20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts That Will Make Your Life Easier

While there are plenty of great tips out there detailing how to get the most out of your iPhone, there aren’t many primers on how to make the OS X user experience more efficient and, in turn, more enjoyable
20 OS X Keyboard Shortcuts That Will Make Your Life Easier
The new 11-inch MacBook Air is displayed at the new Apple Store during a media preview on October 21, 2010 in Chicago, Illinois. Brian Kersey/Getty Images
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While there are plenty of great tips out there detailing how to get the most out of your iPhone, there aren’t many primers on how to make the OS X user experience more efficient and, in turn, more enjoyable. That being the case, we thought it was a good time to take a step back and cover a good number of lesser-known OS X keyboard shortcuts that will instantly help improve your overall computing experience.

Whether you’re an iMac or MacBook user, many of these shortcuts are definitely worth committing to memory. Sure, you may already be familiar with the basics like cut, copy, paste and other commands like opening and closing windows, but we’re going to go a little bit deeper here.

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Command + Up Arrow – Immediately scroll to the top of any webpage

Command + Down Arrow – Immediately scroll to the bottom of any webpage

Command + Semicolon – Cycle through misspelled words in any given document

Command + 1 (2,3) – Use this shortcut to conveniently cycle through any open tabs you have in your browser. Command + 1 will take you to the first tab, Command + 2 will take you to the second, and so on and so forth.

Option + Delete – This handy keyboard shortcut that will delete words one word at a time, as opposed to one letter at a time. This works all across OS X, whether you’re typing in TextEdit or even when typing a website into your browser’s URL bar.

Command + H  – Quickly hide all open windows from the currently active app

Command + Shift + T  – Instantly open up the most recently closed tab in your browser. This is a lifesaver if you accidentally close a window and can’t remember the URL.

Command + F3 – This is a handy shortcut that instantly removes all app windows from view and lets you take a gander at your desktop. To bring your apps back, simply press the keys again.

Option + Shift + Volume Up/Volume down – Increase or decrease your machine’s volume in much smaller increments. This comes in especially handy when you’re trying to get your audio output levels just right.