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dan backslyde
Some keyboard commands I've run across, mostly from Apple's knowledge base documents. A few of these are duplicates; please edit as you see fit. Hope the spacing comes through correctly. If you can use these, great; if not, no big deal. I'll keep watching to learn more mac tips!
--dan backslyde
Shortcuts
A repository for many keyboard secrets in OS X. Some of these are well known, some are not. Shortcuts in the Menu category are common rather than universal.
⇧ = shift key
⌥ = option key
⌘ = command key
⌫ = delete/backspace key
Startup
C
start from CD
D
start from 1st partition
N
start from network server
T
put computer in FireWire Target Disk mode
X
start in OS X
⇧
start in Safe Mode
⌥
show all startup disks
⌥⇧⌘⌫
start from external drive or CD
⌥⌘OF
open firmware
⌥⌘PR
zap PRAM (hold until 2nd chime)
⌘S
single user mode
⌘V
verbose
hold mouse button
eject CD
⇧
after power-up: turn off kernel extensions
after login: prevent startup items from opening
Power
⌃⌘-power
restart
⌃⌥⌘-power
shut down
⌥⌘-power
sleep
Application Management
⌘-tab
cycle forward through applications
⇧⌘-tab
cycle back through applications
⌘~
cycle forward through application windows
⇧⌘~
cycle back through application windows
⌥⌘-esc
Force Quit dialog
⌘-toolbar
lozenge
cycle forward through toolbar displays
⇧⌘-toolbar
lozenge
cycle backward through toolbar displays
⇧⌘3
screen picture (entire screen)
⇧⌘4
screen picture (drag a rectangle)
⇧⌘4,space,click
screen picture (highlighted window)
⌘-space
cycle forward through keyboard layouts
⇧⌘-space
cycle back through keyboard layouts
⌘-click on window
adjust window in background
⌥-click on Dock
icon or window
switch to new program, hide previous one
⌥⌘-click on
Dock icon
switch to new program, hide all others
⌘-drag
rearrange or remove menulets or toolbar icons
⌘-click
window title
expose path in popup
⌥-zoom button
maximise window
⇧-minimise button
minimise window slowly
⇧-click minimised
window in Dock
open window slowly
⇧-close button
close window slowly
⌥⌘D
toggle appearance of Dock
⌘-drag onto
Dock icon
prevent Dock icons from moving
⌥⌘-drag
onto Dock
force program to open dragged item
Text
⌃A
move to beginning of paragraph
⌃B
move one character back
⌃D
delete character to right
⌃E
move to end of paragraph
⌃F
move one character forward
⌃K
delete text to end of paragraph
⌃N
move to next line
⌃O
insert newline
⌃P
move to previous line
⌃T
transpose characters
⌥⌫
delete word to left
Terminal
⌃A
move to beginning of line
⌃E
move to end of line
⌃T
transpose characters
⌃U
erase line
esc,B
move one word back
esc,C
capitalise next word
esc,D
erase next word
esc,F
move one word forward
esc,L
make next word lowercase
esc,U
make next word uppercase
esc,⌫
erase previous word
Menu
⌘+
Make Bigger
⌘,
Preferences
⌘-
Make Smaller
⌘.
Stop
⌘:
Spelling
⌘;
Check Spelling
⌘?
Application Help
⌘A
Select All
⌘B
Bold
⌘C
Copy
⇧⌘C
Show Colors
⌘D
Add Bookmark
⌘D
Don't Save
⌘D
Find Previous
⌘E
Eject
⌘E
Use Selection for Find
⇧⌘E
Export
⌘F
Find
⌘G
Find Next
⇧⌘G
Go to Folder
⌘H
Hide Application
⌥⌘H
Hide Others
⌘I
Get Info
⌘I
Italic
⇧⌘I
Import
⌘J
Scroll to Selection
⌘L
Link
⇧⌘L
Lower Case
⌘M
Minimize
⌘N
New (Window)
⌘O
Open
⌘P
Print
⇧⌘P
Page Setup
⌘Q
Quit Application
⇧⌘Q
Log Out
⌥⇧⌘Q
Log Out Without Confirmation
⌃⌥⇧⌘Q
Force Log Out Without Confirmation
⌘R
Refresh
⌘S
Save
⇧⌘S
Save As
⌘T
New Tab
⌘T
Show Fonts
⌘U
Underline
⇧⌘U
Upper Case
⌥⌘U
Capitals
⌘V
Paste
⌘W
Close Tab
⌘W
Close Window
⇧⌘W
Close Window
⌘X
Cut
⌘Z
Undo
⇧⌘Z
Redo
⌘[
Back
⌘]
Forward
Numeric Pad
fn0
Button Hold
fn1
Mouse NW
fn2
Mouse NN
fn3
Mouse NE
fn4
Mouse WW
fn5
Button Click
fn6
Mouse EE
fn7
Mouse SW
fn8
Mouse WW
fn9
Mouse SE
fn.
