When using your Mac, you can greatly improve your speed and productivity by learning some common keyboard shortcuts to perform tasks you do most often. This could be printing, cut and paste or switch between applications.

Most of the time you’ll use the Command Key (CMD) or the Option Key (ALT) next to the spacebar.

Keyboard shortcuts make it quicker and easier to do these tasks without having to find the command in the menu system. Here are some I’ve found useful.

Keypress	Description
CMD A	Select all items
CMD C	Copy
CMD D	Duplicate selected item
CMD E	Eject selected volume
CMD F	Find or search for items
CMD H	Hide windows
CMD I	Show selected item information
CMD J	Show view options for the active window
CMD K	Show ‘connect to server’ dialog box
CMD L	Create alias for the selected item
CMD M	Minimize window
CMD N	Open new window in active app
CMD V	Paste
CMD W	Close active window
CMD X	Cut
CMD Z	Undo
CMD ,	Finder preferences
CMD Space	Spotlight search
Space	Show preview of selected image or doc in finder
CMD Tab	Switch through running apps
CMD Option Esc	Force quit Apps
CMD Shift 3	Take screenshot – saves as PNG on desktop
CMD Shift 4	Take screenshot – drag crosshair pointer to mark portion of the screen to capture
CMD Shift 5	Show screenshot panel
CMD Shift 6	Take screenshot of touchbar if present
Ctrl CMD F	Full screen mode
F4	Open Launchpad
F8	Open Notification Centre
F9	Open Mission Control