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Were you frustrated the first time you tried ejecting a CD on a Mac? “Where’s the eject button?”, you probably asked yourself. Everyone using a PC makes a habit of looking for the eject button on the front of the computer casing. After asking a friend or calling Apple support, you quickly realized the eject button is upper right most button on your keyboard.

Apple designers want you to use the keyboard for everything. It’s nice to have a mouse, but why should you always have to direct it to the top of the screen to drag down a menu? That’s why keyboard shortcuts are handy.

Command / Apple = Cmd

Option = Opt

Control = Ctrl

Shift

So, for instance,

3 = Cmd+Shift+3 = Press and hold Cmd and Shift, then press 3

Always hold the function keys down first, then press the key to perform an action.

So, did you notice what happened when you pressed Cmd+Shift+3?

An image file appeared on your desktop. If you pressed it more than once, there will be that many image files on your desktop. They should be called Picture 1.jpg, Picture 2.jpg, and so on.

This image is a screenshot. So, whenever you want to take a screenshot, just press Cmd+Shift+3.

You can find a bunch of keyboard shortcuts in your System Preferences.

In the top menu bar, Go to Apple -> System Preferences. Click on the Keyboard and Mouse Icon in the second row. If you do not see this icon, simply press Show All at the top of the window then navigate to Keyboard and Mouse.

Click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. This will open a list of all the Keyboard Shortcuts that come packaged in OS X. You can use this as a reference.

You can even design your own keyboard shortcuts for every action on the list down to any menu item in any Application. I would stick to the defaults, unless a specific keyboard shortcut is uncomfortable for you to perform. Also, be aware that the same keyboard shortcut cannot be used for two actions at once.

Another place you can find keyboard shortcuts is in the Menu bar. For instance, in the Finder you can go up to the menu and select File -> New folder. Right next to that selection in the menu bar, it says the corresponding keyboard shortcut. Cmd+Shift+N makes a new folder in the Finder. Cmd+N makes a new finder window.

Ok, so earlier I promised some cool shortcuts. All of these and more can be found in the Keyboard Shortcuts Preference Pane. Here they are:

Turn Zoom on or off:	Cmd+Option+8
Zoom Out:	Cmd+Option+-
Zoom In:	Cmd+Option+=
Hide or show the Dock:	Cmd+Option+D
Tile all windows:	F9
Tile Application windows:	F10
Reveal Desktop:	F11
Reveal Dashboard:	F12

That’s all there is to keyboard shortcuts. Use them. Make a sticky note so you can learn them. You’ll get them in no time.

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Written by Steve Blue
steveblue@iuseapple.com