1. There are keyboard shortcuts that allow you to navigate the Zoom settings without using your mouse. They are listed in this article and also available in your Zoom desktop client settings, under Keyboard Shortcuts.
2. Open the Spotlight search tool ⌘+Space bar: This is probably the most useful shortcut of all. Whenever you want to find a file on your Mac, just tap this shortcut and type the name of the file.
3. Close the current window (Command + W) This keyboard shortcut has been around since the first.

Humanity should be grateful for the invention of Mac hotkeys. They probably saved us thousand years of time if put together. There is something addictive in using shortcuts - the quickness, the feeling of a keyboard, the geeky confidence in your fingers when you realize “hurray it works!” Once you get hooked on shortcuts, you’ll never go back to clicking again.

Basic Mac hotkeys combinations

Tap the Host or Participant's name tap Pin or Spotlight Video. If you have multiple screens in your Zoom Room, you can choose which screen to pin the video to.

1. Quit all apps

Sometimes an app that you thought you quit is still secretly running in the background. When your Mac lags and you need some fresh memory, you may choose to quit all apps. You probably heard of Force Quit (Cmd + Option + Esc), but it’s a too long way to do it.
Quit many apps in a row: Cmd + Tab

Then, holding down Cmd press Q to cycle between apps you need to close.

2. Delete a file completely

Dragging files to the Trash? Wait, this is not the only option. Here’s a shortcut to quickly delete unwanted files on a Mac, bypassing the Trash. Caution: there’s no way back.

To completely delete a file: Option + Cmd + Delete

3. Copy and paste a screenshot directly

Cmd + Shift + 4 is an old classic way to make a screenshot on a Mac. But here comes the combination to take your screenshotting skills to the new level. Normally you would make a screenshot, pick it from your desktop, and only then paste it to the new location. It appears, all this time you could do it easier.
To copy-paste a screenshot: Shift + Control + Cmd + 4

4. Quickly switch to the desktop

Sometimes your screen is so obscured by windows it would take years to click through to the desktop. Thank goodness, there is a Mac keystroke combination designed for people like us: the folks who are drowning in an ocean of windows.

To remove window overload: Cmd + F3

5. Open Spotlight

Spotlight, your Mac’s internal search engine, can make your life 1000% easier. It finds files faster than Finder and intuitively predicts what are you after. To open Spotlight right on the spot (sorry for the pun), use this magic combo.
To launch Spotlight search: Cmd + Space bar

Cool shortcut keys for Mac

1. Invert display colors

A truly psychedelic key combination. This shortcut inverts all the colors on your Mac's screen to their opposites. Try it, and your world will never be the same. On the flip side, you can find a few practical applications for this command, for example, to adjust your screen to different lighting.

To invert colors on screen: ?md + Option + F5

2. Restore a recently closed tab

This one can be a real savior if you accidentally closed an important tab in a browser, like that pancake recipe or payment confirmation. There’s an easy Mac keyboard shortcut to restore it.
To restore a closed tab: Cmd + Shift + T

3. To shut down your Mac instantly

No, the following Mac shortcut is not about the force shutdown. It’s used when you need to quickly close all dialog windows and shut down your Mac in a legit way. Learn this one, quickly finish your work and finally go outside.

To quickly shut down a Mac: Control + Option + Command + Eject

4. Mac hot keys to invoke Siri

Among all Mac keyboard commands, this is the easiest. Since Siri’s arrival to macOS we got used to talk to Siri about weather and even ask her to play our favorite tracks on Mac. If you are using macOS Sierra or higher, you’ll enjoy the ability to summon Siri using just one hand.
To launch Siri: Cmd + Space bar

A shortcut to free up space on your Mac

Well, not exactly a shortcut, but indeed the quickest way to get more storage on your Mac.

Download CleanMyMac + Install + Click Smart Scan
This combination of actions will free up dozens of gigabytes of space taken by garbage: unwanted files, system junk, app leftovers, etc. CleanMyMac removes about 54 GB of junk on an average Mac. Try and see how it cleans your Mac.

CleanMyMac is available for a free download here.

