I’m sure most Mac users know Command-C means copy and Command-V means paste, but there’s a host of other useful shortcuts that make a Mac user’s life much easier. I’ve assembled this short collection to illustrate this truth:
Many users find that using an external keyboard with keyboard shortcuts for Outlook 2016 for Mac helps them work more efficiently. For users with mobility or vision disabilities, keyboard shortcuts can be easier than using the touchscreen and are an essential alternative to using a mouse.
Command-W
Closes the active window you are currently in. Use Option-Command-W to close all currently active app windows.
Command-Y
A lot of people use QuickLook to preview items they're looking for. To use QuickLook, select an item in Finder, press the Space bar and a preview will appear. There’s also a keyboard shortcut — select an item (you can even use the Up and Down arrows to navigate to it in Finder view) and then press Command-Y.
Command – Comma (,)
This is one of the least-known keyboard commands on a Mac, but it’s super useful. It works like this: You are working in an app, and you want to open the application’s Preferences. You can navigate to the Menu bar if you like and scroll through to access the Preferences. Or you can simply press Command-, (comma) to get to them in the fastest possible time.
Command-M
Press this combination to minimize the front app window to Dock, or press Command-Option-M to minimize all the windows belonging to the front app.
Command and Option
If you can’t see your desktop for all the open applications, just hold Command and Option down and click anywhere on your desktop. You may just want to get to all the open windows for a specific app, in which case hold down the same keys and click on any available window for that app.
Command-Shift-A
Select this combination when in Finder/Desktop view to get to your Applications folder, or replace the A with U to open your Utilities folder in a new Finder window (or D for Desktop, H for Home or I to access iCloud Drive).
Command-Space
The combination that can change your life, Command-Space invokes Spotlight, just depress these keys and start typing your query. (I guess you know about Command-tab already?)
Command-L
The fastest way to make a search or navigate to a Website in Safari, Command-L instantly selects the address bar: start typing your query, and select the appropriate choice using the up/down arrows on the keyboard.
Command-Tab
Open application switcher, keeping Command pressed, use Tab to navigate to the app you hope to use.
Command-Option-D
Show or hide the Dock from within most apps.
Fn-left arrow (or right arrow)
Jump directly to the top or bottom of a web page using the Function key and the right (to the bottom of the page) or left (to the top of the page) arrows on the keyboard. You can achieve a similar result using Command-Up or Command-Down. A third way is to use Control-Tab and Control-Shift-Tab.
Command-left/right arrows
Hit Command and the left arrow to go back a page in the browser window. Hit Command right to go forward again.
Tab nav
Navigate between multiple tabs using the Command-Shift-] or Command-Shift-[ characters.
Command-Shift-
The easiest way to see all your open tabs in one Safari window.
Option-Shift-Volume
Press Option-Shift and volume up/down to increase or decrease the volume on your Mac in small increments. You can also use Option-Shift to change display brightness in small amounts. Read even more Option secrets here.
Fn twice
Press the function (fn) key twice to launch Dictation on your Mac, start speaking, and press fn once you’ve finished. Here are some other ideas on controlling your Mac with your voice.
Option-File
In Safari, pressing the Option key while selecting the File menu lets you access the ‘Close all other Tabs’ command. Try the other Safari menu items with Option depressed to find other commands you probably weren’t aware of.
Option-Brightness Up (or down)
Use this command to quickly launch Displays preferences. Or press Option with the Mission Control or Volume (up/down) buttons to access preferences for Mission Control and Sounds.
Command – Backtick `
This is one of the least well-known keyboard commands on a Mac, but it’s super useful. Use this combination to move between open windows in your currently active app. It's so useful you'll wonder why you hadn't used it before.
Touch Bar tip No. 1
If you use a MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, you can press Shift-Command-6 to grab an image of what is on your Touch Bar. Want to grab an image to place into the document you're typing in? Just tap Control-Shift-Command-6 and the picture will be saved to your Clipboard for pasting it in.
Touch Bar tip No. 2
This MacBook Pro Touch Bar tip is particularly useful if you find that you often accidentally tap the Siri button: You can change where that button is located so you're less likely to tap it by accident. Open Keyboard Preferences and choose Customize Control Strip. Look at the Touch Bar, and you’ll see the icons are slightly agitated. Move your cursor to the bottom of your screen and keep moving (as if you're moving it off the screen); you should see one of the items in your Touch bar highlighted. Now move your cursor to highlight the Siri button and then drag and drop that button a space or two to the left.
(This is also an excellent way to become familiar with how you can edit other items in your Touch Bar.)
