Discover essential Mac hotkeys to boost your productivity. Learn shortcuts for system-level operations, Finder, and more. Enhance your efficiency today!
Recently, while working on a project, I saw experts using shortcuts with incredible efficiency. Their proficiency was awe-inspiring, highlighting the gap between us. While you’re still slowly moving your mouse, the expert might have already switched between numerous files and executed several actions efficiently. This gap in efficiency multiplies over time. Seeing this gap has motivated me to start mastering various common shortcuts. Here, I record them for my reference and perhaps to help others.
Since I am a Mac user and a Developer, the software and skills covered here are focused accordingly. Some shortcuts are marked with * indicating that they are custom settings, not software defaults, and are for reference only. The operational techniques must also be continually adjusted and enriched in practice, so this document will be continuously updated. I set the F media keys as function keys, so low-frequency media key operations require Fn, but other high-frequency operations become simpler. ⌘ ——> Command ⇧ ——> Shift ⌥ ——> Option (or Alt) ⌃ ——> Control (or Ctrl) ⇪ ——> Caps Lock ␣ ——> Space Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut Switch APP ⌘ TAB Switch Input Method ⌃ Space Switch between windows in the app ⌘ ` Full-Screen App ⌘ ⌃ F Screen Capture ⌘ ⇧ 5 Stop Screen Recording ⌘ ⌃ Esc Screenshot ⌘ ⇧ 3 Region Screenshot ⌃ ⌘ A Invoke Alfred Custom double ⌘ Enter Moom window adjustment mode ⇧ ⌘ M Upload image to image bed Custom ⌥ ⌘ U Open ChatGPT App Custom ⌥ ⌘ G Open Calendar Custom ⌥ ⌘ X Show or hide Youdao Dictionary window Custom ⌥ ⌘ E Open Things Custom ⌥ ⌘ H Open Emoji Popup ⌃ ⌘ Space Open ChatGPT App Custom ⌥ ⌘ G
Operation Shortcut Hide and show hidden files ⌘ ⇧ . Copy file path ⌘ ⌥ C Get file information ⌘ I
Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut New Tab ⌘ T Close Tab ⌘ W Switch to Left Tab ⌥ ⌘ ⬅️ Switch to Right Tab ⌥ ⌘ ➡️ Jump to specific tab ⌘ 1 to ⌘ 8 Jump to Address Bar ⌘ L History ⌘ Y Downloads ⌥ ⌘ L Open Developer Tools ⌘ Option I Reload the current page (Ignore cached content) ⌘ ⇧ R View page source (unmodifiable) ⌘ Option U Open a new window in Incognito mode ⌘ Shift N Open Developer Tools, select element ⌘ ⇧ C
Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut Open Command Menu ⌘ ⇧ P Pause/Resume script execution F8 Step over next function call F10 Step into next function call F11 Step out of current function ⇧ F11 Toggle breakpoint ⌘ B
Also recommend installing Vimium , to use Vim-like keyboard shortcuts.
Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut Hide/Show Panels ⌘ ⇧ F12 Hide All ⌘ ⇧ H Show/Hide All Panels ⌘ 1 (Project), ⌘ 2 (Favorites), ⌘ 3 (Find), ⌘ 4 (Run), ⌘ 5 (Debug), ⌘ 6 (Problem), ⌘ 7 (Structure), ⌘ 8 (VCS), ⌘ 9 (TODO), ⌘ 0 (Terminal) Jump to Navigation Bar ⌘ ⌥ Home
Operation Shortcut Show Intention Actions ⌥ Enter Complete Code ⌃ Space Smart Code Completion ⌃ ⌥ Space Type Matching Completion ⌘ ⇧ Space Reformat Code ⌘ ⌥ L Find in File ⌘ F Replace in File ⌘ R Find in Path ⌘ ⇧ F Replace in Path ⌘ ⇧ R Create Scratch File ⌘ ⇧ N Open Settings ⌘ , Commit to VCS ⌘ K Rename File ⇧ F6 Find Action ⌘ ⇧ A Update from VCS ⌘ T VCS Popup ⌃ V Git-Revert ⌥ ⌘ Z Insert Custom Live Template ⌘ J Run/Debug ⌃ R / D Debug to next step/Into F8 / F7 Import Class, Toggle if statement ⌥ Enter Increase/Decrease Font Size in Editor Custom ⌘ ⇧ = / ⌘ ⇧ - / ⌘ ⇧ 0 Open Recent Projects Custom ⌘ ⇧ P Extend Selection ⌥ ↑ Surround with ⌥ ⌘ T Clipboard History ⇧ ⌘ V Toggle Case ⇧ ⌘ U Highlight Usages in File ⇧ ⌘ F7 Move to next highlighted element usage ⌃ ⌥ ↓ Move to previous highlighted element usage ⌃ ⌥ ↑ Column Selection Mode ⌘ ⇧ 8
Operation Shortcut Move F6 Inline Variable ⌥ ⌘ N
Operation Shortcut Quick Definition ⌘ Y
Operation Shortcut Terminal ⌥ F12 Build Project ⌘ F9
Operation Shortcut Step over next function call F8 Step into next function call F7 Select function to step into ⇧ F7 Step out of current function ⇧ F8 View all breakpoints ⌘ ⇧ F8
Operation Shortcut Show in Finder ⌘ ⇧ J Scroll to bottom Custom ⌃⇧⬇️ Scroll to top Custom ⌃⇧⬆️
Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut View table structure ⌘ F12 Retrieve table data ⌘ F Search everywhere double ⇧ Recent files ⌘ E Recent locations ⌘ ⇧ E Open Console ⌘ ⇧ F10
Operation Shortcut Create (table, field, record, etc.) ⌘ N Submit changes ⌘ ↩ Maximize editor ⇧ ↩ Enter in cell (same as above) ⇧ ↩ Go to line ⌘ L Compare cell content ⌘ ⇧ D
Operation Shortcut Preview file supports search ⌥ ␣
Operation Shortcut Split pane vertically ⌘ D Split pane horizontally ⌘ ⇧ D Previous pane ⌘ [ Next pane ⌘ ] Enter/Exit full screen ⌘ Enter Search command history ⌃ R New tab ⌘ T Increase font size ⌘ + Decrease font size ⌘ - Reset font size ⌘ 0 Toggle terminal opacity set opacity first ⌘ U
Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut Search ⌘ F
Operation Shortcut Open current web page in browser ⌘ ⇧ B
Official documentation: Click here
Operation Shortcut Show Password ⌥ Search ⌘ F Copy Password ⇧ ⌘ C Toggle safe field visibility ⌘ R
Operation Shortcut Send Request ⌘ ⏎ Duplicate Request ⌘ D
Muscle Memory - the human muscles have a memory effect. After repeating the same action multiple times, the muscles will form a conditioned reflex. The speed at which the human body’s muscles acquire memory is very slow, but once acquired, the speed of forgetting is also very slow. So, practice repeatedly, remember repeatedly, and benefit for life.
