Mac Shortcuts

While booting your Mac:

Hold C key to startup from CD-ROM (change password)
Hold T key to startup in Target Disk Mode
Hold N key to startup in Net
Hold Option key to select startup disk
Hold mouse button to eject removable discs
cmd + V for verbose boot mode
cmd + S for single user mode
cmd + Option + P + R to reset parameter RAM
cmd + X to boot Mac OS X

While using OS X / Finder:

cmd + TAB = cycle through apps
cmd + M or double-click Title Bar = minimize
cmd + H = hide window
cmd + delete = move to trash
cmd + I = get info
cmd + alt + ESC = force quit apps
cmd + C = copy
cmd + V = paste
cmd + X = cut
cmd + A = select all
cmd + Z = undo
cmd + Z + shift = redo
cmd + Q = close app
cmd + W = close window
cmd + N = new Finder window
cmd + down arrow = launches highlighted app
cmd + shift + A = apps
cmd + shift + U = utilities

Menubar

ctrl + F2 = activate the apple icon in the menubar (left) – keyboard control the menu
ctrl + F8 = activates an item in your menubar (right) – keyboard control menubar items

Arrow Keys:

cmd + left = beginning of line
cmd + right = end of line

Cursor Shortcuts:

ctrl + A = cursor jumps to beginning of line
ctrl + E = cursor jumps to end of line
ctrl + B = cursor jumps one character forward
ctrl + F = cursor jumps one character back
ctrl + N = cursor jumps to next line
ctrl + P = cursor jumps to previous line
ctrl + D = Forward delete
ctrl + K = Deletes all characters between cursor and end of line

Screen Capturing:

cmd + shift + 3 = captures whole screen
cmd + shift + 4 = captures selected region
Hold Spacebar after drawing the region = moves the selected region
cmd + shift + 4, spacebar = captures window with camera icon
ESC = cancel the screenshot action

Terminal:

Doubleclick = select word
Tripelclick = select the line
Drag item to Terminal = Adds complete path to item into terminal
cmd + Shift + K = connect to server dialog
ctrl + C = break

Sleep, Restart, Shutdown:

option + CMD + Eject = sleep
CTRL + CMD + Eject = restart
CTRL + Option + CMD + Eject = shutdown

Apple Docs:

Third party docs:

UsingMac.com – Productivity booster

19 Responses to “Mac Shortcuts”

Dustin Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 04:09
Great list! One thing I’ve been wondering about Finder would be this: if I’m navigating through a directory with the arrow keys and I’ve got a folder selected, how do I open it up? If I hit enter, it prompts to rename the directory rather than opening it. Thanks in advance!
Reply
littleb Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 05:25
Dustin –

cmd + O = open file/program

or

cmd + down arrow = open file/program
(as stated above)

hope this helps.
Reply
fidel Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 10:35
Hi Dustin,

i guess your question is answered already. Great

@littleb:
thanks for the support.

greetings
fidel
Reply
Achim Says:
October 11th, 2008 at 01:02
great post. thanx a lot.
greetz
Reply
Markus Says:
October 13th, 2008 at 18:56
There is another option,

there is a small app (www.returnopen.com) that let’s you open apps as in Windoze et al with the enter key …
Reply
fidel Says:
October 13th, 2008 at 20:40
Thanks Markus
Reply
mac | Shortcuts der anderen Art | macfidelity Says:
November 13th, 2008 at 21:04
[...] Mac Shortcuts [...]
mac | Mal wieder Shortcuts | macfidelity Says:
January 13th, 2009 at 16:46
[...] Mac Shortcuts [...]
Mike Says:
April 7th, 2009 at 23:39
I need to create a Shortcut command of Terminal to launch my SSH Tunnel connection manually by double clicking it or when OSX firsts starts automatically.

I can do this on Windows XP by right clicking the (Desktop/New/Shortcut) where it says Type the location of the item: “C:Program FilesPuTTYplink.exe” -batch -v -ssh -N -l admin -D 55467 bot1.mytunnel.com -P 80
Then I click Next>
Where it says Type a name for this shortcut: Private SSH Tunnel
Then I Finish>
The dialog window closes and my “Private SSH Tunnel” Shortcut is on my desktop.

I just bought an OSX and would like to do the same. What steps would I need to do to accomplish this task to create a clickable Shortcut on my Desktop?

Thank You
Reply
fidel Says:
April 7th, 2009 at 23:42
Hi Mike,

i guess this post might help:
http://macfidelity.de/2007/01/11/howto-create-ssh-shortcuts/

So basically you dont need something like Putty, as SSH is already a part of your OS.

Your tools to focus on apart from the link above is Terminal.app (located in /Applications/Utilities) and the command “ssh” -> enter “man ssh” in Terminal for more informations)

Let me know if you have problems
Best regards
fidel
Reply
Mike Says:
April 8th, 2009 at 00:18
Thanks fidel,

That is what I was looking for an alias LOL.

I just need to create a SSH command that works right.

And I’m in business
Reply
fidel Says:
April 8th, 2009 at 00:19
hehe – no problem man

Have a good day
fidel
Reply
makomi Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 13:34
cmd + shift + space = captures window
Reply
fidel Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 14:09
@makomi:

meinst du: CMD + SHIFT + 4 ++ SPACE ?
Reply
Jann Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 14:11
cmd + shift + 4 -> space = captures window

But it’s already explained in this post

Reply
fidel Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 14:12
jo … aber den hab ich oben schon in der liste

*konfussion*
Reply
Jann Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 14:26
Mh.. am end unter 10.6
Reply
makomi Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 14:55
Nee, ich meinte schon das, was ich oben geschrieben habe. Ich habe die Info von http://www.macforlife.de/2009/07/07/meine-5-nutzlichsten-mac-shortcuts/ und konnte sie bis dato nicht verifizieren. Sollte das alles nicht stimmen, dann lösch doch bitte meinen Mist
Reply
fidel Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 17:06
@makomi:

die meinten was ich angenommen habe … sprich: war ein typo bei macforlife – ist inzwischen gefixt

Gruss
fidel
Reply