What are your favorite Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts?

Question

What are your favorite keyboard shortcuts on Mac OS X?

Answer 1

ctrl+F2: Access the menu via the keyboard (Windows alt+space equivalent).

Answer 2

Typing / on any file dialog will give you a "go to folder" dialog, which autocompletes with tab (you have to wait a second for it to work). This lets you type in the full path, from the root / folder.

Extra handy if you want to open from / save to hidden locations or already have the command line path you want to save something in.

This can be also accessed via ~ (i.e. the tilde key, to start from your home directory, e.g. ~/Documents) or using cmd+shift+G (which starts with the most recently entered directory).

Answer 3

⌘+space: activate spotlight.

Then you can launch any application, open most files, do quick calculations, etc.

Answer 4

⌘+⇧+.: show/hide hidden files on any file dialog

Answer 5

⌘+⇧+4: selective screenshot saved on desktop

⌘+⇧+ctrl+4: selective screenshot saved in clipboard

Answer 6

⌘+⇥: Cycle through running apps

⌘+`: Cycle through windows for current app

⌘+W: Close current window

⌘+Q: Quit current app

⌘+,: Preferences dialog for current app

⌘+H: Hide current app (as long as it's not Photoshop)

ctrl+⇧+⏏: Sleep all displays

Answer 7

Power keys:

Ctrl+⏏: "Are you sure you want to shut down your computer" dialog message appears:

Ctrl+⌘+⏏: restart the computer

Ctrl+⌥+⌘-⏏: shut down the computer

⌘+⌥+⏏: puts the computer in sleep mode

⇧+Ctrl+⏏: puts the monitor in sleep mode

Answer 8

⌘+⇧+N: Create a new folder in Finder

Answer 9

ctrl+⌥+⌘+8: High contrast theme.

⌘+` (backtick): Cycle through app's windows.

Answer 10

Command ⌘ + Option ⌥ + Esc ⎋ brings up the force quit dialog, which is handy for killing unresponsive applications.

Command ⌘ + Option ⌥ + Shift ⇧ + Esc ⎋ held down for 5 seconds kills the foremost application.

Answer 11

⌘+⌥+H: hide all inactive application windows

This is great for focusing on a single task or works well as a kind of show desktop if you switch to Finder first (providing you have few or no windows open)

Answer 12

For me the life saving shortcut is the quarter increment/decrement of light/sound:

⇧+⌥ and the increment/decrement light or sound button.

It is extremely useful with LED Cinema Display monitors.

Answer 13

Here's a great one (for switchers) I got from the TextMate blog;

Create the folder ~/Library/KeyBindings (if it doesn't already exist) In there, create a key-binding file DefaultKeyBinding.dict In that file, put this text (including all braces & punctuation);

{
    /* home */
    "\UF729"  = "moveToBeginningOfLine:";
    "$\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:";

    /* end */
    "\UF72B"  = "moveToEndOfLine:";
    "$\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:";

    /* page up/down */
    "\UF72C"  = "pageUp:";
    "\UF72D"  = "pageDown:";
}

Save the file, and when you next start a Cocoa app (eg Mail, TextEdit etc) you will find that Home, End, Pg Up and Pg Down now work as they do on Windows.

It's well worth having a look at the whole of that article - he explains exactly how to make this file and how the bindings work, with information about the other keycodes etc.

Answer 14

⇧+⌘+?: Help->Search, then type any menu item text, can be just a prefix

⌘+E: put selected text in search dialog

⌘+G and ⇧+⌘+G: find next/previous

⇧+⌃+⌘+4: Take a screenshot, press space for whole window screenshot

ctrl + mouse scroller: zoom screen

⌥+⌘+⏏: sleep

Answer 15

• ctrl+A: Go to the beginning of the line (works in every Cocoa textfield)

• ctrl+E: Go to the end of the line (works in every Cocoa textfield)

• ⌘+⇧+H : Pop up the Home folder

• ⌘+⇧+D : Pop up the Desktop folder

Answer 16

Holding down the ⌥ while booting to select the startup volume. Holding down C while booting to boot from a CD/DVD in the drive.

Answer 17

⌘+E: Put selected text into search clipboard.

Then ⌘ + G to find next. In combination with regular copy-paste you can do selective search and replace very quickly and conveniently.

Answer 18

While being in the application switcher (using ⌘+⇥) cycle to an application by pressing ⇥ or ⇧+⇥; then - while still holding down ⌘ - press the down arrow to see an expose view of the selected app´s windows, including minimized windows. Using the arrow keys navigate to a window you want to bring to the foreground and hit ← to select it.

Answer 19

• ⇧⌘↑ focuses the desktop in Finder
• ⌃⌘F opens a Spotlight window that is set to search by name by default in Finder
• ⌃⌥⌘5 sorts by date modified without grouping files under sections in Finder
• ⌘↑ and ⌘↓ change volume in iTunes
• ⌥⇧⌘T takes a photo without a timer or screen flash in Photo Booth
• ⌥⌘W closes other tabs in Safari
• ⇧⇞ and ⇧⇟ pass through to processes like less and vim in Terminal
• ⌃F4 cycles through windows on the current space
• ⌘EG focuses the next occurrence of the selected text
• ⌥⇞ and ⌥⇟ scroll a page up or down and move the caret
• ⌥↩ and ⌥⇥ insert a literal newline or tab

Answer 20

⌘+W: Close window (or tab).
⌘+⌥+W: Close all windows.

Answer 21

In a text area:
Command ⌘ + → the end of the line (like End)
Command ⌘ + ← the beginning of the line (like Home)
Option ⌥ + → jump forward one word
Option ⌥ + ← jump back one word

Answer 22

Zoom shortcuts, very good for presentations:

fn+⌥+⌘+8: turn on/off zoom

fn+⌥+⌘+=: zoom in

fn+⌥+⌘+-: zoom out

Answer 23

ctrl+← or ctrl+→ to move between Mission Control spaces (in Lion).

Answer 24

ctrl+⌘+1 to order files by name (icon view)

Answer 25

On newer keyboards, invoke Exposé to

• fn+F3: show all windows (in the current Space)
• fn+⌘+F3: show the desktop
• fn+ctrl+F3: show the "current application" windows
• fn+⌥+F3: show the Exposé preference pane

While being in Exposé,

• cycle through windows with the arrow keys, using return to bring them into focus.
• use ⇥ and ⇧+ ⇥ to cycle through windows by applications (as highlighted in the Dock)

Answer 26

⌘+⇥: Cycle through applications.

⌘+`: Cycle through the current application's windows.

⇥: Auto fill commands and file/directory names in Terminal.

⌘+⇧+4: Take a screenshot of a selected area.

⌘+⇧+3: Take a screenshot of the whole screen.

Answer 27

⌘+⇧+4+space+click on a window copies the current window to the desktop.

This is very useful while taking screenshots without the need to crop. The rounded edges stay rounded. Use this with ctrl to copy the image to the clipboard.

Answer 28

ctrl+⇥ Cycles through tabs in a web browser going to the right.

ctrl+⇧+⇥ Cycles through tabs in a web browser going to the left.

⌘+↓ Goes to the very bottom of a web page or textarea.

⌘+↑ Goes to the very top of a web page or textarea.

Answer 29

⌘+C: Copy selection

⌘+V: Paste selection

⌘+X: Cut selection

Answer 30

All of the shortcuts are my favorite!

Specifically (based on frequency of use) ⌘+H: Hide application