macOS is packed with useful features that are often hidden behind obscure keyboard shortcuts. This article lists my favourites.

Screenshot Combinations

Still using the Print Screen button? Or worse, have you installed custom screenshot software that has full access to your screen, introducing a major security risk?

Instead, use the built-in screenshot functionality in macOS:

  • Command + Shift + 3: screenshot of the entire screen.
  • Command + Shift + 4: select an area with the cursor. Press Space instead to capture a specific window.
  • Command + Shift + 5: full-featured screenshot UI with screen recording capability.

Screenshots are saved to your desktop with a timestamp in the name, like Screenshot 2024-04-30 at 10.00.32 AM.png.

Finer Volume Control

When adjusting the volume with the keyboard, macOS’s discrete volume levels can be frustrating, especially at the lower end of the spectrum. For finer control, people often reach for the volume slider in Control Centre.

Instead, you can press Option + Shift + Volume Up (or Down) to get finer control directly from the keyboard.

Thanks to this post on Reddit for pointing this one out.

Many people know that pressing the spacebar in Finder previews the current selection. If you select multiple files, pressing Command + Return opens a gallery view.

Spotlight

Pressing Command + Space shows the Spotlight search bar from anywhere. My dock is nearly empty at this point.

Command + , (comma) usually opens the current app’s settings window.

Similarly, Command + Shift + ? usually brings up the help search bar for the active application, though some apps interfere with this combination.

Alt-Tab Secrets

While alt-tabbing between windows, press the down arrow to view all windows for the selected app, or press Q to quit it.

Swapping Windows inside an App

Most people know about Command + Tab for switching apps, but there’s also Command + ` (backtick) for switching between windows within the current app.

Emoji Viewer

To quickly add emoji to any editable area, press Command + Control + Space to show the emoji picker.

Lock the Screen

Command + Control + Q locks the screen immediately. I also like to set up a Hot Corner for that.

Dangerous but occasionally useful: Command + Option + Shift + Q immediately logs out the current user without a prompt.

Move Instead of Copy

Hold Command while dragging to move a file between drives instead of copying it.

Reorder Menu Bar Items

Command + Click and drag menu bar items to reorder them.

Text Substitutions

If you regularly type complex emoticons or phrases, the text substitution feature can save you time.

Some examples:

  • shrug → ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • tm → ™
  • dune → ⊃∪∩⪽

To jump straight to the relevant System Settings window, search for text replacements in Spotlight. See Apple’s support document for text replacement for more information.

A few other keyboard features that you may find interesting: