Want to take screenshots or find files faster? Thereu2019s a shortcut for that! We share some key combinations that will save you a ton of time.
MAY 24, 2022 4:00 am PDT dmasaoka@idgcommunications.comKeyboard shortcuts are a brilliant time-saver; it’s much easier to tap two or three keys at once than to go hunting through nested menus. But shortcuts depend on knowledge and muscle memory – you need to put in the time to learn them before you can benefit in the long run.
That’s why we’re here. This guide to the essential keyboard shortcuts for Mac users covers the most useful hotkey combinations that will save you time and stress. We run though the most useful Mac keyboard shortcuts you didn’t know you didn’t know.
Just in case you are new to the Mac, we also cover the key combinations for saving, copying and pasting, printing, closing a window, closing or hiding an app, and lots more. We also cover key combination that enable you to troubleshoot problems with your Mac. For example, if you want to start your Mac in Safe Mode you need to know which key combination you need.
If these shortcuts get you hooked, you can even make your own for everything from the system to specific apps by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts and then choosing one of the options on the left. We have a separate article if you are looking for the key combination to type characters like °$€@®©# £€¢™.
The three most important keys on your Mac can be found to the left and right of the spacebar (for right- and left-handed use). Unfortunately these keys seem to cause more confusion than any others. So our shortcuts guide will begin by clearing up the mystery of, Control, Option and Command.
macOS has many shortcuts, but there are a few that everyone should know. They start with the ⌘ symbol found on the Command key (cmd). Command has a legacy that leads to confusion – many older Mac users will refer to it as the Apple key, because in the past there used to be an Apple logo on it, but this logo stopped appearing a while ago when if was decided that there were a few too many Apple logos on Apple products. Read: Where is the Command key?
The logo you will still find on this key looks like a squiggly square, or a four petalled flower. It was designed by Susan Kare for the original iMac (and based on the Scandinavian icon for place of interest).
The Command (cmd) key works in a similar way to the Control key on a PC. On a Mac you use the Command key where on a PC you would use Control (or Ctrl).
In the following examples “⌘+A” means you need to hold down the Command button and press A or press both at the same time.
There is a great deal of confusion over what Apple refers to as the Option key. If you’re using a UK or European keyboard this key might be labelled as the Alt key, so it’s no wonder most people don’t know where it is.
The Alt (aka Option) key can be found between Control and Command. It has an icon that looks like a slope and a dip with a line above it.
Chances are the first time you hear mention of Option/Alt you are following a tutorial and trying to fix something on your Mac. The Alt/Option key is the one you use if you wish to start an Intel-powered Mac in Recovery mode, you also press it when typing certain characters on your keyboard, such as Option+3 or Option+4.
The Option key also enables you to enable the Save As option in Mac apps. Just press it when you click on the File menu and you’ll see the new options.
You may be wondering whether you can use the Alt key, along with Ctrl and Delete, to shut down an unresponsive Mac – the famour Ctrl-Alt-Delete combo from the Windows PC. Force-quitting on a Mac is slightly different to on a PC: here’s how to Force Quit on a Mac.
With the Command key doing the job on Mac that the Control key does on PC, you may be wondering why there’s also a Control key on a Mac keyboard.
The most common use of Control is to mimic the right-click on a mouse or when using the mouse pad (since some Apple mice don’t have the right click option).
Now that you know where to find the keys we will share some of the most useful key combinations we use on our Macs. We’ll also include a list of all the key combos you need to know at the bottom of this article.
⌘+Space bar: This is probably the most useful shortcut of all. Whenever you want to find a file on your Mac, just tap this shortcut and type the name of the file you’d like the find in the prompt that pops up. The results are instant. Spotlight will also search through things like iMessages, bookmarks, and the full text of files on your hard drive. It’s also a quick way to find and open apps you don’t keep on your dock.
⌘+Q: Use this command to shut down any app immediately. This command doesn’t just minimize the app (as sometimes happens when you hit the red “X” button at the top of any Mac app)—it completely shuts it down.
As you can probably imagine, we use these shortcuts a lot here at Macworld. There are actually several ways you can take a screenshot on a Mac.
⌘+Shift+3: Screenshot the entire visible window. If you can see it on your Mac’s screen, it’ll show up in the screenshot.
