UsingMac.com

Mac Tricks and Tips, Wallpapers and Applications for Mac Users

40 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder

As the price of MacBooks are getting cheaper and cheaper while the design and specs of new arriving MacBooks (and the Pros) are getting more and more advanced, I believe they should be a lot of computer users are switching to Mac - including my friends, who are planning to switch.

Most of them will worry about the unfamiliar environment of the Mac they're going to migrate to. But what could I say is that, no need to worry too much, it only spends you less than three-day time to master the Mac.

Also it only takes you less than 30-minute time to see, try and familiarize with these Finder shortcuts. I believe you will also want to see my previous shortcuts compilation :

  1. Mac OS X Leopard: 200+ Productivity Booster Keyboard Shortcuts
  2. 100 Mac Keyboard Shortcuts for Creating Symbols
  3. 25 Useful Shortcuts for Safari

Continue reading and you will see a list of 40 Finder shortcuts!

1 Command-A Select All Items
2 Command-C Copy Selected Items
3 Command-D Duplicate Selected Items
4 Command-F Search with Spotlight
5 Command-G Find Next Matched Search
6 Command-H Hide Window
7 Command-I Open Get Info (Property) Pane
8 Command-J Show View Options
9 Command-K Connect to Server
10 Command-L Make Alias of Selected Items
11 Command-M Minimize Window
12 Command-N Open New Window
13 Command-O Open Selected Items
14 Command-T Copy Items to Sidebar
15 Command-V Paste Items
16 Command-W Close Finder Window
17 Command-Z Undo Action
18 Command-1 View as Icons
19 Command-2 View as Lists
20 Command-3 View as Columns
21 Command-4 View as Coverflow
22 Command-Shift-A Go to Application Folder
23 Command-Shift-B Open Bluetooth
24 Command-Shift-C Go to My Computer
25 Command-Shift-G Open Address Bar
26 Command-Shift-H Go to Home Folder
27 Command-Shift-I Connect to iDisk
28 Command-Shift-J Open Journler (If Any)
29 Command-Shift-K Go to Network Folder
30 Command-Shift-L Go to Safari
31 Command-Shift-N Create New Folder
32 Command-Shift-Q Log Out
33 Command-Shift-U Go to Utility Folder
34 Command-Shift-Y Attach to Stickies
35 Command-Option-D Hide the Dock
36 Command-Option-M Minimize All Windows
37 Command-Option-O Open File and Close Finder
38 Command-Option-T Hide Toolbar
39 Command-Option-W Close All Windows
40 Command-R Show Original (From Alias)

Though it seems really different than the shortcuts on Windows, but the logic behind is the same; You only need to change CTRL with Command then most of the shortcuts will be matched like a charm.

Hope this shortcuts compilation can help you.

Categories: Popular, Productivity
Tags: Shortcut

Subscribe to RSS Leave a Comment (40)

Related Entries

Some articles taken from our resource base, tightly related to current article, to empower you with more knowledge on tweaking the most out of your Mac.

40 Comments

Anurag 

he good work...

Johnson 

Thanks a lot for this! Really useful.

JIm Fitzsimmons 

Great! a really useful resource. 
Jim 
http://www.photodailynews.com

ben 

macs aren't getting cheaper. specs are getting worse with no FW400.

Toby 

When oh when will they have cut. Command X.

It's so simple and so useful. It drives me nuts. Why should I have to use a mouse to move files where I could drop them any damn place by accident.

Paul 

Command+Down will also open the selected application/document/etc from Finder.  Huge timesaver.

Floris 

Hey idiot : FW400

Before you rant about no FW400, know what you rant about. FW800 is still there and supports FW400.

Bryan 

As for cut, it's not a clean concept -- what if you switch to Word and hit "paste"?

If you want to move things, drag them to desktop, or use Expose.  Click and start dragging, hit F9, drag to the window you want to move the file to, then hit F9 again, and drop the file where you want it to go.  Easy.

Use F11 to move it to the desktop.

Dan 

Rid yourself of a mouse.  Keyboard short cuts make everything that much easier and faster. 

command+spacebar also brings up the spotlight quick search.  Great for launching applications (even Windows Apps in VMs)

celsius 

command-up goes up a directory. another huge time saver.

zachary Kinney 

Also, use command period to cancel, and command d to don't save.

Zach 

correction on my last post: just "D" will suffice for "Dont Save"

Jim Jones 

Wow, looks like you hit the nauil on the head once again.

www.privacy-tools.at.tc

Luke 

@ben: the reason that there's no cut is so that you can't "lose" a file. What happens if you cut a file, and then copy something else into your clipboard? Where does the file go? Does it just disappear?

amar 

bring on cs !

dave 

sorry for the very basic question. i just got a mac and i'm having trouble downloading and installing some new programs. they will download but when i try to open them i see what it seems to be html code?  it happens with diff. types of programs? thank you in advance for your help.

