Dan Rodney, instructor-designer, all around nice guy

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Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

I like to figure out the fastest way to do things. I hope the shortcuts on this page will help
you become the power user that lies within. These keystrokes have been tested on Mac OS 10.5 Leopard (and many work on 10.4 Tiger and prior). I add new shortcuts as I find them, so check back!

Please note that Cmd is short for the Command
key (otherwise called the Apple key).

Guide
to the Mac’s Menu Symbols

Symbol

Key on Keyboard

Symbol

Key on Keyboard

Command/Apple key (like Control on a PC)

Delete

Option (like Alt on a PC)

Escape

Shift

Page Up

Control (Control-click = Right-click)

Page Down

Tab

Home

Return

End

Enter (on Number Pad)

Arrow Keys

Finder Shortcuts

Action

Keystroke

Open Sidebar item in a new window

Cmd-Click it

Switch Finder views (Icon, List, Column, Cover Flow)

Cmd-1, Cmd-2, Cmd-3, Cmd-4

In List view, expand a folder

Right Arrow

In List view, collapse a folder

Left Arrow

Rename the selected file/folder

Press Return (or Enter)

Go into selected folder

Cmd-Down Arrow

Go to parent folder

Cmd-Up Arrow

Go Back

Cmd-[  (that’s left square bracket)

Go Forward

Cmd-]  (that’s right square bracket)

Select the next icon in Icon and List views

Tab (Shift-Tab reverses direction)

Alternate columns in Column View

Tab (Shift-Tab reverses direction)

Instantly show long file name (for names condensed with a “...”)

Hold Option while mousing over long filenames

Resize current column to fit the longest file name

Double-Click column resize widget

Resize all columns to fit their longest file names

Option Double-Click resize widget

Copy and Paste files

Cmd-C, then Cmd-V

Move a file instead of copying. (Copies the file to the destination and removes it from the original disk.)

Cmd-Drag file to disk

Move selected files to the Trash

Cmd-Delete

Empty the Trash (with warning)

Cmd-Shift-Delete

Empty the Trash (without warning)

Cmd-Opt-Shift-Delete

Cancel a drag-n-drop action while in the midst of dragging

Esc

Show Inspector (a single, live refreshing Info window)

Cmd-Opt-I

Undo the last action (such as rename file, copy file, etc.)

Cmd-Z

Hide/Show Sidebar (on the left)

Cmd-Opt-T

Move or Remove item in toolbar (at the top of the window).

This works in most programs.

Cmd-drag

Open Quick Look (Mac OS 10.5)

With file selected, tap Spacebar (or Cmd-Y)

Zoom In/Out on a Quick Look Preview

Cmd-Plus(+) or Cmd-Minus(-)

Find by File Name (Mac OS 10.5)

Cmd-Shift-F

Application Switcher

Action

Keystroke

Quickly switch between 2 programs

(ie: InDesign & Photoshop)

Press Cmd-Tab to switch to the last used program.

Press Cmd-Tab again to switch back.

NOTE: Press keys quickly and do NOT hold them down.

Switch between programs (but you choose which program to switch to)

Press Cmd-Tab and continue holding Cmd.

While holding Cmd, to choose which program you want to switch to you can:

• press Tab (several times if needed) to scroll right

• press Shift-Tab or tilde(~) to scroll left

• use the left/right arrow keys

• aim with the mouse

• use end/home keys to just to first/last item

Quit a program using the application switcher

When in the app switcher you’re already holding Cmd.

Once the program is selected hit Q to quit.

Hide a program using the application switcher

When in the app switcher you’re already holding Cmd.

Once the program is selected hit H to hide.

Cancel out of the application switcher once it’s open

When in the app switcher you're already holding Cmd.

Hit Esc or period(.)

Dock Shortcuts

Action

Keystroke

Hide all other applications (except the one you're clicking on)

Command-Option click an App’s icon in Dock

Reveal a Dock item’s location in the Finder

Command Click on the icon in the Dock

Move and a Dock item to somewhere else on the hard drive

Command Drag the icon from the Dock to new destination

Force a file to open in a specific program

While dragging the file onto an app’s icon in the Dock, hold Command-Option

When in an app’s Dock menu, change the Quit to Force Quit

Hold Option while in Dock menu

Force the Dock to only resize to non-interpolated icon sizes

Hold Option while dragging Dock separator

Move Dock to left, bottom, right side of screen

Hold Shift and drag Dock divider

Temporarily turn magnification on (or off) It’s a toggle.

