Better Keyboard Support in MacOS
Notation
| Key | Symbol |
|---|---|
| Cmd/⊞ Win | ⌘ |
| Shift | ⇧ |
| Opt / Alt | ⌥ |
| Ctrl | ⌃ |
| Caps Lock | ⇪ |
| Fn |
Pre-existing Accelerators
Standard Mac keyboard shortcuts, here are few:
| Shortcut | Document Function |
|---|---|
| ⌘ N | New |
| ⌘ O | Open |
| ⌘ P | |
| ⌘ S | Save |
| Shortcut | Edit Function |
|---|---|
| ⌘ Z | Undo |
| ⌘ Shift-Z | Redo |
| ⌘ X | Cut |
| ⌘ C | Copy |
| ⌘ V | Paste |
| ⌘ A | Select All |
| Shortcut | Find Function |
|---|---|
| ⌘ F | Find items in a document or open a Find window. |
| ⌘ G | Find next |
| ⌘ Shift-G | Find the previous |
| Shortcut | Window Function |
|---|---|
| ⌘ H | Hide the windows of the front app |
| ⌘ Opt-H | View the front app but hide all other apps |
| ⌘ M | Minimize the front window to the Dock |
| ⌘ Opt-M | Minimize all windows of the front app |
| ⌘ T | Open a new tab |
| ⌘ W | Close the front window |
| ⌘ Opt-W | Close all windows of the app |
| ⌘ ⌃ F | Full screen |
| Shortcut | Application Function |
|---|---|
| ⌘ Q | Quit an app |
| ⌘ Opt-Esc | Force quit an app |
| Shortcut | Application/Finder Function |
|---|---|
| ⌘ Space | Show or hide the Spotlight search field |
| ⌘ Opt-Space | Spotlight search from Finder |
| ⌘ ⌃ Space | Show the Character Viewer, to pick emoji and other symbols |
| Space | Use Quick Look to preview the selected item |
| ⌘ Tab | Switch to the next most recently used app among your open apps |
| ⌘ Shift-3 | Take a screenshot |
| ⌘ Shift-4 | Take a screenshot |
| ⌘ Shift-5 | Take a screenshot or make a screen recording |
| ⌘ Shift-N | Create a new folder in the Finder |
| ⌘ , | Open preferences for the front app |
| ⌘ Opt-D | Hide and unhide the Dock |
| ⌃ ↑ | Show Mission Control |
To customize: how to keep track of keyboard shortcuts
Custom System-wide Keyboard Accelerators - BAD IDEA
I experimented with system-wide accelerators for:
| Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|
| ⌃ Z | Undo |
| ⌃ X | Cut |
| ⌃ C | Copy |
| ⌃ V | Paste |
This proved to be a BAD idea. Instead of defining accelerators in multiple places, do it in karabiner only - see below.
Proper Keyboard Support
Differentiate Let/Right Ctrl, Swap Ctrl and CapsLock, support for Home/End, etc:
Swap CapsLock <-> LeftCtrl
In Karabiner Elements: Settings/Simple Modifications:
- caps_lock -> left_control
- left_control -> caps_lock
Tile Windows using Keyboard only
Use Rectangle.
spectacle, sources is obsolete.
Terminal Emulator
I use iTerm2.
Repurpose the Existing Keyboard Accelerators
Ctrl+Left/Right are mapped to desktop switching in macOS by default. I prefer to make these available to apps, so I need to remove the default bindings. Goto System Preferences / Keyboard / Shortcuts / Mission control, remove Ctrl+Left/Right