A List of Common Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

From its beginning, the Macintosh has been a mouse based OS.  This is no more apparent today than in iOS and Mac’s gesture controls.  That doesn’t mean that I always want to reach for my trackpad when I want to do something other than typing.  Fortunately, Mac has a wide array of keyboard shortcuts, which I’m going to try to cover.  NOTE: This list is not necessarily comprehensive, though I will try to be.  What I basically mean is that I’ll cover the shortcuts for specific, Mac-centric apps (e.g. Finder), a few application agnostic commands, and some that may be general across similar apps (like browsers).  Just don’t expect to find every keyboard shortcut under the Apple-logo sun to be in this list.  Enough of that, let’s get to the commands. NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, a dash is not part of the keyboard shortcut.

GENERAL: Shortcuts you’ll find across the board.

  • Zoom In: Command – (command key, minus symbol)
  • Zoom Out: Command + (command key, plus symbol)
  • Cut: Command-X
  • Copy: Command-C
  • Paste: Command-V
  • New folder or document: Command-N
  • Open file: Command-O
  • Save page/file: Command-S
  • Save As: Command-Shift-S
  • Find folder,word in page: Command-F
  • Print: Command-P
  • Select All: Command-A
  • Undo: Command-Z
  • Redo: Command-Shift-Z (on rare occasions, the command is Command-Y
  • Quit an app: Command-Q
  • Close a window/tab: Command-W
  • Hide window: Command-H
  • Minimize window: Command-M
  • Activate Spotlight: Command-Spacebar
  • Quick app switching: Command-Tab
TEXT/WRITING: These shortcuts you’ll find helpful when writing
  • Bold Text: Command-B
  • Italics: Command-I
  • Underline: Command-U
BROWSERS: These work in the majority of Mac browsers:
  • Reload Page: Command-R
  • New tab: Command-T
  • Back: Command-(Left arrow)
  • Forward: Command-(right arrow)
  • Reopen closed tab: Command-Shift-T
FINDER: Shortcuts for the Mac’s famous file manager
  • Make a new Finder Tab: Command-T
  • Connect to Server: Command-K
  • Get info on selected folder: Command-I
  • Quick view of folder you’re in: Command-Y
  • Open folder: Command-(down button)
  • Open enclosing folder: Command-(up arrow)
  • Back: Command-[
  • Forward: Command-]
  • Change Finder view: Command-(the number 1, 2, 3, or 4)
  • Make duplicate: Command-L
  • Delete file: Command-Shift-Delete
VISUAL AID: Occasionally, you just need some help seeing what’s on your screen
  • Zoom in/out on a page or folder: Command+ or Command- respectively.
  • Zoom in and follow arrow: Option-(two finger scroll up).  NOTE: For OSX Lion or higher, this is the same whether or not you have “natural scrolling” enabled.
  • Turn your screen to a negative image: Command-Option-Control-8.
HANDY: Just nice little tricks to have up your sleeve:
  • Turn volume up or down without the “pop” sound: Hold Shift while pressing volume up or down key.
  • Smaller adjustments to sound and screen brightness: Hold Shift & Option while moving the screen/keyboard brightness, or volume keys.  NOTE: This does not work in OSX Lion or higher.
If you have a cool keyboard shortcut that you would like to share, comment below or email me at easyosx@live.com, and I’ll add it as soon as possible.  Check out the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube pages by hitting the appropriate logos on the top of the screen.   Thanks!

One comment

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