Finder shortcuts

Finder is quite a resource-demanding tool. When you open a new Finder window it usually takes some time. For quicker access to your main destinations like Applications or Desktop, you can use the following shortcut combinations.
To quickly access Finder folders:

Cmd + Shift + A (for Applications)
Cmd + Shift + U (for Utilities)
Cmd + Shift + D (for Desktop)

Chrome shortcuts

Having hundreds of opened tabs in a browser has become a widespread syndrome nowadays. Closing tabs with a mouse is not only frustrating but also may freeze up your browser. Using a direct shortcut makes this job easy as a morning walk.

To close a current tab in Chrome: Cmd + W
To close a Chrome window: Cmd + Shift + W
To open a new Chrome tab: Cmd + T

Hotkey For Spotlight Macbook

Mac shortcuts for documents

1. Copy text without formatting

You want to copy a piece of the text, but the old formatting drags along with it. Now you spend more time formatting rather than actually creating a text. To strip the text from old styling, use the following Mac hotkeys combination. A very good one to stretch your fingers.

To paste text without formatting:
Hold down Shift + Option + Command and hit V

2. Paste special symbols and emojis

Probably this is the easiest documented shortcut key for a Mac. To enter special symbols, like those lamdas, tildas, and alfas, you need to press just one key. For instance, if you need to type a modified E, hold down the E key for one second and then choose among available variations that appear.

To enter an alternate character: Hold down the character key

To paste emojis in the text: Press Control + Command + Space

3. Enter a strikethrough text on a Mac

You won’t believe, but 8000 people are googling how to do a strikethrough text on a Mac everyday. Although some applications don’t support it, this combination well works in TextEdit and Word. Now you can use it in every second line to add some roughness to your writing.

To apply strikethrough formatting: Cmd + Shift + X

4. Quickly print documents

The next combination works for most apps that allow printing. You don’t need to figure out where the print dialogue is located in every case. Just memorize this quick combination and send your files to print from anywhere.
To invoke a print dialogue: Cmd + P

Mac shortcuts to delete many files at once

There comes a time when you need to do a spring cleaning on your Mac: sort out old garbage, move photos to an external drive, or clean up your old downloads. It is time-consuming and takes an immense willpower simply to start. But lucky you are: there are a few shortcuts to remove large heaps of files as quickly as if you had a machete.

To select folder contents: Cmd + A
To delete a group of files after selection: Cmd + Delete
To empty the Trash: Cmd + Shift + Delete
If you’ve got many files left after backing up, this will save you a good deal of time moving them to the Trash bin.

To save you from a headache, there are apps that will do the mundane deletion job in an instant. CleanMyMac is perhaps the most reliable one. It has a tool that specifically searches for Large & Old files on your drive for a quick cleanup. CleanMyMac is available for a free download. So, check it out.

This was our take on most useful keyboard shortcuts for Mac. Thanks for reading. Below you'll find a few more links about Mac and productivity.

These might also interest you:

If you have ever used a Mac, you know the feeling of using Spotlight search. It makes searching apps and files so much easier. Spotlight not only launch apps and search files in a jiffy, but it also works as a calculator, currency converters, weather calculation, and much more.

But, Spotlight comes inbuilt with MacOS and I really miss the fast file search on my Windows 10 laptop. The problem is Windows works with NTFS, and indexing on Apple File System (APFS) is far better. So it’s not possible to get a perfect replacement for Spotlight. But that doesn’t stop me and in the scout to get Spotlight for Windows 10. Here are some solid Spotlight alternative apps.

Read: Clever Ways to Use Spotlight

Spotlight for Windows 10

1. Wox

Wox is the closest you can come to Spotlight Search on Windows 10. The UI is minimal and ideal for app launches and file search. By default, the app is triggered when you press Atl+Space. A Spotlight-like launcher pops up for you to enter the search string and the results appear as a dropdown.

The app is heavily customizable and it lets you change themes, remap hotkeys, install plugins, etc. By default, Wox only provides 5 search results and even this can be customized from Wox settings. The big highlight of Wox is the huge amount of plugin support. For instance, YouTube Query, Clipboard History, Google Translate, etc.

Wox is an open-source application and the forum is quite active in terms of updates and query resolution. The only problem I found out is the launcher loses focus when the mouse is moved outside the search bar. Hence, every time I have to click on the search bar to start typing even though it was present on the screen. Additionally, Wox doesn’t remember your search preferences.

