The transform slot
The rail groups related tools into slots. The transform slot holds Rotate, Reflect, Scale, Shear and Free Transform, with Rotate occupying the slot by default. Click the slot's triangle for the flyout and pick another. Your choice persists per slot, so the rail settles into your habits rather than ours.
None of the five has a keyboard shortcut. They are registered with no key. Reach them through the slot. Select (V) does most everyday moving and resizing anyway, and these tools are for when you need a reference point somewhere specific.
The reference point is the whole idea
Rotate, Reflect, Scale and Shear are one engine in four modes. They all work the same way, and the thing that makes them worth using instead of the Select bbox is the reference point: a small crosshair marker that every transform pivots around.
- Click an object That selects it and drops the reference point at its bounding-box centre. Click empty canvas and both the selection and the reference point clear. A bare click never leaves a stray reference point floating in space.
- Move the reference point if you want it elsewhere Grab the marker itself and drag. That relocates it instead of transforming anything. Put it on a corner, or well outside the object, and the transform swings about that spot.
- Drag anywhere else to transform With a selection and a reference point in place, dragging on the canvas transforms live. The dashed marquee follows the object as you drag so you can see the result rather than guessing.
- Release to commit The live preview is thrown away and one real transform is baked in as a single history step. One Ctrl+Z takes you back.
Once you have positioned a reference point on an object, it is remembered. Click that object again with a transform tool and its own reference point comes back rather than resetting to the centre. Switching between Rotate and Scale keeps the point where it was too.
Modifiers, and copies
| Keys | Does |
|---|---|
| Shift + drag (Rotate) | Constrain to 45° steps |
| Shift + drag (Scale) | Uniform scale rather than per-axis |
| Shift + drag (Reflect) | Snap the mirror axis to 45° |
| Alt + drag | Leave the original and transform a copy |
| Ctrl+Z | Undo the committed transform |
Alt-drag is the one to remember. It duplicates and transforms the duplicate, leaving the original alone. Combined with a reference point you have deliberately placed off to one side, it is how you build a radial pattern: place the point at the centre of the arrangement, Alt-drag once, and repeat. The reference point stays pinned across repeated copies precisely so this works.
Free drag on the Scale tool scales each axis independently against your drag. Hold Shift and it goes uniform. Shear tracks the grabbed point along whichever axis your drag favours, horizontal or vertical, rather than trying to do both at once.
Numbers instead of drags
Each of the four modal tools has a small option bar of its own for the times a drag is not precise enough. The pattern is identical everywhere: a value or two, an Apply button, and a + Copy button that applies to a duplicate instead.
- Rotate: Angle in degrees, default 90, range -360 to 360.
- Scale: W × and H × multipliers, default 1.5 each.
- Reflect: Axis angle in degrees, default 90.
- Shear: Shear X° and Shear Y°, default 15 and 0, each capped at ±89.
Numeric applies use the same reference point as the drags. Place the point first, then hit Apply, and the maths happens about that spot. + Copy repeatedly about a pinned reference point is the closest thing here to Illustrator's transform-again habit.
Free Transform is Select wearing a hat
Free Transform is not a separate engine and it does not have a reference point. Picking it captures your current selection, mounts the Select tool, re-applies that selection, and puts the selection bounding box into its rotate and skew handle mode. The bbox is the free-transform widget. Its option bar is the Select bar, because it is the Select tool.
That is a design choice rather than an oversight. Select already draws a bounding box with handles, and having two subtly different bounding boxes with two subtly different handle behaviours is how editors get confusing. So if you want handles on the box, use Free Transform or just Select. If you want to pivot about a point of your choosing, use one of the four modal tools.
The modal transform tools deliberately hide the Select bbox's scale and rotate handles while they are active, leaving only the dashed marquee and the reference point. The handles would be dead anyway, because the transform tool owns the drag. It is less clutter, not less function.
Common questions
Is there a keyboard shortcut for Rotate or Scale?
No. All five entries in the transform slot are registered without a key, so open the slot's flyout to reach them. Select (V) handles most everyday moving and resizing through its bounding box.
How do I rotate around a corner instead of the centre?
Click the object to place the reference point at its centre, then grab the reference marker itself and drag it to the corner. Every subsequent drag or numeric Apply pivots about that spot, and the object remembers it for next time.
How do I transform a copy and keep the original?
Hold Alt while dragging, or use the + Copy button in the tool's option bar. The original stays put and a duplicate receives the transform. The reference point stays pinned, so repeated copies build a pattern about the same centre.
Why does Free Transform highlight the Select tool?
Because it mounts Select. Free Transform re-applies your selection and enters the selection bounding box's rotate and skew handle mode, so the bbox is the widget. There is no second engine behind it.