Mac Keyboard Shortcuts in 2026: The Complete List for macOS 27

The most useful Mac keyboard shortcuts are Command-C, Command-V and Command-Z to copy, paste and undo, Command-Tab to switch apps, Command-Space for Spotlight, Command-Q to quit, Option-Command-Esc to force quit, Shift-Command-4 for a screenshot and Control-Command-Q to lock your screen. Apple lists them all on its Mac keyboard shortcuts page, and the full set is below, grouped by job.

Shortcuts feel like a power-user thing until you notice how often your hand leaves the keyboard to go hunting in a menu. This list covers the ones built into macOS 27: everyday editing, apps and windows, screenshots, Finder, text, sleep and shutdown, the Fn and Globe key, Safari, startup keys and accessibility. The last sections show you how to give any menu command a shortcut of its own, and how to track down a shortcut that has gone dead.

Mac modifier keys and their symbols

Mac shortcuts are built from four modifier keys, Command (⌘), Shift (⇧), Option (⌥) and Control (⌃), plus the Fn or Globe key on newer keyboards. You hold the modifiers, then press the last key. Menus show the symbols rather than the names, which is why Apple keeps a guide to the symbols in Mac menus.

Apple's shortcut list gives the Windows keyboard equivalents: Alt for Option, and Ctrl or the Windows logo key for Command. If you'd like to see which modifiers you're holding, turning on Sticky Keys in Accessibility settings shows the symbols on screen as you press them (Apple).

The Mac shortcuts worth learning first

Fifteen shortcuts cover most of a working day on a Mac: editing, switching apps, finding things, saving and getting out of trouble. All of them are on Apple's list.

If you only take one from this list, make it Control-Command-Q. I work from cafés a fair amount, and locking the screen before I get up for a refill is now a reflex. Two keys and a letter, and nobody reads my inbox while I'm at the counter.

Copy, paste, undo and other everyday shortcuts

The everyday Mac shortcuts all use the Command key: Command-X, C and V to cut, copy and paste, Command-Z to undo, Command-A to select all, Command-S to save and Command-P to print. Apple's keyboard shortcuts page lists them as the core set that works in almost every app.

Paste and Match Style is the one I lean on most. When I lift a line from a client's email into a slide, a plain Command-V brings their font, size and color with it. Option-Shift-Command-V drops the formatting and takes on whatever is around the cursor, so the slide still looks like one slide.

For undo inside Apple Notes, including how far back it goes, see how to undo in Notes on a Mac.

Shortcuts for apps, windows and spaces

To move between apps on a Mac, press Command-Tab; to move between windows of the same app, press Command-Grave accent (`). Command-H hides an app, Command-M minimizes a window, and Control-Command-F takes an app full screen if it supports it (Apple).

The space switching shortcut comes from Apple's guide to working in multiple spaces. Force quit deserves a word of caution: anything unsaved in that app is gone, so give a spinning app a minute first if you can.

Window tiling shortcuts

macOS tiles windows with the Fn (or Globe) and Control keys plus an arrow: Fn-Control-Left Arrow sends the front window to the left half, Fn-Control-Right Arrow to the right half, and Fn-Control-F fills the screen without going full screen. Apple lists the whole set on its tiling page.

Screenshot and screen recording shortcuts

Press Shift-Command-3 to capture the whole screen, Shift-Command-4 to drag over an area, and Shift-Command-5 to open the Screenshot app, which also records the screen. Add Control to any of them to copy the image to the clipboard instead of saving a file, according to Apple's screenshot guide.

Screenshots save to the desktop by default. To send them somewhere else, open the Screenshot app with Shift-Command-5, click Options and pick a location (Apple).

Finder shortcuts

Finder has its own shortcuts for jumping to folders: Shift-Command-D for the Desktop, Shift-Command-O for Documents, Option-Command-L for Downloads, Shift-Command-H for your home folder and Shift-Command-G to type any folder path. They're all in the Finder section of Apple's list.

Jump to a folder

Work with files

Change the view

Moving files is where Finder hides its best trick. Windows users expect Cut, and on a Mac there isn't one for files. Copy the file with Command-C, open the destination and press Option-Command-V, and the file moves instead of being copied (Apple).

Text editing shortcuts

In most Mac text fields, Command plus an arrow key jumps to the start or end of a line or document, Option plus an arrow key moves one word at a time, and adding Shift selects as you go. Apple notes that these document shortcuts can behave differently from app to app (Apple).

Move and select

Delete and format

Option-Delete changed how I edit drafts more than anything else here. Backing out a wrong word one letter at a time is slow; one press clears the whole word and I retype it.

Sleep, lock, log out and shut down shortcuts

Lock a Mac with Control-Command-Q, log out with Shift-Command-Q, and force a frozen Mac to restart with Control-Command-Power. On a Mac with Touch ID, pressing Touch ID locks the screen. Apple lists the full set, including the ones that sleep only the displays, on its shortcuts page.

Fn and Globe key shortcuts

On recent Mac keyboards the Fn or Globe key runs its own shortcuts: Fn-A shows or hides the Dock, Fn-C opens Control Center, Fn-N opens Notification Center, Fn-D starts dictation, Fn-Q makes a Quick Note and Fn-E opens the emoji picker. They're listed alongside the rest in Apple's shortcut list.

