98 MACWORLD OCTOBER 2019
WORKINGMAC 10 MAC KEYBOARD SHORTCUTScounterparts—such as ⌘-A to select all or
⌘-F open the Find prompt—and focus on
shortcuts you may not be familiar with if
you’re new to Mac.
And let’s talk about that ⌘ symbol.
That’s the Command key, and it’s the key
to all the shortcuts listed here. It works
kind of like the Control key on a Windows
PC, except it’s in a handier spot—typically
on both sides of the spacebar. In the
following examples, an example like ⌘-A
typically means you need to hold down
the Command button and press A or press
both at the same time.
If these shortcuts get you hooked, you
can even make your own for everything
from the system to specific apps by going
to System Preferences → Keyboard →
Shortcuts and then choosing one of the
options on the left.
- OPEN THE SPOTLIGHT
SEARCH TOOL
⌘-Spacebar: This is probably the most
useful shortcut of all. Whenever you want
to find a file on your Mac, just tap this
shortcut and type the name of the file
you’d like the find in the prompt that pops
up. The results are instant. Spotlight will
also search through things like
iMessages, bookmarks, and the full text
of files on your hard drive. It’s also a quick
way to find and open apps you don’t
keep on your dock.- IMMEDIATELY QUIT ANY APP
⌘-Q: Use this command to shut down any
app immediately. This command doesn’t
just minimize the app (as sometimes
happens when you hit the red X button at
the top of any Mac app)—it completely
shuts it down. - TAKE SCREENSHOTS OR
RECORD THE SCREEN
As you can probably imagine, we use
these shortcuts a lot here at Macworld.
There are actually several ways you can
take a screenshot on a Mac.
⌘-Shift-3: Screenshot the entire visible
window. If you can see it on your Mac’s
screen, it’ll show up in the screenshot.
It’ll change the way you work.