Mac Keyboard Shortcuts You’ll Definitely Want to Know

 
Learn some Mac keyboard shortcuts every user should know. They’ll help you be more efficient (and just experience less headache) as you go about your business!

If you are a Mac user, you’ll marvel at how easy a Mac computer is to use. The computers have a fascinating history and were made to outperform the existing PC models.

Mac computers are powerful machines that can help us seamlessly complete our tasks.

And if you wish to get the most from your Mac, you’ll want to know about the great keyboard shortcuts available.

These keyboard shortcuts will help you get the most out of your Mac and make your experience even easier.

Mac Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Know

If you don’t know about these keyboard shortcuts for your Mac, we suggest saving this article so you can always refer back to them.

These shortcuts will make your experience of your Mac better – and you’ll thank us for telling you!

Esc

Esc is not just to escape an application, but it can really get you out of trouble a lot of the time!

If your taking a Mac screenshot and realize that you selected a part of your screen that you didn’t want to snap, just press Esc and you’ll be able to start again.

If a web page won’t load and you want to stop it from loading so it doesn’t slow your computer, just press Esc. The Esc command cancels most previous commands.

Command – W

If you need to immediately close a window from any application, all you have to do is press Command and then the ‘W’ key.

Command – Y

If you are looking through your files and are unsure what a file contains, you will probably want to preview it before opening it.

If you open it, find out its the wrong file, and then close it, you’ll be wasting a lot of time. Here’s what you should do: highlight the item in the Finder and press Command and Y.

Once you do, you’ll get to see a preview of the file so you’ll know whether its the right file or not.

Command – , (Comma)

This is easily one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts there are. If you need to open the settings or preferences of an app.

Whether its the Finder, Garageband, or Safari – just press Command and ‘,’ (Comma) and you’ll automatically open the settings.

When you see how quick this is, you’ll realize how much better this is than having to access the settings from the menu bar.

Command – M and Command – Tab

If you need to quickly cycle through application windows you can use Command – M to rapidly minimize a window.

However, you’ll need to click on another application window to access the application. If you need to quickly access another application, use Command – Tab. This latter command opens a bar across your screen that displays the icons of all your open applications.

Keeping the Command key pressed, keep pressing Tab to toggle through the applications. Once you reach the application of your choice, let go and the application will open.

Command – SpaceC

If you need to quickly access the Spotlight and find something on your Mac, just hit Command and the Space bar. The Spotlight search window will immediately open and be accessible. All you have to do is then type your search query.

Command – Shift

If you are trying to quickly access something in the Finder, you can use the Command – Shift keys.

Once you have pressed these keys, press A to open the application folder.

Press U to open the Utilities folder. D accesses the desktop, H takes you to the Home folder (your login account name), and I to access your iCloud folder.

Command – L

If you using Safari or any other web browser, you can quickly access the URL bar by pressing Command – L. The bar (or current URL) will immediately be highlighted so you can proceed to type the URL you are trying to access.

Fn – Left Arrow and Right Arrow

When you are on a web page, you may not always have the option to go ‘Back To Top.’

If you press the rarely used Fn key and then press the left arrow while Fn is pressed you will immediately move to the top of the page. If you hold down Fn and press the right arrow you will immediately be taken to the bottom of the page.

Another option is to hold down command and use the up or down arrow to navigate through the web page. This is slower, however, and moves up or down in increments.

Press ‘Fn’ Twice

If you press Fn twice it automatically opens the Dictation feature on your Mac. You can immediately start speaking and then press Fn once more to finish your dictation.

Option – Shift – Volume

If you need to increase or decrease the volume in smaller increments, you can press Option and Shift.

Once these are held down you can press the increase volume or decrease volume key. You will notice how the increase/decrease is occurring in smaller increments than is normally possible.

Command – ` (Backtick)

By pressing Command – ` (Backtick) you will be able to toggle through different windows in an application that is currently open. If you have opened several windows in your web browser, you can use this keyboard shortcut to rapidly switch between windows.

Control – Command – Space

If you are typing and need to add a special character, emoji, or perhaps a Greek letter you’ll need to open the Special Characters window. This is necessarily time-consuming and extremely inefficient.

By pressing Control – Command and the Space bar you will automatically open this window.

Command – T

The Command and T combination can serve two purposes. For most applications, it opens the Font selection box. If you are using a web browser, it automatically opens a new tab.

Command – Shift – T

Have you ever accidentally closed a tab in a web browser and forgot to save the vital URL? Not to worry! Press Command – Shift and T and it will reopen your last closed tab.

Love Your Mac

Now that you know the great Mac keyboard shortcuts, you’ll love your Mac even more.

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