From taking screenshots to the digital color meter, here are 10 keyboard shortcuts Mac users shouldn’t sleep on.
We know that as a small business owner you would rather be engaging and working with your clients than trying to master all the menial tasks required to keep your business running. To help ease the burden of those tasks, we put together a list of keyboard shortcuts to make life outside of your business calls a lot easier.
The Keyboard Shortcuts Mac Users Need to Know
1. Command-Shift-4
Say you need to capture parts of what you’re working on without capturing the whole screen. This shortcut opens up a drag and drop tool to screenshot any section on your screen.
2. Command-A and Command-C
Clicking and dragging your mouse anytime you need to copy text can be tedious. Command-A highlights all of the text in the area you’re in, while Command-C copies your highlighted text.
3. Command-V and Command-Shift-V
Command-V pastes as copied, but Command-Shift-V clears all formatting and pastes plain text. This is helpful if you copied some text from your website or blog and you want to remove the formatting for a newsletter.
4. Command-Shift-T
Did you close out accidentally? This shortcut—one of the most magical keyboard shortcuts Mac users could ever ask for—opens the most recently closed tab. It also goes back through your history so you can open more than just the last closed tab.
![Work station set up with a desktop monitor, open laptop, two plants, mouse pad to the right of the laptop and desk light mounted on the wall behind the desk.](https://monkeyva3.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/domenico-loia-310197-1024x683.jpg)
Remember all of those times you thought you lost all your progress because you closed a tab? Command-Shift-T has got your back. Test it out, but be careful. This doesn’t work if you are browsing in private or Incognito mode.
5. Control-A
This shortcut moves your cursor to the beginning of the line or paragraph. Great for rereading.
6. Control-E
This moves your cursor to the end of a line or paragraph. A great time saver if you’re trying to gauge the readability and size of your writing!
7. Command-L
This shortcut navigates you to the URL bar in your current browser.
8. Command-Z
This undoes any previous action. If you accidentally deleted some text, just press command-z and your text will magically reappear. Phew!
9. Digital Color Meter
Macs also have a built-in Digital Color Meter, which is super useful if you want to know the exact color of an image, logo or anything else on your screen. Just open up the Digital Color Meter, hover over the color you want to use and save the code for later use.
10. Go Outside
Close your computer and get outside. (This shortcut is a great way to bring some clarity to your workday.)
Thinking Smarter, Not Harder
We compiled this list of keyboard shortcuts Mac users need to know in part because we believe in the value of your time. Getting in a mindset of reaching out for shortcuts in the digital realm leaves you open to taking the long way in spaces that really deserve your energy.