How To Use Keyboard Shortcuts Mac

 Keyboard shortcuts on Mac may be hard to remember, but with practice, you can boost your productivity significantly

Every time you shift your hand from the keyboard to the mouse or the touchpad, you are essentially losing several seconds. Multiply this with every minute and you would have lost a considerable amount of your productive time each day. That's why many people prefer to use keyboard shortcuts on their Mac. Let's take a look at all the keyboard shortcut options you have for Mac.

How to use keyboard shortcuts Mac

There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for Mac. These can be grouped into various categories. It is better to focus on keyboard shortcuts that you will use regularly. Trying to learn everything will largely be a futile exercise.

Commonly used keyboard shortcuts for Mac

• Command-C - The Copy shortcut
• Command-X - The Cut shortcut
• Command-V - Used for the Paste function
• Command-Z - This is to Undo the previous action
• Command-A - To select All items
• Command-F - Used to find something in a document or a specific window
• Command-G - Find the Next item
• Command-H - To hide all other open apps except the front app
• Command-M - Used to Open a selected item
• Command-P - Used for printing
• Command-Q - This closes the current app
• Command-T - Used to open a new Tab
• Command-W - To close the Front window
• Option-Command-Esc - To force quit a specific app
• Command-Space bar - This is used to show or hide the Spotlight search field
• Control–Command–Space bar or Fn-E - To show the Character Viewer for symbols including emojis
• Control-Command-F - To transition from full screen mode
• Space bar - To get a Quick Look at the selected item
• Command-Tab - Transition to the last used app among the open apps
• Command-Grave accent (`) - Used to switch between the windows of the app you are using
• Shift-Command-5 - Take a screenshot or screen recording in macOS Mojave or later
• Shift-Command-N - Quickly create a new empty folder in the Finder
• Control-Command-N - Create a new folder which has the currently selected items
• Command-Comma (,) - Used to access settings (preferences) for the front app
• Fn-Q - Take a Quick Note

Mac keyboard shortcuts for managing system shut down, log out and sleep

• Power button - Various functions such as waking the Mac from sleep, press and hold to turn off the system, press to lock the screen (on keyboards with Touch ID), and put the Mac to sleep.
• Control–Shift–Power button - This puts the Mac to sleep on built-in keyboards without Touch ID
• Control–Power button - Shows options for restart, sleep or shutdown
• Control–Command–Power button - Force a restart even with open and unsaved documents
• Control–Option–Command–Power button - Quickly close all apps and shut down Mac
• Control-Command-Q - Lock your screen quickly
• Shift-Command-Q - Used to log out of your macOS user account

Text editing keyboard shortcuts for Mac

• Command-B - Make text Bold
• Command-I - Make text italic
• Command-K - Add a web link
• Command-U - Make the text underlined
• Command-T - Show or hide the Fonts options
• Command-D - To select the Desktop folder from within an Open dialogue or Save dialogue
• Control-Command-D - See the definition of a selected word
• Shift-Command-Colon (:) - Show the Spelling and Grammar options
• Command-Semicolon (;) - Identify words that are misspelt
• Option-Delete - Deletes the word to the left of the insertion point
• Control-H - Delete the character to the left of the insertion point
• Control-D - Delete the character to the right of the insertion point
• Fn-Delete - To Forward delete on keyboard which do not have a Forward Delete key
• Fn-Up Arrow - Used for Page Up function
• Fn-Down Arrow - Used for Page Down function
• Fn-Left Arrow - Reach Home of the selected document
• Fn-Right Arrow - Reach End of the selected document
• Command-Up Arrow - Insertion point shifts to the beginning of the document
• Command-Down Arrow - Insertion point moves to the end of the document
• Command-Left Arrow - Move the insertion point to the beginning of the selected line
• Command-Right Arrow - Move the insertion point to the end of the selected line
• Option-Left Arrow - Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word
• Option-Right Arrow - Move the insertion point to the end of the next word
• Shift-Command-Up Arrow - Used to select text that is between the insertion point and beginning of the document
• Shift-Command-Down Arrow - Used to select the text that is between the insertion point and the end of the current line
• Shift-Up Arrow - Used to extend text selection to the nearest character
• Shift-Left Arrow - Used to extend text selection to one character to the left
• Shift-Right Arrow - Used to extend text selection one character to the right
• Option-Shift-Up Arrow - Used to extend text selection for paragraphs
• Option-Shift-Left Arrow - Used to extend text selection to the selected word
• Option-Shift-Right Arrow - Used to extend text selection one word after another
• Control-A - This brings you to the start of a line or paragraph
• Control-E - Reach the end of a line or paragraph
• Control-F - Move one character forward
• Control-B - Move one character backwards
• Control-L - The cursor moves to the visible section
• Control-P - Shift one line up in the document
• Control-N - Shift one line down in the document
• Control-O - Create a new line below the insertion point
• Control-T - Used for swapping characters at the insertion point
• Command-Left Curly Bracket ({) - Left align the selected item
• Command-Right Curly Bracket (}) - Right align the selected item
• Shift-Command-Vertical bar (|) - Centre align the selected item
• Option-Command-F - Opens the search field
• Option-Command-T - The toolbar can be shown or hidden
• Option-Command-C - Copy to clipboard
• Option-Command-V - Paste the earlier copied items
• Option-Shift-Command-V - Paste with style matching
• Option-Command-I - Inspector window is shown or hidden
• Shift-Command-P - This opens the Page Setup
• Shift-Command-S - Opens the Save As window
• Shift-Command-Minus sign (-) - Reduce the size of the selected item
• Shift-Command-Plus sign (+) - Increase the size of the selected item
• Shift-Command-Question mark (?) - This will open the Help menu