Features:

• Search files
• Calculator
• Open URL
• Display color using hex number
• Run shell commands

Download Wox (free)

2. PowerToys Run

PowerToys Run is a part of Microsoft’s experimental project called PowerToys. It consists of some additional tools like Image Resizer, ColorPicker, Keyboard Manager, etc for Windows 10 power users and PowerToys Run is a part of it. Now, functioning and design-wise, PowerToys Run is almost similar to Wox because Wox is a major contributor to this project.

Once you have PowerToys installed, hit Alt+Enter to launch PowerToys Run. Similar to Wox, you can search for files, launch applications, and perform calculations. The only thing lacking is plugins like Everything, currency converter, etc.

Features:

• Search files
• Calculator

Download Microsoft PowerToys

Hotkeys For Microsoft

3. Search Everything

Search Everything might not be the ideal replacement for Spotlight Search but what the app offers cannot be ignored. The app is build just to search files on your local storage and it does an awesome job. The UI is pretty traditional and will instantly remind you of Windows 7 but keeping the UI simple makes it snappy.

In my testing, the results turned out to be accurate every single time and works way better than the native file search. The app accepts search queries as well as regular expressions. It also lets you export the output of the search into a text file. That’s helpful if you are using it with a macro and certainly help if you are into development.

The only downside I could find is that the app does consume a lot of CPU if the search string points to a vast number of files.

Features:

• Search files
• Shell Commands
• Regular Expressions.

Download Search Everything (free)

4. KeyPirinha

KeyPirinha turned out to be my favorite app due to its simplicity and quick response. It is a portable app and you have the source code available on the website. The app is pretty simple and you don’t get any plugins or themes with it.

Compared to Wox, customizing KeyPirinha is a bit complicated as you have to make changes in the configuration files. It can be dicey if you are not good at coding. For instance, just to change the hotkey to Ctrl + Space, I had to append the following lines in the configuration file.

The most unique feature in the app is the action step which makes it more of an app emulator. Once the results for your search pops up you can hit tab and now you can run command for that particular application from the search bar itself. If you give another tab, it opens additional options for the app which is similar to a right-click on that app.

The problem with KeyPirinha which bugs me the most is that you cannot select the search results with your mouse. To enable this, you have to make tons of changes in the configuration file. Additionally, the app almost recognizes Windows shortcuts except for the ones in Control Panel.

Features: Search files, Calculator, Regular Expressions.

Download KeyPirinha (free)

5. Launchy

Launchy is another open-source Launcher and has separate variants for Windows, Mac, and Linux. The app has a minimal layout but stands out in terms of customizations and web searches. In terms of customizations, apart from the normal ones, you get additional options like auto open the app, delay in response, etc.

Launchy comes with a set of plugins installed but unlike Wox, there isn’t a huge plugin library. It also supports file search but you have to specify the search directories in the Catalog tab under Settings. Do note that while adding directories, be careful because entering a generic path like “C:// ” will lead to the indexing of thousands of files and bog down your PC.

Launchy seems to be accurate with the search but this comes with a slight delay. At times, the delay is so prolonged that I thought the search string itself is invalid. It also searches the web but the response is so slow that it’s not at all convenient.

Features:

• Search files
• Calculator
• Web search
• Regular Expressions and Shell commands

Download Launchy (free)

6. Cerebro Pro

The outlook of Cerebro Pro is similar to Spotlight search and it even replicates the functionality. The search results are displayed below the search bar and the layout is exactly like the Spotlight Search. The highlight of the app is it even shows up results from the web. This is an added bonus as you don’t need to open the browser window to type the search string.

Since you have so much web suggestions in the app, a small spelling mistake makes the entire search irrelevant. There is no option to switch off the web search

Features:

• Search files
• Calculator
• Web search and suggestions

Download Cerebro Pro (free)

The best app to get Spotlight for Windows 10?

Wox comes the closest and is the ideal choice. They have an extremely active update system and a huge set of plugins support. If you don’t have a spec-heavy system and you can be creative enough with coding then you should try KeyPirinha.

In case most of your searches are from the web, you can give a try to Cerebro Pro. For more issues or queries, let me know in the comments below.

Also Read: 15 Best Start Menu Customizations For Windows 10