If you’re not using keyboard shortcuts on your Mac, you’re missing out on a big part of the reason why so many people love Apple’s desktop operating system. Thanks to Apple’s integration of hardware and software, you’ll rarely have to reach for your mouse or trackpad once you learn to speak the language of the keys.
MacOS has many shortcuts, but I consider these the ones everyone should know. I’ve tried to avoid (still useful) shortcuts with related Windows counterparts—such as ⌘+A to select all or ⌘+F open the Find prompt—and focus on shortcuts you may not be familiar with if you’re new to Mac.
And let’s talk about that “⌘” symbol. That’s the Command key, and it’s the key to all the shortcuts listed here. It works kind of like the Control key on a Windows PC, except it’s in a handier spot—typically on both sides of the space bar. In the following examples, an example like “⌘+A” typically means you need to hold down the Command button and press A or press both at the same time.
If these shortcuts get you hooked, you can even make your own for everything from the system to specific apps by going to SystemPreferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts and then choosing one of the options on the left.
Open the Spotlight search tool
⌘+Space bar: This is probably the most useful shortcut of all. Whenever you want to find a file on your Mac, just tap this shortcut and type the name of the file you’d like the find in the prompt that pops up. The results are instant. Spotlight will also search through things like iMessages, bookmarks, and the full text of files on your hard drive. It’s also a quick way to find and open apps you don’t keep on your dock.
Immediately quit any app
⌘+Q: Use this command to shut down any app immediately. This command doesn’t just minimize the app (as sometimes happens when you hit the red “X” button at the top of any Mac app)—it completely shuts it down.
Take screenshots or record the screen
As you can probably imagine, we use these shortcuts a lot here at Macworld. There are actually several ways you can take a screenshot on a Mac.
⌘+Shift+3: Screenshot the entire visible window. If you can see it on your Mac’s screen, it’ll show up in the screenshot.
⌘+Shift+4: Screenshot a specific area of the screen with the help of a rectangular cropping tool. This is the one I use the most, and it’s also great for sharing images or snippets of text on social media.
⌘+Shift+5: Beginning with macOS Mojave, Apple made it easy to see all your screenshotting tools at once with this shortcut. Press it, and you’ll see a toolbar that gives you options for capturing the entire screen, capturing a specific window, of capturing a specific portion of a window. You can also use it to record either the entire screen or a portion of it and choose where to save the image or video file. (By default, screenshots save to the desktop.)
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