Apps and OS X: Shortcuts, that work in most Mac apps Shortcuts for the most used Mac applications are accessible in the sidebar: Keyboards: Find your way around Apples keyboards with visual explanations Special Characters: over 100 characters, that are hard to find on the keyboard. Startup: commands for mastering startup problems and managing system tools like BootCamp First Aid: essential commands for quitting unruly apps and solving frequent computer problems Top Shortcuts: the most interesting and useful shortcuts for your productivity Quick Shortcuts main categories make discovering fun:
Shortcuts, you find particularly useful, can be saved to your "favorites" with a single click.Īll shortcuts have been carefully researched, tested and commented by our experienced Apple savvy author Hans Dorsch, author of many books on Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apps. All commands, from Clipboard to Screenshot, can are easily found and beautifully illustrated.
Quick Shortcuts helps you find the most useful key combinations for your daily Mac tasks: managing files, using apps and working with text. The live search shows key commands while you type. Top Shortcuts, First Aid, Special Characters and the essential apps can be accessed right from the applications sidebar. Simple key combinations replace countless mouse clicks, letting you perform frequent tasks and handy functions in no time. Quick Shortcuts lets you discover and use one of the hidden productivity boosters of your Mac: The keyboard shortcuts.
Thankfully, Das Keyboard makes versions of its keyboards for both Windows and Mac users.įor more on keyboards, be sure to have a look at Jeremy’s keyboard roundup.ATTENTION: DOES NOT SUPPORT macOS SIERRA. My favorite Cherry MX Brown keyboard is from Das Keyboard. These switches produce a tactile “clicky” effect without being too loud. The AmazonBasics wired keyboard is decent for how much it costs, but I’m a fan of mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Brown switches. In the end, it’ll save time, frustration, and keep you from having to retrain what may be years of muscle memory. Take advantage of the provision to remap modifier keys inside of OS X’s System Preferences. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to use a great keyboard just because it was originally designed for Windows. The bottom line is that there are plenty of great keyboards out there that are designed to be used on Windows machines. Step 5: Click OK and close System Preferences. Step 4: For the Command (⌘) Key setting, select (⌥) Option. Step 3: For the Option (⌥) Key setting, select ⌘ Command. Step 2: Select your third-party Windows keyboard via the Select keyboard drop down box. Step 1: Open System Preferences → Keyboard → Modifier Keys. Fortunately, there is a dead-simple fix for this issue. Such a little thing, the swapping of the Command and Option keys, can cause trouble for someone who’s been typing on a Mac for years. Modifier key arrangement differences between Mac and Windows: The problem stems from their arrangement on the keyboard. The problem isn’t the function of the keys, because as we discussed, from a pure functionality standpoint, the modifier keys (Control, Option, Command) all map 1:1.
For example, the Control (⌃) key does the same thing on a Mac that it does on Windows, the Option (⌥) key on Mac does the same thing as the Alt key on Windows, and the Command (⌘) key on Mac does the same thing as the Windows key. All of the modifier keys on a Windows keyboard map 1:1 with the keys on a Mac from a functionality standpoint. Instead of the friendly ⌃, ⌥, and ⌘ keys, I was presented with Control, Windows, and Alt keys. Immediately, I could sense relief in my wrists, but because this was a keyboard designed for Windows and not for Mac, the switch presented a whole new problem.
I just so happened to have an AmazonBasics wired keyboard available thanks to my recent Hackintosh build, so I decided to use it with my Mac. The shallow key travel of the MacBook’s keyboard is partly to blame. The reason behind such a change was that my MacBook Pro’s keyboard was causing wrist pain. Over the last few days I’ve been finding myself using a keyboard designed for Windows users on my Mac.