Hold Control-Shift (Mac OS 10.5)

Working with Windows

Action

Keystroke

Switch windows (works in most programs)

Next window: Cmd-tilde(~)

Previous Window: Cmd-Shift-tilde(~)

See where the File/Folder is located (a menu will pop-up displaying the folder hierarchy). This works in “most” programs
as well as the Finder.

Cmd-Click on name of the window in its titlebar

Move a window in the background without switching to it.

(Example: You’re in a dialog and can’t move a window
in the background, so Cmd-Drag its titlebar.)

Cmd-Drag on a window’s titlebar

Taking
Screenshots

Action

Keystroke

Take picture of the entire screen

Cmd-Shift-3

Take picture of a selected area

Cmd-Shift-4 and Drag over desired area

New in Mac OS 10.5: While dragging:

- Hold Spacebar to move selected area.

- Hold Shift to change size in one direction only (horizontal or vertical)

- Hold Option for center-based resizing.

Take picture of a specific window/object

Cmd-Shift-4, then press Spacebar, then Click on the window/object

Copy the screenshot to the clipboard instead of making a file

Hold Control with the above keystrokes

Screenshots are saved to the Desktop as PNG file in OS 10.4 and later (or a PDF file in OS 10.3 and prior).

Startup Commands

Action

Keystroke

Eject CD on boot

Hold Mouse button down immediately after powering on

OS X Safe boot

Hold Shift during startup

Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode

Hold T during startup

Startup from a CD

Hold C during startup

Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (CD, etc.)

Hold Cmd-Opt-Shift-Delete during startup

Choose Startup disk before booting

Hold Option during startup

Start up in Verbose mode

Hold Cmd-V during startup

Start up in Single-User mode (command line)

Hold Cmd-S during startup

Force OS X startup

Hold X during startup

Shutdown/Sleep Commands

Action

Keystroke

Shutdown immediately (no confirmation)

Cmd-Opt-Ctrl-Eject

Sleep immediately (no confirmation)

Cmd-Opt-Eject

Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog (like hitting the Power button on old Mac keyboards)

Ctrl-Eject

Put display to sleep

Ctrl-Shift-Eject

Dashboard

Action

Keystroke

Open/Close Widget Dock

Cmd-Plus(+)

Cycle to next/previous “page” of widgets in widget dock

Cmd-Right/Left Arrow

Close a widget without having to open the widget dock

Hold Option and hover over widget (close box will appear)

Reload/Refresh a widget

Cmd-R

Spaces Mac OS 10.5

Action

Keystroke

Activate Spaces (birds-eye view of all spaces)

F8

Consolidate all windows into a Single Workspace

After pressing F8, press C to consolidate (press C again to restore)

Move to a neighboring space

Ctrl-arrow key (left, right, up or down)

Move to a specific space

Ctrl-number of the space (1, 2, 3, etc.)

Move all windows of an app to another space

Cmd-Drag in Space’s birds-eye view (Control and Shift also work)

Spotlight

Action

Keystroke

Open Spotlight Menu

Cmd-Space

Open Spotlight Window

Cmd-Option-Space

In Spotlight menu: Launch Top Hit

Mac OS 10.5: Return

Mac OS 10.4: Cmd-Return

Reveal the selected item in the Finder

In Spotlight Menu: Cmd-click item or press Cmd-Return

In Spotlight Window: Press Cmd-R

Skip to first result in each category

Cmd up/down arrow

Clear Spotlight’s search field

Esc clears to do another search.

Esc a second time closes the spotlight menu.

Working
with Text (some only work in Cocoa apps like Safari, Mail, TextEdit, etc.)

Action

Keystroke

Go to end of line

Cmd-right arrow

Go to beginning of line

Cmd-left arrow

Go to end of all the text

Cmd-down arrow

Go to beginning of all the text

Cmd-up arrow

Go to end of current or next word

Option-right arrow

Go to beginning of current or previous word

Option-left arrow

NOTE: Add Shift to any of the above keystrokes to make a selection to that point.

On Laptops: Delete Text to the right of the cursor (like the Del key on a full keyboard)

Function(fn)-Delete

Non-touching (Discontinuous) text selections

Command-drag

Select non-linear areas

Option-drag

Delete entire word to the left

Opt-Delete

Look up word in dictionary

Position mouse over a word and hold Cmd-Ctrl-D

Auto completion word

Start typing the word. Press Esc (or F5) to open suggested word list

Emacs
Key Bindings (only work in Cocoa apps like Safari, Mail, TextEdit, iChat, etc.)

