OS X Keyboard Shortcuts
Screen Capture to disk:
3 Screen to jpeg file on desktop 4 + Drag: Selection to jpeg file on desktop 4 + Spacebar: Window (click camera) to jpeg file
Screen Capture to clipboard:
3 + Ctrl: Screen to clipboard 4 + Drag + Ctrl: Selection to clipboard 4 + Spacebar + Ctrl Window (Camera effect)
Dock /Switch Applications
D Show/Hide Dock Tab Switch applications (even while dragging a file) ` Switch between document Windows in current application Dock Switch application, hide previous one Dock Switch application, hide all others Ctrl 8 Toggle Monochrome Hi Visibility (Accessibility) +drag will prevent dock icons from moving out of the way (useful when dragging items to the trash)
Apple Finder
+ Drag Explicit COPY (will copy even if destation is on same volume) + Drag Explicit MOVE (will move even if destation is on different volume) + Drag Make alias in new location D Duplicate L Make Alias R Show original O Open item ↓ Open item S Save S Save as N New Finder window N New Folder Q Quit Application W Close Window W Close all Windows I Get Info I Super Get Info (change whatever you click on) S Show/Hide the Finder sidebar Y Toggle Slideshow mode (show selected graphic files full-screen) P Print T Add to Favorites Delete/Move to Trash Delete immediately (El Capitan) E Eject F Find ~ Cycle finder windows (including desktop) Tab Highlight next item + double-click folder icon will open in new window + ↑ Move up one directory + [ go back + ] go forward Empty Trash (Finder Menu ) Empty Trash without dialog Finder, plus Open/Save dialogues A Jump to /Applications U Jump to /Applications/Utilities/ D Jump to ~/Desktop H Jump to Home Folder ~/ C Jump to /Computer (a virtual folder displaying all mounted disks) G Go to folder - allows you to type in a path (with tab-completion.) K Go to network K Connect to server . Toggle hidden files (only in apps that support this.) Finder-Hide App: H Hide Application H Hide other applications Hide all other apps*: + click on dock icon + click inside app window Hide all other apps that are in front*: + click dock icon (of running app) + click inside app window *Some older (pre-intel) apps may struggle with these
QuickLook
Spacebar (or Y) Activate QuickLook on the selected file(s) Y Full Screen QuickLook on the selected file(s)
Terminal
[object Object] left/right arrow Switch windows [object Object] 1 Switch to 1st terminal window [object Object] 2, [object Object] 3... Switch to 2nd, 3rd window
Spotlight
Spacebar Activate/deactivate Spotlight Spacebar Open Spotlight window Return / Click Open the top/next item ↓ / ↑ Move to next/previous category
Editing Text (email, TextEdit etc)
← Move one word left → Move one word right Ctrl A Beginning of Sentence (Home) Ctrl E End of Sentence(End) ← Beginning of line → End of line Ctrl Spacebar Open Character Map (Emoji + smilies) [ “ Smart quote (open/left) [ ” Smart quote (close/right) ] ‘ Smart quote (open/left) Also Apostrophe: O‘Brien ] ’ Smart quote (close/right) Scroll one page up (cursor retains position) Scroll one page down (cursor retains position) Move one page up (reposition cursor) Move one page down ↑ or Scroll to beginning of document ↓ or Scroll to end of document Add shift key to the above to also select the text. Delete previous word Del Delete next word Ctrl D Delete next character (Del) . Show hidden files in open and save dialogs (Snow Leopard only) / Open Application Help (Search) Scrollbar Jump to exact scrollbar location Scrollbar arrows Scroll page at a time (page up/down) Volume up/down Open Sound preferences Control Eject Turn display off (brightness=0) Brightness up/down Open Display preferences
Shutdown/Logoff:
POWER Sleep now POWER Hold for 10 seconds (force shut down) Ctrl Eject Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box Ctrl [object Object] Eject Sleep the display now [object Object] [object Object] Eject Sleep the computer now [object Object] Ctrl Eject Quit all applications and restart [object Object] [object Object] Ctrl Eject Shut down the computer now (Graceful Shutdown) [object Object] [object Object] Esc Force Quit menu - selectively force quit applications [object Object] [object Object] [object Object] Esc Hold for three seconds to Force Quit the foremost application (Leopard/Snow Leopard) [object Object] .(period) Stop a process [object Object] Ctrl+power Immediate restart (dangerous, only use if the system is frozen) sudo shutdown -r now
Log out:
Q Log out (Apple Menu) Q Log out immediately (Apple Menu)
During Startup:
Shift Safe Boot mode - Press shift asap AFTER the startup chime V Start up in Verbose mode. R Start Recovery System (Restore/Repair/reinstall OS X) S Start up in Single-User mode (command line) X Force OS X startup C Start up from a CD (if it has a system folder) D Start Apple Diagnostics from first partition N Attempt to start up from a network server(NetBoot) R Force PowerBook screen reset T Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode Option Select startup disk Bypass primary startup volume (will seek DVD or external disk) P R PRAM Reset - Hold down Cmd-Option-R with your left hand, then press POWER to start up and immediately press P with your right hand. See KB 2238 At the prompt you can type: reset-nvram and/or reset-all O F Open Firmware E Eject CD (press during/after startup chime) mouse Eject CD (hold mouse button down during startup)
is the Command or Apple key
is the Option or Alt key
is the Shift key
is the Backspace key
System Preferences
To disable or change any keyboard shortcuts, open System Preferences | Keyboard | Shortcuts
per-application settings can be added under App Shortcuts press [+]
To reset to the default settings, open Keyboard Shortcuts and press [Restore Defaults]
To enable keyboard control in dialog boxes: Keyboard | Full Keyboard Access=All Controls
Full keyboard access will allow you to use Tab,Shift-Tab,Enter, Esc and the Space bar to navigate a dialogue box.
To display an on screen keyboard: System Preferences | Language & Text | Input sources | Keyboard/Character viewer
Function Keys
F3 or Ctrl + ↑ Open Mission control / Spaces
F8 Toggle Space
F9 Exposé - Show all open windows
F10 Exposé - Show all open windows for an application
F11 Hide all windows
F12 Open/close Dashboard
Add to the above F.Keys for a slow-motion effect
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.
'Command + Tab' cycles through Applications,
'Command + ~ (tilde)' cycles through an individual Applications windows"
Related:
Bash Terminal Keyboard shortcuts
screencapture (screenshots of DVDs)
Applications:Utilities:Grab
Lifehacker - Remap the Home and End keys
Apple Kb HT1343 - Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference
Spectacle app - Shortcut keys for Maximise/Minimise.
Accent Codes for the Macintosh
Customizing the Cocoa Text System - Jacob Rus
DanRodney - OS X Keyboard Shortcuts
Keyboard Layout.dmg - Swap the " and @ Keys for non-apple keyboards (Microsoft)