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I read that if you want to put your display into sleep the keyboard shortcut is Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Eject ⏏, but what is it in Mountain Lion or Lion using a retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air without an eject button?

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7 Answers 7

Reset to default
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(At least on the Retina display MacBook Pro) use the Power button the same as you previously used the Eject button. So Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Power puts the display to sleep and Command ⌘+Option ⌥+Power puts the machine to sleep.

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  • 1
    At any rate, this is the best answer.
    – Cajunluke
    Aug 28, 2012 at 18:53
  • @CajunLuke I agree, but my money is on this other question being the best question.
    – bmike ♦
    Aug 28, 2012 at 19:00
  • Strangely, this seems to deactivate my USB network adapter at the same time.
    – mgjk
    Feb 25, 2014 at 13:05
  • Since Mavericks, just the Power button sleeps the display (without putting the computer to sleep).
    – Jason S
    Nov 22, 2014 at 12:30
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Found two options:

  1. Use BetterTouchTool add global keyboard shortcut and choose Sleep Display.
  2. Use Hot Corners (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver) and choose Put Display To Sleep. (You can hold down Command ⌘ and then it will only work when you're in the selected corner and while ⌘ is pressed.)
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  • Hrrm... Call me crazy, but I think that's one option. ;)
    – ravron
    Aug 6, 2012 at 18:34
  • Ah, there you go.
    – ravron
    Aug 6, 2012 at 18:36
  • WOW. I didn't know that a 'Put display to Sleep' even existed. I think Command ⌘ + Hot Corner is the way to go. The Mac is so AWESOME. :D
    – Leniel Maccaferri
    Apr 18, 2013 at 6:24
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I finally found the solution to get the same functionality as the previous model (The model with the Eject ⏏ button).

The same thing can be achieved by replacing the Eject ⏏ button with Fn + Power button.

Control ^ + Shift ⇧ + Fn + Power: Turns off your screen

Command ⌘ + Option ⌥ + Fn + Power: Put Macbook to Sleep

All other solutions involved a third party software, a new shortcut or did not work.

Source: https://discussions.apple.com/message/19115443#19115443

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Found a solution over at the Apple Support Communities:

I just found out that pressing the function (fn) key and the power button calls up a dialog box where you can choose to sleep or shut down (shut down is the default when you press return.

Give it a shot!

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  • sleep the computer or display?
    – Anonymous
    Aug 6, 2012 at 18:34
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    This only allows the user to sleep the computer, not the display. Also, on a sidenote, it doesn't matter whether you press fn or not – the power button does the same thing. At least, that's true for me on 10.8.
    – ravron
    Aug 6, 2012 at 18:35
  • That one I'm not entirely sure on. The post over there comes to an abrupt end after the solution is posted.
    – Terrance Shaw
    Aug 6, 2012 at 18:36
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There's a short program on StackOverflow which uses a "semi-undocumented api" to put all displays to sleep.

Putting this in Automator should allow you to hook it to a global keyboard shortcut, I think.

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you can hold the power button for a little more than 1 second!!

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  • and this will put the display to sleep?
    – nohillside ♦
    Feb 19, 2014 at 19:15
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The difference between putting the display to sleep and putting the computer to sleep might be important to some users:

  • Ctrl-Shift-Eject ⏏ puts the display to sleep
  • Opt-Cmd-Eject ⏏ puts the whole computer to sleep

Putting only the display to sleep allows any running programs (including large downloads that are in progress) to continue while you lock your screen (if you have it set to require a password) and leave the computer, while putting the whole computer to sleep will stop a download's progress as soon as you put it to sleep.

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  • This does not answer the question which is about how to put the display to sleep without the eject key (not present on devices without an optical drive)
    – Matteo
    May 4, 2013 at 6:26

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