Before we get started

These are the keys usually used in combination with normal keys on Mac:

• Command (or Cmd) ⌘
• Shift ⇧ (I will write as shift to avoid confusion with ↑)
• Option (or Alt) ⌥
• Control (or Ctrl) ⌃
• Caps Lock ⇪
• Fn

The guide below assumes that you are using spectacle.

Also, I’m not going to cover really basic ones like ⌘ + F, ⌘ + Q or ⌘ + , (You know what I’m saying).

So.. here are the most useful commands I use on my Mac (to be updated more):

MacOS general

• Make full screen
  • MacOS default: ⌃ + ⌘ + F (Puts up another big ‘desktop’)
  • Spectacle: ⌥ + ⌘ + F (Just fits the maximum size of the screen. Does not put up another big ‘desktop’)
• Emulate force touch: place your mouse on something you want to force touch + ⌃ + ⌘ + D
• Emulate swipe to previous/next display:
  • previous: ⌃ + ←
  • next: ⌃ + →
• Switch to desktop 1, 2
  • go to keyboard -> shortcuts -> mission control, and turn on options for Switch to Desktop 1 and Switch to Desktop 2.
  • Switch to Desktop 1: ⌃ + 1
  • Switch to Desktop 2: ⌃ + 2
  • Open application windows: ⌃ + ↓
• Capture
  • Entire screen: ⌘ + shift + 3
  • Partial screen: ⌘ + shift + 4
  • Partial screen with more guidance (launch screen capture): ⌘ + shift + 5
• Move focus to the menu bar (this one needs configuration because on macs with touch bar, it’d be harder to use the default option):
  • default: ⌃ + F2
  • I changed it to: shift + ⌥ + M
  • or: ⌘ + ? to focus on help first

Chrome

• Focus cursor on the search bar: ⌘ + L
• Move to the previous/next tab
  • previous: shift + ⌘ + [
  • next: shift + ⌘ + ]
  • nth tab: ⌘ + number (1, 2, 3, ... 9)
• Go back one page: ⌘ + ←
• Move forward one page: ⌘ + →
• Reset zoom level to 100%: ⌘ + 0
• Open most recently closed tab: ⌘ + shift + T
• Open downloads: ⌘ + shift + J
• Open bookmarks: ⌥ + ⌘ + B
• Close current window: ⌘ + W
• Find saved bookmark by autocompletion: ⌘ + L + / + what you are trying to search + tab

+ Chrome, With Viminum:

• Separate the current tab out to a new window: shift + w
• scroll left: h
• scroll right: l
• scroll up: k
• scroll up half a page: u
• scroll down: j
• scroll down half a page: d
• scroll to the top: gg
• scroll to the bottom: G
• open URL, bookmark, history search: o
• open URL, bookmark, history search, in a new tab: O
• open bookmark: b
• open bookmark in a new tab: B
• search through currently open tabs: T
• open a link in the current tab: f
• open a link in a new tab: F

+ Chrome, with Rearrange Tabs

• Move selected tab to left: ⌃ + ⌘ + ←
• Move selected tab to right: ⌃ + ⌘ + →
• Move selected tab leftmost: ⌃ + ⌘ + ↓
• Move selected tab rightmost: ⌃ + ⌘ + ↑

Visual Studio Code

• Show all keybindings: ⌘ + K + ⌘ + S
• Hide the side bar: ⌘ + B
• Toggle word wrap: ⌥ + Z
• Split editor window: ⌘ + \
• Toggle terminal window: ⌘ + ` or ⌘ + J
• Resize the terminal window up (focus terminal first): ⌃ + ⌘ + ↑
• Move to the previous/next tab
  • previous: shift + ⌘ + [
  • next: shift + ⌘ + ]
  • nth tab: ⌘ + number (1, 2, 3, ... 9)
• Select currently focused word:
  • ⌘ + B
  • and then add some character to the start & the end of the word: install a plugin to enable for more types of characters. Depending on characters, some might work by default, like ` or [. Anyways, works like this: select words by shift + ⌃ or ⌘ + ← or →, and then ⌘ + D, then press [ or `.
• (un)comment a line: ⌘ + /
• Comment multiple lines: do the same as above, after selecting multiple lines
• Fold: ⌥ + ⌘ + [
• Unfold: ⌥ + ⌘ + ]
• Multiple line selection & edit: ⌥ + ⌘ + shift + ↓ or ↑
• Find all occurrences and replace them all in all files:
  • select a word
  • shift + ⌘ + H tab
  • type in new word to change
  • click on bulk action/single file action
  • ⌥ + ⌘ + S (save all files at once)
• Find all occurences and replace them all in a single file:
  • ⌘ + F and then type to search. Matches are already selected.
  • ⌥ + enter to select all occurences of find match.
  • delete and type as you wish to change
• Find next occurence (after ⌘ + F):
  • Move focus to the file
  • ⌘ + G
• Show file explorer: ⌘ + shift + E
• Show extensions: ⌘ + shift + X
• Show source control: ⌃ + shift + G

Iterm

• Fullscreen: ⌘ + enter (only iterm has a difference fullscreen command on Mac)
• Unfortunately, you would need some custom keybindings for iterm written in json. For more, see my gist

Iterm: with tmux

• Create new window: ⌃ + b, then c
• Close current window: ⌃ + b, then &
• Next window: ⌃ + b, then n
• Previous window: ⌃ + b, then p
• Switch to the pane in direction: ⌃ + b, then arrow key
• Resize panes (probably most used): ⌃ (hold down) + b (press), then arrow key note: you have to disable Mission control, Application windows, Move left/right a space on MacOS because they override tmux controls when using this function.
• Copy to clipboard:
  • Go to iterm config
  • General -> Selection -> Applications in terminal may access clipboard
  • This way, ⌘ + C and ⌘ + V works very normally without any additional config.

Iterm: with fzf

• Search through the whole computer: ⌃ + T
• Search through the whole history of commands entered: ⌃ + r

Slack

• Keyboard shortcut help: ⌘ + /
• Search almost everything (quick switcher): ⌘ + K or T
• Open direct message window: ⌘ + shift + K
• Open browse channels window: ⌘ + shift + L
• Open threads: ⌘ + shift + T
• Toggle right pane: ⌘ + .
• Toggle activity window: ⌘ + shift + M
• Forward history: ⌘ + ]
• Back in history: ⌘ + [
• Move up/down across channels: ⌥ + ↓ or ↑
• Move up/down across unread channels: ⌥ + shift + ↓ or ↑
• Mark all as read: shift + esc
• React to latest message: ⌘ + shift + \

Written by Joel Mun. Joel likes Rust, GoLang, Typescript, Wasm and more. He also loves to enlarge the boundaries of his knowledge, mainly by reading books and watching lectures on Youtube. Guitar and piano are necessities at his home.