Wendy 

First thing you need to check whether you've downloaded the correct file. Usually it comes with extension .dmg or .zip


After you've downloaded and extracted out the Application, simply drop it to your Application folder. You don't need any installations to add in your new Application; As soon as the process of copying into your Hard drive finished, you can use the Application.

Collin Allen 

Command-Shift-D    Go to Desktop  :-)

JeyramoXRu 

Hi boys and girls ;-)
Somebody can give me url to the XRumer's homepage?
Or maybe some info...

Thank you very much!!!

P.S. Вот уроды...

dave 

Thank you Wendy- that worked.  Last question;
How would i solve the following error message when trying to play an online course audio/video??

*** has content of MIME type “application/x-mplayer2”. Because you don’t have a plug-in installed for this MIME type, this content can’t be displayed.

thank you

Wendy 

It depends on the kind of video you want to play. Now I only use Flip4Mac for .WMV and other windows media formats. Don't know about the video format you want to watch, but for most of the case, this should work.

EpitaButhaila 

;-) Hi frnds,
i like to read history books or magazines in my free time. wud like 2 know abt ur way of passing the free time.

Wendy 

I like to sleep! :)

InsadornGar 

Hey,
I am, Thomas
overall pretty good
check my site:

http://KQJGNE.spaces.live.com/

nothankstomac 

mac's keyboard shortcuts are inconsistent, incomplete, hard to learn. impossible not to use the mouse. no thank you very much, i stay with windows. windows is friendlier to the power user, much more consistent, much more helpful. 

and yes i do use a mac. i even bought it.

EZWilliam 

Great website.  I am proud of my   necessary  inspiration  Oh, good joke)   Who is Dracula’s favorite person on the baseball team? The BAT boy!

Alison 

Thanks! Very useful article!
See ya!

Jesse 

Thank you for this!

Litegod 

How about a shortcut for expanding a column in column view?



It's very annoying having to use the mouse when the good thing about column view is that it's lightning fast using arrow keys...



Anyone?

Stiksi 

Right. How is it possible that there are so many people who are vehemently opposed to a feature they never need to use if they don't want to? Cut-Paste or Move in Finder is in no way a difficult concept. It works perfectly in every other file browser. Take for instance Adobe Bridge - you press cmd-X - nothing happens until you paste the files elsewhere IN BRIDGE. No files lost, just files moved without dragging to the desktop or to other windows or through multiple subfolders. This is how it works in Windows and in Linux. It is the only thing I sorely miss in OS X every single day.

NogNugHonry 

Interesting and communicative, but would participate in something more on this topic?

priosizAnnore 

exciting and educational, but would make something more on this topic?

zanussi 

В нынешней ситуации большинство тем отходят на второй план. Интересно, как мы будем жить, если доллар рухнет?

ebatalha 

I don't need to cut files… :) 
Now, another great shortcut is if want to know how much MB are a selection of files. Just do the cmd+opt+i and you get that. If you do this shortcut just in one file you get its info and you can navigate to other files without closing the info panel.

Congratulations for this site.

bellamind 

Кризис, говорят, в марте усилится. Хотелось бы знать, кто затеял все это 
и как вообще мы докатились до такой жизни.

RooseElonge 

I'm new here.. just wanted to say hi!

SandraLeeJ 

Hi, I just want to introduce myself. I'm Sandra from Beverly Hills, CA.

I'm kind of shy so I don't have too much to say right now. Hopefully I'll meet new friends here
in this forum soon.

Bye for now, I'm off to do some shopping. lol


[url=http://www.squidoo.com/free-sample-products]Here's where I get 85% of my stuff for free, that's why I love to shop.[/url]






Some pray to marry the man they love, my prayer will somewhat vary: I humbly pray to Heaven above that I love the man I marry.

escageveago 

Excellent site www.usingmac.com and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this "/2008/10/15/mac-finder-shortcuts/" post is exactly what I am interested in. It's taken me literally 3 hours and 25 minutes of searching the web to find you (just kidding!) so I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor :)

Anadyr 

Привет! Совсем недавно купил себе гаджет в [url=http://menu56.ru]интернет-магазине[/url]. Всем советую! Доставили очень быстро! Я безгранично рад!
[url=http://menu56.ru]Магазин по продаже электроники[/url].

emdc 

I've been a Mac user for many years & I just learned a few new tricks from this list. Thanks!