Apple Mac OSX Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcuts and utilities

Overview

Many reference keys using symbols, so memorize this:

This article provides an enhanced presentation of Apple’s Keyboard Shortcuts at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Full Screen Finger Gymnastics

Let’s get right down to an often-used action invoked by a complicated key combination: toggle full screen, which enables you to focus on your content rather than be distracted by buttons, menus, lists, etc.

Windows has its F12 key. Apple has Mac users do the equivalent of a double Summersault:

control + command + F

PROTIP: To toggle Full Screen view using the default configuration from Apple: while keeping your left forefinger on the F “home” key, reach with your left thumb to hold down the control key. This may hurt at first (until you get used to it). Try raising your hand Now, while keeping your right forefinger on the J “home” key, reach with your right thumb to hold down the command key on the right side of the Space Bar. Then you’re in position to press F with your left forefinger.

PROTIP: Repeated practice trains muscle memory so you can find the keys without the need to take your eyes off the screen. Do not make it a habit to look at the keyboard while you learn to do the routine, which includes getting your hands back to to “home row” with forefingers on F and J. (Like a Jedi Paduan in the Star Wars movies training blindfolded)

PROTIP: To evaluate Mac developers, some interviewers ask “show me how you enter and exit Full Screen”. This is because they assume that the most productive developers work with their hands always on the keyboard.

This may be a generalization. But many top coders actually like the vi text editor. DevOps coders have to choice because computers can’t move mice and click things. Resourceful coders make it so they don’t need to waste time and attention reaching for the mouse.

PROTIP: Some put tiny drops from a glue gun on strategic points on the keyboard so they can orient their finger in the dark.

Caps Lock to Escape

BLAH: It’s annoying when all of a sudden everything I type is in caps. That happens because I accidentally had my hand too far to the left when I intended to press the A key.

I can type all caps by holding down the shift key with my left or right hand.

BLAH: The Esc (Escape) key is too far North on the keyboard and forces some to look down on the keyboard. And the Caps Lock key is too close to keys, causing problems with accidental password entry and lockouts.

PROTIP: Make the caps lock key work like the Esc key:

Press the Apple icon and select System Preferences.
Type K to highlight Keyboard. Press space bar to open it.
Click “Modifier Keys” at the lower-right corner.
Click the entry for “Caps Lock Key:” and select “Escape”.
Click OK.

Switch command and control

PROTIP: Some switch the control and command keys on the left side so that they can get to all such keys using thumbs. This would also allow you to press two keys at once by pressing between the keys, thus able to perform most combinations using your hands.

PROTIP: In OS X Lion onward, change the caps lock key in:

System Preferences > Keyboard > Modifier Keys

mac-modifier-control-399x224-27632

This can also be done using a Python script or by downloading the free Karabiner which works on OSX Sierra since Apple remapped key commands. It’s free but note the package has many lingering issues.

Voice Recognition

PROTIP: Those who don’t have people sitting nearby can enable voice recognition to automatically type some (not all) keys. This has been available since the OSX Yosemite version.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203085

See this video:

CAUTION: Enabling “Use Enhanced Dictation” (In Apple System Preferences > Dictation & Speech > Turn on Dictation) causes an approximately 800MB file to be downloaded to your Mac.
Choose Accessibility. Scroll to Dictation. Scroll to see which commands.
Check Enable Advanced Commands. Scroll to see which commands.
Get into Automator.

Apple components from any active app

Purpose	Name	Mouse	Hot corner	Key	Hide
Active apps thumbnails	Mission Control (formerly Expose)	3 finger swipe up	-	control + up fn + F3	Esc
Active apps dashboard	Application Windows	-	Upper left	control + F3	Esc
-	Desktop	Thumb and 3 finger spread	-	F11	toggle
Calculator, other Accessories	Dashboard	3 finger swipe right	Lower left	?	-
Apps icons customized	Dock bar (bottom of screen)	Mouse beyond bottom of screen	-	-	Esc
Active app selection	Active apps	-	-	⌘ + Tab Repeat	-
Installed apps	Launchpad	Thumb and 3 finger pinch	Upper right	fn + F4	-
Files and folders	Finder	-	-	⌘ + option + T	-
Put display to sleep	Start screen saver	-	Lower right	control + Shift + Power button	-
omni-search	Spotlight	-	-	command + spacebar	Esc
mute	Speaker volume	-	-	fn + F11	-
Softer		-	-	fn + F12	-
Louder		-	-	fn + F12	-
Alerts	Notification Center	-	-	-	-

[1] = PROTIP: This command does not work when the active program is in an extended screen.

