⌘ (Command), ⌥ (Alt/Option) and ⇧ (Shift) keys. In all Apple Mac Applications the keyboard shortcuts can be found in the drop down menus. If the shortcuts are shown in gray text. This does not mean the shortcut is disabled unless all of the menu text is also gray.
Screen Capture to disk: ⌘ ⇧ 3 ⌘ ⇧ 4 + Drag Window (click camera) to jpeg file, click with ⌥ to remove the drop shadow.
⌘ ⇧ 4 + Spacebar ⌘ ⇧ 5 Screen Capture to clipboard: ⌘ ⇧ ^ 3 ⌘ ⇧ ^ 4 + Drag Window (Camera effect) to clipboard.
⌘ ⇧^ 4 + Spacebar After pressing ⇧⌘4 and while drawing the screen capture area, hold Option while resizing to resize from the center, and hold Shift while resizing to adjust only one axis. After drawing the area, hold the Space bar and drag to move the selected area.
Hold down Option while taking the screenshot to remove the window's shadow, or set the default to always remove it.
Right click on the floating screenshot preview to access additional actions.
Apple Finder - Copy/Move/Merge
Cut. This can be used to cut text to the clipboard, but not entire files. Use COPY for files, this is to ensure that a file is never inadvertently deleted in the case of a non-completed MOVE operation. ⌘ X Copy. In Finder copy the selected files to the clipboard. ⌘ C Paste. In Finder, paste one or more files from the clipboard to the current folder. ⌘ V Explicit COPY (will copy even if destation is on same volume). ⌥ +Drag Explicit MOVE (will move even if destation is on different volume). ⌘ +Drag Switch to column view. ⌘ 3 Resize all visible columns. [n.b. macOS column width bug] ⌥ +drag column sizer. Make an alias of the dragged item. The pointer changes while you drag the item. ⌘ ⌥ while dragging Copy File/Folder pathname to the clipboard. ⌥ ⌘ C Move: MOVE files on the clipboard from their original location to the current folder.
(Cut and Paste of files in the Finder is not available in macOS, but you can Copy and Move.)⌥ ⌘ V Paste an item from the clipboard, while preserving the file permission flags. Will also attempt to match style. ⌥⇧⌘V Merge folders by holding ⌥ while dragging one folder on top of another. ⌥ + drag Apple Finder
Go to the /Computer folder, (a virtual folder displaying all mounted disks). [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ C Go to the ~/Desktop folder. [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ D Make alias in new location. ⌥ ⌘ + Drag With multiple files selected, press this to create a new sub-folder enclosing those items. ⌃⌘N Show/Hide hidden files (toggle). If you have multiple finder windows open this will take a few seconds to work. ⌘ ⇧ . Duplicate the selected files. ⌘ D Open the desktop folder. ⌘ ⇧ D Eject the selected disk or volume. ⌘ E Start a Spotlight search in the Finder window. ⌘ F Force Quit Finder (⌥⇧⌘⎋)
or in the GUI: Open Finder. Click on the Apple menu icon and press and hold the Shift key. Select the Force Quit Finder command. This may be needed if a bunch of folders suddenly appear to be empty.⌥ ⇧ ⌘ +Esc Go to the Recents window, 'all my files'. ⌘ ⇧ F Go to folder — type in a path (with tab-completion). [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ G Go to the Home Folder ~/ [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ H Go to the iCloud Drive folder. ⌘ ⇧ I Get Info. ⌘ I Super Get Info (change whatever you click on). ⌘ ⌥ I Open the Connect to Server window. [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ K Go to network. [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ K Make Alias. ⌘ L Open the Downloads folder. ⌘ ⌥ L New Finder window. ⌘ N Create a new folder. ⌘ ⇧ N Create a new Smart folder (saved search). ⌘ ⌥ N Open item, or open a dialog to select a file to open. ⌘ O
⌘ ↓Open the selected file in a separate window, then close the original window. ⌥⌘O
or
⌥ while double-clickingOpen the Documents folder. ⌘ ⇧ O Print. ⌘ P Show or hide the Preview pane in Finder windows. ⌘ ⇧ P Show or hide the Path Bar at the bottom of Finder windows.
