Keyboard shortcuts can significantly speed up our workflow and make using a Mac much easier. However, there are so many that it can be tough to remember the most useful ones. Here’s an overview of the keyboard shortcuts I find essential.
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Quickly Switching Between Applications
You’re likely familiar with the ⌘ Tab shortcut, which allows you to cycle through open applications. But there are additional tricks hidden within this function. For instance, holding down ⇧ reverses the direction of the application selection, which is handy when you have numerous apps open and need to select an app from the opposite end of the list.
Also, while using ⌘ Tab, if you press Q while an application is highlighted, it will quit the application.
Browser Shortcuts
When operating my Mac, I spend a lot of time in the web browser. There are several specific shortcuts that enhance browsing efficiency. For instance, there’s an internal equivalent of ⌘ Tab for switching between browser tabs, which is ⌃ Tab. Like with ⌘ Tab, holding ⇧ reverses the direction of the tab selection.
Another shortcut I constantly use is ⌘ R, which refreshes the current page. I also can’t do without ⌘ T, which opens a new tab.
I often copy URLs from articles I’m reading. To do this quickly, just press ⌘ L to jump to the address bar and then ⌘ C to copy the automatically highlighted URL.
While we’re discussing browsers, I frequently find myself searching for a word or phrase within an article. For this, the shortcut is ⌘ F (F for Find
). You might know this already, but did you know that pressing G will jump to the next occurrence of the searched word or phrase on the page?
Window Management
Managing multiple windows can be challenging and time-consuming, especially when, like me, you have dozens open at once. Apple has introduced several lesser-known shortcuts to help manage your windows more effectively.
For example, to close a window: ⌘ W.
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Perhaps you want to hide all windows from a particular application without closing them because you’ll need them later. To do this: ⌘ H (H for Hide
), and all windows from that application will be hidden. ⌥ ⌘ H hides all windows from other applications except the one selected.
If you need to quit an application, instead of right-clicking on the Dock or using the menu bar, just use the shortcut ⌘ Q.
If you’re a fan of Mission Control, note that you can launch it by pressing ⌃ ↑, and you can display all windows from the current application with ⌃ ↓.
Taking Screenshots
Screen capturing in macOS has evolved significantly. We now have three shortcuts that cover all aspects of screen capture. Note that by default, screenshots are saved to the desktop.
⌘ ⇧ 3: captures everything displayed on the screen.
⌘ ⇧ 4: captures a specific area that you select. macOS will display a crosshair cursor that lets you select a rectangular area to capture. If you want to copy the captured image directly, hold ⌃ before releasing the mouse button. Then, simply paste to use the captured image.
⌘ ⇧ 4 Space: After pressing ⌘ ⇧ 4 and then the space bar, the cursor changes to a camera, allowing you to capture a specific window.
⌘ ⇧ 5: launches a complete application for screen capturing. Here, you can capture the entire screen, a window, a selected area, and even record a video of your screen. You can also add a countdown timer, which is handy for capturing menus. Another interesting feature: the options allow you to choose which folder to save your screenshots in, so you no longer need to clutter your desktop.
For more features, you might consider a comprehensive software like the excellent CleanShot X.
Miscellaneous
There’s a shortcut for accessing the preferences of the current application: ⌘ comma (⌘ ,).
If you’re having trouble seeing something on the screen, you can increase the font size in most applications by pressing ⌘ + (and ⌘ – to decrease the size). We’ve previously written a complete article on macOS zoom capabilities, which is helpful for those over 40 who are experiencing vision problems.
In the same vein, we wrote an article showing how to type brackets [ ] and braces { }.
You can access a list of all macOS shortcuts at this URL.
What lesser-known shortcut do you use every day?