Action

Keystroke

Remember As

go to start of line (puts cursor at beginning of current line)

Ctrl-A

A = Start of alphabet

go to end of line (puts cursor at end of current line)

Ctrl-E

E = End

go up one line

Ctrl-P

P = Previous

go down one line

Ctrl-N

N = Next

go back one character (moves cursor left 1 place)

Ctrl-B

B = Back

go forward one character (moves cursor right 1 place)

Ctrl-F

F = Forward

delete the character to the right of the cursor

Ctrl-D

D = Delete

delete the character to the left of the cursor

Ctrl-H

delete to end of the line (or delete the selection)

Ctrl-K

K = Kill rest of line

scroll down

Ctrl-V

center the current line in the window

Ctrl-L

insert line break after the cursor without moving the cursor

Ctrl-O

transpose letters (swaps letter on the left and right of cursor)

Ctrl-T

T = Transpose

Miscellaneous

Action

Keystroke

Force Quit (opens list so you can choose application)

Cmd-Opt-Esc

Force Quit Frontmost Application (without confirmation)

Hold Cmd-Opt-Shift-Escape for about 4 seconds

On Laptops: Scroll (like a mouse’s scroll wheel)

(Works on newer laptops if enabled in System Preferences)

Slide 2 fingers on the trackpad

On Laptops: Right-click (like on a 2 button mouse)

(Works on newer laptops if enabled in System Preferences)

Place 2 fingers on the trackpad and Click

Quickly find any menu item and launch it. (Mac OS 10.5)

1. Press Cmd-?  FYI: That’s Cmd-Shift-/

2. In the Help menu Search that opens, start typing a few letters of your desired menu command.

3. Arrow key down to the item you want and press Return to choose it.

Change system volume without the confirmation beeps

Hold Shift while changing volume

Completely smooth scrolling—one pixel at a time.

(Only works in Cocoa apps.)

Hold Option while dragging scrollbar

Open System Preferences:

NOTE: These launch directly into a preference pane.

Two examples are given.

To open “Sound” Preferences:

Hold Option and press any Sound key

(Mute, Volume Up or Down )

To open “Displays” Preferences:

Hold Option and press any Brightness key

Open Front Row

Cmd-Esc

Quickly Exit Front Row

Press any F key, like F5. In 10.5 non F keys also work.

Customize the toolbar at the top of a window.

Works for toolbars like in Safari, Apple Mail, Preview, Finder, etc.
But it doesn't work in all programs, like Firefox.

- Rearrange icons:

Hold Cmd and drag the icons around.

- Remove icons:

Hold Cmd and drag icon off toolbar.

- View toolbar options:

Ctrl-click on the toolbar to get a menu.

Safari

Action

Keystroke

Move between found items (new in Safari 3)

Cmd-F, enter your search text and Press:

Return to Move Forward

Shift-Return to Move Backward

Cancel current Find

Press Escape or Cmd-Period(.)

Switch Tabs

Next Tab: Cmd-Shift-Right Arrow

Previous Tab: Cmd-Shift-Left Arrow

Go to one of the first 9 bookmarks (not folders) in the Bookmarks Toolbar

Cmd-1 through Cmd-9

Scroll a webpage by a screenful

Scroll Down: Spacebar or Option-Down Arrow

Scroll Up: Shift-Spacebar or Option-Up Arrow

Apple’s Mail.app

Action

Keystroke

Reply to Message

Cmd–R or

Option-Double Click Message

Go to the next/previous email in a thread even if you haven’t organized by threads

Option-Up/Down Arrow

Scroll the listing of emails at the top (not the actual contents of an email)

Ctrl-Page Up/Down

Apple’s Preview.app

Action

Keystroke

Choose the Scroll tool

Cmd-1

Choose the Text tool

Cmd-2

Choose the Select tool

Cmd-3

Choose the Annotate tool

Cmd-4 (Mac OS 10.4 only. 10.5 has separate keystrokes for each Annotation tool.)

Switch to Next tool

Option-Right Arrow

Switch to Previous tool

Option-Left Arrow

Zoom in or out

Cmd-Plus(+) or Cmd-Minus(-)

Scroll Large Images

Hold Spacebar and drag on the image (like you do in Photoshop)

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