Awkward Keys

There are some key combinations that are so awkard to use that it’s faster and easier to use a mouse or trackpad.

Since the fn and control keys are only on the left side of a MacBook keyboard, using them requires a Carpel-tunnel Syndrome-inducing move of the left hand:

control+F2 to highlight the Apple menu.
control+F3 to highlight the Dock at the bottom of the screen.

On a Mac without a visible Function keys, press fn to reveal them, thus:

fn + control + F2 to highlight the Apple menu.
fn + control + F3 to highlight the Dock at the bottom of the screen.

PROTIP: The fn key is easy to find without looking because it’s at a corner. But use a companion key on the right side of the keyboard.

Press command + Tab to cycle through programs running.

Press shift plus the above reverses the cycling direction.

Stop on the icon of the app you want to make active.

Purpose	Menu	Mouse	Key
New window	File \| New Window	-	⌘ + N
New window Incongnito		-	⌘ + shift + N
Cycle through windows in app	Window	-	⌘ + ` (at upper left corner of keyboard)
Maximize window (no menu bar)	-	Click green icon at the top left corner of window	⌘ + shift + F toggle
Un-Maximize window	-	Cursor to top left corner. Click on green icon.	⌘ + shift + F toggle
Minimize window	-	Click yellow ball.	⌘ + M
Close current window	-	Click red ball.	⌘ + shift + W
Close all windows	-	-	⌘ + option + W
Preferences	app name \| Preferences	-	⌘ + ,
Quit app completely	app name \| Quit	-	⌘ + Q

Microsoft vs. Mac Keyboards

Needing to change habits learned typing is difficult and takes time. It’s literally taking physical therapy. This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of changing from Windows to a Mac.

Here are the most problematic among Keyboard mappings using a PC keyboard on a Macintosh on Microsoft’s website:*

Microsoft Windows	Apple Macintosh	issue
Right-click (Alt)	Holding down control during mouse click	-
Ctrl + mouse click multiple items	control + option + mouse click	Two keys on Mac
Delete (right of cursor)	fn + delete control + D	swapped
Backspace (left of cursor)	delete control + H	swapped
Function key	fn + F1 ... F12
Windows Start orb	control+F2, then enter/return	awkard
Num lock	Virtual Machine > Send Key
Home (top of doc)	fn + left
End (bottom of doc)	fn + right
Insert toggle	Requires mapping

Delete and Backspace keys swapped

The Delete key on an Apple keyboard (⌫ on older keyboards) is actually the backspace key to all other operating systems. To press the equivalent of the Windows backspace that removes to the left of the cursor:

On a Macintosh notebook keyboard, press fn + Delete.
On older full-sized Macintosh keyboards, press ⌦ (called "Forward Delete") below the Help key.

The ALT key on Windows is OPTION on Mac keyboards.

To send key commands from a Mac into a Windows instance inside VMWare Fusion.

Insert key requires mapping

Sending the equivalent of Windows keyboard Insert on a Mac is problematic, especially within a virtual Windows machine.

On older Macintosh keyboards, press the Help key.
On older Macintosh notebook keyboards, press fn+M.
Newer Macintosh notebooks do not support fn+M. So map Alt+F1 within VMware Fusion > Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Key Mappings.

Trackpad Remapping Tool

The trackpad on OSX recognizes multiple touch points (fingers) at once.

One finger to move the mouse cursor.
Two fingers to scroll up or down.
Three fingers to move among applications active.

BetterTouchTool (BTT) $6.50 app remaps what Apple input devices (keyboard, Magic Mouse, Touchpad, Trackpad) recognize, and also adds more gestures.

Use my installer for Mac to setup this program along with all others by running repeatable Ansible declarations.

