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OS/4

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 27, 2015
15
3
I made this neat little cheat sheet of handy keyboard shortcuts if you're new to OS X, which you may find useful, especially if you're more of a keyboard person than a mouse person ;-) Note: The mouse hints are for a Magic Mouse.

The document is MS Word, because I'm not that familiar with Pages (yet?), so the fiddly layout probably gets messed up when you open it in Pages or LibreOffice, so I've attached a picture as well.
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Other keyboard shortcuts I've noted down over the past month or so of getting familiar with OS X - I'm sure they're already covered elsewhere, but fwiw, I found these useful:
  • Command + Tab switches between apps, and if you add Shift, it goes in reverse, but within the current app, you can use Command + ` to switch between that app's windows. Luckily, moving between browser tabs is the same as everywhere: Control + Tab.
  • If you switch between views in Finder often, you might find Command + 1 for icon view, and Command + 2 for list view, etc. useful.
  • Command + I for Get Info window of a file.
  • Command + F for find (in Finder), which can do pretty complex searches!
  • Control+Command + D for Dictionary.
  • Holding down Option often gives you more options, e.g. when you click on something or start an app.
Lastly, keep in mind you can create new shortcuts in the Preferences > Keyboard shortcuts:
Select an app, type exactly the menu item text, and assign a shortcut key combination (use Opt+; to type "...")
 

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Ugh, I hate the term 'Cheat Sheet'. These are consistent, programmed shortcut keys to improve productivity, not 'hacks' or hidden features.

Anyway, enough of that. To add a few ...

CMD+Q to quit an app - usefully next to Cmd+Tab, so you can quickly navigate and close open apps.
Ctrl and Arrow Key - essentially does the trackpad gestures. Horizontal arrows swipe between multiple desktops, up arrow will open Mission Control.
CMD+spacebar will open Spotlight.
CMD+W to close a window
CMD+T to open a new tab
CMD+N to open a new window

Mainly the ones I use.
 
And then there's CheatSheet, which is pretty good for finding app-specific keyboard shortcuts conveniently.

Yup, I've got that too. It doesn't help terribly with complex system-level shortcuts like doing screenshots but that's where the one from MacMost comes in.
 
Sorry to burst your bubble, it's been done...

http://macmost.com/printable-mac-keyboard-shortcut-page-for-mavericks.html

I know it's Mavericks but 99% work on Yosemite also.


No bubble to burst, it's obvious there are many variations of that out there already ;-) Since everyone in my family is new to Mac OS, I wanted to keep it very simple and easily visible when printed on an A4 sheet, which we have lying on the desk, hence I only included the most basic ones and combined it with some other useful info like the folders and some mouse movements.

Thanks for all the other ones, didn't know about some of them yet - but take for example the one from MacMost - it's nice and comprehensive, but quite a few of the shortcuts a typical user won't ever use (esp. if they're more of a mouse person anyway), and if someone's really new to Mac, they wouldn't even know what "⌥" is, hence I've used images of the actual keys on the Apple keyboard on my sheet. <== Not a criticism of the other sheets, just trying to convey the reasons I created mine.
 
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Thanks for all the other ones, didn't know about some of them yet - but take for example the one from MacMost - it's nice and comprehensive, but quite a few of the shortcuts a typical user won't ever use (esp. if they're more of a mouse person anyway), and if someone's really new to Mac, they wouldn't even know what "⌥" is, hence I've used images of the actual keys on the Apple keyboard on my sheet. <== Not a criticism of the other sheets, just trying to convey the reasons I created mine.

It says right at the top of the MacMost one what each of the symbols mean. I can understand simplifying it a little bit for trying to teach old dogs new tricks though.
 
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