Filed under: OS, Software, Productivity, Tips and tricks
Top X keyboard shortcuts in OS X
It's a slow weekend here at TUAW, so I figured I'd post a tip on keyboard shortcuts I've been meaning to get to for a little while here. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm a nut for keyboard shortcuts. They're a proven way to get work done faster, which means I get to cut back on buying Advil in bulk. So what better way to post handy, time-saving keyboard shortcuts than with a Top X list?I searched through our archives while putting this list together to try and find shortcuts that either haven't been mentioned before, or they're fundamental favorites that everyone could use a reminder on. While some of these shortcuts might work in various applications, I'm specifically targeting OS X key commands here. Last but not least: I'm also trying to list shortcuts everyone can enjoy, from the elite OS X ninja to those who are reading this on their first Mac which they pulled out of the box just yesterday. So without further adieu, here are my Top X keyboard shortcuts for OS X, in no particular order:
- cmd + k - Transmit is my favorite FTP app, but for quick and easy FTP stuff, cmd + k is OS X's built-in "Connect to Server" command, found under the Go menu in the Finder. Not nearly as feature-packed as most apps, but it's fine for any basic work.
- cmd + opt + i - Most of us know about cmd + i, which is the Get Info command, but if you throw opt into the mix you now have a window widely known (yet undocumented) as "Super Get Info." This handy window is basically a live Get Info window, changing with each file and folder you click on, enabling you to view and alter many file and folder stats (such as Spotlight Comments and what apps open what files) with one single window.
- cmd + opt + h - Hide Others. Cmd + h is great for hiding the app you're in, but Hide Others does just what it says - it hides every other app you aren't in. Great for cleaning up a cluttered view.
- cmd + shift + 3/4 - the infamous Screen Capture keys. Using 3 allow you to capture the entire screen to a pdf (Panther) or a png (Tiger) on your desktop, while using 4 will give you an all-too-handy aimer to drag out an exact capture area. For bonus points: after the cmd + shift + 4 combo is triggered, you can then hit space bar for the option of capturing whatever window the mouse is hovered over. No dragging required.
- cmd + w - yes I know this one's pretty obvious to some, but it's a great shortcut for new OS X users, and a fundamental shortcut across all of OS X and the apps that run on it. Nearly every application, not just Finder windows, obey the cmd + w command, making it easy to get almost any window out of your way quickly.
- This one's a three-punch combo: 1) cmd + opt + eject, 2) cmd + ctrl + eject, and 3) cmd + opt + ctrl + eject. What do these weird and undocumented shortcuts do, you ask? Well, in order, they sleep, restart and shutdown your Mac of course. Each of those combinations will force their respective function, unless you have open files that have yet to be saved.
- cmd + opt + d - show/hide the dock. A great way to free up some extra room in that screen real estate-hungry app you're running.
- cmd + [ and ] - forward and back in not only the Finder, but Safari and now Firefox as well. I'm sure there are more apps that obey this, as it's a handy way to move through a lot of web research or folder digging.
- cmd + shift + ? - yes, another basic one, but even you OS X ninjas must admit to cracking a help file or two every now and then. This is another handy shortcut as it's universal among OS X and most of its apps.
- cmd + opt + esc - not to be left out, I had to mention the last-resort shortcut for misbehaving applications. For new OS X users, this is a shortcut for the Force Quit menu, a sibling to ctrl - alt - delete. For the few times I need it, this is a handy shortcut as it's obtainable with only one hand.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Chris Meisenzahl said 11:32AM on 12-11-2005
As a recent switcher, I find this stuff very helpful. Thanks!
Chris
http://amateureconblog.blogspot.com/
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Mathew said 11:36AM on 12-11-2005
Got a stuck CD in your drive that won't eject?
Hold down the mouse button during boot.
-----
Switch applications quickly by holding down COMMAND and pressing TAB
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Jim said 11:58AM on 12-11-2005
Throw the control button into the screenshot combination to copy the screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving it to a file. Very handy.
I've set up my third-party mouse so that clicking both the left and right buttons at once issues a command-control-shift-4 keystroke, which gives me a selection cursor - whatever part of the screen I select is copied to the clipboard. Using space after that click works to copy a window (or menu!) as well.
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Wader said 12:00PM on 12-11-2005
Great list.
CD stuck in drive? I've had this work though i haven't tired it in tiger. It's from system 6 and was used to force eject floppies. apple - shift - 1
Also, I use apple-down and up arrows a great deal. If on a folder or file (or app) in the finder apple-downarrow will open it. Apple up arrow will go up one directory. This is handy in many circumstances. The left and right arrows can also be used with the apple key for navigation.
One more hand thing is when in a text field in almost any program is you hold down the option key and use the right and left arrow an entire work will be jumped rather then just a letter or two. (is some programs the apple key and the arrows will do the same thing). Option backspace is also handy especially in word and mail. It will delete and entire word at once. Try them out, they can also be used with the shift key for deleting and highlight entire sections, lines, or paragraphs. Open a word document and play around.
Cheers!
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Daniele Nicolucci said 12:07PM on 12-11-2005
ctrl+eject pops up on desktop machines the same little window that the power button shows on laptops.
after you have it on screen, rimply pressing R restarts your mac, S puts it to sleep, esc cancels and enter shuts down.
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tom Ligman said 12:23PM on 12-11-2005
cmd+` switches windows in the active application. I couldn't live without it.
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matt said 2:44PM on 12-11-2005
what about cmd+q? that must be like the most used key combo ever...
