Even a few seconds can make a huge difference when you have a busy day ahead. Learning keyboard shortcuts is one of the best ways to improve productivity and save time while working on a Mac. These shortcuts will help you work smarter, faster, and more efficiently.
Any regular Mac user must know the basic shortcuts for copy, paste and cut. But in this article, you will go beyond the standard Command + C, Command + V, and Command + X. Take a look at the essential keyboard shortcuts every Mac user must know to augment their productivity and make their life easier.
Show or Hide the Dock
Do you want an uncluttered, clean desktop? If so, you can consider organizing your desktop and hiding the Dock. If you have a smaller screen, hiding the Dock makes the most sense as it does not take up a lot of space on your display screen.
Traditionally, users must navigate to the System Preferences > choose Dock > toggle the Automatically Hide and Show Dock option. You can save precious time by pressing Command + Option + D, and the Dock will disappear. You can press the same keyboard combinations again to make the Dock reappear.
Close Window
Press Command + W when you are working on an open document or app and want to close the window. The shortcut helps users close a particular window without quitting the entire app.
When browsing the web using Safari, you can use this shortcut to close the tabs you are viewing now.
Force Quit Applications
While apps run smoothly on Macs, there are instances when they crash, become unresponsive, or freeze. It isn’t ideal for staring at the beach ball during a busy workday. So, when your apps aren’t responding, press Command + Option + Escape, and the Force Quit dialog box will come on your screen. Use the arrow keys to scroll up and down, then close the misbehaving application.
Spotlight Search
Spotlight is one of the most essential and useful features of macOS. It makes it easier for users to search for anything in the system. Command + Spacebar is the quickest way to open the Spotlight search bar so you can type whatever you need, whether an app or need Spotlight to run some calculations.
Get the Meaning or Details of Any Word
Are you a writer? If so, memorizing the Command + Control + D shortcut will help simplify your work and enhance productivity. It will help you when you need to look up any word. When you use this shortcut, a floating window will appear, showcasing more details about the word. When pressing this key combination, you need to hover the cursor over specific words.
Zoom in or out of a Safari Window
When you are using Safari to browse the web, and you’ve come across a website where you need to zoom in or out to view the content clearly, you can press the Command + plus sign or Command + minus sign. The shortcut will allow you to look at the page with more clarity.
Empty Trash without Waiting for the Confirmation Dialog Box
Traditionally, users delete a file or folder that is sent to the Trash. Then, they have to right-click the Trash to empty its content. But what if you knew a shortcut that permanently deleted the files without waiting for the confirmation dialog box? It will save you so much time!
Furthermore, most users forget about the files they’ve sent to the Trash, and those files sit there, taking a lot of storage space.
You can skip these steps and empty the Trash by pressing Command +Shift + Option + Delete. When you press these keys, ensure Finder is active.
Open iCloud from the Finder
There’s no need to browse your iCloud Drive by clicking on the Finder icon in the Dock. Instead, you can press Command + Shift + I while the Finder is active, and a new window will open, giving you a clear view of your iCloud Drive.
Open and Hide Shortcuts
The following open and hide shortcuts will save time and make your tasks finish quicker.
- Duplicated selected files by pressing Command + D
- Start a Spotlight search in the Finder window by pressing Command + F
- Create a new folder by pressing Shift + Command + N
- Command + N is the shortcut for opening a new Finder window
- Open sound preferences by clicking Option + Volume + Up
- Open the Documents folder by pressing Shift + Command + O
- Open the Downloads folder by pressing Shift + Command + L
Users must know these useful Mac keyboard shortcuts for a seamless experience. You can go to System Preferences > Keyboard to change some shortcuts and customize them. To roll back the changes, you can click on the go back to the default settings option.
So, how many Mac keyboard shortcuts were you already using? Do they help enhance your productivity?
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