Now that I’ve switched to a PowerBook at work, I’m trying to figure out what the Mac OS X equivalents are of various things that I was accustomed to in Windows. I wrote down a few things that I’ve found helpful, which hopefully will be helpful to other switchers. I’ll update this over time.
Keyboard Shortcuts – Text Editing
| Description |
Windows |
Mac OS X |
| Go to beginning of line |
(Home) |
(Cmd)(Left) |
| Go to end of line |
(End) |
(Cmd)(Right) |
| Go to beginning of document |
(Ctrl)(Home) |
(Cmd)(Up) |
| Go to end of document |
(Ctrl)(End) |
(Cmd)(Down) |
| Select from cursor until end of line |
(Shift)(End) |
(Cmd)(Shift)(Right) |
| Select from cursor until end of document |
(Ctrl)(Shift)(End) |
(Cmd)(Shift)(Down) |
Keyboard Shortcuts – Firefox
| Description |
Windows |
Mac OS X |
| Focus cursor in URL field |
(Alt)(D) |
(Cmd)(L) |
| Focus cursor in searchfield |
(Ctrl)(K) |
(Cmd)(K) |
Keyboard Shortcuts – Screenshots
| Key Combination |
Result |
| Command+Shift+3 |
Capture entire screen and save as a file |
| Command+Control+Shift+3 |
Capture entire screen and copy to the clipboard |
| Command+Shift+4 |
Capture dragged area and save as a file |
| Command+Control+Shift+4 |
Capture dragged area and copy to the clipboard |
| Command+Shift+4 then Space bar |
Capture a window, menu, desktop icon, or the menu bar and save as a file |
| Command+Control+Shift+4 then Space bar |
Capture a window, menu, desktop icon, or the menu bar and copy to the clipboard |
Keyboard Shortcuts – Application Switching: Exposé, Dashboard, etc.
| Description |
Windows |
Mac OS X |
| Toggle between applications |
(Alt)(Tab) |
(Cmd)(Tab) |
| Toggle between windows in an application |
(Ctrl)(F6) |
(Cmd)(Backquote) |
| Focus on menubar |
(Alt) |
(Ctrl)(F2) |
| App preferences |
Not consistent |
(Cmd)(Comma) |
| Hide app |
??? |
(Cmd)(H) |
| Exposé: Tile all open windows |
N/A |
(F9) |
| Exposé: Tile open windows for current app |
N/A |
(F10) |
| Exposé: Hide all open windows, show desktop |
N/A |
(F11) |
| Dashboard – toggle |
N/A |
(F12) |
| Bring up a list of applications to kill |
(Alt)(Control)(Delete) |
(Command)(Option)(Escape) |
Software
Must-have Software
More cool stuff
- Automator
- Platypus – Make GUI apps that wrap scripts such as Perl, Python, AppleScript, etc.
Software I’m playing with or might want to play with
Miscellaneous links


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Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard is packed with over 300 new features, installs easily, and works with the software and accessories you already have. |
Thanks Marc, great list of keyboard shortcuts
That’s what I was looking for. Thanks!
Marc,
Useful guide. Keep on updating it. Check out these apps too, if you haven’t done so already:
- CheckOff
- Alarm Clock
- TextWrangler/BBEdit
- VLC media player
- Cocktail (sys. utility)
Also, from what I’ve read above, it seems like you haven’t fully realized the power of QuickSilver =) Read tutorials and tips/tricks. And… install -at least- the recommended modules (such as MouseGestures, calculator, etc.) you can replace several apps from your list with QS.
Again, you may have read this already, but just in case:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106743
- these are some additionl tricks with the dock: e.g. opt+cmd+click -> will switch to that app and hide the rest.
Cheers,
~M
regarding opt+cmd+click: this what you will find only on a mac.
things that macs have, but windows doesnt:
http://www.wellness-heaven.net
(Testberichte)
Cheers
This is exactly the Mac shortcuts that I have been looking for! Thanks a million, Marc.
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great list, thanks.
One more Must-have Software for me:
OpenOffice 3.0 & MobileMe
Thanks a million!
And if you want your Home and End keys to work like they do in Windows, I found this site….
http://www.starryhope.com/tech/apple/2006/keyfixer/
great list, thanks.
Thanks a lot for these great links. This are exactly the shortcuts I´ve been looking for.