⌘+Shift+4: Screenshot a specific area of the screen with the help of a rectangular cropping tool. This is the one I use the most, and it’s also great for sharing images or snippets of text on social media.
⌘+Shift+5: Beginning with macOS Mojave, Apple made it easy to see all the screenshot tools at once with this shortcut. Press it, and you’ll see a toolbar that gives you options for capturing the entire screen, capturing a specific window, or capturing a specific portion of a window. You can also use it to record either the entire screen or a portion of it and choose where to save the image or video file. (By default, screenshots save to the desktop.)
⌘+H: Here’s one for sneaky folks. If you’re looking at something you don’t want an approaching boss, parent, or friend to see, tap this shortcut and the active open window will vanish. To start using the app again, press the app’s icon on either the dock or the App Switcher.
You can do this for all active apps by holding down ⌘+Option and pressing your mouse on any visible part of your desktop. Every app will “Hide.” It’s a great way to declutter your desktop.
If you simply want to minimize an app, press ⌘+M, but its preview will still show up on the right side of your dock.
You might also want to hide your windows so you can see the Desktop on a Mac. Apple has Mission Control for this:
Not content with hiding all your open apps and windows? Go a step further and hide your Dock:
⌘+Tab: Holding ⌘ and then tapping Tab opens the App Switcher, which lets you easily switch between all active apps by tapping Tab until you land on the one you want.
There are some variations of this key combo:
⌘+~:This one makes research a heck of a lot easier. Let’s say you have two documents open from Apple’s Pages app: one with your notes and one with your draft. This shortcut lets you easily switch between the two (or more) documents. I find it’s particularly helpful if I’m working on a MacBook with a smaller screen where the split-view interface might feel too cramped. (If you can’t find the ~ sign it’s next to the Z on an English keyboard).
⌘+L: Reaching for your mouse to activate Safari’s search bar wastes a lot of time. Press this shortcut while you’re using Safari, and the cursor will jump up to the search bar, where you can type out either a search term or an URL. This shortcut also works with Google Chrome. (You can also use it on Windows with the Control key.)
Safari has some other great keyboard shortcuts, too: ⌘+T opens a new tab, and ⌘+Z reopens the last tab you (possibly accidentally) closed. If you want to reopen an accidentally closed tab in Chrome or Opera, you can press ⌘+Shift+T.
⌘+Option+Q: If an app is locked up (and ⌘+Q isn’t working for whatever reason), use this shortcut to force the app to quit.
You can also choose multiple apps to force-quit by pressing ⌘+Option+Esc (Escape), which is much like using Control-Alt+Delete on a PC. Instead of the Task Manager, though, you’ll get a window that says Force Quit Applications and you can choose which app you want to close from there.
⌘+Control+Q: If you’re stepping away from your desk at home or the office and you don’t want someone snooping around on your Mac, press this shortcut and your Mac will immediately switch to the lock screen. It’s a heck of a lot faster than doing it through the menu bar.
Click+Space Bar: If you want to see what a file looks like but you don’t want to waste time opening the associated app, select the file in a Finder folder and then press the space bar. (This also works with files on the desktop.) A full-page preview will pop up—and with Markup options, too. This works for everything from images and PDFs to Microsoft Excel files.
You can also select multiple files to preview at once by holding down the Command key as you select them and then pressing ⌘+Y. (⌘+Y also works for single files, but in that case it’s less convenient.) Once that window is open, you can navigate between the files with the arrow keys in the upper left.
If you are having trouble with a faulty Mac the following key combinations could be useful.
Apple has a set of keyboard commands you can use to make your Mac do certain tasks at startup. For example, if you want to zap the Mac’s NVRAM, reset the SMC, or boot into Recovery mode, there are keyboard combinations that you hold down while booting your Mac.
These keyboard combinations might be different depending on whether you are using an Intel-powered Macs or an M1-series Mac. We have a guide to help you find the troubleshooting modes on Apple M1 Macs.
For Mac newbies and oldies alike, these keyboard shortcuts will probably be the ones you use the most:
When editing text work smarter with these key combos, which work in most of the word processors we have used:
In the Finder you could try the following:
