, clipboard managers, graphics driver panels and chat apps, all of which like Ctrl+Shift and Ctrl+Alt combinations.

Check: close tray programs one at a time and test after each. Adobe also suggests testing with Windows started in safe mode, where third-party utilities do not load.

6. Tablet drivers

Drawing tablet drivers map keys to the express keys and pen buttons and can intercept keystrokes. Adobe lists tablet drivers among the things to check when shortcuts fail.

Check: quit the tablet's tray app or disconnect the tablet, then test the shortcut with the keyboard. If it works, update the driver or review its key settings.

7. Damaged preferences

When nothing else explains it, Photoshop's preferences file may be damaged. Adobe's fix is to reset preferences:

Quit Photoshop.
Press and hold Alt+Ctrl+Shift and start Photoshop.
Choose Yes when asked whether to delete the settings file.

Alternatively, select Reset Preferences On Quit in Edit > Preferences > General and restart. Save your custom shortcut set first, as described above.

RadialDeck is the radial menu for Windows that we make. When Photoshop is in front, the same hotkey opens a Photoshop ring with 10 actions from the gallery: New layer, Duplicate, Deselect, Transform, Merge visible, Levels, Hue/Saturation, Image size, Fit on screen and Export as.

Each slice sends the default Photoshop shortcut, the same keys you would press. That decides what it can fix:

It helps with long combinations. Export As is Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W; on the ring it is one flick, and nobody presses four keys wrong.
It does not get past causes 1, 2 and 4 to 7. If Photoshop is in a text edit, if another program took the keys, if the set changed, the ring's keys are blocked or redirected like yours. On most laptops, Fn Lock (cause 3) is handled inside the keyboard itself, so a slice you set to send a function key is not affected by it.
Layouts: the ring sends key combinations, not characters. Where Ctrl+Alt acts as AltGr for your keyboard, it does for the ring too.

If you use your own shortcut set, change the keys of each slice to match. The actions for Photoshop and the rest of the gallery for creative programs are on the Photoshop page.

Quick checklist

Esc, then click on the canvas.
Check the layout in the taskbar; Win+Space to switch.
Fn or Fn Lock for F-keys.
Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts: is the set Photoshop Defaults?
Close tray utilities and the tablet driver one by one.
Reset preferences with Alt+Ctrl+Shift at launch.

RadialDeck is free for two rings and has a 14-day trial of Pro, which adds a ring per program such as the Photoshop ring. It is in the Microsoft Store.