10 Amazing Mac Shortcuts in 2022

On a busy day, you know what it means to save a second. Switching from keyboard to mouse every time is a waste of time.

Another way to save time is to use Mac shortcuts to work smarter and faster. Using Mac shortcuts can help you get your work done quickly without having to fiddle with the mouse or keyboard. Research shows that not using keyboard shortcuts can cause you to lose approximately 64 hours a year.

This article summarizes the 10 most innovative Mac shortcuts that can improve your efficiency and your business online image.

1. Open the Spotlight search tool

Command key + Spacebar: This is probably the most useful of all Mac shortcut keys. Whenever you search for a file on your Mac, use this keyboard shortcut and type the file name. The results are immediate. In addition, Spotlight will search bookmarks, iMessages, and all files on the hard drive. This Mac shortcut also provides a quick way to find and open applications that are not on the Dock.

2. Quit any application

Command key + Q: You can use this keyboard shortcut to immediately close any application. Remember, this Mac shortcut can not only minimize applications. This shortcut will completely close the application.

3. Switch between different windows in the application

Command key + ∼: This Mac shortcut makes research easier. For example, if you open three documents from the Apple Pages application: one is a research document, another is your draft, and the other is your notes. This Mac shortcut allows you to easily switch between the three documents. This shortcut is useful, especially when you are working on a small screen MacBook.

4. Quickly switch between active applications

Command + Tab: When you hold down the Command key and then click the Tab button, this will open the application switcher, allowing you to switch between all active applications by clicking the Tab button.

5. Force quit application

Command + Option + Q: If the application is locked and the Command + Q shortcut does not work, you can use this Mac shortcut to force quit the application. In addition, you can force quit multiple applications by pressing Command + Option + Esc, which is the same as using Control + Alt + Delete on Windows. After forcibly quitting multiple applications, you can select the application you want to close from there.

6. Record screen or take screenshot

Screenshots allow you to quickly identify customer pain points. Aditya Maheshwari pointed out, “A few years ago, I promoted features without really understanding the pain points of my customers…always start a conversation with the challenges that customers face.”

You can take screenshots on your Mac device in many ways.

• Command key + 3: This Mac shortcut key can capture the entire visible window. Therefore, if you use this keyboard shortcut to take a screenshot, anything you see on the screen will be displayed in the screenshot.
• Command + Shift + 4: This Mac shortcut captures a specific area of ​​the screen with the help of the rectangle cropping tool. This shortcut is great for sharing text or image clips with your target audience on social media.
• Command key + Shift + 5: Starting with macOS Mojave, Apple can use this keyboard shortcut to easily view all screenshot tools at once. When you press this shortcut, you will see a toolbar with options for capturing the entire screen, capturing a specific part of a window, or capturing a specific window.

You can also use this shortcut to record part of the screen or the entire screen, and then select the location where you want to save the images and videos. It’s important to note that by default, screenshots are saved to your desktop.

7. Address or search bar (on Safari)

Command key + L: Activating the address or search bar of Safari with the mouse will waste a lot of time. When you use this keyboard shortcut in Safari, your cursor will jump to your search bar, where you can type a URL or search term. In addition, this keyboard shortcut works perfectly with Google Chrome. You can also use this shortcut on Windows via the Control key.

Safari has some other great keyboard shortcuts, including the Command + T shortcut to open a new tab and the Command + Z keyboard shortcut to open the last tab you accidentally closed. If you want to reopen a tab that you accidentally closed on Opera or Chrome, just press Command + Shift + T.

8. Lock your Mac device now

Command key + Control + Q: If you want to leave your office or home office desk and don’t want anyone to spy on your Mac device, use this shortcut to activate the lock screen immediately. This is much faster than using the menu bar to switch to the lock screen.

9. Move file to folder

Command + Control + N: If you save a lot of files on your desktop and you want to move them to a new folder, this Mac shortcut can help you. You only need to select all the files you want to move, and then press Command + Control + N to move the selected files to a new folder.

10. Use quick view to preview files

Click + Spacebar: If you want to see the appearance of the file, but don’t want to waste a lot of time opening related applications, select the file in the Finder folder. Then, hold down the space bar. In addition, this applies to files saved on the desktop. A full page preview will appear next to the marking options. This applies to everything from Microsoft Excel files and images to PDF.

To preview multiple files at once, hold down the Command key, select the files, and press Command + Y. The Command key + Y shortcut key is also applicable to a single file, but in this case, it is very inconvenient. After the window opens, you can use the arrow keys in the upper left corner to browse the files.

Conclusion

Depending on how you use your Mac and the type of work you use it for, you will find the 10 Mac shortcuts discussed in this article are very useful for improving your work efficiency and your business online image. Maybe you are already using some of these keyboard shortcuts, but adding some of them to your arsenal will help you save time and improve your workflow.