Apple-KeyboardTo use a keyboard shortcut, or key combination, you press a modifier key with a character key. For example, pressing the Command key (the key that has a symbol) and the “c” key at the same time copies whatever is currently selected (text, graphics, and so forth) into the Clipboard. This is also known as the Command-C key combination (or keyboard shortcut).

A modifier key is a part of many key combinations. A modifier key alters the way other keystrokes or mouse/trackpad clicks are interpreted by OS X. Modifier keys include: Command, Shift, Option, Control, Caps Lock, and the Fn key. If your keyboard has an Fn key, you may need to use it in some of the key combinations listed below. For example, if the keyboard shortcut is Control-F2, press Fn-Control-F2.

Here are the modifier key symbols you may see in OS X menus:

Command key icon (Command key) – On some Apple keyboards, this key also has an Apple (apple logo) logo
Control key icon (Control key)
Option or Alt key icon (Option key) – “Alt” may also appear on this key
Shift icon (Shift key)
Caps lock icon (Caps Lock) – Toggles Caps Lock on or off
Fn (Function key) 

  Common system
and application shortcuts

Primary Key

Key sequence

 

Associated action

Space
bar

⌘ Space

Show or hide the
Spotlight search field (when multiple languages are installed, may rotate
through enabled script systems).

Tab

⇧ Tab

Navigate
through controls in a reverse direction.

⌘ Tab

Move forward to the next
most recently used application in a list of open applications.

⇧ ⌘ Tab

Move
backward through a list of open applications (sorted by recent use).

⌃ Tab

Move focus to the next
grouping of controls in a dialog or the next table (when Tab moves to the
next cell).

⇧ ⌃ Tab

Move
focus to the previous grouping of controls.

Esc

⌘ Esc

Open Front Row.

Eject

⌃ ⌘ Eject

Quit
all applications (after giving the user a chance to save changes to open
documents) and restart the computer.

⌃ ⌥ ⌘ Eject

Quit all applications
(after giving the user a chance to save changes to open documents) and shut
the computer down.

F1

⌃ F1

Toggle
full keyboard access on or off.

F2

⌃ F2

Move focus to the menu
bar.

F3

⌃ F3

Move
focus to the Dock.

F4

⌃ F4

Move focus to the active
(or next) window.

⇧ ⌃  F4

Move
focus to the previously active window.

F5

⌃ F5

Move focus to the
toolbar.

⌘  F5

Turn
VoiceOver on or off.

F6

⌃  F6

Move focus to the first
(or next) panel.

⇧ ⌃ F6

Move
focus to the previous panel.

F7

⌃ F7

Temporarily override the
current keyboard access mode in windows and dialogs.

F8

 

Tile
or untile all enabled spaces.

F9

 

Tile or untile all open windows.

F10

 

Tile
or untile all open windows in the currently active
application.

F11

 

Hide or show all open
windows.

F12

 

Hide
or display Dashboard.

`(grave
accent)

⌘ `

Activate the next open
window in the frontmost application.

⇧ ⌘ `

Activate
the previous open window in the frontmost
application.

⌥ ⌘ `

Move focus to the window
drawer.

–
(hyphen)

⌘ –

Decrease
the size of the selected item (equivalent to the Smaller command).

⌥ ⌘ –

Zoom out when screen
zooming is on.

{
(left bracket)

⌘ {

 

Left-align
a selection (equivalent to the Align Left command).

}
(right bracket)

⌘ }

 

Right-align a selection
(equivalent to the Align Right command).

|
(pipe)

⌘ |

 

Center-align
a selection (equivalent to the Align Center command).

:
(colon)

⌘ :

 

Display the Spelling
window (equivalent to the Spelling command).

;
(semicolon)

⌘ ;

 

Find
misspelled words in the document (equivalent to the Check Spelling command).

,
(comma)

⌘ ,

 

Open the application’s
preferences window (equivalent to the Preferences command).

⌥ ⌃ ⌘ ,

Decrease
screen contrast.

.
(period)

⌥ ⌃ ⌘ .

Increase screen
contrast.

?
(question mark)

⌘ ?

 

Open
the application’s help in Help Viewer.

/
(forward slash)

⌥ ⌘ /

Turn font smoothing on
or off.

=
(equal sign)

⇧ ⌘ =

Increase
the size of the selected item (equivalent to the Bigger command).

⌥ ⌘ =

Zoom in when screen
zooming is on.

3

⇧ ⌘ 3

Capture
the screen to a file.

⇧ ⌃ ⌘ 3

Capture the screen to
the Clipboard.

4

⇧ ⌘ 4

Capture
a selection to a file.

⇧ ⌃ ⌘ 4

Capture a selection to
the Clipboard.

8

⌥ ⌘ 8

Turn
screen zooming on or off.

⌥ ⌃ ⌘ 8

Invert the screen
colors.

A

⌘ A

 

Highlight
every item in a document or window, or all characters in a text field
(equivalent to the Select All command).

B

⌘ B

 

Boldface the selected
text or toggle boldfaced text on and off (equivalent to the Bold command).

C

⌘ C

 

Duplicate
the selected data and store on the Clipboard (equivalent to the Copy
command).

⇧ ⌘ C

 

Display the Colors
window (equivalent to the Show Colors command).

