Mac Inside & Out · macOS Basics for Switchers · Lesson 3 of 5

Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Users

Swap Ctrl for Command and learn the Mac keys you will use daily.

Command is the new Ctrl

A keyboard shortcut is a set of keys you press together to do something fast. Most of the ones you know from Windows still work on a Mac. You just press a different key.

The Command key sits right next to the Space bar and shows the symbol ⌘. It does most of the jobs Ctrl does on Windows.

• Command+C copies, Command+V pastes and Command+X cuts.
• Command+Z undoes and Command+A selects all.
• Command+S saves, Command+P prints and Command+F finds a word.

The Mac has two other keys that confuse switchers:

• Option (⌥) is roughly where Alt is on Windows. It unlocks extra choices. Hold it while a menu is open and some items change.
• Control (⌃) is at the bottom left. It is not used for copy and paste. Its main everyday job is right-clicking.

To right-click on a Mac, which opens a menu of extra choices, you have a few options:

• Hold Control and click. This is called a Control-click.
• On a trackpad, click or tap with two fingers.
• On a mouse with two buttons, the right button works as usual.

If two-finger clicks do nothing, open System Settings, choose Trackpad, and turn on Secondary click.

One old habit to drop: pressing Ctrl+C on a Mac will not copy. If a shortcut does nothing, try it again with Command.

Deleting and screenshots on a Mac

The Mac Delete key, at the top right of the letters, works like Backspace on Windows. It erases the letter to the left of the cursor. The cursor is the blinking line where your typing goes.

Most Mac laptops have no separate key to erase to the right. On Windows, that key is called Delete. On a Mac, it is called forward delete. Hold the Fn key, at the bottom left, and press Delete. On some keyboards, Fn shows a globe symbol.

To delete a file in Finder, select it and press Command+Delete. It moves to the Trash, so you can still get it back.

A few more handy shortcuts:

• Command+Tab switches apps.
• Command+W closes a window and Command+Q quits the app.
• Command+Space opens Spotlight search.
• Command+Left Arrow or Right Arrow jumps to the start or end of a line. On Windows, Home and End do this.

A screenshot is a picture of your screen. On a Mac:

• Shift+Command+3 captures the whole screen.
• Shift+Command+4 lets you drag a box around one part.
• Shift+Command+5 opens a small toolbar with more choices, including screen recording.

Screenshots are saved to your Desktop by default. On Windows, the Snipping Tool does this job.

You don't have to learn them all at once. Pick two or three, use them for a week, and add more later.