This works in the Finder app from the Dock, but it also works inside dialog boxes. Shift-Option-L opens your Downloads folder.Shift-Command-F shows recently used files.Shift-Command-R opens your AirDrop folder.Shift-Command-O opens your Documents folder.Shift-Command-A opens your Applications folder.Shift-Command-D opens your Desktop folder.When using the Finder (open it by hitting Option-Command-Space) you can take advantage of several shortcuts to quickly open some important folders: Jump to a folder in the Finder Jump to your Home folder and other hot spots from a dialog box like this one, or the Finder. Hold Shift-Option when you hit a keyboard backlight key to adjust the keyboard backlight a quarter step.Hold Shift-Option when you hit a brightness key to adjust your display brightness a quarter step.Hold Shift-Option when you hit a volume key to adjust the volume by a quarter step instead of a full step.(Similarly, you can adjust your Mac’s screen and keyboard backlighting in finer increments.) Luckily, this keyboard trick lets you adjust the Mac’s volume in quarter-step increments. If you plug your Mac into a set of nice headphones or a big speaker, the difference between 1 and 2 might be a bigger jump than you want. If you hit the volume up/down keys on your Mac keyboard, you might think you only have 16 levels of volume. I do this instinctively when I get up from my desk, and I encourage you to do the same.Īdjust your Mac’s volume and screen brightness You can set the volume to two-and-a-quarter. Control-Command-Q instantly locks your Mac, hiding your desktop.Hold Option while resizing a window to keep its position centered.Hold Command to click and interact with windows in the background without making them the active window.Shift-Command-5 opens the screenshot and screen recording app.Command-Space opens Spotlight, the Mac’s super-useful search feature.Hold down the Shift key as you use the key commands above to select text on your Mac.Command-↑ and Command-↓ moves the cursor to the top and bottom of the text field.Command-← and Command-→ moves the cursor to the beginning and end of a line.Option-↑ and Option-↓ moves the cursor one paragraph up and down.Option-← and Option -→ moves the cursor one word over.Here are a few shortcuts that help you move the cursor around a text field ( here’s a corresponding video to explain it visually).

Command-K turns highlighted text into a link.

Control-Command-Space opens the emoji, special character and symbol picker.

These should work in most text fields or forms. If you want to jazz up your text, these Mac keyboard shortcuts can make quick work of changing formatting or adding emoji, special characters and symbols. Text input macOS symbol and font pickers.

Command-Comma opens the settings for any app.

(Hold Shift with any of those to go in the opposite direction.)

Command-Tab switches between apps, Command-` switches between windows of the same app, Option-Tab switches between tabs of the same window.

Option-Command-Escape brings up the window to force-quit an unresponsive app.

Control-Command-F moves the app you’re using into full-screen mode.

Control-↓ opens Exposé, which shows all open windows of the current app.

Control-↑ opens Mission Control, which shows all your open windows, desktops and full-screen apps.

Option-Command-H hides everything except the current application, if you want to focus on what you’re looking at.

Command-H hides the current application, if you want it out of the way but plan on coming back to it later.

Command-M minimizes the current window to the Dock.Unless some misbehaving app has overridden them, these will work just about everywhere. These shortcuts are universal across the Mac.

Mac apple keyboard shortcuts