There are several dimensions:

Fingers	Motion	Direction	Repeats	Pressure
1 2 3 4	tap swipe pinch in/out (zoom)	up down left right	tap TipTap	light medium heavy

Combos: single finger tap left, single finger tap right, single finger tap, two finger tap, two finger click, two finger swipe (up/down/left/right), three finger tap, three finger click, three finger swipe (up/down/left/right) and ‘TipTap’ left/right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1xFhreDR_k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mr2IiJ0Y0E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeocxFO5yWA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFmB3XCva_Y

Programs can be invoked several different ways:

Click the magnifying glass and type the program name
Click on the apple menu
the Dock
or from the Applications folder on your hard drive.

To reset during open, in the Application folder, hold down all keys SHIFT OPTION COMMAND then click the app’s icon.

Keyboard Mapping

NOTE: MacOS defines most of its keybindings for editing text in:

/System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Resources/StandardKeyBinding.dict

PROTIP: Remap home and end key by creating folder ~/Library/KeyBindings/ and in it file DefaultKeyBinding.dict containing a property list like this:

{
    "\UF729"  = moveToBeginningOfLine:; // home
    "\UF72B"  = moveToEndOfLine:; // end
    "$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-home
    "$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-end
}

This change requires a reboot.

App-specific keys

Finder

Mac 10.10 Finder keys

I probably click the Finder Favorites more than anything else. So I’ve memorized the keyboard keys.

Option + ⌘ + L for the Downloads folder
Shift + ⌘ + D for the Desktop folder where screen captures are stored (by default).
Shift + ⌘ + A for the Applications folder where apps are stored.

This enables me to remove default items in the Favorites list (by right-clicking on it) so I can instead list my own folders I use most often.

To go a level up or down in the Finder, press ⌘ + up arrow or down arrow.
Open parent folder and close current window: Option-Command-Up Arrow
To open folders and files by clicking on it and pressing ⌘ + O (instead of Enter as you would on Windows).

apple-finder-actions-menu

⌘ + 1 = Icon view
⌘ + 2 = List view
⌘ + 3 = Column view
⌘ + 4 = Cover flow view

QUESTION: Is there a key to expand width of columns?
control + ⌘ + number to control Arrange sorting.
⌘ + F to Search text.

Hide and Unhide Folders

Under Favorites, click on your user name (next to the house icon). If the Library folder does not appear:

sudo chflags nohidden /Library/ ~/Library/

To hide Library again:

sudo chflags hidden /Library/ ~/Library/

System Preferences keyboard shortcut

Apple’s System Preferences is a dialog I go to often. But it doesn’t have a default universal keyboard shortcut.

So let’s make one, using control+command+comma. (I use my middle finger to reach the comma).

Click the Apple icon. Notice whether there is a shortcut for System Preferences. Below is what it looks like after going through the steps below.
Select System Preferences.
Click the Keyboard panel.
Click “Shortcuts” tab.
Select “Application Shortcuts” from the list.
Click the [+] plus button for the pulldown menu.
Choose “All Applications”, then in the field labeled “Menu Title” enter “System Preferences…”.
Click in the field labeled “Keyboard Shortcut”.
Press the hotkey you want to use. For me use Control+Command+,. You should see the icons appear.
Click “Add” to close out of System Preferences.
Exit System Preferences by clicking the red dot.
Try it: Hit the shortcut you just created.

Chrome Browser Tabs

Purpose	Firefox	Chrome
New blank tab	⌘ + shift + H
Home tab	⌘ + T
Open Settings / Preferences tab	⌘ + , (comma)
Close current tab	⌘ + W
Re-open tab	⌘ + shift + T
Cycle through tabs	control + Tab
Bookmarks manager tab	-	option + ⌘ + B
History tab	-	option + ⌘ + H
Downloads tab	-	shift + ⌘ + J
Browser Console	shift + ⌘ + B

See https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/165450?hl=en

Firefox keyboard shortcuts can be re-mapped using the Manu Wizard plug-in.

