macOS Shortcuts is a very useful collection of shortcuts for optimising your work. It helps users get the most out of their MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro laptops and desktops by using the keyboard.
PS. Some shortcuts work on older keyboards and older macOS systems.
Symbols on the keyboard
| Symbol | Title |
| ⌘ | cmd / command |
| ⌥ | option |
| ⌃ | control |
| ⇧ | shift |
| ⇪ | caps lock |
| ← | left arrow |
| → | right arrow |
| ↑ | up arrow |
| ↓ | down arrow |
| ⇥ | tab |
| ⇤ | Backtab |
| ⏎ | return |
| ⌤ | enter |
| ⌫ | delete |
| ⌦ | forward delete |
| ⇞ | page up |
| ⇟ | page down |
| ← | home |
| → | end |
| ⌧ | clear |
| ␣ | space |
| esc | escape |
| fn | function |
macOS shortcuts in Finder
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Open an item from the side toolbar in a new window | Cmd+click on element |
| Changing views in the application (icon-icons, list-list, column-columns, coverflow-coverflow) | Cmd+1, Cmd+2, Cmd+3, Cmd+4 |
| In list view: expand a folder | Right arrow |
| In list view: shrink a folder | Left arrow |
| Rename the selected file/folder | Press the Enter key |
| Open the selected folder or run the selected file | Cmd+Arrow down |
| Go to the parent folder | Cmd+Up arrow |
| Go back | Cmd+Option+H |
| Go on | Cmd+Option+Đ |
| Select the following icon in the “Icon” and “List” views” | Tab (Shift+Tab for reverse direction) |
| Changing columns in the “Column” view | Tab (Shift+Tab for reverse direction) |
| Show the longer file name immediately (for names abbreviated with “...”) | Hold Option and hover over the desired long name |
| Resize the current column to match the longest file name | Double click on the “Resize” icon” |
| Resize all columns to match the longest filename in them | Hold down the Option key and double-click the “Resize” icon” |
| Copy/paste files | Copy the file with “Cmd+C” and then paste it to the selected location with Cmd+V |
| Moving a file instead of copying (copies a file to a selected location and removes it from the original folder) | Hold Cmd and drag the file to the desired location |
| Move selected files to the recycle bin | Cmd+Backspace |
| Empty the bin (with warning) | Cmd+Shift+Backspace |
| Empty the bin (without warning) | Cmd+Option+Shift+Backspace |
| Cancel the “drag and drop” procedure during towing | Esc |
| Open the “Inspector” window (information window updated in real time) | Cmd+Option+I |
| Undo the last task (e.g. change file name, copy file, etc.) | Cmd+Z |
| Hide/show side toolbar (on the left) | Cmd+Option+T |
| Move or remove an item from the toolbar (at the top of the window). This works in most programmes. | Hold down the Cmd key and drag the item elsewhere |
| Open Preview / Quick Look | Once you have selected the file, press the Spacebar or Cmd+Y |
| Zooming in (zooming in/out) in the “Quick Look” preloader | Cmd+key plus (+) or Cmd+key minus (-) |
| Search for a file by its name | Cmd+Shift+F |
Interface for switching between applications
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Quick change between 2 programs (like InDesign and Photoshop) | Press Cmd+Tab to switch to the programme you used last. Press Cmd+Tab again to go back to the previous programme. NOTE: Press key combinations quickly and DO NOT hold them down. |
| Switch between multiple programmes | Press and hold Cmd+Tab. While holding down the Cmd key, you have the following options to select the programme you want to switch to: - press Tab (repeatedly if necessary) to scroll right - press Shift+Tab to scroll left - use the left (←) or right (→) arrow keys - Select a programme with the mouse pointer - Use fn+left (←) or fn+right (→) to select the first or last programme, respectively |
| Close the application in the application switcher interface | Once you have the application switching interface open, hold down the Cmd key. Once you have selected an application, press the “Q” key to close it. |
| Hide an app in the app switcher interface | Once you have the application switching interface open, hold down the Cmd key. Once you have selected an application, press the “H” key to hide it. |
| Close the application switcher interface when it is open | Once you have the application switching interface open, you can hold down the Cmd key. Press the Esc key or the dot (.) |
macOS shortcuts in the Dock
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Hide all other apps (except the one you're clicking on) | Hold Command+Option and click on the Dock app icon |
| Reveal the location of a program in the Dock in Finder | Hold Cmd and click on the icon in the Dock |
| Force a file to open in a specific program | Hold down Cmd+Option while dragging a file to the application icon in the Dock. |
| In the “Dock” menu of the app, change “Quit” to “Force Quit” | Hold down the Option key while in the Dock menu |
| Force the Dock to resize only according to the sizes of the non-interpolated icons | Hold down the Option key while dragging a separator in the Dock |
