macOS Keyboard Shortcuts — A Practical Reference

At a glance

These shortcuts cover the actions most useful in research and development work: finding files, navigating text, managing windows, capturing evidence, and recovering from an unresponsive app.

• Shortcuts can vary by app and keyboard layout.
• On newer keyboards, the Fn/Globe key may open the Character Viewer.
• Recovery shortcuts can discard unsaved work; read their warnings before using them.

Modifier-key legend

Symbol	Key
⌘	Command
⌥	Option / Alt
⌃	Control
⇧	Shift
Fn / 🌐	Function / Globe

Search, apps, and windows

• ⌘ Space — open Spotlight.
• ⌘ Tab — switch to the next open app; keep holding Command to choose an app.
• ⌘ H — hide all windows of the front app.
• ⌥ ⌘ H — hide windows of every app except the front app.
• ⌘ M — minimize the front window.
• ⌘ W — close the front window or tab.
• ⌘ Q — quit the front app.
• ⌃ ⌘ Q — lock the screen.

Screenshots and screen recording

• ⇧ ⌘ 3 — capture the entire screen.
• ⇧ ⌘ 4 — capture a selected region; press Space after invoking it to capture a window.
• ⇧ ⌘ 5 — open screenshot and screen-recording controls.

Use ⌃ with a screenshot shortcut when you want to copy the capture to the clipboard instead of saving a file.

Finder

Files

• ⌘ Delete — move selected items to the Trash.
• ⇧ ⌘ Delete — empty the Trash after confirmation.
• ⌘ I — show information for the selected item.
• ⌘ D — duplicate the selected item.
• Space — preview the selected item with Quick Look.

Navigation

• ⌘ ↑ — open the enclosing folder.
• ⌘ ↓ — open the selected item.
• ⇧ ⌘ G — go to a folder by path.
• ⌘ 1, ⌘ 2, ⌘ 3, ⌘ 4 — switch among icon, list, column, and gallery views.

Text editing and navigation

These work in most native text fields and many editors:

• ⌘ A — select all.
• ⌘ C, ⌘ X, ⌘ V — copy, cut, and paste.
• ⌘ Z — undo.
• ⇧ ⌘ Z — redo in apps that follow the standard convention.
• ⌥ ← / ⌥ → — move one word backward or forward.
• ⌘ ← / ⌘ → — move to the beginning or end of the current line.
• Fn Delete — forward delete on compact keyboards.

Safari and Chrome

• ⌘ T — open a new tab.
• ⌘ W — close the current tab.
• ⇧ ⌘ T — reopen the most recently closed tab.
• ⌘ L — focus the address bar.
• ⌘ R — reload the page.
• ⌘ [ / ⌘ ] — go backward or forward in tab history.

Browser extensions and web apps may override some shortcuts.

Recovery and power controls

Save work first

The following actions can close apps or discard unsaved changes. Use them only when the normal app or Apple menu controls do not work.

• ⌥ ⌘ Esc — open Force Quit Applications.
• Press and hold the power button — force the Mac to turn off when it is unresponsive.
• ⌃ ⌘ Power — on supported built-in keyboards without Touch ID, force a restart without prompting to save open documents.
• ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ Power — on supported built-in keyboards without Touch ID, ask apps to quit and then shut down; apps with unsaved documents may prompt first.

Power-key behavior differs across Touch ID keyboards, external keyboards, and macOS versions. Prefer Apple menu → Shut Down or Restart whenever the system still responds.

Official reference

Apple maintains the authoritative and most current list at Mac keyboard shortcuts.