To copy the UNIX path use Get-Info/Inspector and select/copy the 'Where:' text.⌘ ⌥ P Quit Application. ⌘ Q Show original.
(1) When an alias is selected the Finder: show the original file for the selected alias.
(2) In some apps, such as Calendar or Safari, refresh or reload the page. (
3) In Software Update preferences, check for software updates again.⌘ R Rotate an image clockwise or counter-clockwise. Select a .JPG or .PNG image file. ⌘R / ⌘L Go to the AirDrop window. ⌘ ⇧ R Show/Hide the Finder sidebar. ⌘ ⌥ S Open new Tab.
or drag a folder to the new tab button (only visible if multiple tabs are already open) to open the folder in a new tab.⌘ T Show or hide the Tab bar in Finder windows. ⌘ ⇧ T Show or hide the toolbar in Finder windows. ⌘ ⌥ T Add selected Finder item to the Dock ⌘ ⇧ ^ T Go to the /Applications/Utilities/ folder. [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ U Close Window. ⌘ W Close all Windows. ⌘ ⌥ W Toggle Slideshow mode (show selected graphic files full-screen). ⌘ ⌥ Y Cycle finder windows (including desktop). ⌘ ~ Highlight next item. Tab Open folder in a new window. ⌘ + double-click folder icon Show/Hide the footer in finder. ⌘ / Move up one directory. ⌘ ↑ go back. ⌘ [ go forward. ⌘ ] View items in the current Finder window as icons. ⌘ 1 View items in the current Finder window as a List.
In List view, press ⌘+ and ⌘- to increase and decrease the row size.
In List view, use the ← and → arrow keys to collapse and expand directories.
In List view, press ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ to select the top-most and bottom-most item.⌘ 2 View items in the current Finder window as columns.
In Column view, press Shift-Tab and Tab to navigate through the parent directories of a deeply nested file.⌘ 3 View items in the current Finder window in a gallery. ⌘ 4 Open preferences for the frontmost app. ⌘ , Toggle hidden files (Finder and in apps that support this.). [Also works in Open/Save dialogue boxes] ⌘ ⇧ . Move between Folders in Finder, in list view close folder. ← Move between Folders in Finder, in list view open folder. → Restart Finder by holding ⌥ while right-clicking the Finder dock icon and selecting Relaunch. ⌥ +dock Open / Save / Save As.. Dialog Boxes
Save. ⌘ S Save As. ⌘ ⇧ S Save dialog: switch between the compact and expanded layout. ⌘= Open/Save dialog: open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the home directory. ~ Open/Save dialog: open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the root directory. / Open/Save dialog: reveal the selected item in Finder. ⌘R Delete / Move to Trash.
Delete/Move to Trash. ⌘ ⌫ Empty the Trash. ⌘ ⇧ ⌫ Delete selected item immediately. ⌘ ⌥ ⌫ Empty the Trash without confirmation dialog. ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ ⌫ Empty trash, including any locked files. ⌥ while Emptying the Trash Function Keys / Mission Control / Brightness / Volume
Turn video mirroring on or off when your Mac is connected to more than one display. ⌘ F1/Brightness Down Turn target display mode on or off. ⌘ F2/Brightness Up Open System Preferences ➞ Display. This also works with ⌥ F1 ⌥ F2/Brightness Up Turn display off (brightness=0) Control ⇧Eject Decrease the display brightness in smaller steps. ⌥ ⇧ F1/Brightness Down Increase the display brightness in smaller steps. ⌥ ⇧ F2/Brightness Up Increase brightness of your external display, if supported by your display. ^ Brightness Up Decrease brightness of your external display, if supported by your display. ^ Brightness Down Adjust the display brightness on an external display, if supported. ⌥ ⇧ ^ Brightness Up (or Down) Open Mission control / Spaces.
