Aug 2, 2018 - Mac-OS-X-Keyboard-Shortcut-Cheat-Sheet-01. Macbook Hacks Mac Keyboard Shortcuts Macbook Pro Tips Mac Os Apple Inc Computer Help Computer Tips. A simple solution to this problem is to remap the Windows and ALT key and the command and option/alt keys on the Windows PC keyboard connected to the Mac, so that the keyboard layouts will mimic expectations based on the standard Apple modifier key layout, rather than what it says on the PC keyboard.
Keyboard hacks/shortcuts can boost productivity and save a ton of hassle! They are simple, easy, and you only need the keyboard.
In this article, we’ll go over all of the main keyboard hacks that you probably never heard of.
If you utilize these simple hacks, the mouse will even seem irrelevant. The reason for this is because the keyboard can do absolutely anything on your PC. Moreover, you will realize that you can save a ton of time with a few keystrokes.
You can turn to a computer wizard by mastering these simple concepts.
1. Making Symbols With Your Keyboard
Ever have that situation where you need to type an emoji, and then google the image just to copy and paste a smiley face?
If you’ve encountered such problems in the past, this is the perfect solution. You can use your computer keyboard to make symbols. In essence, there exist very many symbols between the keys.
If you want to include special characters in your document, this is the way forward. Press the Alt keys and hold it down and press the Numeric key. While still holding the Alt Key, write the special character you want to make. Release the Alt key, the symbol you have written will appear. Here are some of the symbol hacks for you;
- Alt+1- Smiley face
- Alt+2- Black smiley face
- Alt+3- Heart
- Alt+4- Diamond
- Alt+0169- Copyright symbol
- Alt+0182- Paragraph mark
- Alt+0177- Plus-or-minus sign
- Alt+0162- Cent Sign
- Alt+11- Male Sign
- Alt+12- Female Sign
- Alt+0149- Bullet Point
- Alt+15- The Sun Sign
- Alt+6- Spade
- Alt+0153- Trademark Symbol
- Alt+8236- Infinity Symbol
- Alt+24- Arrow Up
- Alt+25- Arrow Down
The above are just a few of the symbols you can make using the keyboard. You can make almost all symbols with such ease.
2. Browsing the Internet Using The Keyboard
Learning how to use shortcuts will help you navigate, select, and interact with web pages without touching your mouse.
Besides looking like a computer god, why would you bother with these shortcuts? Productivity and ease-of-use! It can be a hassle to navigate every page and navigate it with a mouse when you can do it in a fraction of the time with just a few simple keystrokes.
For general browsing, press Space and Shift + Space. If you are reading a long story and you have no time, tap the spacebar to jump down one page at a time. To go back, hold down the Shift button before tapping the spacebar.
For sites that have hyperlinks that are hard to locate, instead of soaring the mouse until the cursor becomes clickable, tap the Tap button to move from link to link. To move in different directions, press Shift-Tab. If you want to highlight the current URL, tap Ctrl +L, and the cursor will jump to the address bar and do that. To refresh your existing site, hit Ctrl + R.
3. Keyboard Hacks for Mailbox
Command -1, -2 and -3 enables you to open the sites in the Bookmarks Bar.
If you are using Outlook, press the Space Bar to read the mail in the preview pane, Ctrl + Shift + V to move the mail, Ctrl + E to search an email.
You can also use the following;
- CrtL + N- compose new mail
- Ctrl + R- reply a mail
- Shift+F- Delete an email/Move to trash
- Ctrl + Shift + R- reply to all emails
- Ctrl + F- forward a mail
- Press Ctrl + Enter- send an email
If you are using Gmail, press Enter button to open a discussion in the mail, V to move the discussion, R to reply, A to reply all the emails, F to forward a mail, press Tab then Enter to send the composed mail and Z to undo the last action performed.
4. Social Media Hacks
Did you know that you can navigate through your social media platforms using your keyboard? It’s pretty simple on Twitter. Here is how to go about it!
Twitter Shortcuts:
- N- Compose new tweet
- R- Reply tweet
- L/F- Like Tweet
- T- Retweet tweet to your followers
These hacks apply for both Mac App and Windows. Also, it’s easy to apply these hacks on facebook. You can navigate through the newsfeed, like stories, and comment on posts without using your keyboard.