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hayssam said 2:51PM on 12-11-2005
Is there a shortcut for fast user switching ?? I have one account for my kids to play games and I'd love to switch back to my account without stopping their game so they can continue later
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Ronaldo said 2:52PM on 12-11-2005
What about Apple, shift, function, space, tab, enter, 4
Free money apparently. Havn't been able to get it working on 10.4.3
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David Chartier said 2:55PM on 12-11-2005
hayssam: there isn't one in OS X that I know of, but you could try playing with creating your own in the Keyboard and Mouse Preferences pane. I was actually planning on mentioning that in an upcoming post about requested shortcuts and UI enhancements/conveniences.
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systemsboy said 3:26PM on 12-11-2005
I'd like to also mention, for newbies, a key-command I use all the frickin' time: Command-tab, which switches between open applications. Holding this combo and pressing tab again will take you to the next open app in the list. Command-~(tilde) will toggle through in reverse order.
Also, to hayssam: I use Butler's fast user switching and key-command functionality to perform switching to the login window. I don't know of a way to key-command a switch to a particular user, but I switch out to the login window all the time and Butler works nicely for this. If you don't feel like figuring Butler out (it does a whole lot more than Fast User Switching), there's a little app called WinSwitch that does FUS, and only FUS. Both are donationware. Here are links:
WinSwitch:
http://wincent.com/a/products/winswitch/
Butler:
http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=butler&layout=default
-systemsboy
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Mike said 3:32PM on 12-11-2005
Command-A: Select all.
The best keystroke ever.
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Chris said 3:51PM on 12-11-2005
Power followed by s, to sleep the machine.
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Mark said 4:03PM on 12-11-2005
One thing i fund handy at the end of the day is hit CMD + TAB and hold the CMD button. Now keep hitting 'Q'.
This will quit all the open applications you've been working in (of course, only if there are not save chnges dialogs tomess with)
a great tip for getting out of the office 10 seconds quicker instead of rightclicking all the open dock icons and hitting "quit".
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hayssam said 4:21PM on 12-11-2005
thanks for the hints/ links, just tried winswitch which seems nice but I guess most full-screen games block all shortcuts, at least in lego star wars I couldn't escape to the login window via winswitch. The keyboard control panel didn't offer anything for fast user switching so I guess I will just have to continue using my powerbook while my kids play...
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David Chartier said 4:14PM on 12-11-2005
But if you're going to shut down the Mac though, simply choosing Restart or Shutdown (or using the shortcuts I posted) will automatically quit all of your running applications anyway - barring any files that need to be saved, of course. Let's also not forget that OS X is relatively robust enough that you don't need to quit applications if you're simply going to sleep the machine - that's what sleep is for. Your workflow doesn't have to be interrupted between sessions.
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Bensun said 5:07PM on 12-11-2005
Cmd + Esc, which will trigger FrontRow with no remote needed.
Handy for some fun demos at Best Buy.
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Syldaras said 6:09PM on 12-11-2005
Just a note about Command-Option-Escape: If the program is misbehaving so badly and hanging the system enough that the force-quit window doesn't appear, or if you're in a Full-Screen app like a game or Quicktime movie, simply holding down the keys will make the OS attempt a force quit of the foremost app. This has saved me a reboot more than a few times.
Oh, and in regards to finder navigation, I must say I miss the robust efficiency with which I could navigate the OS9 finder (On many occasions I could go hours without touching the mouse), though remnants remain. As Wader mentioned, Command-Up and -Down arrows will move you up and down a directory level, respectively. But as sexy as column view can seem, don't discount Ye Olde List View - in list view, Command-Right and -Left arrow will expand or collapse a folder (the equivalent of clicking the triangle next to the folder). But the fun doesn't stop there! Add option to the mix, and not only will the folder expand and show its contents in the list, but all of its subdirectories will as well. Add Option AND Shift to the list, and both the selected folder's subdirectories and its grandchildren (sub-subdirectories) will expand. Haven't figured out a way to go further (and even on my Dual 2GHz G5 the last of those can take some time to display with some directories, so I'm not sure I'd want to anyway), but this can be a great way to select multiple files in disparate levels of the hierarchy in only one window. Column view can't touch this!
Hmmm… at the risk of being a tad too verbose I think this bears mentioning as well: I sell Macs for a living and a common complaint of new switchers is the differing behavior of the home/end keys in MacOS X. As you all may know, on a mac they take you to the beginning (home) or end (uh… end, duh) of a document/webpage/etc. whereas in Windows they go to the beginning or end of a LINE of text. Well, in just about any text editor that behaves by Mac standards (and I think MS Word violates this, but I don't use it often, so I'm not sure), the arrow and modifier keys are your friends. As wader was beginning to say (I think), Command-left and Command-right will bring you to the beginning and end of a line (like the Windows home and end keys), while Command-up and -down will replicate the behavior of home and end in true mac fashion. Again, Option will spice things up. Option-left and -right will allow you to skip whole words, while Option-Up and down will allow you to skip whole paragraphs. The shift key in conjunction with any arrow key combo (or the arrow keys by themselves) allows for text selection. This is, perhaps the single most frustrating element of using Windows for me: I have to use the MOUSE to select text, while on my Mac I've become accustomed to selecting, copying, pasting, etc. all from my keyboard.
Okay, that's it. I'm done. Hope that helps someone out there, at least!
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Andrew Escobar said 6:17PM on 12-11-2005
You forgot Command-Esc to launch Front Row ; )
My favorite key combo though...
command-shit-arrow to move from one tab in safari to another.
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Kieren Messenger said 7:09PM on 12-11-2005
My favorite key combo though...
command-shit-arrow to move from one tab in safari to another.
Don't you mean command-shift-arrow? The other may be a tad uncomfortable if done too often ;)
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