Drag a window to the top of the screen and push it against the top of the screen to enter Mission Control with that window selected.F3 or ^ + ↑ Show the desktop. ⌘ F3/Mission Control Open Mission Control preferences. ⌥ F3/Mission Control In Mission Control:
Perform a scroll up over a group of app windows to reveal the individual windows. Press the Space bar while holding the pointer over any window to magnify it.
Option-click another desktop space to switch to that space while staying in Mission Control.
Drag the application icon underneath the windows to move all of an app's windows to another space.
In Mission Control app window mode, press Tab and Shift-Tab to switch applications.
Toggle Space. F8 If a window was minimized in a different space, hold ⌘ while un-minimizing to restore it to the current space.
(Hold ⌥ while un-minimizing a window to un-minimize all windows from that app.)⌘ + click If an app has windows in multiple spaces, click the app's Dock icon repeatedly to cycle through the spaces with that app's windows. Exposé - Show all open windows. F9 Exposé - Show all open windows for an application. F10 Hide all windows. F11 Open/close Dashboard. F12
Add ⇧ to the above F.Keys for a slow-motion effectOpen Sound preferences. Also works with Volume down (F11). ⌥ F12/Volume Up Adjust the sound volume in smaller steps. Also works with ⌥ ⇧ Volume Down (F11). ⌥ ⇧ F12/Volume Up Open Sound preferences. ⌥ F12/Volume up/down Hold down ⌥ while changing the brightness to quickly open Display settings, or while changing the volume to open Sound settings.
Hold down ⇧ while changing the volume to audibly preview the volume level.
Dock /Switch Applications
Show/Hide Dock. ⌘ ⌥ D Enter or exit Full Screen mode (or press ⌥ + Green zoom button). ⌘ ^ F Switch applications (even while dragging a file).
While tabbling, press the ↑ or ↓ arrow keys (or the 1 key) to view that app’s windows.
Hold ⌥ while switching to an app to un-minimize all its windows.⌘ Tab Switch between document Windows in current application. ⌘ ` Switch application, hide previous one. ⌥ Dock Switch application, hide all others. ⌘ Dock Toggle Monochrome Hi Visibility (Accessibility). ^ ⌘ ⌥ 8 Prevent dock icons from moving out of the way (useful when dragging items to the trash). ⌘ +drag Hold ^ and ⇧ while mousing over the Dock to temporarily turn on magnification. To open multiple items from a stack, hold ⌥ while selecting an item to open it in the background, keeping the stack open. ⌥ + stack To add AirDrop to the Dock, navigate to /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Applications in Finder and drag the AirDrop icon to the Dock. Spaces/Window management
Use the app in Full screen, if supported by the app. ⌘ ^ F Hold ⌥ while clicking the green zoom button to fill the window to the screen instead of entering full-screen mode. Hide the windows of the front app. ⌘ H View the frontmost app but hide all other applications. ⌘ ⌥ H Minimize the front window to the Dock. ⌘ M Minimize all windows of the foreground app. ⌥ ⌘ M Hide all other apps. ⌥ ⌘ + click on dock icon. Hide all other apps. ⌥ ⌘ + click inside app window. Hide all other apps that are in front. ⌥ + click dock icon. Hide all other apps that are in front. ⌥ + click inside app window. Close all of the foreground application's open windows. ⌥ ⌘ W
or hold ⌥ while clicking the red close buttonMove current window left a space. ^ left arrow Move current window right a space. ^ right arrow To move current window to a named space (1,2,...). Enable the shortcut under System Preferences ➞ Keyboard ➞ Keyboard Shortcuts ➞ Mission Control ➞ Mission Control Hold ⌥ while resizing a window to resize from the center of the window.
Hold ⇧ (Shift) while resizing a window to lock the aspect ratio.Double-click a window's border to resize that edge to fill the screen.
