If you’re a new Mac user (like me!), knowing a few common shortcuts can save you tons of time. Here’s a simple cheatsheet of macOS shortcuts — including some of the ones I’ve searched for myself. You might want to bookmark this — I’ll keep adding more as I come across new and useful shortcuts.

I switched to macOS from Ubuntu Linux, and honestly the first week was humbling. Muscle memory I’d built over years suddenly did nothing, or worse, did the wrong thing. So this started as my own notes, and it grew from there.

🔑 First, learn to read the symbols#

Before the shortcuts themselves, this one thing trips up almost everyone. Apple writes shortcuts using symbols rather than words, and menus in every app use them. Once you can read them, you can discover shortcuts on your own just by opening a menu.

Symbol Key Notes
⌘ Command The main modifier — where Windows uses Ctrl, macOS usually uses ⌘
⌥ Option (Alt) Often the “do a variant of this” key
⇧ Shift
⌃ Control Exists on Mac too, but used far less than on Windows
⇪ Caps Lock
fn Function Bottom-left, unlocks the F-keys and Forward Delete

So when a menu shows ⇧⌘4, that reads as Shift + Command + 4. That’s it — that’s the whole trick.

🔄 Basic Editing macOS Shortcuts#

Action Shortcut
Undo Command (⌘) + Z
Redo Command (⌘) + Shift + Z
Copy Command (⌘) + C
Paste Command (⌘) + V
Paste without formatting Command (⌘) + Shift + Option (⌥) + V
Cut Command (⌘) + X
Select all Command (⌘) + A
Save Command (⌘) + S
Find Command (⌘) + F
Forward Delete fn + Delete (Backspace)

✍️ Moving around text quickly#

These are the ones that made the biggest difference to my daily typing, and they’re rarely in beginner lists. They work in almost every text field on macOS, including most code editors.

Action Shortcut
Jump to start / end of line Command (⌘) + Left / Right
Jump to top / bottom of document Command (⌘) + Up / Down
Move one word at a time Option (⌥) + Left / Right
Delete the previous word Option (⌥) + Delete
Delete to the start of the line Command (⌘) + Delete
Select to end of line Command (⌘) + Shift + Right
Select a word at a time Option (⌥) + Shift + Left / Right

If you came from Windows, note that Home and End don’t behave the way you expect on a Mac. Command + Left and Command + Right are what you actually want.

The Option key has a second job worth knowing about too: held on its own it types special characters rather than moving the cursor, which is how you get the copyright symbol and friends — © is Option + G, ™ is Option + 2.

👨‍💻 Developer – Focused macOS Shortcuts#

Action Shortcut App / Context
Open Browser DevTools Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + I Chrome / Edge / Safari
Open the Console directly Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + J Chrome / Edge
Open Terminal Command (⌘) + Spacebar → type “Terminal” + Enter System
Hard Refresh (Bypass Cache) Command (⌘) + Shift + R Browser
Focus the address bar Command (⌘) + L Browser
Reopen the tab you just closed Command (⌘) + Shift + T Browser
Switch between browser tabs Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + Left / Right Browser

In Safari, DevTools only appears once you enable the Develop menu: Safari → Settings → Advanced → Show features for web developers. This catches out a lot of people who assume the shortcut is broken.

💻 Productivity macOS Shortcuts#

Action Shortcut
Open Spotlight Search Command (⌘) + Spacebar
Screenshot (Full Screen) Command (⌘) + Shift + 3
Screenshot (Select Area) Command (⌘) + Shift + 4
Open Finder search window Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + Spacebar
Open Character Viewer Control + Command (⌘) + Space
Force Quit App Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + Esc

📸 More on screenshots#

Screenshots have more depth than the two shortcuts above suggest, and this is genuinely worth two minutes of your time:

  • Command + Shift + 3 — the entire screen.
  • Command + Shift + 4 — drag to select a region.
  • Command + Shift + 4, then Space — the cursor becomes a camera; click any window to capture just that window, with a tidy drop shadow. This is the one I use for blog posts.
  • Command + Shift + 5 — opens the full capture toolbar, including screen recording and a timer.

