Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts, and other tips/tricks

(Install and start KeyCastr if demo'ing keyboard shortcuts; shows keystrokes onscreen.)

First things...

  • ⌘-SPC (spacebar), "sys", RETURN, and then search in System Settings for "customize modifier"
  • Map Caps Lock to ESC. This will come in handy when you learn vim (you're going to learn Vim, of course ... ? 😃) Also, ESC cancels modal dialogs of various kinds, such as ⌘-SPC (Spotlight search).

In System Settings, search "mission", choose "Hot Corner Shortcuts"

Mission Control - bird's-eye view of windows, spaces, and apps I set my hot corners to something like this... |200

When you touch that screen corner with your mouse, the selected action happens.

Other "Mission Control" settings:

  • OFF - "When switching to an app, switch to a space w/open windows"
  • OFF - "Displays have separate Spaces"

General Keyboard Shortcuts

  • ⌘-SPC - Spotlight. Search for anything on your Mac: apps, text, filenames, etc.

    • What to search for?
      • "ter" - Terminal.app - Sometimes just "t" is enough; Spotlight remembers frequency.
      • "sys" - System Settings.app

  • ⌘-TAB - Cycle between open apps. (⌘-SHFT-TAB goes the other way).

  • ⌘-n - New window in an app (e.g., new bash window in Terminal, new browser window in Chrome, new Finder window in Finder).

  • ⌘-w - Close active window in an app (e.g. a tab in your browser).

  • ⌘-` - Cycle between windows in an app.

  • ⌘-, - Open an app's settings (aka preferences).

  • ⌘-CTRL-SPC - Open the characters menu (emojis, symbols, etc.)

Capturing Screenshots

Selecting and capturing a portion of the screen

  • ⌘-SHFT-4 - Drag the crosshair to select. Selected area is saved in a file on your Desktop.
  • ⌘-SHFT-Ctrl-4 - Drag the crosshair to select. Selected area is saved to your copy buffer (paste with ⌘-v).

Selecting and capturing a window

  • ⌘-SHFT-4, then SPC - When you tap SPC, the crosshair changes to a camera. The active window is saved in a file on your Desktop.
  • ⌘-SHFT-Ctrl-4, then SPC - When you tap SPC, the crosshair changes to a camera. The active window is saved to your copy buffer.

Editing

  • ⌘-c - Copy selected
  • ⌘-v - Paste selected
  • ⌘-x - Delete selected
  • ⌘-z - Undo

App-specific shortcuts

Finder shortcuts

  • ⌘-SHFT-n - New folder at top of hierarchy in current Finder view.
  • ⌘-BKSPC - Delete highlighted item (e.g. a file). BE CAREFUL!
  • <right-arrow> - Expand directory view.
  • ⌘-<down-arrow> - Zoom Finder view to highlighted sub-directory.
  • ⌘-<up-arrow> - Unzoom Finder view up on directory level.

Browser shortcuts

  • ⌘-+ - Increase font size.
  • ⌘-MINUS - Decrease font size.
  • ⌘-0 - Restore default font size.
  • Ctrl-TAB - Cycle between tabs in active window.
  • You can drag a tab out into its own window (and drag it back in too).

Mission Control - bird's-eye view of windows, spaces, and apps

  • When in Mission Control, add a workspace with "+" (top right corner)
  • Ctrl-<up-arrow>
  • Ctrl-<right-arrow>, Ctrl-<left-arrow> - switch workspaces
  • Ctrl-<down-arrow> - app focus

While in Mission Control, you can drag windows around to various desktops.

To delete a desktop, hover over its thumbnail until a white "X" appears, and click the "X". (No windows in that desktop will be deleted; they will simply move to the previous desktop).

Hit ESC to exit Mission Control.

Gestures

In System Settings, search "gestures", choose Trackpad gestures.

Trackpad with drag lock:

  • "use trackpad for dragging"
  • "with Drag Lock"

Terminal.app (zsh)

  • Tab to autocomplete file or directory names.
  • ⌘-k - Clear screen, including scrollback history.
  • ⌘-<double-tap> on a URL in the terminal window - Opens that URl in default browser.
  • ⌘-TAB - Open a new shell in the same window.
    • Ctrl-TAB - Cycle between tabs (similar to behavior with browser tabs).
    • You can drag a tab out into its own window (also like browser tab, except that you can't drag it back in).

Explore

  • Trackpad has "light" click and "firm" click (aka "force click").
  • Function keys can be set to default to F1-12, or to the "other" mode (FN-<fn-key> accesses whatever the "other" mode is. ⌘-SPC, "function keys".