Keyboard shortcuts: the thirty you will use today

1. The promise

You'll have practised thirty keyboard shortcuts on your own machine — the ones that switch apps, switch tabs, find on a page, copy, paste, undo, screenshot, force-quit, and lock your screen. By the end of this unit, you'll do at least ten of them without thinking.

2. The mental model

Every minute spent dragging the mouse to a menu is a minute not spent thinking.

The mouse is slow because your hand has to leave the keyboard, find the mouse, aim at a small target, click, then come back. Keyboard shortcuts skip all of that. Your hands stay on home row. The action happens.

The vocabulary, said properly:

• A shortcut (or key combination) is a set of keys pressed together to trigger an action.
• A modifier key is a key that changes the meaning of other keys. Cmd, Ctrl, Shift, Option/Alt, Win.

A shortcut written as Cmd+Shift+T means: hold Cmd and Shift, then press T. Release everything.

3. You do it, with me

Open this unit. Read each shortcut. Then perform it on your machine before moving to the next one. Don't read ahead.

The shortcuts are grouped. Within each group, macOS comes first, Windows second.

Group 1 — Switching between apps

• Switch to the last app you used: Cmd+Tab / Alt+Tab. Hold the modifier; the switcher stays up while you tap Tab to cycle.
• Switch window within the current app: Cmd+` (Command + backtick) / Alt+Esc (Windows) or Win+Tab for the rich switcher.
• Hide the current app: Cmd+H / (Windows shows desktop with Win+D).
• Quit the current app: Cmd+Q / Alt+F4.

(SCREENSHOT: macOS Cmd+Tab app switcher visible — full screen — the row of app icons)

(SCREENSHOT: Windows Alt+Tab switcher visible — full screen — the row of window thumbnails)

Group 2 — Within a browser or editor

• New tab: Cmd+T / Ctrl+T.
• Close tab: Cmd+W / Ctrl+W.
• Reopen the tab you just closed: Cmd+Shift+T / Ctrl+Shift+T. The single most-loved shortcut on this list.
• Next tab: Cmd+Option+Right / Ctrl+Tab.
• Previous tab: Cmd+Option+Left / Ctrl+Shift+Tab.
• Jump to the address bar: Cmd+L / Ctrl+L.

Group 3 — Editing

• Copy / cut / paste: Cmd+C / Cmd+X / Cmd+V — Ctrl+C / Ctrl+X / Ctrl+V.
• Undo: Cmd+Z / Ctrl+Z.
• Redo: Cmd+Shift+Z / Ctrl+Y.
• Select all: Cmd+A / Ctrl+A.
• Find on this page: Cmd+F / Ctrl+F.
• Find and replace: Cmd+Option+F / Ctrl+H.

(SCREENSHOT: Chrome with Cmd+F find bar open — full window — search box visible with "test" typed)

Group 4 — Word and line moves (essential for code)

These are how senior developers fly through text.

• Move by word, left or right: Option+Left/Right / Ctrl+Left/Right.
• Jump to the start or end of the line: Cmd+Left/Right (macOS) / Home/End (Windows).
• Delete the previous word: Option+Delete / Ctrl+Backspace.

You'll use these constantly in Ch 4 onwards. Drill them in a plain text editor for two minutes now.

Group 5 — Screenshots

• Full screen: Cmd+Shift+3 / Win+PrintScreen.
• Select a region: Cmd+Shift+4 / Win+Shift+S.
• Window: Cmd+Shift+4 then Space then click the window / Win+Shift+S then "window" mode in the toolbar.

Take one of each right now. Files appear on your Desktop (macOS) or in the clipboard (Windows — paste them into Paint to save).

Group 6 — System

• Lock the screen: Cmd+Ctrl+Q / Win+L.
• Force quit a stuck app: Cmd+Option+Esc (opens the Force Quit window) / Ctrl+Shift+Esc (opens Task Manager).
• Search everything: Cmd+Space (Spotlight) / Win (Start search).

(SCREENSHOT: macOS Force Quit Applications window — Cmd+Option+Esc — full window)

(SCREENSHOT: Windows Task Manager — Ctrl+Shift+Esc — full window — Processes tab visible)

(SCREENSHOT: macOS Spotlight open with Cmd+Space — full screen — search bar visible)

The drill

Close this tab. Open it again with Cmd+Shift+T / Ctrl+Shift+T. Switch to another app with Cmd+Tab / Alt+Tab. Switch back. Open Spotlight or Start, type "calc", press Enter. Force-quit the calculator. Lock your screen and log back in.

You just performed eight shortcuts in twenty seconds. That's the cadence.

4. What you should be seeing

A list of thirty shortcuts you've performed at least once on your own machine. Five of them feel close to natural already. The other twenty-five will feel natural in a week if you use them on purpose every day.

5. Common stumbles

• You keep using the mouse out of habit. That's expected. The fix is to ban the mouse for one specific task — say, switching tabs — for one day. By day two it's automatic.
• Wrong modifier key when switching machines. macOS uses Cmd where Windows uses Ctrl. If you switch between OSes, your fingers will hit the wrong one for the first week. This passes.
• You try to memorise all thirty in one sitting. Don't. Pick five from group 1 and group 3. Use those today. Add five tomorrow. By the end of the week you'll have all thirty in muscle memory.
• The Windows F-row is set to media controls. On many laptops, the top row of keys defaults to volume, brightness, etc., and you have to press Fn to get F1-F12. Either press Fn+F12 for DevTools, or toggle the behaviour in your BIOS / OS settings.

6. You should know