24 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts to Boost Your Productivity

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Apple’s Mac computers are powerful tools for productivity. But there are some ways you can boost the Mac’s ability to get-stuff-done — including a slew of useful keyboard shortcuts you can learn and use to speed up various processes.

While they may only save a precious few seconds, those seconds can definitely add up. So it’s worth learning a few of these to give your productivity and workload a boost.

Here’s a list of the most handy and important Mac keyboard shortcuts.

1. Quit an app quickly:

Simply press Command + Q.

2. Force-quit a malfunctioning app:

Press Command + Option + Escape.

3. Launch Quick Look to preview a file’s contents in Finder:

Highlight the file, and press Command + Y. Alternatively, select the file and hit the Spacebar.

4. Open Spotlight to quickly find something, either on the web or on your Mac:

Press Command + Space Bar.

5. Open a new tab in various apps:

Press Command + T (not all apps have multiple-tab support, but many do in macOS Sierra).

6. Take a full-screen screenshot:

Press Command + Shift + 3.

7. Take a screenshot of only a selected window:

Press Command + Shift + 4, and then press the Space Bar. Highlight and select the window you want with your mouse or trackback.

8. Take a screenshot of a specific spot on your Mac’s screen:

Press Command + Shift + 4, and then click and drag around the section you want to screenshot.

9. Quickly open an app’s Preferences window:

Press Command + Comma.

10. Quickly open the Mac Help menu:

Press Command + Shift + ?.

11. Select all text in an app:

Press Command + A.

12. Copy text from an app:

Highlight the text you want to copy, and press Command + C.

13. Cut text from an app:

Highlight the text you want to cut, and press Command + X.

14. Paste text from an app:

With a text field highlighted, press Command + V.

15. Minimize an app window:

Press Command + M with the app in question open.

16. Close an active app window without closing the app completely:

Press Command + W.

17. Close an active app completely:

Press Command + Option + W.

18. Hide windows you aren’t using:

Press Command + Option + H, and all but the top window will minimize.

19. Hide or minimize all of your open apps and windows:

Press Command + Option + H + M.

20. Quickly find words or phrases in an app:

Press Command + F, and type in the word or phrase you want.

21. Jump to the top or bottom of a page in a document or browser:

Press Command + Arrow Up or Arrow Down.

22. Quickly log out of your user account:

Press Option + Shift + Command + Q, or alternatively, Shift + Command + Q.

23. Shut down, sleep or restart your Mac:

Press Control + Eject.

24. Quickly switch between various open apps:

Press Command + Tab to open the app switcher, and continue to hold down the Command to keep it open. You can then use either Tab or the Left and Right Arrow Keys to sort through them. Release when you’ve picked the app you want.


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