10 of the Best Mac Shortcuts To Make Your Day All-the-More Productive

World Executive Digest | 10 of the Best Mac Shortcuts To Make Your Day All-the-More Productive | One of the best things about the Mac is how easy they are to use. Macs account for almost 17 percent of desktop computers worldwide.

Yet there’s always a way to make life run even smoother when you’re working on computers. Mac shortcuts let you speed up your workflow.

Some shortcuts are obvious, like Cmd + C to copy and Cmd + V to paste. Yet there are many more that will make using your Mac even easier.

Read on to learn 10 of the best Mac keyboard shortcuts to make you more productive.

1. Quitting Programs

There are two shortcuts for quitting programs on a Mac. Stopping a program is simple – press Cmd + Q. This acts as a ‘quit’ function.

Use this instead of just clicking the red dot in the top of the program window. Cmd + Q actually quits the program, while the red dot just closes the window.

Sometimes, a program can stick and stop the system from working. Nothing you do will make a difference. Use Cmd + Option + Esc to force-quit the application causing the issue.

2. Taking Screenshots

There are two types of Mac screenshot shortcut. The first is the most straightforward. Press Cmd + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of the entire screen.

This is great if you want to show someone how a document should look in a certain program.

Yet you won’t always need the entire screen in your screenshot. Having to crop it to the relevant part can be a tedious way to spend time. Luckily, Mac also offers a shortcut to let you take a screenshot of a part of the screen.

Press Cmd + Shift + 4. This will bring up crosshairs so you can select the part of the screen for your screenshot.

Click and drag across the section you want. It’ll create the screenshot when you release the mouse button.

3. Minimize Your Windows

When you’re working with several files and programs, you often need to switch from one window to another. Yet leaving them all open at once makes it difficult to see what you’re doing.

To minimize a window you no longer need, hit Cmd + M. It’ll drop down to the dock where you can click on it to re-access it.

Be aware that minimizing windows doesn’t close the program. So having too many programs open could make your system run slower.

4. Hide the Dock

The dock keeps all your programs in one place. Yet sometimes, it can take up space on the screen that you need for working.

Use Cmd + Option + D to hide the dock. Using it again brings the dock back.

If you find yourself doing this a lot, consider going dock-free. Find the Dock option under System Preferences. Toggle the option so it’s hidden whenever you’re not using it.

Move the mouse to the edge of the screen to bring the dock up.

5. Search Your Mac

There are many times when you might want to search the internet or your Mac. Either of these functions calls for a spotlight.

Press Cmd + Space to bring up the spotlight and do your search. Press and hold the keys to access Siri instead.

For other ways to search on a Mac, check https://setapp.com/how-to/search-on-mac.

6. Pasting From the Internet

Sometimes you find the perfect information online, but when you try to copy and paste it into a document, the formatting goes wrong.

One way to solve the problem is to press Cmd + Options + Shift + V. This strips out the formatting from the text before it pastes it into the document.

You’re then free to reformat the text however you want it to look.

7. Using Emojis

Emojis are fast becoming a new form of punctuation. Yet it can be tedious to keep looking for emojis online if you want to use them in documents or messages.

If you’re looking for an emoji shortcut Mac has you covered!

Press Cmd + Ctrl + Space to access the emoji screen. Double-click on the emoji you want to use and it’ll appear wherever your cursor is.

8. Moving Between Windows

You may end up with lots of windows open for different programs. Perhaps you also have reference images open in Finder.

Cycle through them quickly by pressing Cmd + Tab.

Be aware that pressing Cmd + Tab once will take you from your current program to the one you used last. Press it again to go back to the program before that.

Hold down the Cmd key when you press Tab and it brings up a window. This displays all the programs you have open. Pressing Tab moves through them.

9. Quick View Documents

Sometimes you want to look at an image or a document in more depth. You might think you need to double-click on it to open it in its default program.

Or you can access a quick preview to save you opening more apps.

Just click on the file in the Finder window and press the Space key. This brings up a preview. If you’re opening a document with several pages, you’ll only see the first page.

To preview several files, select several files and press Cmd+Opt+Y. This turns them into a slideshow you can scroll through.

10. Permanently Delete a File

When you drag a file to the Trash, it remains on your system, taking up hard drive space.

This is great news if you want to access a file you’ve deleted. Simply go to the Trash and restore the file.

If you don’t want to restore it, you can choose Empty Trash to clear some space on your drive.

Yet if you know you won’t need it again, why not delete it for good in the first place? Click on the file and press Cmd + Option + Delete. This bypasses the Trash and removes the file permanently.

Which of These Mac Shortcuts Will You Use First?

These Mac shortcuts will all make you productive because they save time. No more clicking in and out of windows, looking for what you need.

They also make you look like a tech wizard when you use them in front of other people.

Check out our tips and tricks articles for more helpful IT hints.