My macOS keyboard shortcuts

The macOS shortcuts seem like an easy thing to dismiss... but once you have bought into them, they are kind of thing that turn into a deal-breaker when trying to move away from macOS.<p>The dedicated Cmd key for most operations (which doesn&#x27;t conflict with, say Ctrl+C in the terminal) is super-convenient. The consistency across apps is... something that you can&#x27;t appreciate until you experience it. And the pervasive Emacs-like text navigation shortcuts throughout the system are productivity boosters. I like how someone else described the &quot;right side of the keyboard&quot; as &quot;keyboard Siberia&quot; -- I have not touched it for years and have not missed any of those special keys in minimalistic keyboards that don&#x27;t have them.<p>Until I tried to actually move off of macOS last year. The different shortcuts on Windows were and still are super-painful. For months, I fought those and tried to use macOS-like shortcuts on Windows. You can see my AHK configuration here if you are interested in adopting something similar: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jmmv.dev&#x2F;2021&#x2F;07&#x2F;macos-ahk.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jmmv.dev&#x2F;2021&#x2F;07&#x2F;macos-ahk.html</a><p>Recently, though, and because that setup is problematic at times and because I decided to remove macOS altogether from my machine... I&#x27;m trying to retrain my hands and adapt to the non-macOS shortcuts. It&#x27;s painful and I miss the macOS consistency a lot. On the plus side, however, after a few weeks of this on Windows, I booted into a FreeBSD desktop and could navigate the system pretty well :) Some more details here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jmmv.dev&#x2F;2022&#x2F;03&#x2F;a-year-on-windows-shortcuts.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;jmmv.dev&#x2F;2022&#x2F;03&#x2F;a-year-on-windows-shortcuts.html</a>

I used Mac and Windows alternately since 1997 until 2017 when I moved to Arch Linux with the i3wm Tiling Window Manager [0].<p>i3wm is easily one of the key things keeping me using Linux as my daily driver (personal + work). It&#x27;s so simple yet deeply configurable. Sure, it takes a bit of time to tweak and get used to but IMO it has paid off massively. It has made using a computer just so much more of a joy. Whenever I use Mac and Windows I really miss i3wm. I spend barely any time moving Windows around - everything Just Works (with the caveat of some tweaking - but my config file is only about 100 lines of i3 declarations) and I&#x27;ve barely had to change it in 5 years.<p>I do go around shilling i3wm here and there on hn, purely just because it has provided me actual joy and I want others to know about it! I know the Apple crowd are fans of everything Just Working, and i3 comes with sensible defaults to enable that.<p>[0]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i3wm.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i3wm.org&#x2F;</a>

I like that the author points out a number of great default shortcuts in macOS, but I find it hard to beat the combination of yabai[1] and skhd[2] for the best keyboard-driven workflow. In the absence of these, I would be more inclined to try either Hammerspoon or Karabiner-Elements. I also find Phoenix[3] intriguing, but it&#x27;s probably too much work to get it to where I&#x27;d want it for daily use.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;koekeishiya&#x2F;yabai" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;koekeishiya&#x2F;yabai</a><p>[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;koekeishiya&#x2F;skhd" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;koekeishiya&#x2F;skhd</a><p>[3] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;kasper&#x2F;phoenix" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;kasper&#x2F;phoenix</a>

Creating a Hyper Key (i.e., remapping capslock to become an additional modifier key) is a game changer! I use Capslock [1] with Karabiner Elements on macOS.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Vonng&#x2F;Capslock" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;Vonng&#x2F;Capslock</a>

I end up using the built-in emacs key bindings a lot (they also work in many shells).<p>Ctrl-k (cut to the end of the current line and save it in a special secret extra clipboard) and ctrl-y to paste<p>Ctrl-e to go to the end of a line, ctrl-a to go to the beginning.<p>Ctrl-d to forward-delete, ctrl-t to transpose characters (this rarely saves time but I do it anyway).<p>You can also use ctrl with b, f, p, and n to go back or forwards one character or to the previous or next line, but I just use the arrow keys.

My favorite shortcut is to restore minimized windows by pressing Command-Tab to display the application switcher, selecting the minimized app&#x27;s icon, holding down Option (⌥), and then letting go of the Command key. The minimized window will be restored to its previous position and dimensions.

As someone who grew up with Windows XP, the first thing I do when I get a new Macbook is install Hyperswitch [1] which makes Cmd+Tab cycle through all windows of all applications of the current desktop.<p>The regular OSX workflow seems to be only good for a workflow that includes a single maximised Chrome window with a million tabs open.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bahoom.com&#x2F;hyperswitch" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bahoom.com&#x2F;hyperswitch</a>

What I would definitely suggest on top of this list is: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hammerspoon.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.hammerspoon.org&#x2F;</a> for extensive keyboard + functionality customization.

