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Mac OS: Keyboard Shortcuts

The Mac OS has many keyboard shortcuts and special key sequences. From changing extension sets at startup to closing all windows and removing open pop-up tabs, shortcuts allow both beginning and experienced Mac users to accomplish a plethora of tasks. Some of my favorite keyboard shortcuts follow.

Note that listings are in the following format:

Action: Shortcut

Shortcuts are also listed in abbreviated form. For example:

Find the original to an alias: Command + R.

Obviously, to perform the shortcut, the alias would have to be selected first and then Command + R would be pressed to locate the original.

Many of the following shortcuts are version agnostic although some are only available in OS 8.x and above.

Applications
Collapse all application windows in a particular application	Option + double click on the title bar
Force quit an application	Command + Option + Esc

Application Switcher
Change the icon size	Option while clicking on the zoom box
Change the orientation	Option + Shift while clicking on the zoom box

Chooser
Clear the Chooser cache	Command + Option while launching the Chooser

Control Panels
CloseView On/Off	Command + Option + K
Easy Access Mouse Keys On/Off	Command + Shift + Clear
Easy Access Sticky Keys On/Off	Shift five times (in a row) without moving the mouse
Startup Memory Tests	Command + Option while launching Memory Control Panel. Select off under Startup Memory Tests to disable.

Control Strip
Move the Control Strip	Option while dragging
Reorder the items in the Control Strip	Option while clicking and dragging an item

Dialogs
Change the current location to the desktop in an open dialog window	Command + D
Close an open dialog window	Esc
Move up a level in the file hierarchy in an open dialog window	Command + the Up Arrow

Finder
Align an icon to the nearest grid point	Command while dragging icon
Close all open windows	Option while clicking on close button
Close all windows and remove pop-up tabs	Command + Option + Shift + W
Close pop-up window and remove its tab	Command + Shift + W while in the pop-up window
Collapse a selected uncollapsed folder in list view	Command + Left Arrow
Copy an item to a specific location	Option while dragging item to location
Create an alias in a specific location	Command + Option while dragging item to location
Delete an object (Move to Trash)	Command + Delete
Delete locked items in the Trash	Option and select Empty Trash
Eject selected removable media	Command + Y
Enlarge a window to its full size	Option click on the zoom box
Find the original to an alias	Command + R
Move a Finder window without making it active	Command + drag the window
Move from icon to icon alphabetically	Tab
Open a selected icon's enclosing disk or folder and close the current window	Command + Option + Up Arrow
Return an object in the trash to its original location	Command + Y
Scroll a Finder window	Command + drag in an empty area of the window
Select the startup disk	Command + Shift + the Up Arrow
Uncollapse a selected collapsed folder in list view	Command + Right Arrow

Floppies
Eject a floppy	Command + Shift + 1
Erase a floppy upon insertion	Command + Option + Tab

Ligatures (two letters running together)
Produce an ae ligature	Option + Apostrophe
Produce a fi ligature	Shift + Option + 5
Produce a fl ligature	Shift + Option + 6

Restart/Shutdown
Fast Shutdown	Control + Command + Option + Keyboard Power Key
Restart	Power Key on the keyboard + R
Restart	Control + Command + Keyboard Power Key

Screen Shots
Create a picture of a portion of your screen to clipboard	Command + Control + Shift + 4
Create a picture of a portion of your screen to disk	Command + Shift + 4
Create a picture of a specific window to clipboard	Command + Control + Shift + 4 + CapsLock and click
Create a picture of a specific window to disk	Command + Shift + 4 + CapsLock and click
Screen shot to clipboard	Command + Control + Shift + 3
Screen shot to disk	Command + Shift + 3

While Starting Up
Boot from CD	C
Bypass the startup disk and boot from another volume	Command + Option + Shift + Delete
Change Extension Sets	Space
Close Finder windows	Option
Disable Extensions	Shift
Disable Startup Items	Shift after Extensions have loaded as your Desktop appears
Disable Virtual Memory	Command
Rebuild Desktop	Command + Option
Select boot drive (slot loading iMac, iBook or G4)	Option
Zap the PRAM	Command + Option + P + R