Use Keyboard Shortcuts in Mac OS X
Article by George Norman
On 08 Sep 2009
If you have just switched from the Microsoft camp over to Apple and gave up on Windows in favor of the Mac OS X, the you will want to know that most of the keyboard shortcuts you used in Windows can also be used in Mac OS X. The Windows and the Mac keyboard are not that different: Ctrl is still in the same place, Windows is replaced by Option (says Ctrl on it and display a squiggly symbol), and Alt is replaced by Command (you can’t miss it since it always display the Apple logo on it). Command offers similar functionality to Ctrl in Windows.

Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts you can use with your Mac OS X-powered machine:
- During startup press X to force MAC OS X startup, press Option-Command-Shift-Delete to locate a different startup volume, press C to start up from CD, press N for NetBoot, press Shift for Safe Boot mode.
- Ctrl + Eject to access the Restart/Sleep/shutdown dialog.
- Ctrl + Command + Eject to reboot with no confirmation dialog.
- Ctrl + Command + Shift + Eject to shut down the machine with no confirmation dialog.
- Shift + Command + Q to log out.
- Option + Command + Esc to perform a force quit.
- Command + W to close a window.
- Option + Command + W to close all windows.
- Command + M to minimize a window.
- Control + F4 to highlight a window.
- Command + X/C/V to cut/copy/paste.
- Command + A to select all.
- Command + Left arrow for list view.
- Command + Scroll wheel to zoom in and zoom out. Alternatively you will want to use Option + Command + “+” or “-” (that is the plus sign and the minus sign).
- Command + Option + D to hide the dock and bring it back from hiding.
- Command + ? to access the help menu.
- Shift + Ctrl + Eject to put the monitor to sleep.
- Ctrl + Option + Command + 8 to invert the colors on the screen.
- Command + Shift + Option + Backspace to empty the Trash (known as Recycle Bin in Windows).
- Shortcuts in Mac OS X are called Aliases.

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Tips and warnings
If your web browser of choice is Firefox, you can check out a list of keyboard shortcuts here.



Tags: Apple, Mac OS X, keyboard shortcuts
About the author: George Norman
George is a news editor.
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