Those launch&#x2F;focus app hotkeys in Karabiner are exactly why I made rcmd (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lowtechguys.com&#x2F;rcmd" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;lowtechguys.com&#x2F;rcmd</a>)<p>I had a similar setup first in Karabiner, then in BetterTouchTool for easier configurability. But I needed the system to be smarter about this and allow me to assign keys on a whim, not have to change a config file.<p>rcmd automatically detects your most used apps from those already running and assigns keys to them.<p>It uses the Right Command key as the trigger, but it’s completely configurable to any other trigger like the mentioned Control+Shift in the post.<p>It also allows you to hide&#x2F;show the app fast (I do that a lot with the kitty terminal) or cycle between apps with the same first letter.

&gt; Command-Backtick: cycle current application’s windows<p>For the Brits among us, or perhaps anyone with a non-US keyboard layout, I recall when I still had my Mac, this wasn&#x27;t mapped properly. It was the button on the right of the left shift. This was quite strenuous when I had to switch within the same application. I can&#x27;t remember if I just re-mapped the shortcut or what it was, but I suggest you look into having that mapped to the button right above Tab (below ESC). It makes it a lot easier.

I use `option-left arrow` and `option-right arrow` all the time to travel to the next word, and `command-left arrow` and `command-right arrow` goes to the beginning and end of a line.<p>Combine any of these with the shift key and you can select everything in between.

Thanks for this! I learned a few new ones.<p>The main feature I want from a window manager is the ability to save my OSX workspace (applications open and tiled per Desktop, per monitor) and reset it to that state instantly. I haven&#x27;t found anything that does this yet. Does Karabiner, yabai, or any of the tools mentioned here do this?<p>I&#x27;ll spend significant time setting up my window environment just how I want it (grouping chats on Desktop 1, localhost browsers on Desktop 2, terminals on Desktop 3, etc.) Then after unplugging my Macbook, my workspace gets all messed up and I have to re-organize everything! I&#x27;m surprised this isn&#x27;t a more commonly discussed issue.

One of my biggest pain points with macOS, which I still haven&#x27;t adjusted to after over 15 years, is the inconsistent behavior of Home and End. This &quot;just worked&quot; in Windows, with the same behavior in every application. On macOS it&#x27;s per application which makes it so unpredictable I hesitate to even try&#x2F;use it.

I find native window switching extremely painful and cumbersome on Mac. Very highly recommend Alt Tab for fixing these issues <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;alt-tab-macos.netlify.app" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;alt-tab-macos.netlify.app</a><p>I basically can&#x27;t use a Mac in any reasonable capacity without this now

Paletro works wonders in this space. It’s like Alfred, but inside your application. (So I use my Alfred shortcut, with a Shift modifier.)<p>What’s great is the discoverability this affords. And because it shows the native shortcut right there, you can learn that if you want. Or if it’s something you don’t use so often, don’t bother.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;appmakes.io&#x2F;paletro" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;appmakes.io&#x2F;paletro</a><p>Tip: there’s an option to manually force it on for all apps, vs. ‘auto’ mode. Something like that, I’m not on my Mac now. Turn that on.

The custom shortcuts I have in Karabiner that I couldn&#x27;t be without:<p>capslock + [key] = ctrl + [key]<p>capslock alone = esc<p>capslock + space = enter<p>capslock + wasd = arrow keys

If you&#x27;re using Karabiner, I HIGHLY recommend putting the time in to learn how to use Goku[1]. I initially found it when trying to find an easier way to express the extremely verbose Karabiner config json but was turned off by the unfamiliar clojure-like EDN data format and the somewhat lacking documentation. A couple years later I had the right combination of free time and frustration from managing my Karabiner config that I actually took the time to setup Goku. I&#x27;ve found it not only drastically simplified the setup I already had, but made it so much easier to extend it and really take advantage of Karabiner.<p>It mostly provides more convenient syntax for what you do in Karabiner, but it also provides new abstractions that it converts into the appropriate rules. &quot;simlayers&quot; for example are keyboard layers entered by pressing the trigger key and quickly pressing a layer key within a short timeout window. I&#x27;ve used this to set shortcuts like w+e to open IntelliJ, w+r to open chrome, s+d to open Alfred&#x27;s clipboard history, etc.. Caveat being that there&#x27;s a slight delay on your simlayer trigger keys entering their actual character since the layer timeout must be hit before the default keydown behavior of inserting a character is used. Also it&#x27;s common to occasionally press a second key before releasing a first key while just typing naturally, so best to avoid using keys that you often roll into others while typing as trigger keys..<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;yqrashawn&#x2F;GokuRakuJoudo" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;yqrashawn&#x2F;GokuRakuJoudo</a>

I&#x27;ve tried Karabiner Elements for quite some time. Because I came from Windows and wanted to swap some keys around (command&#x2F;control and some shortcuts).<p>It seems to me that it made input lag sometimes worse and also just ate input more often that when I uninstalled it. I mean this piece of shit i9 2019 MBP does that sometimes anyway when under high load, but happens more often with Karabiner installed.

