45 Insanely Useful Mac Keyboard Shortcuts to Save You Over An Hour a Week in 2019 – The Ultimate Guide

It’s funny how breakthroughs in productivity come from the most unlikely turn of events.

Several years ago I broke a finger.

And I found myself struggling to use the mouse at work.

Navigating around the computer screen was painfully slow (pun intended).

I had to find a way of working smarter.

Well, as they say, necessity is the mother of invention. Before long I had mastered keyboard shortcuts on my PC (which is what I was using at the time). My digital life was never the same again.

Using keyboard shortcuts is one of the best time-saving hacks I’ve come across. It’s probably right up there with my other favorite hacks which include using Dragon Dictate to save time in typing on the keyboard, Divvy for screen management which saves oodles of time in minimizing and resizing screens, or my Top 15 iPhone Siri voice commands to save you an hour a week on your iPhone.

Here are some very useful keyboard shortcuts for your Mac.

(Are you a PC user? Check out these 57 keyboard shortcuts to turn you into an Excel Ninja!) .

At a guess, I’d say I save over 15 minutes each day using keyboard shortcuts by using my keyboard instead fo reaching across to my mouse each time I want to open a new window or launch an application. 

Over a period of a week, this adds up to 75 minutes assuming a 5 day work week – which is well over an hour in saved time. 

And as they say … time is money, right? 

And so I present to you …. (*drumroll*)

45 insanely useful time and money saving keyboard shortcuts for your Mac

Note: these shortcuts were first created for Mac OSX Mavericks as at 24th Jan 2014 but I’ve recently gone through and updated them for 2019. Please email me if you find any errors in this list and I’ll be happy to fix them 🙂 

1. Control + Command + Space Bar – Show character viewer from which you can choose emojis and other symbols
2. Command+ tab – Flip between open applications or switch to the next most recently used app among your open apps
3. Command+` – Flip Between Windows in Current Application
4. Command+ M – Minimize the current window to the dock. (Option + Command + M minimizes all windows on the app)
5. Command + H – Hide all windows of the front app (Command + Option + H – Hide all other app windows)
6. Command + W – Close current window
7. Command + Option + H – Close all other open windows (besides currently open application) 
8. Command + , – Bring up the preferences window in the application you’re currently in
9. Command + Option + D – Hide and unhide the Dock
10. Command + Space – Activate Spotlight on your mac –  (Check out the Alfred app – it’s an awesome alternative to spotlight and includes incredible workflows. Highly recommended!)
    
11. Control + Up Arrow – Activate Mission Control
12. Command + L – Select Safari’s address / URL field to quickly enter a URL
13. Command + Shift + U – Mark messages as read or unread in Mail app
14. Command + I – Check for information on a particular file within Finder
15. Command + Option + I – Check for information on multiple files within Finder – (just keep clicking on different files to show information related to that file)
16. Command + Down Arrow – To open a file in its native application without clicking (from within finder)
17. Option + Left Arrow (or Right Arrow) – To jump across the whole word quickly
18. Shift + Option + Left Arrow (or Right Arrow) – To select a whole word at a time
19. Command + T – Open a second tab within a Safari session
20. Command + Shift + ] (or [) – Jump between open tabs in Safari
21. Put your Mac to sleep – Command + Option + Eject (If your keyboard doesn’t have an Eject button then use the power button)
22. To grab a screenshot of the entire screen and save the image to your desktop – Command + Shift + 3
23. Command + Shift + 4 – To grab a screenshot of a selected area of your screen (and then drag the cursor over the area you want to take a screenshot of. Once you release the mouse the screenshot will automatically be copied to your desktop)
24. Command + Shift + 4 + Spacebar – To take a screenshot of just one window on your screen
25. Command + Shift + Delete – Empty trash when in Finder
26. Command + Option + Shift + Delete – Force computer to Empty trash (so you don’t get warnings)
27. Shift + Command + I – To automatically generate a new email message with a link to the page you’re browsing when in Safari

Now for some keyboard shortcuts to create symbols on your Mac:

1. Option + =  To create not equals to symbol (≠)
2. Shift + Option + + – To create a plus or minus sign (±)-  
3. Option + 5 – To create the infinity symbol (∞)
4. Option + ; – To create ellipses (…)
5. Option + ? – To create the dividing symbol (÷)
6. Option + > – To create equal to or greater than symbol (≥)
7. Option + < – To create equal to or lower than (≤)
8. Option + P – To create a Pi sign (π)
9. Option + I – To create a circumflex (ˆ)
10. Option + N – To create Tilde (˜)
11. Option + Shift  + ? – To create an inverted question mark (¿)
12. Option + R – To create a registered trademark symbol ((®)
13. Option + G – To create a copyright symbol (©)
14. Option + 8 – To create a bullet point symbol (•)
15. Option + T – To create a dagger for footnotes (†)
16. Option + D – To create the Greek letter delta (∂)
17. Option + S – To create the Greek letter Beta (ß)
18. Option + Z – To create the Greek letter Omega (Ω)

What Keyboard shortcuts do you use to save yourself time? Is there anything you’d like to add to this list? I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!