💻 Mac Shortcuts

tl;dr Use your keyboard. Avoid the mouse.

How do we get faster?

Typing
Traversing
Tooling

Bonus: Remove distractions. Clear your screen.

👨‍💻 Typing

When it comes down to it, you’re only as fast as you can type. Gain a solid foundation with regular practice, then build on that with more powerful settings.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Let’s race!

Try keybr.com (or search for others).

Make It Faster

System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard

Key Repeat: Fast
Delay Until Repeat: Short

Keyboard Shortcuts

System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts

Turn off any that annoy you.
- Launchpad & Dock > Turn Dock Hiding On/Off
- Input Sources > Select the previous input source
Use App Shortcuts for apps without shortcut settings.
- Safari.app > Enter Responsive Design Mode > ⇧⌘E
- Safari.app > Exit Responsive Design Mode > ⇧⌘E
- Sketch.app > Resize to Fit Content > ⇧⌘F
- Preview.app > Adjust Size... > ⇧⌘I

⭐ Document Shortcuts

⌘Arrow Move cursor to beginning/end of document/line.
⌥Arrow Move cursor to beginning/end of previous/next word.
⇧⌘Arrow Select text between cursor and beginning/end of document/line.
⇧Arrow Extend selection to nearest character on previous/current/next line.
⌥⇧Arrow Extend selection to beginning/end of previous/current/next word/paragraph.

For more global shortcuts, read Apple: Mac keyboard shortcuts.

P.S. ⌃⌘Space for emojis, or use an app like Rocket.

Aside: Screenshots & Screencasts

⇧⌘3 to capture the whole screen.
⇧⌘4 + click/drag to capture a portion of the screen.
⇧⌘4 + Space to capture windows.
⇧⌘5 to see options for screen recordings.

For more screenshot shortcuts, see Apple: How to take a screenshot on your Mac.

Aside: Keep Your Mac Awake

Keep your Mac awake with an app to save time logging back in when your Mac falls asleep (or to help keep your screen on during a presentation).

Lungo ($3)
Amphetamine (Free)

🤹‍ Traversing

Besides raw typing speed, your ability to jump between applications and traverse your project is make or break. It’s all about how quickly you can find things.

Window Management

🚫 Avoid	✅ Use
Dock Icons	Spotlight (`⌘Space`) or Alfred
Mission Control	`⌘Tab` for Apps, ⌘` for Windows
Clicking Tabs	`⌘]` and `⌘[`
Resizing Windows	Moom, Magnet, or Spectacle

Instead of clicking on Dock icons, use ⌘Space Spotlight (or a tool like Alfred) to open apps.
Instead of Mission Control, use ⌘Tab to cycle through apps and ⌘` to cycle through windows.
Instead of clicking on tabs, use ⌘] and ⌘[ to cycle through tabs (works in browsers, editors, even Finder).
Instead of manually resizing windows, use a tool to scale and position them for you.
- Moom ($10)
- Magnet (usually $10, but 80% off now!)
- Spectacle (Free)

Searching Folders

Finder > Preferences > Advanced

When performing a search: Search the Current Folder

Changing Directories

Fuzzy match your frequent directories (instead of manually typing or tabbing out the whole path). https://github.com/rupa/z

brew install z

Then add it to your .bash_profile:

# z (Faster cd)
# https://github.com/rupa/z
. /usr/local/etc/profile.d/z.sh

P.S. Use VS Code workspaces!

Text Editor Shortcuts

🔥 Combine these with Document Shortcuts for ludicrous speed.

Note: These shortcuts are based on VS Code’s default settings, but can also be applied to other editors.

Preferences: Open Default Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON)

Key	Command	Command ID
`⌘P`	Quick Open	`workbench.action.quickOpen`
`⇧⌘P`	Show All Commands	`workbench.action.showCommands`
`⌘D`	Add Selection To Next Find Match	`editor.action.addSelectionToNextFindMatch`
`⇧⌘L`	Select all occurrences of current selection	`editor.action.selectHighlights`
`⇧⌥I`	Insert cursor at end of each line selected	`editor.action.insertCursorAtEndOfEachLineSelected`
`⌥↓`	Move Line Down	`editor.action.moveLinesDownAction`
`⌥↑`	Move Line Up	`editor.action.moveLinesUpAction`
`⌘Enter`	Insert Line Below	`editor.action.insertLineAfter`
`⇧⌥↓`	Copy Line Down	`editor.action.copyLinesDownAction`
`⇧⌘\`	Jump to matching bracket	`editor.action.jumpToBracket`
`⌘/`	Toggle Line Comment	`editor.action.commentLine`
`⇧⌘]`	Next Editor	`workbench.action.nextEditor`
`⇧⌘[`	Previous Editor	`workbench.action.previousEditor`
`⌘F`	Find	`actions.find`
`⇧⌘O`	Go to Symbol...	`workbench.action.gotoSymbol`
`⌘K M`	Change Language Mode	`workbench.action.editor.changeLanguageMode`
`⇧⌥F`	Format Document	`editor.action.formatDocument`
`⌘B`	Toggle Sidebar Visibility	`workbench.action.toggleSidebarVisibility`
`⌥z`	Toggle Word Wrap	`editor.action.toggleWordWrap`