Add Control to any of these to copy the result to your clipboard instead of saving a file to the Desktop. So Control + Command + Shift + 4 selects a region and puts it straight on the clipboard, ready to paste.

🪟 Window and app management#

Action Shortcut
Switch between apps Command (⌘) + Tab
Switch between windows of the same app Command (⌘) + ` (backtick)
Close the window Command (⌘) + W
Quit the app entirely Command (⌘) + Q
Minimize the window Command (⌘) + M
Hide the current app Command (⌘) + H
Hide every other app Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + H
Toggle full screen Control + Command (⌘) + F
Mission Control (see all windows) Control + Up
Move between desktops / Spaces Control + Left / Right
Show Desktop Command (⌘) + F3

The distinction between Command + W and Command + Q matters more on macOS than on Windows. Closing the last window of an app usually doesn’t quit it — the app stays running, which is why you sometimes see apps in the Dock you thought you’d closed. If you’re wrestling with a window that won’t leave full screen, there’s a dedicated guide to exiting full screen on Mac.

📁 Finder shortcuts worth knowing#

Action Shortcut
Show / hide hidden files Command (⌘) + Shift + . (period)
Go to folder (type a path) Command (⌘) + Shift + G
New folder Command (⌘) + Shift + N
Move to Trash Command (⌘) + Delete
Quick Look (preview without opening) Spacebar
Rename the selected file Enter
Go to Applications Command (⌘) + Shift + A
Go to Utilities Command (⌘) + Shift + U
Copy, then move instead of paste Command (⌘) + C, then Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + V

That first one — Command + Shift + period — is essential for developers. It toggles hidden files, which is how you actually see .env, .gitignore and .zshrc in Finder. I looked for this for an embarrassingly long time.

The last one solves something that confused me for weeks: macOS has no “Cut” for files. You copy with Command + C, then paste-as-move with Command + Option + V.

🔤 Other Useful Shortcuts#

Action Shortcut
Open System Settings Command (⌘) + Spacebar, type “Settings” + Enter
Lock the screen Control + Command (⌘) + Q
Emoji and symbol picker Control + Command (⌘) + Space
Zoom in / out (browsers, editors) Command (⌘) + Plus / Minus
Reset zoom Command (⌘) + 0

🔁 Coming from Windows? Start here#

If you’re switching rather than starting fresh, this table probably saves you the most time. Most of the pain is that Ctrl became Command, but a handful genuinely differ.

What you did on Windows The macOS equivalent
Ctrl + C / V / Z Command (⌘) + C / V / Z
Alt + Tab Command (⌘) + Tab
Ctrl + Alt + Delete Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + Esc (Force Quit)
Ctrl + Shift + Esc (Task Manager) Activity Monitor — via Spotlight
Home / End Command (⌘) + Left / Right
Print Screen Command (⌘) + Shift + 3
F2 (rename) Enter
Delete (a file) Command (⌘) + Delete
Windows key (search) Command (⌘) + Spacebar

⚙️ Make your own shortcuts#

Once the built-in ones feel natural, you can assign your own to any menu item in any app. It’s buried, so here’s the path:

System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts → +

Pick the app, type the menu item’s name exactly as it appears in the menu, then press the key combination you want. The exact-match part is the bit everyone gets wrong — “Save As…” with the three-dot ellipsis character will not match if you typed three full stops.

Frequently asked questions#

Why doesn’t my F-key do anything?#

By default the top row controls brightness, volume and so on. Hold fn to use them as real F1–F12 keys, or flip the default in System Settings → Keyboard → “Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys”.

Where do my screenshots go?#

To the Desktop by default, named with the date and time. Press Command + Shift + 5 and use the Options menu to change the destination — mine goes to a dedicated folder so the Desktop stays clean.

Is there a way to see an app’s shortcuts?#

Yes, and it’s the best habit to build: just open the app’s menus. Every command that has a shortcut shows it on the right using the symbols from the table at the top of this post. That’s why learning ⌘⌥⇧⌃ first pays off — after that, every app documents itself.

Since I’m still fairly new to macOS after switching from Ubuntu Linux, I’ve been collecting these shortcuts to help myself — and hopefully to help you too.

Keep reading#