Hello there. New to the Mac world, I take it? Same. I made the switch from Windows to Mac last week because my new job only uses Macs and, no lie, I was confused for the first two days – that's not true, there are still a few things that I'm unsure of, but this is what I have learned so far…
To Close The Window That You Are Currently Viewing, (Please Don't Close This Tab Though, I Have A Lot Of Knowledge That I Would Like to Share), You Need To…
Hold the Command key and click on W.
To View The Preferences Of The Application That You Are Working On, You Need To …
Hold down the Command key and click on Comma (,).
To Minimize The Application You Are Working On, You Need To…
Hold down the Command key and click on M.
To Collapse All Of Your Windows and View Your Desktop, You Need To…
Hold down the Command key, click on Option (Alt on your keyboard – I had to Google that), and press anywhere on your desktop.
To Launch A Spotlight Search (A Tool Which Allows You To Search For Specific Apps, Documents And Files On Your Mac), You Need To…
Hold down the Command key and click on the Space bar.
To Jump To The Bottom Of Top The Page You Are Working On/ Browsing, You Need To…
Hold down the Fn key and press the Right arrow on your keyboard.
To Scroll All The Way To The Top Of The Page You Are Working On/ Browsing, You Need To …
Hold down the Fn key and press the Left arrow on your keyboard.
To Take A Screenshot, You Need To…
Hold down the Command key, press Shift, then press number 4 on your keyboard. The default storage setting is usually your Desktop. Sweet right? I'm not done.
If you repeat that step as well as press on the Spacebar, you'll get a screenshot of the entire window – shadow included.
If you want to take screen of your entire screen, all you need to Hold down the Command key, press Shift, then press number 3.
Once You've Gotten The Hang of Those, These Short Cut Keys Are Pretty Handy Too:
To Use An Emoji Keyboard, You Need To…
Hold Command, press Control, then press on the Spacebar.
To Quickly Delete Files, You Need To…
Hold down Command and press on the Delete/ Backspace key.
MacBook Air Track Pad Gestures
This took a while to get the hang off because unlike most Window trackpads, those found on MacBook's can be used to do a lot more than just click, double click, and scroll up and down a webpage (which is not done by clicking on twice on the pad).
To Double Click (or, Secondary Click), You Need To….
Click or tap your track pad with two fingers et voilà, all your secondary options such as "Save As", "Print", Copy, etc (the name makes sense now) appear. Sounds simple, yes, but it took me a good three hours to figure out. I'm not even kidding, I was tapping all corners of the trackpad. Then, after that didn't work, I tried pressing the trackpad harder, and then softer. When that didn't work, I sighed a lot, and then found Apple's Online Support. It was only I figured it out that my colleague, let's call her Rachel, told me that all MacBooks come with in-built Trackpad guides – they can be found in the "System Preferences" tab *blinks slowly, with one eye at a time*.
To Scroll Up/ Down, You Need To…
You use two fingers and… scroll up and down the trackpad. I'm not even going to mention how long this took to figure out. No, I didn't use the manual or the in-built guides, and yes, I should have.
To Switch Between Apps, You Need To…
This bit will have you feeling like you're in those fancy sci-fi flicks, you know where they slide their hands-on massive screens and whole constellations appear… no? Just me then… Back to it, to switch between apps, you use four fingers and swipe left or right. Do it, now. You get what I was refereeing to now right? *Stares awkwardly in anticipation*.
To Zoom In And Out Of Documents/ Webpages, You Need To…
Pinch in and out. Like you would on an iPad or, any touch screen device.
And, Here's Few More Tips That Are Sure To Impress Your Friends:
To Adjust Your Sound Levels By increments, You Need To…
Hold down Shift, press Option, and then tab on volume key up or down.
To Type Special Characters, You Need To…
Press and hold the letter down that you want to see the different versions of. The list of all the possible versions will pop up. You select them, by clicking on the number that correlates with your desired version.
Right ladies, I'll keep you posted once I learn more. Wish me luck.