Filed under: OS, Software, TUAW Tips
TUAW Tip: shortcuts for Sleep, Restart and Shut Down
We here at TUAW are suckers for productive shortcuts, and since yesterday's System Preferences tip was such a hit, I thought I'd post a few shortcuts to speed up the Sleep, Restart and Shut Down commands. There's actually quite a few ways to accomplish these tasks, so I'll try to mention all the methods I've heard of. The first: hold the option key while selecting Restart or Shut Down from the Apple Menu to bypass the 'Are You Sure?' dialog, and cut right to the chase. You even get visual feedback in the Apple Menu; click the menu, then press the option key to see the trailing dots disappear from those two commands (as far as I know, this is a typical UI feedback element used throughout the OS; any commands - at least in Cocoa apps - that have keyboard modifiers will change their appearance in the menu if you press the modifier before choosing the option).
The second method is my personal favorite: 100% keyboard shortcuts. Here's a list:
- Sleep = opt + cmd + eject
- Restart = ctrl + cmd + eject
- Shut Down = ctrl + opt + cmd + eject
Here's hoping you don't have a Homer Simpson-like brain, where each new shortcut you learn knocks out an old one. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on these shortcuts, and enjoy one more trick for working with your Mac just a little bit faster.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chris Meisenzahl said 7:50AM on 7-14-2006
Good stuff, thanks.
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Josh said 8:23AM on 7-14-2006
Good stuff indeed.
Now if I could only find a keyboard shortcut to either lock my Mac or send it out to the Login Window without logging out the current user. Now that would be helpful.
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xploraiswakco said 8:42AM on 7-14-2006
in option 3, ctrl + eject will do the same as pressing the power button for keyboards without power buttons. (since laptops are only machines with keyboard power buttons, without going back in time a bit)
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spil said 9:51AM on 7-14-2006
Wow you guys have WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much time on your hands... how long did it take you to figure out these from just pressing every single button combination?
[/sarcasm]
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David Chartier said 10:12AM on 7-14-2006
#4: Who says banging on a keyboard is the only way to find out these things? ;)
I just thought of a fourth method I could've included in the post: using shortcuts/plugins provided in some of the application launchers, like Quicksilver. I don't use the others like Butler or LaunchBar, but I know QS has actions for all three of these operations, which one could easily tie to a keyboard trigger - though I find that concept a tad dangerous. One reason the cmd + eject shortcut works is because it's such an obscure combination; I don't think there's any other keyboard shortcut out there that uses the eject key. In fact, I'm willing to bet that the use of the eject key for a shortcut might even be an Apple-only firmware-specific thing.
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orijinal said 11:42AM on 7-14-2006
hey Josh, to quickly lock your screen:
http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macosxhints/2006/01/lockscreen/
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nelson said 12:10PM on 7-14-2006
cmd + opt + shift + q = log out immediately. NOTE: THIS WILL NOT ASK YOU FOR CONFIRMATION! I find this one very useful.
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Elbert Cuenca said 1:29PM on 7-16-2006
Similar to ctrl + cmd + eject (RESTART):
FORCE RESTART = ctrl + cmd + power button
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Elbert Cuenca said 1:36PM on 7-16-2006
btw, my last comment seems to be applicable to laptops only. When I tried it on an iMac, the computer would simply go to sleep immediately (which is the normal behavior when depressing a desktop power button). iow, the power button on desktops doesn't allow modifiers. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
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Tony said 1:18PM on 7-18-2006
Those three power keystrokes are way old (I found out about them in Macworld years ago). Useless bit of information. One keystroke I've discovered that you rarely see ever documented is cmd-D at a Save prompt to Don't Save. I love stupid things like this cuz I like to use the keyboard as much as possible.
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sebastian said 4:37AM on 8-09-2006
great tip, i'd prefer the one hitting on the power button then the initial letter over the opt + cmd ones
thanks!
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M4cb0y said 11:59AM on 9-24-2006
Command+period works for cancel.
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