Last week Pastor Andy did a great job giving some basic but helpful keyboard shortcuts. This week I have decided to help our Mac using audience with some ways to make your Mac experience quicker, easier, and may even open up some creativity in your publications.
General Shortcuts
Quit: Command-Q
Minimize all Windows (Within a Program): Option-Command-M
Spotlight Search: To open up spotlight to search your computer, the dictionary, or recently viewed webpages, click Command-Space. Once in the list, Command-Click opens the containing folder in Finder.
Find in a Program: Command-F opens the find function within programs like Safari and Word Processing programs.
Eject: To quickly eject a USB flash drive click on the flash drive in finder and click Command-E. Or if you know the name of your flash drive type the first letter, then Command-E (I would press j-Command-E, because my flash drive is named Justin's).
Trash an Item: Command-Delete
Empty the Trash: Command-Shift-Delete when in finder.
Force Quit: Option-Command-Esc
Adjust the Volume without Making a Sound: Hold Option (or Shift on some Macs) with adjusting the volume with the Volume keys. Or you could turn off volume feedback all together in the System Preferences Sound pane.
Save: Command-S
Save As: Shift-Command-S
Screen Shot: Shift-Command-3 (Pic will appear on desktop)
Partial Screen Shot (You Select Area): Shift-Command-4 then select the area you want to copy. (Pic will appear on desktop)
Dictionary: Hover over a word and hold down Control-Command-D and you will get a dictionary pop-up on that word.
Other Shortcuts
Publication Shortcuts (Work especially well in iWork)
Select Without a Mouse: In text, push Shift-Left/Right/Up/Down Arrows to select the exact text you want without the mouse.
Duplicate: When making postcards or other publications that involve lots of copy & pasting, you can click and hold down the Option key, drag, and you will get an exact duplicate of the item.
Free Rotate: If you want an object to rotate just the angle that looks best to you, Command-click a corner then free rotate away.
Show Colors Menu: Shift-Command-C
Show Inspector Menu: Option-Command-I
Show Fonts Menu: Command-T
Add New Row to a Table: Option-Down Arrow
Add New Column to a Table: Option-Left/Right Arrow
Paste & Match Style: Often I am copying text from BibleGateway.com in to a Keynote Presentation but want to keep the formatting in Keynote, so Shift-Option-Command-V does the trick (or by right clicking in the document and selecting from the menu).
Other Shortcuts
Save a YouTube Video: Note: you must have Safari, and the Perian extension installed (found at perian.org) If you would like to use a YouTube video offline, open Safari and the YouTube video, open the Window menu, then select Activity. In this menu you will see a list of all your open, or recently open webpages. Scroll to the YouTube section, and find the biggest (maybe currently increasing) webpage (usually has "videoplay" in the URL). Double click that URL, and it will download into your download folder for use in Keynote, or whatever that will play Quicktime or flash video files.
WiFi Details: in Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6), hold down Option with clicking the Wifi icon in the menu, and you will see what wifi network you are connected to, the speed (a,b,g, or n), and the type of security the router is using.
Zoom a Webpage: Sometimes items on a webpage just need to be bigger or smaller. Command-Shift-+ or - will do the trick.
MacBooks with the Physical Button
Scrolling: Two Fingers Up/Down/Sideways scrolls webpages, documents, any window you are pointed at.
Right Click: Tap two fingers on the trackpad to call up the right click menu. Control-Click also works for this.
Trackpad Shortcuts
Note: You can enable or disable any of these features in System Preferences: TrackpadMacBooks with the Physical Button
Scrolling: Two Fingers Up/Down/Sideways scrolls webpages, documents, any window you are pointed at.
Right Click: Tap two fingers on the trackpad to call up the right click menu. Control-Click also works for this.
Zooming: Pinch to zoom in and out.
Newer MacBooks with the integrated glass trackpad/button (All above gestures also work with this MacBook)
Three Finger Swiping: In programs like iPhoto and iCal, a three finger swipe left or right will advance the pictures (iPhoto) or dates (iCal).Four Finger Gestures: Left or Right: Opens the Application Switcher (Then you may choose one.) Up: Shows the Desktop Down: Shows All Open Applications (Then you may choose one)
Make Your Own Keyboard Shortcut in Any Application!
In Pages I often Merge Cells in my tables, but involves two menus or a right click option to do it. So I made my own keyboard shortcut to do it much more quickly. First remember the Menu Title you want to create a short cut for, and make sure this command is not be used already (Like I wouldn't use Command-M because that is the command for minimizing the window). Then go into System Preferences, Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts. In the middle of the menu, you will find a + button. Click the + and assign what application or all applications this shortcut this will apply to (I clicked Other, then Pages). Next type in the exact menu title as it appears in the application (I did Merge Cells). In the final field type your command and click add (I did Control-Option-M). Exit out of the Preference menus and try it out!Make Your Own Keyboard Shortcut in Any Application!
Hope these shortcuts speed up your productivity and creativity!
Justin Snider
AIM & Director of Youth & Young Adult Ministry
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
Olympia, WA
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