How to learn Mac keyboard shortcuts and actually remember them
The shortcuts you remember are the ones you use on real work, on the day you learn them and again a few days later. So do not start with a long list. Pick three shortcuts a week from things you already click, find each one in the app’s menus, where macOS prints it beside the command, and press the keys every time that job comes up until your hands do it without you thinking about it.
That is the whole method. The rest of this post covers how to choose the three, where to find them, and how to keep them once you have them.
Start with the shortcuts that work in almost every app
A handful of shortcuts mean the same thing in nearly every Mac app, so each one pays off many times a day. If you do not use these yet, they are your first few weeks.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌘Z / ⇧⌘Z | Undo / redo (in most apps) |
| ⌘W | Close the window or tab in front |
| ⌘Q | Quit the app |
| ⌘H | Hide the app |
| ⌘, | Open the app’s settings |
| ⌘Tab | Switch to another app |
| ⌘` | Next window of the same app (US keyboard) |
| ⌘Space | Spotlight |
| ⇧⌘/ | Search the Help menu |
| ⌥← / ⌥→ | Move the cursor one word |
| ⌘← / ⌘→ | Jump to the start or end of the line |
| ⌥⌫ | Delete the word before the cursor |
If the symbols are new to you, Mac keyboard symbols explained goes through each one. The text keys at the bottom of the table are only the start; text editing shortcuts that work in almost every Mac app has the rest.
Pick three a week from what you already click
The best shortcuts to learn are the ones for jobs you do many times a day, and only you know which those are. For a day or two, notice what you reach for with the pointer: a menu command, a toolbar button, a right-click item you choose over and over.
Then pick three. Not ten. Three is few enough to hold in your head while you work, and a week is long enough for the keys to turn into a habit.
Write them where you will see them, on a sticky note at the edge of the screen or in a note in Stickies. When the job comes up, press the keys, even when it is slower than clicking for the first few tries. That slowness is the learning.
When all three come without thinking, take them off the note and pick three more. Over a few months that adds up to a good number of shortcuts you actually use, rather than a long list you read once.
Let the menus teach you
Every Mac app prints its shortcuts in its menus, to the right of each command. That makes the menu bar a teacher you cannot lose.
Make this a rule: whenever you go to a menu for a command, read the shortcut beside it, close the menu with Escape, and press the keys instead. It costs a second, and it turns every trip to the menu bar into practice.
Two built-in tricks help:
- Search the Help menu. Press Command-Shift-/ (⇧⌘/), which is Command-? on a US keyboard, and type what you want to do, such as “duplicate” or “zoom”. Move the pointer over a result and macOS opens the menu and points at the command, with its shortcut beside it.
- Hold Option with a menu open. Some commands change to a related one while Option is down. In Finder’s File menu, Close Window (⌘W) becomes Close All (⌥⌘W), and the Go menu gains Library.
Some shortcuts never appear in a menu: tool keys in design apps, text navigation, keys that only work in a canvas or a timeline. For those, the app’s own shortcut list or editor is the place to look. Find a Mac app’s keyboard shortcuts without searching online goes through where apps keep theirs.
If a command you use all the time has no shortcut at all, you can give it one in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. Choose a combination that follows the patterns below, and it will be easier to remember.
Space the practice out
Reading a list in one sitting feels productive and rarely lasts. What works is coming back to the same shortcut after a gap: use it today, catch yourself using it tomorrow, and check at the end of the week whether it still comes without looking.
A few habits help:
- Practice on real work, not drills. A shortcut learned while doing your own job is tied to a moment you will meet again tomorrow.
- Catch the reach. When you notice your hand going to the trackpad for one of this week’s commands, stop, and use the keys instead. Undo if you have to and do it again with the keys.
- Expect a slow few days. For a while the keys feel slower than the mouse. Keep going; that passes once your fingers know where to go.
- Review on Friday. Look at the note. Anything you still have to think about stays for another week.
Learn the patterns, not just the keys
Mac shortcuts follow conventions, and once you see them, each new app takes less learning.
- Shift often reverses. Command-Tab moves forward through apps and Command-Shift-Tab moves back. In Safari and TextEdit, Command-G finds the next match and Command-Shift-G the one before. Command-Z undoes and Command-Shift-Z redoes.
- Option often means more, or the others. Command-H hides the app in front; Option-Command-H hides every other app. Command-W closes a window; in Finder, Option-Command-W closes them all.
- Command-comma is settings. In almost every app, Command-, opens Settings.
- The same letter means the same job. Command-N for new, Command-O to open, Command-S to save, Command-P to print and Command-F to find, in app after app.
When you meet a new app, check these first. Most of them will already work, and you only have to learn what is particular to that app.
See the keys while you learn
Learning is quicker when you can see what you are doing. Typebar puts a keyboard on screen and lights each key as you press it, and its keystroke pill names each shortcut with the name it has in the app you are using, such as “⇧⌘4 Screenshot Selection”. When you try one of this week’s shortcuts, the pill confirms you pressed the one you meant.
Its cheatsheets help the other way round. Hold a modifier such as Command for a moment and the keys on the board relabel with what they do in the app in front. Typebar reads each app’s own menus, so this works in every app, and 20 hand-made packs, for apps such as Final Cut Pro, Figma, Photoshop and Xcode, add the shortcuts menus leave out. Hold Option to see the characters each key types.
To focus on your three, use the Cheatsheet List: search for a command, pick it, and its keys light up on the board. You can also hide shortcuts on a sheet, such as the ones you already know or never use. Typebar comes with three ready-made profiles, Recording, Presenting and Learning, and you can change any of them to suit you.
Typebar is $9 once, and free for 24 hours with everything on.
Questions
How many shortcuts should I learn at once?
Few enough to remember without looking at a list while you work. Three a week is a good start; move on when those come without thinking.
Which Mac shortcuts should I learn first?
The ones for jobs you do many times a day, starting with those that work in every app: undo, close, quit, hide, settings, switching apps and moving through text.
Why do I forget shortcuts I looked up?
Because looking one up once is not the same as using it. A shortcut sticks when you press it on real work, again and again over several days.
What if a command has no shortcut in the menu?
Then the app has none for it. You can add your own for any menu command in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts.