I recently discovered the joy of using keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS. It really makes things easier especially speeding up Mac OS usage in case of productivity. I sorted them below by how often they are used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I will update this blog post if I find any new favorite shortcuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Legend<\/strong> Common Shortcuts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – Tab<\/strong> : this is great to quickly switch to the next most recently used app among opened apps<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – Q<\/strong> : Want to quite an app? Quit the current App<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – W<\/strong> : Close the front window. Whatever front window, in finder or browser. This shortcut also close Safari<\/strong> tab<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – T<\/strong> : Need a new tab? Open a new tab<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option – Command – ESC<\/strong> : Force Quit an App. I usually use this to check what apps are open especially before I shut down my Mac. Since I almost never get apps freezes so I almost never have to force quit apps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – H<\/strong> : Hide the front app. I usually use this to hide the frontmost app window after I use it but don’t want to close it because I might come back to it at some point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option – Command – H<\/strong> : This is the opposite of Command- H. This command hides all apps except the front one (the one we are working on).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Control – Command – F<\/strong> : Sometimes I want a wide window view so I can see everything, for example Safari – full URL address in history. This shortcut is to use or stop using the app in full screen. Not all apps use this, but it works great in Safari<\/strong> browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – C<\/strong> : we need to copy something? Copy the selected item to the Clipboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – V<\/strong> : what we do after we copied? Paste the last copied item of the Clipboard into an app<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shift – Option – Command – V<\/strong> : Ah, this is a handy shortcut if we do not want formats of the copied item to follow when we paste the item. Paste the last copied item of the Clipboard without any formatting attached<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – Z<\/strong> : Oops, a mistake, easy, undo the previous command<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shift – Command – A<\/strong> : Need to open an application, where to find it? Open the Application window<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option – Command – L<\/strong> : Quick access to the Downloads folder? Open the Downloads folder<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shift – Command – O<\/strong> : Need an document file? Open the Documents folder<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – E<\/strong> : We’re done with an external drive and want to unplug that? Eject the selected disk or volume<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – Delete<\/strong> : It’s time to bin a file or more? Move the selected item to the Trash<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shift – Command – Delete<\/strong> : love cleanliness of a trash bin?Empty the trash<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – comma (,)<\/strong> : Need to change a setting or more in an app? Open settings for the front app<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – I<\/strong> : What is this file? show the Get Info window for a selected file<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option – Command – D<\/strong> : Need a clean desktop and just want to hide that dock? show or hide the dock<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – O<\/strong> : Open the selected item (files or folders). When I’m lazy using a Mouse double click, I’m using this command<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – Y \/ Space-bar<\/strong> : Use Quick Look to preview the selected files. This is handy for quick preview<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option key while double-clicking<\/strong> : open an item in a separate window then close the original window. It’s useful to reduce window opened on Mac<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command key while dragging to another volume<\/strong> : Cannot find Move command? use keyboard shortcuts instead, move the dragged item to the other volume<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – 4<\/strong> : This is useful when I need to see photos in a Finder window, view the items in a gallery. Use number 1,2,3 when you switch from gallery to icons, list, columns<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option \u2191 or Option \u2193<\/strong> : Quickly move up to the top or to the bottom of the page<\/p>\n\n\n\n Control \u2191 or Control \u2193<\/strong> : Quickly switch on to the Mission Control and off to desktop<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – F<\/strong> : Searching for words when browsing internet or editing files? Find items or open a Find window<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – G<\/strong> : Find next of the item previously found<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option key and pressing Shut Down on the Apple menu<\/strong> : Shut Down Mac immediately and complete it without a confirmation dialog<\/p>\n\n\n\n Control – Command – Q<\/strong> : Need to go somewhere (to a bathroom, maybe?) and make sure the screen is locked so no one can see your desktop? Immediately lock the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shift – Option – Command – Q<\/strong> : Log out immediately without confirming Mac OS user account<\/p>\n\n\n\n Safari<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – R<\/strong> : stuck with old cache or the webpage is freeze?Reload the webpage<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shift – Command – T<\/strong> : restore last closed tab (or closed tabs) in Safari<\/strong>. This shortcut is great when used when opening safari which previously exited with several tabs open when exiting and those tabs will be restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Option – Command -> or Option – Command <-<\/strong> : I’m using this shortcut to move or navigate between tabs in Safari.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – L<\/strong> : The fastest way to go to the URL locator field in Safari<\/strong> so we can make a search or navigate to a Website<\/p>\n\n\n\n J, K, L<\/strong> : I’m using three letters for youtube on Safari. J for playing backwards, K for pause or play, L for playing forwards. You can speed up 2x, 5x, 10x, 30x and 60x by pushing J or K a couple of times<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – Y<\/strong> : A quick way to access History. It opens History in Safari<\/p>\n\n\n\n Word Processing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – S<\/strong> : Save the current document<\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – B<\/strong> : make selected texts Bold<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – I<\/strong> : make selected texts Italic<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Command – U<\/strong> : make selected texts Underline<\/p>\n\n\n\n Control – Command – Space bar<\/strong> : Emoji window where we can choose Emoji and other symbols<\/p>\n\n\n\n Emergency<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Control – Option – Command – Power button<\/strong> : this immediately force shutdwon Mac so use only when emergency because it potentially causing unsaved changes in open documents to be lost<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: I’m using Mac OS Sequioa 15 when writing this blog<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I recently discovered the joy of using keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS. It really makes things easier especially speeding up Mac OS usage in case of productivity. I sorted them below by how often they are used. I will update this blog post if I find any new favorite shortcuts. Legend\u2303 Control\u2325 Option\u2318 Command\u21e7 Shift\u21e5 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[166,36],"class_list":["post-698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mac-os","tag-keyboard-shortcuts","tag-mac-os-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/macosshort-e1751513361491.jpg?fit=826%2C836&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1pvi1-bg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":823,"url":"https:\/\/pixert.com\/blog\/moving-files-and-folders-with-keyboard-in-mac\/","url_meta":{"origin":698,"position":0},"title":"Moving files and folders with Keyboard in Mac","author":"Pixel Insert \/ Pixert","date":"December 28, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"There's no easy way to move files and folder in Mac. Something that I knew when I migrated from Windows and Mac.After I learned about Keyboard Shortcuts,I found that there are ways to moving files and folder with keyboard in Mac. 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Mac OS have this app name Shortcuts, this has long been one of the most underrated aspects of Mac OS. Actually, I hadn't touched this app until a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mac OS"","block_context":{"text":"Mac OS","link":"https:\/\/pixert.com\/blog\/category\/mac-os\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-18.56.33.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-18.56.33.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Screenshot-2025-07-31-at-18.56.33.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":681,"url":"https:\/\/pixert.com\/blog\/how-to-type-tilde-sign-in-mac\/","url_meta":{"origin":698,"position":2},"title":"How to Type Tilde ~ sign in Mac","author":"Pixel Insert \/ Pixert","date":"April 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"This tilde sign ~ is absolutely a strange problem to solve, a puzzle more likely. Foreword, I got new keyboard by Jete. I chose that keyboard because I needed bluetooth connection and I had to find a keyboard within 2 days - it was tight deadline. I did not know\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mac OS"","block_context":{"text":"Mac OS","link":"https:\/\/pixert.com\/blog\/category\/mac-os\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jetesk1kb-scaled-e1745319318749.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jetesk1kb-scaled-e1745319318749.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jetesk1kb-scaled-e1745319318749.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jetesk1kb-scaled-e1745319318749.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pixert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/jetesk1kb-scaled-e1745319318749.jpg?fit=1200%2C730&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":328,"url":"https:\/\/pixert.com\/blog\/mac-app-store-updates-for-other-accounts-bug\/","url_meta":{"origin":698,"position":3},"title":"Mac App Store: “You Have Updates Available for Other Accounts”","author":"Pixel Insert \/ Pixert","date":"September 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This what was happening when I tried to update Coda 2 on Mac I have only one Apple ID, when I clicked the Purchases tab, the button next to Coda 2 showed Update. 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\u2303 Control
\u2325 Option
\u2318 Command
\u21e7 Shift
\u21e5 Tab<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n