Button Release
Universal Access
⌥⌘*
Toggle Zoom
⌥⌘+
Zoom In
⌥⌘-
Zoom Out
⌃⌥⌘*
Toggle Monochrome
⌃F1
Toggle Full Keyboard Access
⌃F2
Highlight Menu
⌃F3
Highlight Dock
⌃F4
Highlight Active Window
⌃F5
Highlight Toolbar
⌃F6
Highlight Utility Window
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Startup
Keystroke
Description
Press X during startup
Force Mac OS X startup
Press Option-Command-Shift-Delete
during startup
Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (such as a CD or external disk)
Press C during startup
Start up from a CD that has a system folder
Press N during startup
Attempt to start up from a compatible network server (NetBoot)
Press R during startup
Force PowerBook screen reset
Press T during startup
Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode
Press Shift during startup
start up in Safe Boot mode and temporarily disable login items and non-essential kernel extension files (Mac OS X 10.2 and later)
Press Command-V during startup
Start up in Verbose mode.
Press Command-S during startup
Start up in Single-User mode
Finder window
Keyboard shortcut
Description
Command-W
Close Window
Option-Command-W
Close all Windows
Command-Right Arrow
Expand folder (list view)
Option-Command-Right Arrow
Expand folder and nested subfolders (list view)
Command-Left Arrow
Collapse Folder (list view)
Option-Command-Up Arrow
Open parent folder and close current window
Menu commands
Keyboard shortcut
Description
Shift-Command-Q
Apple Menu
Log out
Shift-Option-Command-Q
Apple Menu
Log out immediately
Shift-Command-Delete
Finder Menu
Empty Trash
Option-Shift-Command-Delete
Finder Menu
Empty Trash without dialog
Command-H
Finder Menu
Hide Finder
Option-Command-H
Finder Menu
Hide Others
Command-N
File Menu
New Finder window
Shift-Command-N
File Menu
New Folder
Command-O
File Menu
Open
Command-S
File Menu
Save
Shift-Command-S
File Menu
Save as
Command-P
File Menu
Print
Command-W
File Menu
Close Window
Option-Command-W
File Menu
Close all Windows
Command-I
File Menu
Get Info
Option-Command-I
File Menu
Show Attributes Inspector
Command-D
File Menu
Duplicate
Command-L
File Menu
Make Alias
Command-R
File Menu
Show original
Command-T
File Menu
Add to Favorites
Command-Delete
File Menu
Move to Trash
Command-E
File Menu
Eject
Command-F
File Menu
Find
Command-Z
Edit Menu
Undo
Command-X
Edit Menu
Cut
Command-C
Edit Menu
Copy
Command-V
Edit Menu
Paste
Command-A
Edit Menu
Select All
Command-1
View Menu
View as Icons
Command-2
View Menu
View as List
Command-3
View Menu
View as Columns
Command-B
View Menu
Hide Toolbar
Command-J
View Menu
Show View Options
Command - [
Go Menu
Back
Command - ]
Go Menu
Forward
Shift-Command-C
Go Menu
Computer
Shift-Command-H
Go Menu
Home
Shift-Command-I
Go Menu
iDisk
Shift-Command-A
Go Menu
Applications
Shift-Command-F
Go Menu
Favorites
Shift-Command-G
Go Menu
Goto Folder
Command-K
Go Menu
Connect to Server
Command-M
Window Menu
Minimize Window
Option-Command-M
Window Menu
Minimize All Windows
Command-?
Help Menu
Open Mac Help
Universal Access
Keyboard shortcut
Description
Option-Command-* (asterisk)
Turn on Zoom
Option-Command-+ (plus)
Zoom in
Option-Command-- (minus)
Zoom out
Control-Option-Command-* (asterisk)
Switch to White on Black
Control-F1
Turn on Full Keyboard Access
When Full Keyboard Access is turned on, you can use the key combinations listed in the table below from the Finder.