Make the top row act as F1, F2 and so on

By default the top row controls brightness, volume and other system features, and you hold Fn or Globe to get F1 through F12. If you use the F-keys more than the media keys (in a spreadsheet or a code editor, say), flip it (Apple):

1. Open System Settings and click Keyboard in the sidebar.
2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, then click Function Keys.
3. Turn on Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.

If that setting isn't there, you may be using a keyboard not made by Apple, which can need the maker's own utility (Apple).

Safari shortcuts

In Safari, Shift-Command-T reopens the last tab or window you closed, Command-L puts the cursor in the address field, Control-Tab moves to the next tab and Shift-Command-R opens Reader. They come from Safari's shortcut guide.

Shift-Command-T has saved me more than once. Last month I closed a tab holding a supplier's pricing page I'd spent a good while comparing, and one shortcut brought it back with its place intact. For clearing dozens of tabs at once, see how to close all tabs on a Mac, and for zooming beyond Command-Plus there's every way to zoom in and out on a Mac.

Mac startup key combinations

Startup keys depend on the chip. Apple silicon Macs have no startup key combinations: press and hold the power button until the startup options screen appears, then choose safe mode, macOS Recovery or another disk. On an Intel Mac, you hold a key right after pressing the power button, per Apple's startup key guide.

If you're not sure which you have, choose Apple menu > About This Mac and look for a Chip line (Apple silicon) or a Processor line (Intel).

Accessibility and keyboard navigation shortcuts

macOS can be run almost entirely from the keyboard. Option-Command-F5 opens the Accessibility Shortcuts panel, Control-F2 moves focus to the menu bar and Control-F3 to the Dock, and Tab moves between controls in a window. Apple lists these, and where to turn them on, in the accessibility section of its shortcuts page.

Some of these, such as invert colors, are off until you switch them on in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts.

How to make your own Mac keyboard shortcuts

You can give any menu command in a Mac app its own shortcut in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts, as long as you type the menu item's name exactly as it appears. Apple's custom shortcut guide has the details:

1. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, then click Keyboard in the sidebar.
2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, then select App Shortcuts on the left.
3. Click the Add (+) button and choose an app from the Application menu, or All Applications for a command many apps share.
4. In Menu title, type the command exactly as it appears. Use -> for submenus, as in Format->Font->Ligatures->Use Default, and three periods for an ellipsis.
5. Click Keyboard shortcut, press the keys you want, then click Done.

I save a lot of web receipts as PDFs, so I gave Safari's File > Export as PDF… its own shortcut. The menu title went in as File->Export as PDF..., with three periods, and the first try failed because I'd typed the single ellipsis character instead. Spelling and punctuation have to match the menu exactly.

Apple notes two limits: the shortcut only attaches to commands that already exist in a menu, and some apps don't accept custom shortcuts at all (Apple). For things that aren't menu commands, such as opening a folder or running several steps, Apple's Shortcuts app and Spotlight's actions (Command-Space, then Command-3 to show only actions) are the built-in route (Apple).

Why a Mac keyboard shortcut isn't working

A Mac keyboard shortcut usually stops working because another app or system command already uses the same keys. macOS flags those clashes with a warning icon in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts, where you can double-click either one and press new keys (Apple). Work through these in order:

1. Look for a conflict. Open Keyboard Shortcuts, click through the categories in the sidebar and look for the warning icon (Apple).
2. Check the app's own menu. Shortcuts can vary by language and keyboard layout, so the key printed beside the command in the menu bar is the one that counts (Apple).
3. Check Fn and the top row. If F-key shortcuts do nothing, the top row may be set to media keys; hold Fn or Globe, or change the Function Keys setting above (Apple).
4. Check the menu title on a custom shortcut. One wrong character, a missing ellipsis or the wrong capitalization means it never attaches (Apple).
5. Try it in another app. If a text shortcut works in TextEdit but not in a web app, the app is handling the keys itself.
6. Try another keyboard. On a keyboard not made by Apple, some keys may need the maker's software to behave like a Mac keyboard (Apple).

The clash I see most often is with launchers and assistants that claim a shortcut across the whole Mac. Install two of them and the second one quietly loses. The fix is to give one of them different keys in its own settings.

How to actually remember Mac shortcuts

Nobody learns a list this long by reading it. What works is noticing the shortcut printed beside a menu command you've just clicked, and using it the next time instead.

• Read the menus. Every command with a shortcut shows it on the right, in the symbols from the table at the top.
• Learn by job, not by list. Pick the group you use most this week, Finder or text editing, and ignore the rest until it sticks.
• Use Shift-Command-Question mark (?). It opens the Help menu (Apple), where you can type a command's name to find it in the app's menus, shortcut and all.
• Keep the defaults. Before remapping a system shortcut, remember that every other Mac you sit down at will still use Apple's.

My own habit is a small one. If I go to the same menu twice in a day, I look at the shortcut beside the command and make myself use it for the rest of the week. That's how Option-Command-V for moving files and Command-Comma for settings stuck. For the shortcuts inside Apple's Mail app, there's a separate guide to Apple Mail keyboard shortcuts.