macOS

10 Simple macOS
keyboard tricks
Add functionality and efficiency through
your Mac’s keyboard 1 Quit and hide
When you navigate between apps
using the Cmd and Tab keys, you can
press ‘Q’ when an app is highlighted to
There are many well-known keyboard combinations that let you do
immediately quit it. You can also press
things on a Mac much quicker than with a mouse, but there are also ‘H’ to hide the app and continue to use
some that add functions you may not be aware of. Chances are that if these shortcuts for as many apps as
you need to do something regularly, there will be a keyboard trick that you like with the Cmd key held down.
you can use over and over and it will become so natural to you that
using the mouse may eventually feel like something you only do when
absolutely necessary.
We will highlight some lesser known tricks and also explain what
2 Manage apps
Holding down the Cmd key
and clicking an app in the Dock will
immediately bring up a Finder screen
they do with the aim that you can use them each day to speed up and
showing exactly where the app is
expand your Mac usage. macOS is designed to utilise the keyboard on your Mac. You can now delete or
for much more than mere typing in a variety of ingenious ways. manage the app as you require. It is a
huge time saver.

Full keyboard control Finder shortcuts

It is well worth checking to see which Finder
Your macOS keyboard is quicker than a mouse shortcuts are available. On a busy Mac loaded with
thousands of files, the shortcuts available will make
you a master of locating and managing Mac content.
No menus
Many keyboard
shortcuts take the
place of menus that
would otherwise need
to be navigated with a
mouse. When writing,
for example, pressing
one key will keep the
inspiration flowing
without interruption.

Extra options
Knowledge base Some keyboard shortcuts
show hidden menu
options in apps and extra
A handy list information in the default
Apple offers a list of keyboard macOS setup. There are
shortcuts which is useful to a huge number of options
get you started. It is located that can be unlocked
at https://support.apple.com/ using your Mac keyboard.
en-gb/HT201236 and will help
you start to understand just
how much can be done with a The keyboard settings
couple of key presses instead Take some time to play with the keyboard settings
of a mouse. Please remember, to see what can be tweaked to suit your exact
however, that this list is far needs. You may find that some simple changes
from complete. speed up your Mac usage every single day.

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 It is advisable to use an official Apple keyboard to benefit from all of these
shortcuts as they are baked in when used with macOS.

3 Copy screenshots
You may be aware that you can save screenshots using Cmd+Shift+3, but if
7 Extra menu
information
Holding down the Alt key while clicking
you use Cmd+Shift+Ctrl+3 instead you can capture the screenshot to the clipboard. a menu option in the status bar at
This also applies to dragged area screenshots using ‘4’ instead of ‘3’. the top will present more options

9
and information to you. This works
particularly well in the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Find anything
and Sound options and gives you much Spotlight works well for finding
more detail than before. apps and content, but for deeper
searching of files on your Mac, try using

8 Lose the mouse Alt+Cmd+Space to bring up a powerful

Finder window. Now input what you
As you learn new shortcuts, you
are looking for and the results will be
can start to ignore the mouse for tasks
presented in an instant.
such as opening apps. For example,
press Cmd+Space and then type ‘Mail’
to open the Mail app. This saves you
going to the Dock or the Applications
folder to find it.

4 Force quitting
If an app is stuck and is simply 6 What’s playing now?
In iTunes, press Cmd+L to bring
10 Paste without
formatting
If you want to strip formatting from text
not responding, press Cmd+Alt+Esc up the listing for the song that is that you have copied from the web or
to bring up the dialogue box which lets currently playing. This is useful when elsewhere, press Shift+Alt+Cmd+V and
you quit an application instantly. This is you are navigating through any part the text will be pasted plain. This will
obviously very useful so you can quit an of iTunes, but want to choose another save you from having to reformat the
app that’s not responding and continue song from the album that is currently text and could become your default way
working straightaway. playing without any delays. to paste content.

5 Word suggestions
While typing in any application
that uses word input, press F5 and the
current word will be used as the basis
for a list of suggestions you can use in
place of it. There is little doubt this will
be one of the tricks you use most.