OS X Hotkeys

Increased productivity comes in many flavours, but a favourite of mine is learning new hotkeys which save me time. There is also nothing quite like the reaction you get from a person who has been doing something the hard way and you show them a hotkey to jump right to it.

General

These hotkeys usually exist in multiple applications, and if they don’t then I often add them using the option for hotkeys in system preferences.

Next / Previous Tab
⌘-alt-left
⌘-alt-right
Usage: Switch to next or previous tabs in an application.
Applications: Firefox, Coda, Pathfinder + many others

Switch applications
⌘-tab then tab or left or right
Usage: To switch to another running application.
Applications: All

Close focused window
⌘-w
Usage: To close only the topmost window of an application. Good for closing firefox popups.
Applications: All

Quit focused application
⌘-q
Usage: To quit only the topmost application. Can also be used with application switcher above to quit an application without focusing it first.
Applications: All

New…
⌘-n
Usage: Most applications use ⌘-n as the hotkey for a new ‘thing’. In Firefox it’s a new window, in Coda it’s a new document, in Thunderbird it’s a new email.
Applications: Firefox, Coda, Pathfinder, Thunderbird + many others

Applications

Hotkeys for specific applications that I use on a regular basis.

Firefox
⌘-t to open a new tab
⌘-shift-t to reopen the last closed tab (love this one)
⌘-left back in page history
⌘-right forward in page history
⌘-f find something on the page
⌘-g find the next occurrence of a search

Thunderbird
⌘-n create new email
⌘-enter to send the email you are creating
⌘-shift-t to check for new messages for all accounts

I will be sure to come back and add to this if I come up with any new ones.

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