Facebook Shortcuts:
- J- Navigate/Scroll down through Newsfeed
- K- Navigate up through Newsfeed
- L- Like a story/post
- P- Create a new post
- S- share post
- C- Comment on a post
You just need to select a particular story/post and execute all these hacks.
5. Google Calendar
Are you an avid user of google calendar? Using keyboard shortcuts, you can plan your schedule for the coming days, weeks, and months within minutes.
Firstly, click on “enable keyboard shortcuts” After that, click the option of saving at the bottom of the page. When you go to your calendar, Click C to create an event, Click T to get back to the present day if you had navigated into the future or past. To see the month view, click M or 3. For day view, click D or 1.
6. Choosing the Right Type of Keyboard
Did you know that there are specific types of keyboards for different uses?
Most people don’t realize, but the keyboard is one of the most used components when using a PC or laptop. Keyboards have evolved to adapt to every niche and need. For example, there are gaming keyboards with flashy lights, advanced keyboard switches for faster typing, and even programmed buttons.
Suffice to say that the type of keyboard you choose is paramount to your overall PC experience, and choosing the right keyboard can even boost productivity.
Here are some common types of keyboards and why they’re useful:
Tenkeyless keyboards – a TKL keyboard is a keyboard with no numpad! That means the numbers to the right of your keyboard are gone. It saves a ton of space but at a cost. Check out a great list of them here. In addition to TKL keyboards, you can also get different sizes of keyboards that will have fewer keys on them.
Mechanical keyboards – these differ from regular keyboards in that they have these things called switches – it gives a better tactile response and an overall better typing experience. Mechanical keyboards are for everyone, and many consider them to be the absolute best typing experience.
Programmable keyboards – these are keyboards in which you can record certain typing patterns and have it automatically repeated from a hotkey. This might be perfect for gamers or even office workers who find themselves constantly typing the same pattern over and over again.
The Bottom Line
Using the mouse makes us spend too much valuable time browsing or trying to find the right icon to click on. It becomes tedious to go over each document, page, or navigation. On the other hand, a simple shortcut usually works on similar apps and webpages, making it worthwhile to learn.
Learn to save time by using the above keyboard hacks, I guarantee they’ll save you a ton of time and maybe even make you look like a PC guru.
All of these shortcuts take some time to learn at first but can be picked up within days if consistently used.
Have any questions? Leave a comment below!
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For most of us Windows users, the computer is a magical device that we use to get a lot done in a short amount of time. However, we hardly know too much about it and we admittedly could use a few hacks to make things a little easier (especially with your keyboard).
Here at the essaygeeks.co.uk service, we pride ourselves in productivity. And since we do all of our work on computers, computer keyboard hacks come as a natural way to boost that productivity. Over the years, I have personally learned a whole slew of computer hacks and today I am going to share 20 of the best with you.
Table of Contents
#1 Minimize a Window by shaking it
This is a really cool one that most people do not know about right off the bat. Of course, you know you can click on a window and drag it around using the mouse pointer. But did you know that, while in the position, you can easily minimize it with a little shake? It’s a really cool hack that allows you to clear your desktop quickly.
#2 An Easy Shortcut to delete your Browser History
There is a faster way to delete your browser history than the one you’re used to, which involves going through the settings on your computer. All you have to do is click CTRL+SHIFT+DEL and you get straight to the browser history menu.
#3 Highlight URLs with F6
Do you ever want to highlight a URL on the address bar but it’s so long that it takes a long time to do it manually? Well, highlighting URLs for the purposes of deleting or copying them to the clipboard is as easy as hitting F6 on your keyboard.
#4 The Alternative to CTRL+ALT+DEL
Everyone knows about CTRL+ALT+DEL, which is the layman’s last resort when their computer crashes. When you hit that combo, your task manager opens and you can force close the misbehaving program. However, the process involves going to a different screen and then selecting the task manager from a list of options. You can make your life a lot easier by going directly to the task manager by hitting CTRL+Shift+ESC.
#5 Rule your Computer with God Mode
Have you ever heard of the Windows Master Control Panel? Also known as God Mode, this is a shortcut to all of the control panels on your computer within a single folder.
It’s easy to create this folder, assuming you know the full code. You just have to create a new folder anywhere on your computer and name it:
GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}
The part before the full stop (“GodMode”) can be renamed to anything else. However, everything after, including the full stop, has to remain exactly the same.
After creating the above folder (let’s say on your Desktop) you can open it and will display all possible controls that exist on your machine (see above).