| Move the Dock to the left, bottom, or right side of the screen | Hold Shift and drag the separator in the Dock |
| Turn the magnifying glass on (or off) | Hold Control+Shift |
macOS shortcuts for working with windows
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Switching between windows | Next window: Ctrl+F4 or Fn+Ctrl+F4 Previous window: Ctrl+Shift+F4 or Fn+Shift+Ctrl+F4 |
| Switching between windows of the same programme | Next window: cmd+“ (key to the left of 1) Previous window: Cmd+Shift+“ (key to the left of 1) |
| Show where the file/folder is located (a menu will appear showing the folder hierarchy). This works in “most” programs, as well as in the Finder. | Hold Cmd and click on the window name in its titlebar |
| Move the window to the background without switching to it. (Example: you are in the middle of a popup alert and can't move the window to the background, so you press Cmd and drag its title bar.) | Hold Cmd and drag the titlebar of the window |
Capture the current display on the screen
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Capture a full-screen image | Cmd-Shift-3 |
| Capture a picture of your chosen area | Press Cmd+Shift+4 and highlight the desired area (while highlighting): - Hold the Spacebar to move the selected field. - Hold Shift to resize the box in one direction only (horizontal or vertical) - Hold down the Option key to resize from the centre. - Press Esc to cancel image capture |
| Capture an image of a specific window/object | Press Cmd+Shift+4, then press Spacebar and finally click on the desired window/object |
| Save the captured image of the selected area to the cache instead of the desktop | Hold down the Control key and use the above key combination |
| The captured images (Screenshots) are saved to your desktop in PNG format. |
Startup commands
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Eject CD at startup | Press and hold the mouse button as soon as you turn on your computer |
| Starting OS X safely | Hold down the Shift key during startup |
| Starting in “FireWire Target Disk” mode” | Hold down the “T” key during start-up” |
| Starting from CD/DVD | Hold down the “C” key during start-up” |
| Skip the primary drive at startup and use a secondary drive (CD, LAN, etc.) | Hold Cmd+Option+Shift+Fn+Backspace during startup |
| Select a boot disk before starting | Hold down the Option key during startup |
| Starting in “Verbose” mode | Hold Cmd-V during startup |
| Start in Single-User mode (command line) | Hold Cmd-S during startup |
| Force OS X to start | Hold down the “X” key during start-up” |
Off/standby commands
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Immediate switch-off of the computer (with the option to save open documents) | Cmd+Option+Ctrl+Eject |
| Immediate standby (no confirmation) | Cmd+Option+Eject |
| Open a window with buttons to restart, standby and power off | Ctrl+Eject |
| Turn off the screen | Ctrl+Shift+Eject |
Dashboard
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Open/close the “widget dock” | Cmd+plus key (+) |
| Go to the next/previous page of widgets in the widget dock | Cmd+Right/Left arrow |
| Turn off the widget without opening the “widget dock” | Hold down the Option key and hover over the widget (a cross will appear to turn the widget off) |
| Restart/refresh the widget | Cmd+key “R” |
Spaces
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Activate the Spaces tool (bird's eye view of all environments) | F8 or Fn+F8 |
| Move the window to the adjacent workspace (space) | Ctrl+Left Arrow (or Right or Up or Down) |
| Move the window to a specific space | Ctrl+Number 1 (or 2 or 3, etc.) |
| Move all application windows to another space | Hold Cmd and drag the windows in the bird's eye view of the space tool (Control and Shift also work) |
Spotlight
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| To open the Spotlight app window | Cmd+Space |
| Opening a window in Spotlight | Cmd+Option+Space |
| In the Spotlight menu: Launching the first hit (top hit) | Return/Enter |
| Show selected item in Finder | In the Spotlight menu: hold Cmd and click on an item or press Cmd+Enter In Spotlight: press Cmd+R |
| Skip to the first hit in each category | Cmd+Up/Down arrow |
| Clear the search box in Spotlight | Pressing the Esc key empties the field for a new search. Pressing Esc again closes the spotlight menu. |
macOS shortcuts for working with text
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Go to the end of the line | Cmd+Right arrow |
| Go to the start of the line | Cmd+Left arrow |
| Go to the end of the full text | Cmd+Arrow down |
| Go to the start of the full text | Cmd+Up arrow |
| Go to the end of the current word | Option+Right arrow |
| Go to the beginning of the current word | Option+Left arrow |
| NOTE: Adding Shift to any of the above key combinations will select the text from the current point to the end point. | |
