There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for Mac users. There are Mission Control shortcuts, Finder shortcuts, system shortcuts, application shortcuts and more. Many you can find by just looking through the menu bar for that application. You can find system ones by looking in the System Preferences under Keyboard.
Open the Character Palette in OS X 10.4 or OS X 10.5, locate the first of the character codes you often use, open the Advanced menu at bottom left in the Character Palette, and select Add to Favourites. Now choose the 'by Favourites' view in the Character Palette, and doubleclick the character you want to insert in the current application window. Command, Ctrl, and D combination is the Mac OS X system-defined shortcut for Dictionary lookup, and cannot be used as an application shortcut. On some keyboard layouts, the return and enter key are two different keys, an artifact of the differing handling of newlines by different operating systems. There are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts for Mac users. There are Mission Control shortcuts, Finder shortcuts, system shortcuts, application shortcuts and more. Many you can find by just looking through the menu bar for that application. You can find system ones by looking in the System Preferences under Keyboard.
But some keyboard shortcuts are more useful than others. And some are harder to remember than others.
So MacMost has compiled a list of our top 'power user' keyboard shortcuts for macOS 10.15 (Catalina). Here they all are on a single PDF page, downloadable and printable: The MacMost macOS Catalina Power User Keyboard Shortcuts. Download it and pass it along!
Nomatter your job function, you are entering text in various applications all daylong, from spreadsheets and emails to web browsers, text editors, and countlessothers. You move your hand to the mouse, click to position the insertion point,drag to select some text, double click to select a word, triple click to selecta line, move your hand back to the keyboard and resume typing.
Yes,mice and trackpads are great for moving the cursor and selecting text, but I'veoften found it more comfortable and efficient to keep both hands on thekeyboard.
Asa Mac user, you likely know all the common and documented keyboard shortcutsfor commands – New, Open, Close, Cut, Copy, Paste – but there are a number ofshortcuts many may not be aware of yet.
Simplyput, with these shortcuts, you can make your life easier and just keep yourhands on the keyboard. I can't tell you exactly how much more efficient thiswill make your job function, but it will… by a lot.
Checkit out:
- Control-A: Move to the beginningof the line or paragraph.
- Control-B: Move one characterbackward.
- Control-D: Delete the characterto the right of the insertion point.
- Control-E: Move to the end of aline or paragraph.
- Control-F: Move one characterforward.
- Control-H: Delete the characterto the left of the insertion point.
- Control-K: Delete the textbetween the insertion point and the end of the line or paragraph.
- Control-L: Centre the cursor orselection in the visible area.
- Control-N: Move down one line.
- Control-O: Insert a new lineafter the insertion point.
- Control-P: Move up one line.
- Control-T: Swap the characterbehind the insertion point with the character in front of the insertion point.
- Control-V: Scroll down.
- Shift Key: Try holding the Shiftkey for commands that move the insertion point. You'll find the Shift key isuseful for modifying the selection.
CanI make the Caps Lock button useful?
Firstthing you may notice with the list of shortcuts above is they all begin withthe Ctrl key. Some may find that key difficult to access on a typical keyboardthough, tucked away in a corner, outside of general reach.
Thisis where the Caps Lock key comes into play. If you're like me, you very rarelyuse Caps Lock. It's a big key and takes up valuable keyboard real estate, equalin size to the Return key though used maybe an eighth as much. Best video downloader for mac 2019. Thankfully, youcan remap it to be a Ctrl key:
- Select SystemPreferences from the Apple menu.
- Click on Keyboard icon.
- Click on Keyboard tab.
- Click on Modifier Keysbutton (bottom right corner).
- Beside Caps Lock Keychoose Control.
Arethese shortcuts universal across all applications?
Basic Os Keyboard Shortcuts
Thesecommands should work across all apps in which you enter text, though there aresome rare exceptions when an application doesn't respect the defaults andoverrides commands with their own. In the case when an application doesn't letyou use a new favourite shortcut, you may still be able to modify some shortcuts.In that application, find the offending keybinding and remove it or reassign itto some other shortcut.
Or,if you find that a menu item is assigned to your new favourite shortcut, youcan go to System Preferences and rebind that shortcut to something that doesn'tinterfere.
- Select SystemPreferences from the Apple Menu.
- Click on Keyboard icon.
- Click on Shortcuts tab.
- Select App Shortcutsfrom the list on the left.
- Click on + button.
- Choose your Applicationfrom the menu.
- Enter the title of theconflicting menu item.
- Choose a shortcut that doesn'tconflict.
- Click Add.
- You will need to Quitand reopen your application to see changes.
Can I add my own shortcuts or modify existing ones?
Ifyou want to add or modify shortcuts on your system, you need to access aspecial file on your computer called `DefaultKeyBinding.dict`.
Ifit isn't already on your computer, it's likely because by default Mac OS X doesnot install it. But you can create one:
- From the Finder selectGo menu and hold down the Shift key.
- Choose Library.
- Locate the Keybindingsfolder in the Finder window that appears. If you don't see one, select File> New Folder and rename the folder to Keybindings.
- Open the Keybindings folder.
- Using your favouritetext editor create a new document. Name it `DefaultKeyBinding.dict` and pastethe following text:
- Save`DefaultKeyBinding.dict` in the Keybindings folder.
- Try out the newshortcuts in your applications. If your application is open, you will need toquit it first and reopen.
Windows Mac Keyboard Shortcuts
Thereare my hidden Mac keyboard shortcuts revealed. Enjoy your extra minutes in theday and happy typing.