#6 Navigating directly to your Desktop
Have you ever wondered how you can navigate directly to your desktop on a Windows 8 or later? Well, it’s as easy as hitting WIN+D on your keyboard and you get directly to it. By the way, “WIN” stands for the Windows button on your keyboard.
#7 Rename multiple Files simultaneously
So you have a whole host of files that you would like to rename and you’re dreading the process of doing it one file at a time. Well, you can select all of them and hit F2. You can then rename them in bulk. The operating system will also append numbers in the format (1), (2), and so on in order to avoid confusion.
#8 Shutting down the Computer
So you want to shut down your computer quickly. The process of going to the start menu and looking for the shutdown button will seem pretty slow once you realize that all you have to do is hit the Windows key followed by U twice. The computer shuts down immediately!
#9 Undoing an Undo
So you just wrote something on your Word document, didn’t like it, and undid it. Great! But what if you want to take back to what it was before because you suddenly changed your mind? Wouldn’t it be great to have a shortcut for undoing an undo? Worry not, there is already one: Simply hit CTRL+Y.
#10 Toggling the Case of Text
Who said you have to rewrite text when you want it in a certain case? You can easily toggle between lower case and upper case in Word processor by hitting Shift+F3. This is guaranteed to work on Microsoft Word. It may or may not work in other word processors.
#11 Permanently delete a File
So you don’t’ like a file and you want to permanently delete it. Usually, you’ll just delete it from the folder containing it and then head on to the recycle bin and delete it again. Easy, right? Well, what if I told you there was a faster way to do it? All you have to do is select it and hit Shift+Delete to permanently delete it from the computer.
#12 Lock your Computer directly
Do you want a convenient way to lock your computer without having to go to the start menu? There is a shortcut for that. All you have to do is hit WIN+L and your computer immediately locks and you have to enter your password to reenter it.
#13 Resync Audio and Video Files on VLC
If you use VLC Media Player on your computer, you will notice that sometimes the audio and video files are not in sync, with one lagging behind the other. The same can happen with subtitles sometimes as well. When that happens, just press ‘J’ to resync the audio forward and ‘K’ to resync it backward. For subtitles, you can press ‘H’ and ‘G’ to delay and speed up the subtitles, respectively.
#14 Spell Check
This one works for both PC and Mac. If you want to do a quick spell check on a word, simply hit F7.
#15 Get the lowest Airfares
Are you looking to get the lowest airfares or hotel prices? Simply clear your cache and cookies. Alternatively, visit the website in Incognito mode and you get to see the real prices!
#16 Preview of Currently Running Windows
Assume that you have 10 different windows open on your computer, such as a browser window, a word document, a text editor, file explorer window etc. If you want to navigate across each open window (application) then press Alt + Tab simultaneously. If you keep pressing the Alt key and toggle the Tab key, you will navigate to all open windows one by one.
#17 Toggle Between Open Browser Tabs
Right now, I have at least 15 open tabs on my browser. If I want to navigate (toggle) across my browser tabs one by one, the keyboard shortcut for this is Ctrl + Tab. Try it now!!
#18 Search and Find (Ctrl + F)
This is another popular keyboard shortcut. Using Ctrl+F you can search and find for any text on the currently open window. Let’s say you have an open word document and want to search inside the document for some text. Press Ctrl+F to search for it. The same works also on browser windows to search inside a webpage etc.
#19 Copy and Paste Shortcuts
Pc Keyboard Hack Machine
Two of the most useful and popular shortcut commands on a keyboard are Ctrl+C (Copy) and Ctrl+V (Paste). For example, if you want to copy some text from a document, first select the text with the mouse and then press Ctrl+C. If you want to paste that text, move your mouse to a new area on the document and press Ctrl+V.
#20 Refresh the currently open webpage
Imagine you have visited a website with your browser and the page does not respond or load slowly. You can use the Ctrl+F5 key on your keyboard to force refresh the website (i.e the browser will try to load the page again).
Final Thoughts
Mac Keyboard With Pc
With these shortcuts, you can expect your productivity to skyrocket. Navigating your computer will be a breeze and you will be able to get a lot more done in a lot less time.
Author Bio
Pc Keyboard Hack Mac Free
Jennifer Sanders has been working as an editor and a copywriter at a journalistic company in London for 3 years. She is also a professional content writer in such topics as inspiration, productivity, education, and technologies.
Feel free to connect with her Twitter or Facebook.