Mac setup for a Windows user

Many years of muscle memory is hard to fight

Various
Author

Jonatan Pallesen

Published

February 15, 2023

Shortcuts:

⁃ ⌘-⇧-4/5 is an easy way to screenshot part of the screen

⁃ fn-arrow is page up / page down, and to beginning / end of line.

⁃ ⌘-space opens Spotlight search, where you can easily open an app

⁃ ⌘-C, ⌘-⌥-v cut and paste in Finder

⁃ ⌘-delete to delete a file

⁃ ⌘-⌃-space opens a special character / emoji menu

⁃ Fn-delete to delete characters in front of cursor

⁃ ⌘-1 and then spacebar on an image will open a preview, where you can cycle through images using arrow keys


Setup:

This is based on MacOS Ventura 13


  1. Chrome shortcuts

I prefer to be able to change tabs with ⌘-arrow, and for ⌘-D to go to the address bar.

System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts > + sign

Choose Google Chrome.app as the application

⁃ Write “Select Previous Tab”, and set it to ⌘-←

⁃ Write “Select Next Tab”, and set it to ⌘-→

⁃ Write “Open Location…” and set it to ⌘-D

⁃ Write “Bookmark This Tab…” and set it to ⌘-L


  1. Caps lock use

I never use the caps lock function on purpose. So instead we can set it to Esc:

System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Modifier Keys > Set Cap Lock to Escape


  1. Shift between windows of the same app

⌘-tab changes between different apps, but not between windows of the same app.

System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Keyboard > Move Focus to Next Window > Set it to ⌘-⎋

With (3) you can then use ⌘ and caps lock to shift between windows.


  1. Typing special characters

Many of the special characters are not written on the keyboard, so it’s hard to remember how to type them.

By saving a keyboard item in the bar its easy to get up a keyboard viewer to learn from:

System Settings > Keyboard > Edit Input Sources > Show input menu in the bar.


  1. International keyboard issues

Many symbols are moved around on international keyboards. This can be solved by creating a custom keyboard layout using Ukelele app

Then: System Settings > Keyboard > Edit Input Sources > + > Others > Select the saved keyboard


  1. Home and end keys

I want the home and end keys to go to the beginning and end of lines. In some apps they do, but in others they do not.

Finder > GO menu > hold down option key > Library

Create or go to directory KeyBindings

Make a file called “DefaultKeyBinding.dict”, with the following content:

{
"\UF729" = "moveToBeginningOfLine:";
"\UF72B" = "moveToEndOfLine:";
"$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-home
"$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:; // shift-end
"^\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocument:; // ctrl-home
"^\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocument:; // ctrl-end
"^$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocumentAndModifySelection:; // ctrl-shift-home
"^$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocumentAndModifySelection:; // ctrl-shift-end
}

Save the file and restart the computer.


Other info:

When you take a screenshot using ⌘-⇧-5, in options there is a setting about whether to save it as a file, or to the clipboard. This setting is remembered for ⌘-⇧-4.