Mac Keyboard Shortcuts Everyone Should Know

There are hundreds of Mac shortcuts and about twenty that matter. These are the ones that change how fast you work rather than saving a click once a month, grouped by what they do, with the two or three per group that are genuinely worth learning first.

Windows and apps

• Command-Tab — switch apps. Hold Command and press Tab repeatedly to go further down the list, or add Shift to go backwards. Press Q while holding Command to quit the highlighted app.
• Command-` (backtick) — cycle between windows of the current app. The one most people never learn, and the answer to "where did my other document go".
• Option-Command-H — hide every app except this one. The fastest screen clean-up there is.
• Command-H — hide the current app. Command-M minimises it, which is usually worse: minimised windows are harder to get back.
• Control-Command-F — full screen, in nearly every app.

Files and Finder

• Space — Quick Look. Preview any file without opening it. Works for images, PDFs, video, text and most document formats. Press Space again to close.
• Command-Shift-G — go to a folder by typing its path. Works in Finder and in every open and save dialog.
• Command-Shift-. — show or hide hidden files. Also works in open and save dialogs.
• Command-Delete — move to Trash. Command-Shift-Delete empties it.
• Command-Option-V — after copying a file with Command-C, this moves it rather than copying. macOS has no Cut for files, and this is why people think it cannot move them.

Screenshots and screen

• Command-Shift-4 — select an area. Press Space afterwards to capture a window instead.
• Command-Shift-5 — the full toolbar: recording, timer, save location, show clicks.
• Add Control to any of these to copy to the clipboard instead of saving a file.
• Control-Command-Q — lock the screen immediately.

Text editing that works everywhere

• Option-Left/Right — move by word. Add Shift to select by word.
• Command-Left/Right — start or end of the line. Command-Up/Down for the whole document.
• Control-A and Control-E — start and end of line, from the Unix world, and they work in almost every macOS text field.
• Command-Shift-V — paste and match style, so pasted text takes on the formatting around it.
• Control-Command-Space — the emoji and symbol picker, which also holds proper dashes and arrows.

System-wide, and worth the muscle memory

• Command-Space — Spotlight. It also does arithmetic, unit and currency conversion, and dictionary lookups without opening anything.
• Command-Option-Escape — the Force Quit window, for when an app stops responding.
• Command-Comma — settings, in nearly every Mac app including Finder.
• Control-Command-Space — emoji and symbols, anywhere text is accepted.
• Command-Shift-A / U / D in Finder — jump to Applications, Utilities and Downloads.
• Fn-Fn — start dictation, if you have set the globe key to do that.

The ones worth adding yourself

You can assign a shortcut to any menu item in any app: System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts. Add the app, type the menu item's name exactly as it appears, and choose keys. Common wins: a shortcut for a menu command you use daily, or overriding one you keep hitting by mistake.

Also worth knowing: pressing a modifier key while a menu is open changes the items. Hold Option with the Apple menu open and Restart and Shut Down stop asking for confirmation, and System Information replaces About This Mac. That trick works throughout macOS and there is no list of it anywhere.