Mac Keyboard Shortcuts
One of the most confusing
things for Mac beginners is that the keys are differently
configured from those on a Windows PC. The below tables are
my attempt to make some sense out of Mac Keyboard or
Keystroke Shortcuts.
As a point of interest, the data for this page is held in a
Google Documents
spreadsheet, and as being
referenced Loghound
PlusKit "GTable" command in
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Enjoy - I hope this site can help
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Power Commands - Shutdown, Restart, Sleep
Use these
shortcuts from your keyboard to control sleep, shutdown and
restart. You can also click on the Apple menu and select
menu commands.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| option-Cmd-eject |
Must hold eject down for a couple of seconds. Use F12 if you have no eject key. |
| control-eject |
Display the "restart / shutdown / sleep" dialog. |
| option-Cmd-control-eject |
Shutdown |
| option-Cmd-power button |
Force a Restart. |
General Commands in Every App
Mostly universally
available keystroke commands, across applications.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Cmd-Q |
Quit the current application. |
| Cmd-H |
Hide the current application. |
| Cmd-W |
Close a window inside the current application, such as a Mail message. |
| Cmd-tab |
Switch between applications. Hold Cmd and tap "tab" repeatedly. |
| Cmd-` |
Next Window. Cycle through the windows inside an application. Cmd-backtick (not a single quote). |
Navigating Text
Practice a bit, and you’ll be
whizzing through text with these handy keystroke sequences.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Cmd-X, C, or V |
Press Cmd with X to cut, C to copy, and V to insert text. Think this way to remember these. X looks like scissors, or "no good", C stands for "copy" and V is like the proofreader's mark for insert. |
| Cmd-shift-option-V |
Paste text and match it to the surrounding text. Same as "Paste Special, Plain Text" in Windows. |
| esc while typing |
Autocomplete a word being typed by pressing esc. |
| Cmd-Arrow Keys (shift) |
Move the cursor to the beginning and end of a line (left, right arrow keys) or the top or bottom of an area of text (up, down arrow keys). Add shift to select. |
| option-Right and Left Arrow Keys (shift) |
Move the cursor to the beginning or end of this or the next word to the right or left. Add shift to select. |
| delete |
Delete the text to the left of the cursor. |
| del, or fn-delete on a laptop |
Delete the text to the right of the cursor, or "forward delete". Marked with a right-facing arrow with an x on full sized keyboards. |
| option-delete |
Delete the word to the left of the cursor. |
Grabbing Screenshots
You can use these keyb
combinations, or use the built-in Grab application (try
spotlighting Grab, then enter on the app’s name) to make a
screenshot. There are third-party applications available as
well, such as SnapzPro from Ambrosia software.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Cmd-shift-3 (-control) |
Take a screenshot of your whole screen. The default is to save a PNG on your desktop, but add the control key to save to the clipboard for pasting. |
| Cmd-shift-4 (-control) |
Take a screenshot of an area you drag, after this key sequence. Add control to send to clipboard. When selecting, you can modify the select by holding space, shift or option. Try it! |
| Cmd-shift-4, then spacebar |
Take a screenshot of only the window you click, after pressing these keys. |
In the Finder
If you use the Finder for your file
management, these are useful keystrokes. You might also
consider a Finder replacement like CocoaTech’s Path Finder.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Cmd-delete |
Delete the selected file. |
| Cmd-shift-delete |
Empty the Trash, with nagging whether you really, really want to. |
| Cmd-shift-option-delete |
Empty the Trash, sans nagging. |
Docking Around
Some key accelerators for Docking
around in the Dock.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Cmd-option-D |
Show or Hide the Dock. |
| Press dock icon |
Display the Dock item's menu by clicking and holding the mouse button. |
| option, in dock menu |
Pressing option while you are in the Dock icon's menu changes the Quit to a Force Quit. Good for corralling pesky hung applications. |
| Cmd-option-click |
Cmd-option-click an icon to hide all applications BUT the one you are clicking. |
Spotlight - Focused Search
Quick keyboard shortcuts
for spotlight.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Cmd-Space |
Open spotlight menu. |
| Cmd-option-Space |
Open spotlight window. |
While Starting Up
Special keypresses for use when
starting up.
| keystroke | comments |
|---|
| Hold C |
Start up from a bootable CD or DVD in the internal drive. You might do this when upgrading, or when you need to run something like Disk Utility from the original Mac OS X DVD. Once you boot to the OS X DVD, you can choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu, and then choose "First Aid". As an aside, you can use "DasBoot" utility to create bootable discs. |
| Hold D |
Start up from the first partition. |
| Hold N |
Start up from network server using the default NetBoot image. |
| Hold T |
Enter FireWire Target Disk mode, which allows another Mac to access said Mac in Target Disk mode as if it were an external hard drive. Cable sold separately. |
| Hold X |
Starts up in Mac OS X (if OS 9 is also present on the same disk). |
| Hold shift |
Start the Mac in "safe mode" and thereby force a check of the startup volume, and run only necessary kernel extensions. This might be used, for example, to get out of a failed upgrade which is looping the setup assistant. Press shift right as you hear the startup sound, and release shift when you see the grey Apple logo and spinning progress indicator. Give this process time. Leave safe mode by rebooting. |
| Hold option |
Show the icons of all startup disks, for selection. |
| Cmd-option-shift-delete |
Start from external drive (or CD). |
| Cmd-option-P-R |
Zap the Parameter RAM (PRAM). Start holding the keys prior to the grey screen after boot, hold them through the reset and an automatic reboot, through the second startup tone. Resets settings such as: display / video settings such as refresh rate, screen resolution, number of colors, startup volume, speaker volume, recent kernel panic info if any, DVD region setting. Be sure to go into System Preferences afterward and set the clock and timezone, and speaker volume. |
| Cmd-option-O-F |
Display the Open Firmware screen. |
| Cmd-V |
"Verbose" startup. Show Unix console messages during startup, and see what is going on behind the scenes as your Mac starts. |
| Cmd-S |
Start up in single user mode, which is a minimal BSD Unix environment. You can run /sbin/fsck -fy from the CLI, which will force-correct any disk problems. If you get a message that "FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED" this means fsck found and repaired problems. Run it again until no error messages show: i.e.: ** The volume (name_of_volume) appears to be OK **. Exit single user mode by typing reboot. |
| Mousedown |
Eject a stuck CD or DVD. |
| shift, later, after logging in |
Prevent Finder windows from opening and startup items from opening, for this boot. |