⌥ ⌘ C

 

Copy
the style of the selected text (equivalent to the Copy Style command).

⌃ ⌘ C

 

Copy the formatting
settings of the selected item and store on the Clipboard (equivalent to the
Copy Ruler command).

D

⌥ ⌘ D

Show
or hide the Dock.

⌘ ⌃ D

 

Display the definition
of the selected word in the Dictionary application.

E

⌘ E

 

Use
the selection for a find operation.

F

⌘ F

 

Open a Find window
(equivalent to the Find command).

⌥ ⌘ F

 

Jump
to the search field control.

G

⌘ G

 

Find the next occurrence
of the selection (equivalent to the Find Next command).

⇧ ⌘ G

 

Find
the previous occurrence of the selection (equivalent to the Find Previous
command).

H

⌘ H

 

Hide the windows of the
currently running application (equivalent to the Hide ApplicationName
command).

⌥ ⌘ H

 

Hide
the windows of all other running applications (equivalent to the Hide Others
command).

I

⌘ I

 

Italicize the selected
text or toggle italic text on or off (equivalent to the Italic command).

⌘ I

 

Display
an Info window.

⌥ ⌘ I

 

Display an inspector
window.

J

⌘ J

 

Scroll
to a selection.

M

⌘ M

 

Minimize the active
window to the Dock (equivalent to the Minimize command).

⌥ ⌘ M

 

Minimize
all windows of the active application to the Dock (equivalent to the Minimize
All command).

N

⌘ N

 

Open a new document
(equivalent to the New command).

O

⌘ O

 

Display
a dialog for choosing a document to open (equivalent to the Open command).

P

⌘ P

 

Display the Print dialog
(equivalent to the Print command).

⇧ ⌘ P

 

Display
a dialog for specifying printing parameters (equivalent to the Page Setup
command).

Q

⌘ Q

 

Quit the application
(equivalent to the Quit command).

⇧ ⌘ Q

Log
out the current user (equivalent to the Log Out command).

⇧ ⌥ ⌘ Q

Log out the current user
without confirmation.

S

⌘ S

 

Save
the active document (equivalent to the Save command).

⇧ ⌘ S

 

Display the Save dialog
(equivalent to the Save As command).

T

⌘ T

 

Display
the Fonts window (equivalent to the Show Fonts command).

⌥ ⌘ T

 

Show or hide a toolbar
(equivalent to the Show/Hide Toolbar command).

U

⌘ U

 

Underline
the selected text or turn underlining on or off (equivalent to the Underline
command).

V

⌘ V

 

Insert the Clipboard
contents at the insertion point (equivalent to the Paste command).

⌥ ⌘ V

 

Apply
the style of one object to the selected object (equivalent to the Paste Style
command).

⌥ ⌘ ⌘ V

 

Apply the style of the
surrounding text to the inserted object (equivalent to the Paste and Match
Style command).

⌃ ⌘ V

 

Apply
formatting settings to the selected object (equivalent to the Paste Ruler
command).

W

⌘ W

 

Close the active window
(equivalent to the Close command).

⇧ ⌘ W

 

Close
a file and its associated windows (equivalent to the Close File command).

⌥ ⌘ W

 

Close all windows in the
application (equivalent to the Close All command).

X

⌘ X

 

Remove
the selection and store on the Clipboard (equivalent to the Cut command).

Z

⌘ Z

 

Reverse the effect of
the user’s previous operation (equivalent to the Undo command).

⇧ ⌘ Z

 

Reverse
the effect of the last Undo command (equivalent to the Redo command).

⇢ (right arrow)

⌘ ⇢

Change the keyboard
layout to current layout of Roman script.

⇧ ⌘ ⇢

Extend
selection to the next semantic unit, typically the end of the current line.

⇧ ⇢

Extend selection one
character to the right.

⇧ ⌥ ⇢

Extend
selection to the end of the current word, then to the end of the next word.

⌃ ⇢

Move focus to another
value or cell within a view, such as a table.

⇠  (left arrow)

⌘ ⇠

Change
the keyboard layout to current layout of system script.

⇧ ⌘ ⇠

Extend selection to the
previous semantic unit, typically the beginning of the current line.

⇧ ⇠

Extend
selection one character to the left.

⇧ ⌥ ⇠

Extend selection to the
beginning of the current word, then to the beginning of the previous word.

⌃ ⇠

Move
focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table.

⇡  (up arrow)

⇧ ⌘ ⇡

Extend selection upward
in the next semantic unit, typically the beginning of the document.

⇧ ⇡

Extend
selection to the line above, to the nearest character boundary at the same
horizontal location.

⇧ ⌥ ⇡

Extend selection to the
beginning of the current paragraph, then to the beginning of the next
paragraph.

⌃ ⇡

Move
focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table.

⇣  (down arrow)

⇧ ⌘ ⇣

Extend selection
downward in the next semantic unit, typically the end of the document.

⇧ ⇣

Extend
selection to the line below, to the nearest character boundary at the same
horizontal location.

⇧ ⌥ ⇣

Extend selection to the
end of the current paragraph, then to the end of the
next paragraph (include the paragraph terminator, such as Return, in cut,
copy, and paste operations).

⌃ ⇣

Move
focus to another value or cell within a view, such as a table.