Hold ⌥ while double-clicking to expand both edges.QuickLook / Preview
Activate QuickLook on the selected file(s). Spacebar (or ⌘ Y) Hold ⌥ while activating Quick Look to launch a full-screen view. ⌥ + Spacebar Full Screen/slideshow QuickLook on the selected file(s). ⌘ ⌥ Y Activate the pan tool in Preview (when zoomed in). ⌥ + Spacebar Rectangular text selection in Preview, first turn on text selection mode. ⌥ Terminal
Move the insertion point (this emits arrow keys). ⌥ + Click Switch windows. ⌘ left/right arrow Select the output from the previous command.
Press ⌘{↑,↓} to select the previous/next commands.
Then press ⇧⌘A to select the output of the currently selected command.⇧⌘ A Clear the output from the previous command. ⌘ L View runtime statistics about the execution of a running command (so far).
⌃ T Paste and format text that is properly escaped for the shell. ⌃⌘ V Drag a file or folder into a Terminal window to insert its full path.
Alternatively, copy a file or folder in Finder and paste it in Terminal to insert its path.⌘V Switch to 1st terminal Tab. ⌘ 1 Switch to 2nd, 3rd Tab. ⌘ 2, ⌘ 3... Set a title for the current window and tab. ⇧⌘ i See also: Bash keyboard shortcuts Messages
Directly reply to the latest message in the conversation.
⌘R Reply to the latest thread in the conversation. ⇧⌘R Bring up the tapback selector for the latest message.
Use the 1-6 number keys to select a reaction.⌘T Edit the latest sent message. ⌘E Press in the message input field to cycle through previously sent messages. ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ Jump to a pinned conversation. ⌘1-9 Right-click on a message and select Show Times to view exact timestamps for each message.
Right-click the Messages icon in the Dock to quickly view and jump to unread conversations.QuickTime Player
Play backwards/speed. J Pause/Resume. Spacebar (or K). Play forwards/speed up. L Play backwards. J Move one frame forward (or 0.25 sec on audio). → Move one frame back. ←
Copy a single frame, while paused. ⌘C Spotlight
Activate/deactivate Spotlight. ⌘ Spacebar Use the name: filter to only search in the filename.
Use kind:folder to only search for folder names.
See mdfind for other keywords.Display the disk location of the current file in the list. ⌘ Open the current file’s location in finder.
Does not work for images in Photos.⌘ R Copy the full path to the selected file.
This will work for images inside Photos.⌘C Open Finder Spotlight search window. ⌘ ⌥ Spacebar Open the top/next item. ⌘ Return / ⌘ Click Move to next/previous category. ⌘ ↓ / ↑ Editing Text (email, TextEdit etc)
Move one word left. ⌥ ← Move one word right. ⌥ → Beginning of Sentence (Home). ^ A End of Sentence (End). ^ E Beginning of line. ⌘ ← End of line. ⌘ → Open Emoji character panel 😎 (Emoji, symbols and punctuation) ⌘ ^ Spacebar Enter a Double quote “ (open/left) ⌥ [ Enter a Double quote ” (close/right) ⌥ ⇧ [ Enter a Single quote ‘ (open/left) ⌥ ] Enter a Single quote ’ (close/right) Also Apostrophe: O’Brien ⌥ ⇧ ] Scroll one page up. (cursor retains position) ⤒ Scroll one page down. (cursor retains position) ⤓ Move one page up. (reposition cursor) ⌥ ⤒ Move one page down. ⌥ ⤓ Scroll to beginning of document. ⌘ ↑ or ↖ Scroll to end of document. ⌘ ↓ or ↘
Add shift key ⇧ to the above to also select the text.Delete previous word. ⌥ ⌫ Delete next word. ⌥ ⌦ Delete next character (Del) ^ D Show hidden files in open and save dialogs. (Snow Leopard only) ⌘ ⇧ . Open Application Help (Search) ⌘ ⇧ / Jump to exact scrollbar location. ⌥ Scrollbar Scroll page at a time (page up/down) ⌥ Scrollbar arrows
| Start up into macOS Recovery, Restore from Time Machine/Repair/reinstall macOS | ⌘ R |
| Start up using Internet Recovery | ⌘ ⌥ R |
| Startup Manager - This will allow you to Select a startup disk or resume a hung software update window. | Option |
| Start up in Single-User mode (command line) Disabled in macOS Mojave or later. | ⌘ S |
| Force macOS startup. | X |
| Start up from a CD (if it has a system folder). | C |
| Start Apple Diagnostics from first partition (or Apple Hardware test on Pre 2012 Macs). | D |
| Attempt to start up from a network server(NetBoot). | N |
| Force PowerBook screen reset. | R |
| Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode. | T |
| Start up in Verbose mode. | ⌘ V |
| Bypass primary startup volume (will seek DVD or external disk) | ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ ⌫ |
| PRAM hardware Reset - Hold down Cmd-Option-R with your left hand, then press POWER to start up and immediately press P with your right hand. At the prompt type: 'reset-nvram' or 'reset-all'. See HT204063 [intel macs only]. |
⌘ ⌥ P R |
| Open Firmware | ⌘ ⌥ O F |
| Eject CD (press during/after startup chime), see also drutil eject | ⌘ E |
| Eject CD (hold mouse button down during startup) | mouse |
To return to normal mode, restart the Mac without holding down any keys.
