Moving from Windows to Mac: learn the shortcuts by doing
Most of the Windows shortcuts you already know work on a Mac with Command (⌘) in place of Control: Command-C, Command-V, Command-Z, Command-S, Command-F. The rest change in a few predictable ways. Alt is Option, Home and End become Command with an arrow, Alt-F4 splits into Command-W (close the window) and Command-Q (quit the app), and Alt-Tab becomes Command-Tab.
You will learn them fastest by using them, not by reading a list. Below are the differences that matter, grouped so the pattern is easy to see, and a way to practice them during normal work.
Control becomes Command, mostly
Command sits right beside the space bar, so you press it with your thumb rather than your little finger. That is the first habit to build, and once it is there, most of your Windows shortcuts come with it:
| Windows | Mac | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V | ⌘C, ⌘X, ⌘V | Copy, Cut, Paste |
| Ctrl+Z | ⌘Z | Undo |
| Ctrl+Y | ⇧⌘Z | Redo (in most apps) |
| Ctrl+A, Ctrl+S, Ctrl+P | ⌘A, ⌘S, ⌘P | Select All, Save, Print |
| Ctrl+F, F3 | ⌘F, ⌘G | Find, Find Next |
| Ctrl+N, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+T | ⌘N, ⌘O, ⌘T | New, Open, New Tab |
| Ctrl+W | ⌘W | Close the window or tab |
The Mac also has one Windows lacks: Command-Comma (⌘,) opens the settings of almost any app.
Control has not gone away. It still has jobs, which is part of what makes the switch confusing:
- Control-click is a right-click, handy when you are on a trackpad or a one-button mouse.
- Control-C in Terminal still stops a running command, as it does in a Windows console.
- Control-Tab still moves to the next tab in Safari, just as Ctrl+Tab does in a Windows browser.
Alt is Option, and the Windows key is Command
The Option key (⌥) sits where Alt does, and does a similar mix of jobs. It types extra characters (Option-G gives © on the US layout), it changes what menu commands do while you hold it, and it moves through text a word at a time. Type special characters on a Mac with the Option key covers the characters.
If you plug a Windows keyboard into a Mac, its Windows key acts as Command and its Alt key acts as Option. They are the wrong way round, though: a Mac keyboard has Option outside and Command next to the space bar. To fix that:
- Open System Settings, click Keyboard, then click Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Choose Modifier Keys on the left.
- Pick the Windows keyboard from the Select keyboard menu.
- Set the Option key to Command and the Command key to Option, then click Done.
Moving around text: Home, End and Delete
This is where most Windows habits break. On a Mac, the arrow keys do the jumping:
- Command-Left Arrow and Command-Right Arrow go to the start and end of the line (Home and End on Windows).
- Command-Up Arrow and Command-Down Arrow go to the top and bottom of the document (Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+End).
- Option-Left Arrow and Option-Right Arrow move a word at a time (Ctrl+Left and Ctrl+Right).
- Add Shift to any of these to select as you move.
If your keyboard has Home and End keys, in TextEdit, Notes, Mail and other apps that use the standard Mac text system they scroll to the top or bottom of the document without moving the insertion point, which catches out most Windows users the first time. Some cross-platform apps and code editors keep the Windows behavior. A MacBook has no Home or End keys at all: fn-Left Arrow and fn-Right Arrow stand in for them, and fn-Up Arrow and fn-Down Arrow for Page Up and Page Down. The keys a MacBook leaves out has the full list.
The Mac’s Delete key is your Backspace. To delete forward, press fn-Delete. Option-Delete removes the word before the insertion point, like Ctrl+Backspace.
Windows and apps: closing is not quitting
On Windows, closing the last window usually ends the program. On a Mac, closing a window with Command-W or the red button usually leaves the app running, which is why its icon in the Dock keeps a dot beneath it. Command-Q quits the app. Alt-F4 has no single equivalent: use Command-W for a window and Command-Q for the whole app.
App switching changes too:
- Command-Tab switches between apps, one icon per app, however many windows each has. While you hold Command, press Q to quit the selected app or H to hide it.
- Command-` (the key below Escape on US keyboards) cycles through the windows of the app you are in.
- Command-M minimizes a window, and Command-H hides the whole app.
And a few system-wide ones:
| Windows | Mac | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+Alt+Del, Ctrl+Shift+Esc | ⌥⌘Esc | Force Quit (Activity Monitor is the Task Manager) |
| Windows key, then type | ⌘Space | Search with Spotlight |
| Win+L | ⌃⌘Q | Lock the screen |
| Print Screen, Win+Shift+S | ⇧⌘3, ⇧⌘4, ⇧⌘5 | Whole screen, a selection, the Screenshot toolbar |
Keyboard shortcuts for switching apps and windows on a Mac goes further.
In Finder, a few habits are reversed. Return renames the selected file, where Windows uses F2. Command-O or Command-Down Arrow opens it. Command-Delete moves it to the Trash. There is no Cut for files: copy with Command-C, then press Option-Command-V to move it to the new place.
ISO keyboards and the UK layout
Mac keyboards sold in the UK and most of Europe are ISO keyboards, with a tall Return key and an extra key beside the left Shift. On the British Mac layout, that extra key types ` and ~, and the key below Escape types § and ±. So the window-cycling shortcut is Command plus the key next to the left Shift. If you are not sure which kind you have, see ANSI, ISO and JIS Mac keyboards: how to tell which you have.
The British Mac layout also moves characters a Windows user expects. @ is Shift-2 and ” is Shift-‘, the other way round from a UK Windows keyboard, and # is Option-3, because Shift-3 types £. If your fingers would rather keep the Windows positions, add the British PC input source: System Settings > Keyboard, then Edit… next to Input Sources under Text Input, then the Add button, then English, then British PC.
Learn them by doing
Reading a table once will not move these into your hands. Using them will:
- Let the menus teach you. Every Mac menu prints the shortcut beside each command. When you open a menu for something you do often, read the keys, press Escape, and press them instead.
- Search instead of browsing. Shift-Command-/ opens the Help menu’s search field in almost any app. Type part of a command’s name and point to a result, and macOS shows where it is and its shortcut.
- Take one group a week. Command for Control first, then text movement, then windows and apps.
Typebar helps with the stage where you are not sure what you pressed. Its on-screen keyboard follows your input source and can match your keyboard’s shape, ANSI or ISO, so ⌘ and ⌥ sit where they sit on your own keys. Each shortcut you press shows in its keystroke pill with the name it has in that app’s menus, so you can see whether you pressed the shortcut you meant.
When you cannot remember the keys at all, hold Command for a moment and Typebar relabels its on-screen keys with what they do in the app in front. The answer is on screen without opening a menu, which makes it a good check after you have tried a guess.
Questions
Can I make the Mac use Control like Windows does?
You can swap Control and Command in Modifier Keys. Menus, help pages and tutorials will still show ⌘, though, so learning Command usually pays off sooner.
How do I right-click on a Mac?
Control-click, or click with two fingers on a trackpad.
What replaces Ctrl+Alt+Del?
Option-Command-Escape opens Force Quit Applications. For more detail, open Activity Monitor from Spotlight.
Is there a way to see what each key does in the app I am using?
Open the app’s menus and read down the right-hand side, or hold Command in Typebar to see it on an on-screen keyboard. Typebar is $9 once, with a 24-hour free trial.