25 useful Mac keyboard shortcuts to save you time

Perhaps you’ve just made the transition from PC to Mac and you’re trying to get to grips with the Mac keyboard layout and shortcuts. Or maybe you’ve been a Mac user for some time and you keep telling yourself to learn those extremely handy shortcuts!

Listed below are 25 very useful Mac shortcuts and once you begin using them you won’t understand how you ever lived without them before!

Essential everyday

1) Command + X = Cut
2) Command + V = Paste
3) Command + C = Copy
4) Command + B = Bold
5) Command + I = Italic
6) Command + Z = Undo
7) Command + Q = Quit
8) Command + W = Close window

Volume & Brightness

9) F1 = Decrease brightness
10) F2 = Increase brightness
11) F10/F11/F12 = Adjust sound volume

12) F3 = Mission Control (this allows you to quickly locate an open window)

Symbols

13) Alt + 2 = Euro sign €
14) Alt + 3 = Hash sign #

Deleting

15) Fn + Delete = Forward delete
16) Alt + Delete = Delete the entire word to the left of the cursor

Screen shots & screen grabs

17) Command + Shift + 3 = Capture the screen to a file
18) Command + Shift + 4 = Capture a selection to a file

Putting your Mac to sleep & shutting down

(Before reading the below, take note that the eject key is right next to the F12 button – it has an arrow pointing up wards with a small line underneath)

19) Command + Alt + ESC = Force Quit
20) Ctrl + Eject = Brings up the box showing options to restart / sleep / shutdown
21) Shift + Control + Eject = Sets your displays to sleep
22) Command + Alt + Eject = Sets the Mac to sleep
23) Command + Control + Eject = Save/Quit all applications and then restarts the Mac
24) Command + Shift + Q = Log out of your OS X user account (but prompts you first)
25) Command + Alt + Control + Eject = Quit all applications then shuts down the Mac

To help you on your way to learning the shortcuts why not print this out and stick it on your desk at work?

Let us know how you get on – we always love to hear from you! Furthermore if you know of any other important shortcuts which you feel are worth a mention then do comment below.