Quick Links
Everyone knows how to Command+C and Command+V, but what about switching between the active windows of the app you’re using? How about skipping the trash and deleting a file in one smooth motion?
macOS is absolutely loaded with keyboard shortcuts, but not all of them are worth studying and committing to memory. Here are the shortcuts I use almost every day, that are so useful they’ve become second nature.
13Trigger Spotlight: Command+Spacebar
Perhaps the most obvious shortcut on this list, but also the shortcut I’d probably miss more than any other. Spotlight is Apple’s search feature, but it’s so much more than that. It’s the fastest way to launch apps, open files, and even perform quick sums and conversions—all without taking your hands off the keyboard.
Trigger Spotlight with Command+Spacebar, start typing and then hit Enter. There’s a whole world of productivity to unlock bylearning to use Spotlight effectively. You can alsomake the search more effective and get it to better respect your privacyby excluding folders and files.
12Move to URL Bar: Command+L
Aside from Spotlight, this is probably my second-most used shortcut. Since I spend a significant part of my day in a web browser, moving around quickly is vital. Everyone knows you can open a new tab with Command+T, but if you have a tab problem (like I do) then you’re often better off repurposing the currently active tab instead.
Hit Command+L while using Safari, Firefox, Chrome, and virtually any other browser to move straight to the URL bar and start typing. Using a cursor for this task is overrated and requires a modicum of precision, which I don’t have when I’m bouncing around the web.
11Switch Between App Windows: Command+`
macOS doesn’t work like Windows when it comes to window switching. You can use Command+Tab to switch between apps, which is Apple’s equivalent of Alt+Tab on Windows. But thisonlyworks with apps, it doesn’t let you pinpoint a window. So if you have three Safari windows open, Command+Tab will land you on the last one you used.
You can fix this by using Command+`, which is the “tilde” button directly beneath “Esc” on your keyboard. Switch to the app that you want to use, then use this shortcut to move to the right window. It’s really handy when you’re using two windows side-by-side and you want to switch between them.
you may go one step further and “fix” macOS default behavior by installing a free app called AltTab whichadds Windows behavior to macOS window switchingand even includes the window previews you’d see on Windows.
10Skip the Trash: Command+Option+Delete
How many files are in your Trash right now? Emptying the Trash is one ofthe easiest ways to recover much-needed free space on your Mac, but it’s nice to have the option of deleting a file right away. This is especially true when the file is massive, like a macOS installer, movie-length 4K video, or a disc image you’ve used to install Linux or Windows.
Click on the file and then use Command+Option+Delete to bypass the bin. You’ll need to confirm that you do indeed want the file to skip the trash, hit “Delete” and it’s gone forever.
If you’re particularly forgetful about taking the Trash out, you can turn on automatic deletion. Open a Finder window then (in the menu bar at the top of the screen) click Finder > Settings and use the “Advanced” tab to enable the “Remove items from the Trash after 30 days” checkbox.
9Paste and Match Style: Command+Option+Shift+V
I write mostly in Markdown, but there are times when I need to use a word processor like Google Docs or paste text from a web page into a note in Apple Notes. One thing that macOS does by default is copy the style of whatever text you have selected. So you’ll keep attributes like the text size, formatting, or header markers.
Paste any text into a WYSIWYG editor using the Command+Shift+V shortcut and it will automatically conform to the style you’re already using. You won’t need to worry about using text formatting options to make everything look right.
You can alsoset paste and match style as the default paste behaviorusing System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts menu under the “App Shortcuts” section.
8Text Editing Essentials: Shift+Arrows, Shift+Option+Arrows, and Command+Shift+Arrows
Selecting text with a mouse is a drag, especially when your fingers are already on the keyboard. As someone who writes and edits a lot of text on an average day, learning to manipulate this text with the keyboard was essential. The easiest way to do this is to hold the Shift key and use the arrow keys to move the cursor until you’re happy with your selection.
If you want to go word by word, just throw the Option key in there. Tapping Shift+Option+Left Arrow for example will select the word to the left of the cursor. Using up and down will select whole paragraphs instead.
Turbo-charge this by holding Command instead of Option. This will select everything in the direction you tap. So to select an entire line’s worth of text, use left or right. If you hit the up or down arrows, you’ll select everything in the document above or below your cursor.
7Force the Emoji Picker: Fn+E
The Fn “Globe” key on your Mac’s keyboard is a modifier key, mostly used for selecting F1-F12 in place of the media keys. But it’s also used to select different languages and bring up the emoji picker. The only problem is that I find it’s sometimes a bit slow. I usually have to tap it twice to see the picker, and I’ve still not worked out why.
Fortunately, you may skip straight to the emoji picker using the Fn+E shortcut. Best of all, you can immediately start typing a description of your emoji, then use the arrow keys followed by Return to select it.
6Select Everything: Command+A
Another shortcut that you might already be familiar with, but one that’s so useful it shouldn’t be ignored. Hitting Command+A lets you select everything within the currently focused window or text field.
You can use it to grab a whole document’s worth of text, the contents of a folder in Finder, an entire web page in browsers like Chrome and Safari, or even select everything on the canvas in image editors like Affinity Photo or Adobe Photoshop.
5Line Break: Control+Enter
BeforeI made one small tweak to Slack, I utterly depended on this shortcut to regularly save face. Many of the messages I send are multi-paragraph screeds that require proofreading and typo-correcting before they should see the light of day. Control+Enter made this possible by adding line breaks to my messages.
Even though I’ve turned Slack into something of a glorified text editor, I still use this shortcut in other apps. It works a treat in messaging apps like Apple’s Messages, when filling in a form on a website, or when using a live chat window for which the default Return action sends a premature message. If it stops me looking like an idiot multiple times a day, it has to be the best shortcut of all.
4Delete Forwards: Fn+Delete
While Windows users get both Backspace and Delete keys, Mac users must make do with only Delete (and confusingly, it operates like Windows backspace). Thankfully, pressing Fn+Delete adds the “delete forwards” functionality you get from the same key in Windows without the need for a third-party keyboard.
Being able to “delete forward” is useful in all sorts of situations, like when you’re editing text or code. It’s also useful when you’replugging commands into the macOS Terminaland you want to make changes without deleting the entire line.
