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Sharing my favorite top 20 Mac shortcuts

These shortcuts make me save more time at work. Try them out and see the difference they’ll make:

1. Open the Spotlight Search Tool

Command + Space bar

This is perhaps the most helpful Mac shortcut of all. Anytime you search for a file on your Mac, use this keyboard shortcut and type the file’s name. The result is instant. Also, Spotlight will search through bookmarks, iMessages, and all the files on your hard drive. This shortcut also offers a quick way to find and open applications that aren’t on your dock.

2. Quit Any Application

Command + Q

You can use this keyboard shortcut to shut down any application immediately. Remember, this Mac shortcut doesn’t just minimize applications – it completely shuts down the apps.

3. Switch Between Different Windows in an Application

Command key + ∼

This Mac shortcut makes doing research a lot easier. For instance, if you have three documents open from the Apple Pages app, one with a research document, another with your draft, and the other with your notes. This shortcut lets you switch easily between the three documents. It is helpful, especially when you’re working on a MacBook with a small screen.

4. Switch Quickly Between Active Applications

Command + Tab

When you press and hold the Command and then tap the Tab button, this opens the App Switcher, letting you switch between all active applications with the Tab button.

5. Force-Quit an Application

Command + Option + Q

If an application is locked up, and the Command + Q shortcut isn’t working, you can use this Mac shortcut to force the application to quit.

6. Record the Screen or Take Screenshots

Command + Shift + 4: This Mac shortcut screenshots a particular area of your screen with the help of the rectangular cropping tool. This shortcut is ideal for sharing snippets of text or images with your target audience on social media.
Command + Shift + 5: Starting with macOS Mojave, Apple makes it easy to view all the screenshot tools at once using this keyboard shortcut. When you press this shortcut, you’ll see a toolbar that gives you the options for capturing your entire screen, capturing a particular portion of a window, or capturing a specific window.

7. Address or Search Bar (on Safari)

Command + L

Reaching for the mouse to activate Safari’s address or search bar wastes a ton of time. But when you use this keyboard shortcut in Safari, your cursor will jump up to your search bar, where you can type a URL or a search term. 

Safari has some other brilliant keyboard shortcuts, including the Command + T shortcut, which opens a new tab, and the Command + Z keyboard shortcut, which reopens the last tab you accidentally closed. 

8. Instantly Lock Your Mac Device

Command + Control + Q

If you want to step away from your desk at the office or home office and you don’t want anyone snooping around on your Mac device, use this shortcut to immediately lock your screen. This is a lot faster than switching to a lock screen using the menu bar. 

9. Move Files to a Folder

Command + Control + N

If you have a lot of files saved on your desktop and you want to move them to a new folder, this Mac shortcut can help you out. You just need to select all the files you want to move and then press Command + Control + N to move the selected files to a new folder.

10. Preview Files Using Quick Look

Click + Space bar

If you wish to see what a file looks like but don’t want to waste a ton of time opening the associated application, select the file in the Finder folder. Then, press and hold the spacebar. Also, this works with files saved on the desktop. A Full-page preview will appear alongside Markup options. This works perfectly with everything from Microsoft Excel files and images to PDFs.

11. Display Sleep

Control + Shift + Power button

Use this shortcut to turn off your Mac’s display without shutting down the entire system. It’s your best bet when you need to preserve privacy, save energy, or take a short break without disrupting ongoing processes like downloads or active applications. The system will continue to run in the background.

12. Show/Hide the Dock

Option + Command + D

This shortcut allows you to show or hide the Dock, providing more screen real estate when needed. It’s particularly helpful when working in applications that benefit from a larger display area or when aiming to reduce on-screen distractions.

13. Create Duplicate Files

Command + D

Need a backup of that important file? Or maybe you’re experimenting with different versions of a document? This shortcut lets you quickly create a copy to save the hassle of manual copying and pasting.

14. Get File Information

Command + I

Get detailed information about files or folders, like size, type, and modification date, quickly and without the need to open additional windows or applications.

15. Open Recents Folder

Shift + Command + R

Navigating back to your recently accessed files can often be a hassle, especially when working on multiple projects.

The Shift + Command + R shortcut simplifies this by instantly opening the Recents folder on your Mac. This folder is a dynamic space that automatically updates with the files and documents you’ve worked on recently to save the time and effort of manually searching through your directories.

16. App Switcher

Command + Tab

Do you need to switch between applications quickly? The Command + Tab shortcut activates the App Switcher, which displays all your active applications, allowing you to navigate between them seamlessly. This shortcut is especially useful for multitaskers who frequently alternate between different programs.

17. Paste Without Formatting

Command + Shift + V

This shortcut is for Paste and Match Style (or Paste and Match Formatting).

It pastes the copied content (text, for example) into a new location while matching the formatting of the destination. For instance, if you copy text from a web page (which may have specific fonts, sizes, and colors) and use this shortcut in a word processor, the pasted text will adopt the formatting of the rest of the document in the word processor, rather than retaining its original web formatting.

18. Dictionary Lookup

Control + Command + D

This shortcut is used for looking up the definition of a word. When you hover your cursor over a word in a text and press these keys, a small popup appears, providing the definition, synonyms, and sometimes even Wikipedia excerpts related to that word.

It is incredibly useful for quickly accessing dictionary information without interrupting your workflow. The shortcut enhances productivity, especially for writers, researchers, or users who frequently work with text and need to understand or clarify terminology efficiently.

19. Select All Items

Command + A

This Mac shortcut selects all the items or text in the current window or application. It is so handy when you want to quickly select everything in a document, a webpage, or a list of files in a folder.

For example, if you’re working in a word processor and press Command + A, it will highlight all the text in your document. This makes it easy to apply changes to the entire content or to copy and paste everything into another document.

20. Find Misspelled Words

Command + semi-colon (;)

You can use this shortcut in word processing programs like Microsoft Word and Apple Pages to cycle through misspelled words in a document. When you press this key combination, the cursor jumps to the next word that the program’s spell check function has flagged as potentially incorrect.

This way, you can quickly review and correct spelling errors in your document and streamline the editing process and ensuring your work is free from common spelling mistakes.

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