Boot into Safe mode on Apple silicon:
Boot into Safe mode on an intel mac:
| Sleep now. | POWER |
| Hold for 10 seconds (force shut down). | POWER |
| Immediately lock the screen. | ⌘ ^ Q |
| Log out of your macOS user account, prompt to confirm. | ⌘ ⇧ Q |
| Log out immediately without confirming. | ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ Q |
| Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box. | ^ Eject |
| Sleep the display now. | ^ ⇧ Eject |
| Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box (n/a with Touch ID sensor). | ^ POWER |
| Sleep the display now (n/a with Touch ID sensor). | ^ ⇧ POWER |
| Sleep the computer now. | ⌘ ⌥ Eject |
| Sleep the computer now (n/a with Touch ID sensor). | ⌘ ⌥ POWER |
| Shut down the computer now (Graceful Shutdown). | ⌘ ⌥ ^ Eject |
| Force your Mac to restart, without prompting to save. | ⌘ ^ Eject |
| Force your Mac to restart, without prompting to save. (n/a with Touch ID sensor). | ⌘ ^ POWER |
| Force Quit menu - selectively force quit applications. | ⌘ ⌥ Esc |
| Hold for three seconds to Force Quit the foremost application. | ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ Esc |
| Stop a process. Close pop-up notification. | ⌘ .(period) |
| To Restart a system that fails a normal shutdown, open a terminal window and type: sudo shutdown -r now |
To Restart a system that fails a normal shutdown, open a terminal window and type: sudo shutdown -r now
To disable or change any keyboard shortcuts, open System Preferences ➞ Keyboard ➞ Shortcuts To enable keyboard control in dialog boxes: Keyboard ➞ Full Keyboard Access=All Controls To display an on screen keyboard: System Preferences ➞ Language & Text ➞ Input sources ➞ Keyboard/Character viewer You can discover additional keyboard shortcuts by opening a menu and pressing the ⌥ (Option) and ⇧ (Shift) keys. For example, in Finder, open the File menu and press the ⌥ (Option) key. |
⌘ is the Command or Apple key
⌥ is the Option or Alt key
⇧ is the Shift key
^ is the Ctrl key
⌫ is the Backspace key
'Command + Tab' cycles through Applications,
'Command + ~ (tilde)' cycles through an individual Applications windows"
How-to: Bash Terminal Keyboard shortcuts
nvram - Manipulate or reset firmware variables.
macOS Key bindings - Remap the Home and End Keys.
screencapture - Take Screenshots.
HT102439 - How to use the function keys F1, F2.. on your Mac (may also need to press Fn+Esc to lock in this change).
HT201236 - Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference (Apple).
HT204895 - Use Multi-Touch gestures on your Mac (Apple).
Disable or Change “global” keyboard shortcuts on Mac (Apple).
37 Secret Features of the Mac Keyboard - MacMost.
Applications:Utilities:Grab - Copy the screen to a TIFF file with (optional) 10 second delay.
DanRodney - macOS Keyboard Shortcuts.