Shortcut Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Palua allows you to quickly switch between standard and Apple function keys

by Samuel Gibbs (Apr 21st, 2011)

If you're an Apple keyboard or MacBook user, you'll know how useful the F1-F12 function keys can be when mapped to Apple functions such as brightness control, Expose and play controls. But what happens when you need the function keys to behave in a non-Apple mapped way? Sure you can hold down ...

A handy Safari keyboard shortcut for Google searches

by Brett Terpstra (Oct 13th, 2010)

Here I go again, professing my love for keyboard shortcuts. I have shortcuts and hotkeys for just about everything I do on a daily basis. I'm running out of intuitive combinations, actually, but my muscle memory seems to have room for a few more. There's one shortcut, though, that I think every ...

Mac 101: Navigating OS X with your keyboard

by Michael Jones (Feb 26th, 2010)

Let's face it: unless you're just casually surfing the Internet or playing a game, chances are pretty good that your hands are on the keyboard most of the time when you're at the computer. Sure, the mouse is only a few inches away, but wouldn't it just be easier if you didn't have to keep going back ...

Using aliases to extend Front Row's capabilities

by Sang Tang (Oct 1st, 2009)

While Front Row's integration with iTunes and iPhoto provides a nice, seamless experience, there are times when your needs demand a not-so-integrated approach -- say, for example, if you have an external hard drive full of videos that you'd like to watch on Front Row, but don't necessarily want ...

Mac 101: Put your display to sleep fast

by Robert Palmer (Jan 16th, 2009)

Quick! The boss is coming! Hide your screen! What, you don't have Spaces set up so you can switch to that handy Excel worksheet you've got open? That's okay -- just put your display to sleep. Of course, there are other reasons to want to quickly turn off your display, but they all have one simple ...

iPhone 101: The home screen shortcut in 2.2

by Cory Bohon (Nov 21st, 2008)

If you're like me, then you have around 7 home screens. It's annoying to flip back and forth between them to find the Apple apps, which are normally stored on the first home screen. With the introduction of the new iPhone/iPod touch 2.2 firmware, you now have the ability to jump to the first home ...

Use Mac OS X keyboard and shortcuts on Windows

by David Chartier (Oct 13th, 2006)

If you're jonesing for your Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts to work on Windows, or if you just can't give up Apple's keyboard while using Boot Camp, the AppleK Pro keyboard driver for Windows might just be your fix. This little driver allows you to use most Mac OS X shortcuts (such as cmd - shift 3/4 ...

TUAW Tip: enable the AppleScript menu

by David Chartier (Aug 8th, 2006)

As I was working on an AppleScript-related post this morning, I couldn't seem to find any TUAW Tips in our vast archives that explained how to enable that AppleScript menubar item (pictured) that is mentioned so often in Mac software circles. This, of course, called for just such a tip. So: the ...

AppleScript to view next unread message in Mail

by David Chartier (Jul 21st, 2006)

If you've ever wished for the ability to go to the next unread message in Mail, instead of having to shuffle through all the unread ones, some enterprising AppleScript.net forum members have put together a script that might go well with your favorite app/script launcher, such as FastScripts. I tried ...

TUAW Tip: shortcuts for Sleep, Restart and Shut Down

by David Chartier (Jul 14th, 2006)

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 ...

TUAW Tip: shortcuts for display, audio and keyboard preferences

by David Chartier (Jul 13th, 2006)

This simple tip was actually sent to us by TUAW reader Zoli Honig. It works on my MacBook Pro, and I assume other portables: if you hold the option key while pressing any of the F-key shortcuts for display brightness, keyboard brightness or audio volume settings, System Preferences will open and ...

GmailUI Extension for Thunderbird

by David Chartier (Jun 2nd, 2006)

If Gmail's UI floats your boat but you prefer using a desktop email client for 'no waiting for a refresh' feel, Ken Mixter has developed a Thunderbird extension just for you. The GmailUI extension brings many of the shortcuts and search expressions of Gmail to Mozilla's Thunderbird client. Keyboard ...

Unsanity's ClearDock and Menu Master go Universal

by David Chartier (Jun 2nd, 2006)

Hot on the heels of brining Universal status to their Application Enhancer, Unsanity has released UB versions of ClearDock (free) and Menu Master ($10). ClearDock, as you might glean from the name, is a one-trick pony that can strip the dock of its transparent background or allow you to adjust the ...

Firefox Quick Add extension for Google Calendar

by David Chartier (Apr 30th, 2006)

Elias Torres has put together a most excellent Google Calendar Quick Add extension for Firefox. If you aren't familiar with gCal's Quick Add feature, it's in the upper left of gCal (or just hit 'q' on your keyboard), and it's great: you can create a new event simply by typing it as a sentence, such ...

TUAW Tip: keep a Mail.app message open when replying

by David Chartier (Feb 2nd, 2006)

Today's tip involves a Mail.app hint I found that I thought was just too handy not to mention. If you use Mail.app and you open some messages in their own window, you might have noticed that if you hit reply, the original message disappears in favor of your new message composition window. ...