10 most useful macOS keyboard shortcuts for newbies

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

These keyboard shortcuts save time. Remember them and use them in your work.

Despite the most convenient trackpads and mice, experienced Mac developers prefer to use hotkeys. Over time, you will learn dozens of different combinations, but for now, remember the most basic ones.

To begin with, let's recall the names and designations of the modifier keys on the Mac keyboard, the characters of which are slightly different in different generations of computers and may be unfamiliar to beginners.

• ⌘ - Command, Cmd.
• ⌥ - Option, Alt.
• ⌃ - Control, Ctrl.
• ⎋ - Escape, Esc.
• ⏏ - Eject.

Application termination

⌘Q

Unlike Windows, macOS applications can have multiple windows, so closing a window does not mean leaving the application. The keyboard shortcut ⌘Q is used to terminate any application on macOS.

Close the active window

⌘W

For the same reason, there is a shortcut ⌘W. It allows you to close the current program window without stopping the application as a whole.

Opening a new tab

⌘T

Many applications support multiple tabs. Thus, you can not clutter the screen and open just a tab instead of new windows. The key combination ⌘T is responsible for this action.

Switching applications

⌘⇥

To switch between running applications on macOS uses the shortcut ⌘⇥. A single press will return you to the previous app, and pressing ⇥ while holding ⌘ will open the toggle panel itself. Use the navigation arrows to switch between applications within the panel.

Spotlight call

⌃ Space bar

Spotlight Search is rightfully considered one of the most useful features of macOS X. You can open it from the menu bar, but it's much more convenient to do it with the space bar keyboard shortcut.

Force termination of an application

⎋⌥⌘

It is not common, but it happens that applications freeze. In this case, they can be terminated forcibly by calling the exit menu by pressing the ⎋⌥⌘ keys, which are analogous to Ctrl + Alt + Delete in Windows.

Copy, paste, cancel input

⌘X, ⌘C, ⌘V, ⌘Z

The shortcuts for cut, copy, paste and undo in macOS differ only in the modifier key - instead of Ctrl, you use ⌘. Otherwise, the keyboard shortcuts are the same: ⌘X, ⌘C, ⌘V, ⌘Z.

Search in a document or site

⌘F

In macOS, it is very common to search for specific words or phrases in applications - this can be an open page in Safari or any document. To find text within a document or site, you must use the combination ⌘F.

Quick View in Finder

Space

Quickly viewing documents and images is probably the simplest, yet incredibly useful feature of macOS is. It works just as easily. To view the file, you just need to select it and press the "Space".

Completion of work

⌃⏏

You can put your Mac to sleep, boot, or shut down from the  menu. But it is much faster to do this from the shutdown menu, which is invoked by the keyboard shortcut ⌃⏏. However, on your MacBook, you must press the power button instead of the ⏏ key.