For example, you could have one corner to clear out all opened windows allowing you to quickly go back to your desktop. If activated, their action will be triggered when you bring your mouse cursor all the way in one corner of your screen. One more thing that I love and that people find very confusing when they try to show me something on my computer: hot corners. Hide all other windows than the one you are currently looking atĪlso you may have noticed that pressing the space bar over a file (picture, pdf, Word doc etc…) or a folder will give you a quick preview. To switch between the apps that are opened on your computer, the last app you’ve looked at will be on left (can be combined with cmd + Q to quit or cmd + H to hide) Search in your computer (spotlight search) Select the URL address bar in your web browser to allow for easy copy or to quickly start a new search Reopen the last tab you closed in your web browser Open a new t ab in your web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox…) or in your Finder To search, in your computer (to f ind a file) or in an app N ew (new doc in Word, new email in Mail, etc… ) Lock and put your display to sleep (2 fingers on lower left corner of your keyboard and 1 finger on upper right corner) If you’re not familiar with keyboard shortcuts, having a printed reminder to stick on your office wall will help you to learn one shortcut at a time. For me this fall in productive procrastination :)Ĭlick here for an all-in-1-page pdf version to print. If not a Mac, just Google for the tool that is the most relevant to you. We get enough frustration from our research projects and academia, let’s try to enjoy the tool that we use the most. Here some easy to use keyboard shortcuts that can make your interaction with your Mac just so smooth and enjoyable.

Since then I met many people in academia that also didn’t really know how to use a Mac… The first time I had to use a Mac I was 20, that was at a research institute and, of course, no one explained me how to use it.

Apple mac shortcuts keys