Keyboard shortcuts are combinations of key presses that let you carry out a task without navigating through the menus. PCs have two kinds of keyboard shortcuts. For some, you hold down the Ctrl key and a letter key; for others, you press the Alt key and type one letter from each menu item name — often, but not always, the first letter. Mac keyboard shortcuts are like the first type, but you use the Command key instead of the Ctrl key.
Piano programs for children computer. Following are examples of Mac keyboard shortcuts:
Keyboard Shortcut |
---|
Action | |
Command+C | Copy |
Command+X | Cut |
Command+V | Paste |
Command+A | Select All |
Command+F | Find |
Command+G | Find Again |
Command+S | Save |
Command+Z | Undo |
Replacing the Ctrl key press with the Command key also applies to most Ctrl key shortcuts in programs, such as Microsoft Office.
Every app can have its own shortcuts, and shortcuts that work in one app might not work in another. Accessibility shortcuts; Safari shortcuts; Spotlight shortcuts; Startup shortcuts; iTunes shortcuts: Choose Help > Keyboard shortcuts from the menu bar in iTunes. Other shortcuts: Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Keyboard, then click Shortcuts. In addition to assigning shortcuts to menu items and specific application actions, a common desire that crops up with many Mac users is to actually launch a file or application with a dedicated shortcut. These 'global shortcuts' work from anywhere in the system and are very useful when assigned to your most used apps and files.
The letters in keyboard shortcut combinations are always shown capitalized on-screen, but the Mac recognizes the lowercase versions as well. Thus, you can type either Command+Q or Command+q to quit (exit) the program.
Although the Mac OS X menu layout appears to be intuitive and easy to follow, Apple does get a little carried away with shortcuts. There are dozens of them, so don’t try to remember them all. OS X displays the available shortcut for each menu item right in the drop-down menu itself. Some combinations use different and even multiple control keys. Apple uses other symbols in addition to the Command symbol and Apple symbol to indicate these keys:
- Option: This key often modifies a shortcut or menu item by telling it to do more. So, for example, Command+W closes the front window. Option+Command+W closes all windows for the front application. Shortcuts can be complex. The shortcut in TextEdit for Edit→Paste and Match Style is Option+Shift+Command+V.
- Control: This key’s symbol looks like a hat. The key is pressed in combination with a mouse click to mean right-click.
- Shift: Either the right or left Shift key may be used, but caps lock has no effect on shortcuts that include a Shift key.
- Escape: This key’s symbol looks a lot like the power button icon, but it’s different. The line is at an angle and has a little arrow pointing out. Escape is a shortcut for Cancel in dialog boxes.
Many other Mac keyboard shortcuts exist. Open the Apple menu and choose System Preferences→Keyboard & Mouse and then choose Keyboard Shortcuts to see a list. The Keyboard & Mouse pane has many other options for customizing your input experience.
If you have difficulty holding down combinations of keys, you can activate the sticky keys feature in the System Preferences→Universal Access pane.
A Mac’s keyboard layout just isn’t quite right for Windows. Whether you’re primarily a Windows user or primarily an OS X user, the layout doesn’t feel quite right when you run Windows in Boot Camp — but you can fix that.
How To Program One Keyboard Shortcuts For Mac
There are several possible ways you might want to rearrange these keyboard shortcuts depending on what you’re used to. All it takes is a few clicks with SharpKeys and you’ll feel more at home in Boot Camp
The Problem
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Mac keyboard layouts are subtly different from PC keyboard layouts. On a typical PC keyboard, the bottom-left corner of the keyboard contains keys in this order: Ctrl, Windows, Alt. On a Mac keyboard, you’ll see the following layout: Control, Option, Command. In Boot Camp, these keys function as Control, Alt, Windows.
In other words, the Alt and Windows key are swapped from where you’d expect them to be. Worse yet, Mac users will have to use the Control key for various keyboard shortcuts that require the Command key on Mac OS X.
There has to be a way to fix this — and there is. We’ll be using SharpKeys to remap these keys in Windows. SharpKeys is an easy-to-use, open-source graphical program that creates the appropriate Windows registry entries to remap keys. You could actually do this all in the registry editor if you like — it just takes more work. This utility works on Windows 7, 8, 8.1, and even older versions of Windows.
Solution 1: If You’re Used to Mac Shortcuts
RELATED:A Windows User’s Guide to Mac OS X Keyboard Shortcuts
If you’re used to Mac keyboard shortcuts, you may want to make the Command key function as the Control key. You’ll then be able to use Mac keyboard shortcuts like Command+C, X, or V for Copy, Cut, and Paste in Windows. Pressing Command+L will focus the location bar in your web browser on Windows just as it does on OS X — without the remapping, that Command+L shortcut equals Windows Key+L, which will lock your Windows system.
To do this, install SharpKeys and launch it. Click the Add button and click “Type Key” under the “From key” column on the left. Press the left Command key. Next, click the “Type Key” button under the “To key” column on the right. Press the Control key.
Click OK and click “Write to Registry.” Log out and log in or reboot to activate your changes. Your left Command key will function as a second Control key, which means many Mac Command key shortcuts will just work like you’d expect them to. If you need to press the Windows key, press the Command key on the right side of your keyboard instead.
Solution 2: If You’re Used to Windows Shortcuts
RELATED:The 20 Most Important Keyboard Shortcuts For Windows PCs
If you’re used to Windows keyboard shortcuts, you’ll probably want to swap the Option/Alt Key with the Command/Windows key. This will change the order from Control, Alt, Windows to Control, Windows, Alt — the same order you’ll find on a standard Windows keyboard. The muscle memory you’ve built up for keyboard shortcuts won’t fail you.
To do this, install SharpKeys and launch it. Click the Add button. Scroll down in the left column and select “Special: Left Alt.” Next, click the “Type Key” button under “To key” on the right. Press the Command key at the right side of your keyboard and then click OK.
Next, click the Add button again. Click “Type Key” under the “From key” column on the left. Press the left Command key. Scroll down in the “To key” column on the right and select “Special: Right Alt.” Click OK and click “Write to Registry.”
Log out and log back in, or reboot your Mac. The Alt/Option key will function as a Windows key and the Command key will function as the Alt key. This means the layout at the left side of your keyboard will be Control, Windows, Alt — just like on Windows.
Solution 3: Make Mac OS X’s Keyboard Shortcuts Match Windows
RELATED:How to Disable or Reassign The Caps Lock Key on Any Operating System
Excel Shortcuts On A Mac
You could instead adjust your keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS X so they work more like they do in Windows. For example, you could swap the Control and Command keys in Mac OS X — then you’d press Control+C, X, or V to Copy, Cut, and Paste in Mac OS X, just as you would on Windows.
To do this, boot into Mac OS X, click the Apple menu on the menu bar, and select System Preferences. Click the Keyboard icon, click the Modifier Keys button, and swap the Control and Command key functions. You can also easily disable the Caps Lock key from here.
If you decide you don’t like the keyboard remapping you chose, you can open SharpKeys up again, delete the rules you created, and click “Write to Registry.” Everything will be back to normal after you log out and log back in or reboot.
Best program for youtube download for mac. Wax 2.0. Image Credit: Faruk Ates on Flickr, abdallahh on Flickr
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