<i>Hold $KEY in text fields to get pop-up menu of given character with diacritic markings</i><p>No matter how long I&#x27;ve been using MacOS, it seems there&#x27;s always something new to learn that will surprise me. Something like 13 years exclusively using Macs for my desktop OS and I&#x27;ve just learned this. Granted I don&#x27;t speak or write any foreign languages so I wouldn&#x27;t have much use for diacritics, but it&#x27;s still cool.<p>Shortcuts I constantly use:<p>- Command-Backtick<p>- Command-Tab (seems obvious, but some people don&#x27;t work this way...)<p>- Command-Tab to hidden app icon then press Option before releasing Command to restore a hidden apps windows - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apple.stackexchange.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;55440" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apple.stackexchange.com&#x2F;a&#x2F;55440</a><p>- Command+Shift+4 to take screenshots using the built in functionality, or the other similar shortcuts for screenshot-ing a screen, portion of a screen, or a window to the clipboard.<p>- Shortcuts for sending window to left half &#x2F; right half of the screen, or switching screens, using Rectangle.<p>- Command-Opt-\ + TouchID for 1Password deserves a mention for sure.

How do you get Home&#x2F;End to work well and consistently on MacOS? I&#x27;m talking about these keys on this Apple Keyboard<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;LWO3VOG.jpg" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;i.imgur.com&#x2F;LWO3VOG.jpg</a><p>I&#x27;d like them be be beginning-of-line&#x2F;end-of-line like they are on Linux and Windows but instead they seem to vary by app

I can&#x27;t use any keyboard without my favorite mappings:<p>1. caps lock --&gt; escape &#x2F; ctrl<p>2. right command + h&#x2F;j&#x2F;k&#x2F;l --&gt; arrow keys<p>3. left&#x2F;right shift --&gt; left&#x2F;right parenthesis<p>Source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;harsilspatel&#x2F;dotfiles" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;harsilspatel&#x2F;dotfiles</a>

&gt; Hold $KEY in text fields to get pop-up menu of given character with diacritic markings<p>Well this explains the odd behaviour of vim keybindings on VSCode on a Mac. I hold `l` to move right and instead I just see a strange pipe-ish character pop up.

How is this front page material? Maybe I need to write a post about my qmk x karabiner x keyboard maestro set up because I’m kind of surprised.<p>- No tap and hold keys - No hyper escape - No latch keys<p>This all seems pedestrian from a keyboard shortcut guru perspective.

If you&#x27;re not signed into an iCloud account, do these get randomly reset half a dozen a day like the text shortcuts do?<p>I have to use a MacBook for work, but am forbidden from creating or logging into an iCloud account on it, and this is absolutely infuriating.<p>I found a way to copy all the shortcuts into a file so at least I don&#x27;t have to retype them every time, but at <i>least</i> six times a day, I have to delete the stupid &quot;omw: on my way!&quot; shortcut and drag my own file back into the window.<p>Several hours searching for a solution hasn&#x27;t solved it. This appears to be intentional on Apple&#x27;s part to force iCloud sign-in.

as someone who moves between windows and mac, first thing I do is to remap the cmd key on the ctrl key.<p>That means that many of the common shortcuts such as copy paste are on the same physicals buttons regardless of the OS.<p>Huge quality of life improvement.

I had a bunch of Karabiner shortcuts setup when I primarily drove a Mac. Since start of Covid I started on Windows fulltime when I upgraded my devices. At first the lack of emacs-like controls left me a little sad. (Have used emacs since 1998).<p>I soon discovered AutoHotkey and the Emacs configuration by John Cooper. It is pretty awesome. I have more consistency than I had on Mac. I also have emacs(like) bindings on Excel, Davinci Resolve, Chrome, and more.<p>Lest you think I&#x27;m weird for liking emacs, I also use an ErgoDox keyboard, so I probably am.

He mentions Copy &#x27;Em [1] as a clipboard manager. Does anyone else use this? I&#x27;ve used Clipmenu for years, but it doesn&#x27;t appear to have been updated in many years and is now a bit buggy.<p>Has anyone else used CE, or other clipboard managers?<p>1: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apprywhere.com&#x2F;ce-mac.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;apprywhere.com&#x2F;ce-mac.html</a>

Vimium [1] is great in browser.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;vimium.github.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;vimium.github.io&#x2F;</a>

Is there a macOS equivalent to Alt+Click&#x2F;drag in X? That&#x27;s something I still miss from linux&#x2F;unix systems.

I use a full size mac keyboard so I mapped the right-most function key (F19) to Mute&#x2F;Unmute in Zoom. Global shortcut, regardless of what app is in the foreground and super convenient to locate by touch. Recently, I added the key right next to it (F18) to toggle video.

FYI - This is Apple’s main list of keyboard shortcuts <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;HT201236" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;support.apple.com&#x2F;en-us&#x2F;HT201236</a>

cmd+option+v - this will move a file if you cmd+c first

Command control shift 4 to take a screenshot and instantly place it into what we doc im working on. Works on gitlab too<p>Press spacebar to capture the window

mod + 1: toggle Firefox<p>mod + 2: toggle Terminal<p>That’s the most useful I have.

What&#x27;s $KEY?

If you think this is good interface design I suggest you watch someone use a real system. Something like an old bloomberg terminal or those DOS stock keeping systems still kicking around some travel agents &#x2F; department stores.<p>I&#x27;ll take ugly and smart over the reverse any day.