Mason Sklut

The longer you use your Mac, the better you will get at it. In Mac OS X, there are an insane amount of keyboard shortcuts to the point where you can even remember them all. I’m just going to mention common ones that will help you use your keyboard more than your mouse.

Logging Out

1. If you want to log-out without having that window appear asking if you are sure, just hold down the Shift, ⌘ (Command), Option, and “Q” keys.

Applications

1. If you want to quit an application hold down the ⌘ (Command) and “Q” keys.
2. If you’re using multiple windows in an application (for ex. multiple Safari windows), use the ⌘ (Command) and “`” keys to switch between the windows.
3. When you’re using your Mac and you’ve got several applications open, instead of going to the app with your mouse, use the
   ⌘ (Command) and the Tab keys.
4. Whenever you have quit an application, you sometimes get a “Don’t Save, Cancel, or Save…” drop-down menu. Most of the time you can use the ⌘ (Command) and “D” keys to select “Don’t Save” or hit the Return key to select “Save”.
5. If you want to close a window in an application, simply use ⌘ (Command) and “W” to close that window.
6. To undo something, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “Z”.
7. To hide an application, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “H”.
8. To save a document, just hold down ⌘ (Command) and “S”.

Trash Can

1. If your trash-can is full and you’d like to empty it, use the
   ⌘ (Command) and Tab keys until you get to Finder, and hold down the Shift, ⌘ (Command), Option, and Delete keys to empty the trash without the “are you sure” window appearing.

Shut Down, Restart, Sleep

1. When you’re ready to shut down, restart, or put your computer to sleep use the following keyboard keys.
   To Shut Down, use the ⌘ (Command), Option, Control, and ⏏ (Eject) keys.
   To Restart, use the ⌘ (Command), Control, and the ⏏ (Eject) keys.
   To Sleep, use the ⌘ (Command), Option, and ⏏ (Eject) keys.

iChat

1. If you have your iChat preferences setup so it doesn’t log you in once it opens, then use the ⌘ (Command) and “L” keys to sign on.
2. If your Buddy List doesn’t appear, hold down
   the ⌘ (Command) and “1” keys.

Safari

1. When you’re in Safari, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “L” to go directly to the address bar.
2. Use ⌘ (Command), Option, and “F” to go to the Google Search bar.
3. If you need to search a website for something hold down ⌘ (Command) and “F” for a find menu.
4. If you want to switch between tabs, hold down Control and “Tab”.
5. When you want to bookmark a web page, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “D”.
6. If a website is stuck, hold down the ⌘ (Command) and “R” keys to refresh it.
7. To browse a website, hold down Option and the downward/upward arrow key (￬ ￪).
8. To make a new tab, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “T”.

Dashboard

1. To open up Dashboard, just hit the F12 key (you may need to use the Fn key for a laptop).
2. To view your widgets, hold down ⌘ (Command) and the “+” key. To browse through them, use ⌘ (Command) and the arrows keys (← →) .

Mail

1. To see if you got any new mail, hold down Shift, ⌘ (Command), and “N”.
2. If you want to see your Inbox, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “1”. For Sent mail, hold down ⌘ and “4”.
3. To reply to a message, first make sure the message is selected (use the Tab key until if it’s not selected); then hold down ⌘ (Command) and “R”.
4. To send a New Message, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “N”.

Finder

1. If you’re in Finder, hold down Shift, ⌘ (Command), and “N” to make a new folder.
2. Hold down ⌘ (Command) and “F” to use the Find search.

iTunes

1. To play or pause a song, hit the Spacebar.
2. To go to the next song, hold down ⌘ (Command) and the right arrow key (→).
3. If you accidentally close the iTunes window and your music is still playing, just hold down ⌘ (Command), Option, and “1” to show the iTunes window.
4. If an item is highlighted in the sidebar, you can type the letters of another sidebar item to go to it. For example, type “po” and the blue highlighted rectangle switches to Podcasts.
5. To fast-forward through a song, hold down ⌘ (Command), Option, and the right arrow key (→).
6. If you want to highlight what song is currently playing, hold down ⌘ (Command) and “L”.