| On laptops: delete the text to the right of the cursor (the “Del” key on a normal keyboard) | Fn+Backspace |
| Selecting non-static (broken) text | Hold Cmd and drag with the mouse |
| Select non-linear areas | Hold Option and drag with the mouse |
| Delete the entire word on the left | Option+Backspace |
| Delete the entire word on the right | Option+Fn+Backspace |
| Look up a word in the dictionary | Hover over the desired word and press Cmd+Ctrl+D |
| Automatically complete the word printout | Start typing the word. Press Esc or Fn+F5 or F5 to open the list of suggested words |
macOS shortcuts for text editors
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Go to the beginning of the line (moves the cursor to the beginning of the current line) | Ctrl+A |
| Go to the end of the line (move the cursor to the end of the current line) | Ctrl+E |
| Go to previous row | Ctrl+P |
| Go to the next line | Ctrl+N |
| Go back 1 character (moves the cursor to the left 1 place) | Ctrl+B |
| Go one character forward (moves the cursor to the right by 1 place) | Ctrl+F |
| Delete the character to the right of the cursor | Ctrl+D |
| Delete the character to the left of the cursor | Ctrl+H |
| Delete all the way to the end of the line (or delete selected) | Ctrl+K |
| Scroll down in the text | Ctrl+V |
| Insert a line break after the cursor without moving it | Ctrl+O |
| Swap letters (swaps the letters to the left and right of the cursor) | Ctrl+T |
Miscellaneous
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Force quit (Force Quit) | Cmd+Option+Esc |
| Force quit the app in the foreground (Force Quit without confirmation) | Hold Cmd+Option+Shift+Esc for about 4 seconds |
| On laptops: scroll up/down (like a mouse wheel) (Only works on newer laptops if enabled in system settings) | Swipe the trackpad with 2 fingers |
| On laptops: right click (like a 2-button mouse) (Only works on newer laptops if enabled in system settings) | Place 2 fingers on the scroll bar and click |
| Change the system volume without confirmation beeps | Hold down the Shift key while changing the volume |
| Open system settings: NOTE: They are launched directly in the settings pane. Two examples are given. | To open the audio settings: Hold down the Option key and press any key to change the volume (“Mute”, Volume up/down) To open the display settings: Hold down the Option key and press any key to change the brightness of the image (brightness - ☼) |
| Opening Front Row | Cmd+Esc |
| Front Row fast closing | Press any function key, such as F5. On OS 10.5 and later, any key. |
| Set the toolbar at the top of the custom window. It works in the toolbars of Safari, Apple Mail, Preview, Finder, etc., but not in all apps (e.g. Firefox). | - To move icons: Hold Cmd to move the icons arbitrarily. - Removing icons: Hold Cmd and drag the icon down from the toolbar. - View toolbar options: Ctrl+click on the toolbar brings up the options menu. |
macOS Safari shortcuts
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Switching tabs | - Next tab: Cmd+Alt+Shift+Right Arrow - Previous tab: Cmd+Alt+Shift+Left Arrow |
| Open one of the first 9 popular bookmarks | Cmd+1 (up to 9) |
| Scrolling between found words (in Safari 3 and above) | Cmd+F, insert the text you are looking for and press: - Enter to scroll forward - Shift+Enter to scroll back |
| Cancel the current search | Press Esc or Cmd+dot (.) |
| Moving around the website, page by page | - Scroll down a page: Space or Fn+Down arrow - Scroll up a page: Shift+Space or Fn+Up Arrow |
macOS Mail shortcuts
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Afna sign (@) | Option+Shift+2 |
| Reply to a message | Cmd+R or Option+Double click on a message |
| Go to the next/previous email in the thread, even if you don't have a thread view | Option+Up/Down arrow |
| Open a new message | Cmd+N |
| Scroll through the list of emails (not the actual content of the email) | Ctrl+Fn+Left or right or up or down arrows |
| Paste text into a message as a quote | Cmd+Shift+V |
| Send message (Send) | Cmd+Shift+D |
| Forward the message | Cmd+Shift+F |
| Download all new messages from the server | Cmd+Shift+N |
| Show the contents of the main Inbox folder | Cmd+1 |
| Show contents of Draft folder | Cmd+3 |
| Show the contents of the Sent messages folder Send | Cmd+4 |
| Show the contents of the Trash deleted messages folder | Cmd+5 |
| Close and open the folders menu on the left | Cmd+Shift+M |
| Move the cursor to the Search field | Cmd+Option+F |
| Attach a file to the message | Cmd+Shift+A |
| Show or hide hidden information in the address | Cmd+Shift+H |
macOS Shortcuts for Preview
| Command (repair) | Shortcut |
| Select the Scroll tool to move/scroll | Cmd+1 |
| Select the Text tool | Cmd+2 |
| Select the Select tool | Cmd+3 |
| Zooming (zoom in/zoom out) | Cmd+plus (+) or Cmd+minus (-) |
| Scrolling big pictures | Hold Space and drag over the image (like in Photoshop) |