Touch Bar tip No. 3
Do you use the function keys regularly in some apps? You can get to them, of course, by pressing the ‘fn’ character. But it's also possible to set up the Touch Bar so it always shows the function keys in those apps. To do this, open Keyboard System Preferences, select Function Keys, and tap +. You can then select the app(s). Don’t worry if you want to use a regular Control Strip command when you're using one of the apps — just press Fn to get back to that view.
Safari tips
There are lots of keyboard tips for the Safari browser:
Command + Shift + T
This web browser tip can sometimes be a lifesaver. Command + Shift + T will open your last closed tab, which can be a lifesaver if you are researching something and close a window without saving the URL.
You can also take a look at Apple’s own extensive collection of keyboard shortcuts for more great ideas.
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macOS has some useful keyboard shortcuts out of the box, but many apps on the market extend what you can do with the click of a few buttons. Most of them follow a simple formula of triggers and actions, allowing you to chain together commands and automate your workflow.
RELATED:The Best macOS Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Be Using
All the tools on this list do slightly different things, and most of them have way more features than just custom hotkeys. The best part is, they all work well together, so if you can’t get something done with one tool, you can always use another.
Move Tool PhotoshopBetterTouchTool: Turn Your Trackpad Gestures into Hotkeys
BetterTouchTool lets you map trackpad gestures to system actions, including custom keyboard shortcuts. Its core functionality is simple: select an app to configure (or “Global” for all apps), add a gesture, and then tell it what you want that gesture to do. BetterTouchTool includes hundreds of different gestures, even more if you have Force Touch, and any action you could think of. Want to execute a shell script by clicking with four fingers? BetterTouchTool can do that.
It also has bindings for keyboards, the Magic Mouse and normal mice, the Siri remote, and even the TouchBar, all of which you can configure with custom buttons and sliders attached to Applescript actions.
Beyond gestures and hotkeys, BetterTouchTool has a lot of other features, such as:
BetterTouchTool is not free, but at $6.50, it’s something worth the price. I personally can’t use my Mac without it.
Alfred: Extend Spotlight Search with Hotkeys
The free version of Alfred is a drop-in replacement for macOS’s native Spotlight search. Alfred adds lots of new functionality, such as searching the web from the prompt, using a calculator without having to fire up the Calculator app, or the using Quick Look inside of Spotlight by pressing Shift.
With the pro version, called “Powerpack,” Alfred gains even more new features, such as hotkeys, workflows, and terminal integration.
Keyboard Maestro: Dead Simple Custom HotkeysAdobe Photoshop Move Tool
Keyboard Maestro is a simple app that gets its job done: automating your system with macros and hotkeys. It’s similar to BetterTouchTool but more streamlined, and with simpler triggers and actions. It follows the same scheme of triggers and actions and supports running Applescript and Automator workflows as actions.
Hammerspoon: Control Your System with LuaMac Keyboard Shortcuts
Hammerspoon is probably the closest you’ll get to AutoHotKey for macOS. Mostly, it’s just a menubar app that runs Lua scripts and extends system actions to those scripts through its API. While it’s a little more advanced than some of the other apps we include here, Hammerspoon offers a powerful way to communicate with the system at a reasonably low level—it can intercept USB events directly, control local devices, and even automate your mouse and keyboard.
Hammerspoon doesn’t do anything except sit in your menu bar until you write scripts for it. You can check out their getting started guide for more info.
Automator and Shortcuts: The Built-in Solution
If you’re an Automator fan, you’ll appreciate this trick. If you create a new Service, you can launch it with a shortcut in System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services. This lets you do anything you can with Automator at a click of a button, instead of having to open the context menu. The best part is that Automator is free and comes bundled with macOS, so there’s a lot of community support for it, as well as many prebuilt scripts and workflows.
Excel For Mac Shortcut Keys
Automator also works seamlessly with almost every other app on this list, all of which can run Automator workflows.
RELATED:Automator 101: How to Automate Repetitive Tasks on Your Mac
Enjoyable: Use Controllers as a Keyboard
Enjoyable is unlike the other apps on this list. It only has one function: connect your controller to your keyboard. Just plug your controller in, hit the button you want to bind, and then hit the key to which you want to bind that button. It’s handy for games that don’t support controllers, or just any time you’d like to use a controller to move your mouse around. It works on a reasonably low level—supporting individual button and axis IDs—so it works with nearly every controller out there.
Mac Shortcut Keys Cheat Sheet
I connected it to a 15-year-old GameCube controller, and it handled it just fine. Like Automator, you can use it in combination with other tools on this list to do more advanced things.
If you want a more advanced tool for mapping controllers, you can check out Joystick Mapper and ControllerMate, though both are paid apps.
Image Credit: Shutterstock
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