The basics of keyboard shortcuts on Mac

Keyboard shortcuts Mac owners need to know: The basics

As Apple explains, keyboard shortcuts that are OS-wide or app-specific enable you to do things that you’d normally need a mouse, trackpad, or other input device to accomplish. On a Mac, keyboard shortcuts are activated by holding down one or more modifier keys and then pressing the last key of the shortcut. The modifier keys that you need to know as a Mac owner are:

• Command ⌘
• Shift ⇧
• Option ⌥
• Control ⌃
• Caps Lock ⇪
• Fn

If you’re using a keyboard that’s made for Windows PCs, you’ll simply hit the Alt key instead of Option, and the Windows logo key instead of Command. Some Mac keyboard and shortcuts also involve the special keys on the top row of the keyboard, including icons for volume, display brightness, and other functions. You’ll just press the icon key to perform that function, or combine it with the Fn key to use it as an F1, F2, F3, or other standard function key.

The Mac keyboard shortcuts ahead are the commands that any Mac owner should know. For most users, the most important categories of keyboard shortcuts are the basic commands that streamline things across the operating system, as well as the commands that make creating and editing documents easier. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but ahead are the essential keyboard shortcuts you should know on a Mac.

1. Command-X, Command-C, and Command-V: These keyboard shortcuts will cut, copy, or paste, respectively. Cut will remove the selected item and copy it to the Clipboard, Copy will duplicate the selected item to the Clipboard, and Paste will paste the contents of the Clipboard into the current document or app.
2.  Command-Z and Command-Shift-Z: These keyboard shortcuts will undo the previous command, or reverse the undo command. Depending on the app, you may be able to undo and redo multiple commands.
3. Command-A: Select All items.
4. Command-F and Command-G: The Find command will open a Find window or find items in a document, while the Find Again command will find the next occurrence of an item that was previously found.
5. Command-H and Command-M: The Hide command will hide the windows of the front app. (If you want to view the front app but hide the other open apps, press Command-Option-H.) The Minimize command will minimize the front window to the dock.
6. Command-N: The New command will open a new document or window.
7. Command-O: The Open command will open the selected item, or open a dialog to select a file to open.
8. Command-P: Use this keyboard shortcut to print the current document.
9. Command-S: This command will save the current document.
10. Command-W: The Close command will close the front window, or you can press Command-Option-W to close all windows of the app.
11. Command-Q and Option-Command-Esc: Command-Q will quit the app, while Option-Command-Esc will force-quit an app (one of the most useful keyboard shortcuts in the event of an unresponsive app).
12. Command-Space bar: This is the keyboard shortcut to call up Spotlight search. It can show or hide the Spotlight search field.
13. Space bar: Tapping the Space bar will use Quick Look to preview a selected item.
14. Command-Tab or Shift-Command-Tilde (~): Command-Tab will switch apps, while Shift-Command-Tilde will switch to the next most-recent window of the front app.
15. Shift-Command-3 or Shift-Command-4: These Screenshot commands will take a screenshot either of the entire screen or of the area that you select.
    
    

    Keyboard shortcuts Mac owners need to know: Document shortcuts
    

1. Command-B, Command-I, and Command-U: These keyboard shortcuts will bold, italicize, or underline the selected text.
2. Command-T: This command will show or hide the Fonts window.
3. Command-D: This shortcut will select the Desktop folder from within an Open dialog or Save dialog.
4. Control-Command-D, Shift-Command-Colon (:), and Command-Semicolon (;):  These keyboard shortcuts will show or hide the definition of a selected word, display the Spelling and Grammar window, or find misspelled words in a document.
5. Option-Delete, Control-H, Control-D, and Control-K: These keyboard shortcuts will delete the word to the left of the insertion point, delete the character to the left of the insertion point, delete the character to the right of the insertion point, or delete the text between the insertion point and the end of the line or paragraph.
6. Fn-Up Arrow, Fn-Down Arrow, Fn-Left Arrow, and Fn-Right Arrow: These keyboard shortcuts will scroll up one page, scroll down one page, scroll to the beginning of a document, or scroll to the end of the document.
7. Command-Up Arrow, Command-Down Arrow, Command-Left Arrow, and Command-Right Arrow: These keyboard shortcuts will move the insertion point to the beginning of the document, to the end of the document, to the beginning of the current line, or to the end of the current line.
8. Option-Left Arrow and Option-Right Arrow: These commands will move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word or to the end of the next word.
9. Option–Shift–Up Arrow, Option–Shift–Down Arrow, Option–Shift–Left Arrow, and Option–Shift–Right Arrow: These keyboard shortcuts will extend the text selection to the beginning of the current paragraph, to the end of the current paragraph, to the beginning of the current word, or to the end of the current word.
10. Control-A and Control-E: These command will move to the beginning of the line or paragraph or move to the end of a line or paragraph.
11. Control-F and Control-B: These shortcuts will move one character forward or one character backward.
12. Control-P and Control-N: These keyboard shortcuts will move up one line or down one line.
13. Control-O: This command will insert a new line after the insertion point.
14. Command–Left Curly Bracket ({), Command–Right Curly Bracket (}), and Shift–Command–Vertical bar (|): These keyboards will left-align, right-align, or center-align.
15. Option-Command-C, Option-Command-V, and Option-Shift-Command-V: These keyboard shortcuts will copy the formatting settings of the selected item to the Clipboard, apply the copied style to the selected item, or apply the style of the surrounding content to the item pasted within that content.