13 efficient keyboard shortcuts for your Mac

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There are a lot of efficient key combinations for the Mac that you may not know about. They ensure that you perform an action within a fraction of a second, which had slowed down a couple of seconds with the sliding and clicking with the mouse. In this workshop we discuss 13 shortcuts that are not known to all Mac users. That shortcut list for the Mac saves a lot of time!

Shortcut List:

1. Show desktop

Your desktop will probably contain all kinds of recent images, texts and documents. You want to be able to do that quickly and you do that the fastest with the key combination Cmd + F3.

2. Show or hide the Dock

One moment it’s a stand-in-the-road, and an hour later you’ll miss the Dock again. With Cmd + Option + D you quickly switch between showing and hiding the Dock.

3. Looking up in dictionary

Do you not know the meaning of a word, or do you want to translate a word? Place the mouse cursor on the word and key in Cmd + Ctrl + D. Works faster than Google

4. Check your spelling

Done with a report, summary, or other document? The shortcut Cmd +; takes you along all misspelled words in, for example, your Pages or Word document.

5. Stop and hide

Switching between apps is fast with Cmd + Tab. Via this app switcher you also close a selected app quickly by typing Q. With H you hide an app.

6. To file location

Many Mac users put their frequently used files in the Dock. But you might not know this yet: with a Cmd-click on the icon, macOS takes you directly to the file location in Finder.

7. Screenshot in clipboard

Screenshots (Cmd + Shift + 3) make a mess of your desktop. Therefore add Ctrl to this key combination. The screenshot is in your clipboard, with Cmd + V you paste it in an app.

8. Force stop

If an app does not respond, you can force a stop with Cmd + Option + Esc. Select the right app and press Enter. The program closes and can be restarted.

9. Hide an app as soon as possible

Secretly facebooking and is your boss passing by? Press the Cmd + H key to quickly hide the active app. With Cmd + Option + H you hide all apps in the background.

10. Open an app

With all those shortcuts you do not often need the mouse anymore. Certainly not if you also use Spotlight (Cmd + space). For example, enter “Mail” to open the Mail app.

11. Find everything

Spotlight is useful for quickly opening apps and files. If you need to dig deeper, Option + Cmd + Space works better. This keyboard shortcut invokes the powerful Finder search window.

12. Paste without formatting

Text copy and paste saves you a lot of time, especially if you stick with Shift + Option + Cmd + V. With this key combination you can paste the text without having to make up the right style.

13. Empty the trash

Files are only really gone when you have emptied the trash. Do this in Finder with Cmd + Shift + Backspace and press Enter. You do not have to open the Trash.

Which keyboard shortcut for the Mac is indispensable to you?

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