Accessibility shortcuts for Mac

• Control-Option-Command-8 - This is used to make the colors inverted
• Control-Option-Command-Comma (,) and Control-Option-Command-Full stop (.) - You can decrease or increase contrast

Keyboard focus shortcuts for Mac

• Control-F2 or Fn-Control-F2 - Easily access and navigate the Menu bar
• Control-F3 or Fn-Control-F3 - Selects the Dock
• Control-F4 or Fn-Control-F4 - Selects the active window or next window
• Control-F5 or Fn-Control-F5 - Selects the window toolbar
• Control-F6 or Fn-Control-F6 - Selects the floating window
• Control-Shift-F6 - Goes to the previous panel
• Control-F7 or Fn-Control-F7 - Alters the behavior of the Tab selection
• Control-F8 or Fn-Control-F8 - Goes to the Status Menu in the menu bar
• Command-Grave accent (`) - This triggers the next open window in the active app
• Shift-Command-Grave accent (`) - Triggers the previous open window in the active app
• Option-Command-Grave accent (`) - Selects the Window Drawer
• Tab and Shift-Tab - Toggle between next and previous control
• Control-Tab - Selects the next control upon selection of a text field
• Control-Shift-Tab - Goes to the earlier control groupings
• Arrow keys - Various functions that have up and down or horizontal scrolling
• Control-Arrow keys - Shifts to the control next to the text field

Finder and system shortcuts for Mac

• Command-D - Makes duplicates of a selected file
• Command-E - A selected disc or volume can be ejected
• Command-F - Opens the Finder window to start a Spotlight search
• Command-I - Shows the info for a specific file
• Shift-Command-C - Access the Computer window
• Shift-Command-D - Access the desktop folder
• Shift-Command-F - Access all recent files
• Shift-Command-G - Allows access to Folder window
• Shift-Command-H - Access the Home folder in the logged in macOS account
• Shift-Command-I - Allows access to iCloud Drive
• Shift-Command-K - Access the Network window
• Option-Command-L - See all your downloaded items
• Shift-Command-N - Create a new folder
• Shift-Command-O - Access the Documents folder
• Shift-Command-P - The Preview pane can be viewed or hidden in the Finder windows
• Shift-Command-R - Access the AirDrop window
• Shift-Command-T - The Tab bar can be viewed or hidden in the Finder windows
• Shift-Command-U - Go to the Utilities folder
• Option-Command-D - The Dock can be viewed or hidden
• Command-J- Access options in View
• Command-K - Access the Connect to Server window
• Command-N - This pops-up a new Finder window
• Option-Command-N - You can create a new Smart Folder
• Command-Left Bracket ([) - Access the previous folder
• Command-Right Bracket (]) - Access the next folder
• Right Arrow - Access the selected folder in list view
• Left Arrow - Close the selected folder in list view
• Command-Delete - Move items not wanted to the Bin
• Shift-Command-Delete - Permanently delete the selected files
• Option-Shift-Command-Delete - Permanently delete files without confirmation window
• Option–Mission Control - Access settings in Mission Control
• Command–Mission Control or Fn-H orFn-F11 - Shows the desktop
• Control–Up Arrow - Go to Mission Control
• Control-Down Arrow - Reveal all windows that are there in the front app
• Option–Volume Up - Access Sound settings
• Option-Shift-Volume Up or Option-Shift-Volume Down - Make smaller adjustments to the sound volume
• Option key while double-clicking - The original window is closed and the selected item opens in a separate window
• Command key while double-clicking - A folder is opened in a separate tab or window
• Fn-A - Reveals or hides the Dock
• Fn-C - Reveals or hides the Control Centre
• Fn-D - The dictation can be started or stopped
• Fn-N - Reveals or hides the Notification Centre
• Fn-Shift-A - Reveal or hide Apps or Launchpad
• Fn-Fn - This allows access to the Character Viewer
• Command + Command (press twice) - Type to Siri can be opened or closed