Control-F2
Full Keyboard Access
Highlight Menu
Control-F3
Full Keyboard Access
Highlight Dock
Control-F4
Full Keyboard Access
Highlight Window (active) or next window behind it
Control-F5
Full Keyboard Access
Highlight Toolbar
Control-F6
Full Keyboard Access
Highlight Utility window (palette)
The Universal Access preference pane allows you to turn on Mouse Keys. When Mouse Keys is on, you can use the numeric keypad to move the mouse. If your computer doesn't have a numeric keypad, use the Fn (function) key.
Mouse Keys
Keystroke
Description
8
Move Up
2
Move Down
4
Move Left
6
Move Right
1, 3, 7, and 9
Move Diagonally
5
Press Mouse Button
0
Hold Mouse Button
. (period on keypad)
Release Mouse Button (use after pressing 0)
Other Commands
Keystroke
Description
Option-Command-D
Show/Hide Dock
Command-Tab
Switch application
tab
Highlight next item
Command-Up Arrow
Move up one directory
Command-Down Arrow
Move down one directory
Page Up or Control-Up Arrow
Move up one page
Page Down or Control-Down Arrow
Move down one page
Option-Drag
Copy to new location
Option-Command-Drag
Make alias in new location
Command-Drag
Move to new location without copying
Shift-Command-C
Show Colors palette in application
Shift-Command-I
Copies the current web page address into a new email
Command-T
Show Font palette in application
Command-Shift-3
Take a picture of the screen
Command-Shift-4
Take a picture of the selection
Command-Shift-4, then press Control while selecting
Take a picture of the screen, place in Clipboard
Command-Shift-4, then Spacebar
Take a picture of the selected window
Option-Command-esc
Force Quit
Control-Eject
Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box
Control-Command-Eject
Quit all applications and restart
Option-Command-Eject or
Option-Command-Power
Sleep
Command-click window toolbar button (upper right corner)
Cycle through available views for the window's toolbar (dependant on the nature of the Finder or application window)
Command-`
Cycle through windows in application or Finder (if more than one window is open)
Function-Delete (PowerBook, iBook only)
Forward Delete (delete the character to the right of your cursor) August 1st, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Scott
Scott August 1st, 2005 at 1:56 pm
Miraz Jordan
For even more Mac Tips you might like to link to my archive of weekly Mac Tips (email and RSS feed available) at http://mactips.info/tips/. I have four years' worth of Tips there - more than 200 on using the Mac and another 250 on using Eudora on the Mac.
For longer tutorials (free) check out my Learning Centre at http://mactips.info/learn/browse.php.
Cheers,
Miraz August 1st, 2005 at 8:33 pm
Ellee H.
I hope a Mac guru like yourself may be able to answer this question: Why, and how do I fix it? When I view your site in Opera, I see gibberish like 
I’ in place of extended ASCII characters which represent Alt, Command, Control, etc. In Safari, I see the characters as intended. FYI, I just upgraded to Tiger on Friday, and I have customized the preferences of Opera (v. 8.0.2). August 6th, 2005 at 11:23 pm
Brad
The reason you see gibberish with Opera is probably because it's using a font that doesn't support those characters.
Safari uses Lucida Grande by default, which supports all of the Command/Shift/Control characters.
- Brad August 8th, 2005 at 12:45 pm
Karl
I just came across your handy site and because I am a switcher too (I am switching from Debian to Tiger), I have some suggestions to you which might be a pretty good completion to your content:
How about a category like e.g. "Replacements for Linux-Tools" where users can post suggestions for OS X-replacements for their beloved tools running on a Linux box?
I am thinking of tips like "for showing permanent system informations like in gkrellm2, you can use >thisthat August 10th, 2005 at 4:37 am
Karl
I am thinking of tips like "for showing permanent system informations like in gkrellm2", you can use "this" or "that" tool. I started such a list by my own but I am still missing a lot of good OS X alternatives for my Linux-tools.
Of course there should be also a category with windows-switching-tools accordingly.
When I saw those keyboard shortcuts on your page, I was wondering, if someone could write a good Dashboard Widget, that uses your current keyboard database (create one?) in order to let the user browse and search through those shortcuts in his Widget. I'd find it very clever to help switchers work efficiently more faster.
Maybe someone picks up some ideas ... August 10th, 2005 at 4:43 am
Brad
I like your ideas. I've actually been thinking about a few of them for a while. I'll definitely be adding them in the future. :)
Thanks,
Brad August 10th, 2005 at 5:31 pm