Other Useful Shortcuts

Basic Editing
- Fold Region (⌥⌘[)
Editor/Window Management
- Move Editor (⌘K ⇧⌘→)
- Move Editor into Next Group (⌃⌘→)
- Open Editor at Index (⌃1, ⌃2, etc.)
File Management
- Close Others (⌥⌘T)
- Reopen Closed Editor (⇧⌘T)
Display
- Open Preview to the Side (⌘K V)
- Toggle Integrated Terminal (⌃`)

Custom Shortcuts

~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/keybindings.json

Transpose
- editor.action.transpose
Case Conversion
- editor.action.transformToLowercase
- editor.action.transformToTitlecase
- editor.action.transformToUppercase
Reset Zoom
- workbench.action.zoomReset

Example keybindings.json:

[
    // Open JSON Settings
    { "key": "cmd+,",        "command": "workbench.action.openSettingsJson" },
    { "key": "shift+cmd+,",  "command": "workbench.action.openSettings" },

    // Reset Zoom
    { "key": "cmd+0",        "command": "workbench.action.zoomReset" },

    // Focus Tabs
    { "key": "cmd+1",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex1" },
    { "key": "cmd+2",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex2" },
    { "key": "cmd+3",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex3" },
    { "key": "cmd+4",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex4" },
    { "key": "cmd+5",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex5" },
    { "key": "cmd+6",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex6" },
    { "key": "cmd+7",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex7" },
    { "key": "cmd+8",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex8" },
    { "key": "cmd+9",        "command": "workbench.action.openEditorAtIndex9" },

    // Emmet - Balance (aka "Match Pair")
    // https: //docs.emmet.io/actions/match-pair/
    { "key": "ctrl+d",       "command": "editor.emmet.action.balanceOut" },
    { "key": "ctrl+j",       "command": "editor.emmet.action.balanceIn" },

    // Select Inside Brackets
    { "key": "ctrl+shift+m", "command": "-editor.action.toggleTabFocusMode" },
    { "key": "ctrl+shift+m", "command": "editor.action.selectToBracket" }
]

For more details on VS Code shortcuts, see VS Code: Key Bindings.

👷 Tooling

From here on out, it’s all about automation. What tools can help you avoid repeating yourself?

Text Editor Snippets

Preferences > User Snippets > New Global Snippets file...

~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/snippets/global.code-snippets

{
    /**
     * Placeholder Images
     */
    "placehold.it": {
        "scope": "",
        "prefix": "placehold",
        "body": [
            "<img src=\"https://placehold.it/${1:300}x${2:300}\" alt=\"$3\">"
        ],
        "description": "Add placeholder image"
    }
}

Enable tab completion!

~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/keybindings.json

{
    "editor.tabCompletion": "on"
}

For more details on how to create custom snippets, see VS Code: Snippets.

P.S. If you purchase the Powerpack, Alfred Snippets enable you to reuse global snippets everywhere.

Text Editor Plugins

Linting and formatting tools:

For more details on RV’s standard formatting tools, see FE Standards: Linting and Formatting.

Bash/ZSH Aliases

Add aliases to your .bash_profile.

# ------------------------------
# Git
# ------------------------------

alias gs="git status"
alias ga="git add -p"
alias gaa="git add --all"
alias gc="git commit"
alias gca="git commit --amend"
alias gd="git diff"
alias gdc="git diff --cached"
alias gm="git merge"
alias gk="git checkout"
alias gp="git push"
alias gpf="git push --force-with-lease"
alias gl="git pull"
alias gb="git branch"
alias gr="git reset HEAD"

For more details on Bash, see Flavio Copes: The Bash shell and Devhints: Bash scripting cheatsheet

Clipboard History

🔥 But for real, once you get clipboard history you’ll wonder how you ever lived without it.

Alfred Powerpack (≈$28, includes Snippets & Workflows)
Paste ($15)

Offline Documentation

Dash ($30)
DevDocs.io (Free)

The list goes on…

Emmet
Vim
Git Log Search (git log -S"something" --source --all)
Terminal Shortcuts (⌃A, ⌃E, and ⌃U)
Partial Diff (Compare Side-By-Side)
URL Encoding/Decoding
Slack Status Bar + Outlook Integration
Chrome DevTools/Extensions
Charles Proxy

tannerhodges/mac-shortcuts.md Secret