Page operations within Chrome Tab

Purpose	Mouse	Key
History	-	shift + ⌘ + H
Search web	-	option + ⌘ + F
Find bar (to text on page)	-	⌘ + F
Find next match	-	⌘ + G
Find previous match	-	shift + ⌘ + G or shift + Enter
Enter highlighted text to Find	-	⌘ + E
Page Down	-	fn + down arrow
Page Up	-	fn + up arrow
Page top (home)	-	fn + left arrow
End of page	-	fn + right arrow
Previous page	-	⌘ + [
Next page	-	⌘ + ]
Refresh	-	⌘ + R
Bookmark current page	-	⌘ + D
JavaScript Console	-	option + ⌘ + J
Source HTML	-	option + ⌘ + U

Text string operations

Purpose	Mouse	Key
Cut highlighted text	-	⌘ + X
Copy highlighted text to clipboard	-	⌘ + C
Paste highlighted text from clipboard	-	⌘ + V
Copy URL of current page to the clipboard.	-	option + ⌘ + C
Paste content without formatting	-	shift + option + ⌘ + V

Chrome iMacros

To use macros, add to Chrome browser the iMacros for Chrome.

This auto-opens http://imacros.net/browser/cr/welcome.

To use macros on Firefox, open in Firefox iMacros for Firefox. Click Add to Firefox. Click Install. Click Restart Now.

Microsoft Word for Mac 2011

Keyboard Shortcuts for Word for Mac 2011
Word Keyboard Shortcuts
- Save = command + S
- Save As = Shift + command + S

Text Editor Special Characters

In a text editor, press either Shift + Option + 8 or Option + 0.

For autocomplete in TextEdit, press Tab + Esc. Unfortunately, this is the same key to toggle the Mac’s text-to-speech.

Keyboard Symbols

This website and others make use of special coding to represent Apple icons and keyboard icons.

Below is modified from Joe Weaks

Icon	Name	Unicode	Font
⌽	Power 3	U+233D
	Apple symbol 1	U+F8FF	Lucida Grande
⌘	Command (Open Apple) 2	U+2318
⌃	Control	U+2303
⌥	Option (Alt, Alternative)	U+2325
⇧	Shift	U+21E7	Apple Symbols
⇪	Capslock	U+21EA
⎋	Escape	U+238B
⇥	Tab forward	U+21E5
⇤	Tab back	U+21E4
␣	Space	U+2423
⏎ ↩	Return	U+23CE U+21A9
⌫	Delete back	U+232B
⌦	Delete forward	U+2326
﹖ ⃝	Help	U+003F & U+20DD
⇱ ↖ ↸	Home	U+21F1 U+2196 U+21B8
⇲ ↘	End	U+21F2 U+2198
⇞	Pageup	U+21DE
⇟	Pagedown	U+21DF
↑ ⇡	Up arrow	U+2191 U+21E1
↓ ⇣	Down arrow	U+2193 U+21E3
← ⇠	Left arrow	U+2190 U+21E0
→ ⇢	Right arrow	U+2192 U+21E2
⌧	Clear	U+2327
⇭	Numberlock	U+21ED	Apple Symbols
⌤	Enter	U+2324
⏏	Eject	U+23CF

Robot typists

For making videos:

https://github.com/pofallon/sublime-phantypist
Slowly output the contents of the clipboard into the currently active tab, one character at a time. Map to CTRL-SHIFT-V for a slow paste command.

https://github.com/aholub/type
Applescript “robot” typist inserts characters into XCode or other application

https://gist.github.com/xaviershay/6656216
Creates a mapping that will type out the given text into vim.

Cross machine

For a $19 one-time purchase,
https://symless.com/synergy
enables you to use a single keyboard and mouse on Mac, Windows, and Linux.

Resources

Instead of the built-in command+Tab to switch among active programs, follow Daniel Szpisjak’s How to become a modern magician? - productivity tips for devs on macOS describes setup and use of Hammerspoon Lua language which uses a complex combination such as Shift+Control+Option to be a “Hyper” key such as the CapsLock. Karabiner+Elements

Assign Hyper+X to a specific program, and the pop-up shown by command+Tab will not come up.

Tmux

Multiplexer

Bash-it

https://github.com/Bash-it/bash-it community Bash framework of autocompletion, themes, aliases, custom functions that rips off https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh

Outlook

Among the Keyboard Shortcuts for Outlook on macOS:

Minimize or expand the ribbon = Options+ COMMAND +R

Hide the reading pane or show it on the right = COMMAND +Backslash ()

Hide the reading pane or show it below = Shift+ COMMAND +Backslash ()

More on OSX

This is one of a series on Mac OSX: