Keyboard, shortcuts & input

macOS is a keyboard-first operating system wearing a mouse-first costume. Nearly everything has a shortcut, most text fields share the same Emacs-derived navigation keys, and modifier keys are remappable at the system level. Learn this chapter once and every app gets faster.

The modifier keys and what they mean#

The key insight for switchers: ⌘ is where your thumb is, so ⌘C/V/Z/S/W/Q/T are one-hand chords, and ⌃ is free for the terminal — ⌃C interrupts a process while ⌘C copies, with no conflict. This is why the Mac terminal experience is nicer than Windows'.

Remap Caps Lock (do this today)#

System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts… → Modifier Keys. Choose the keyboard in the dropdown (each keyboard is remapped separately) and set Caps Lock → ⌃ Control. Control is the most useful key with the worst factory position; on the home row it makes terminal editing, tmux prefixes, and IDE shortcuts effortless. Vim users often prefer Caps Lock → ⎋ Escape, or — with Karabiner — Escape when tapped, Control when held (the "dual-role" setup), which is what most heavy keyboard users end up with.

While you're there, on a Windows-layout keyboard, swap ⌥ Option ↔ ⌘ Command so the key next to the space bar is Command like on a Mac keyboard. (Many mechanical keyboards have a hardware Mac/Win switch or DIP setting — use that instead if present.)

Karabiner-Elements: the remapper#

For anything beyond the five modifier keys, Karabiner-Elements (free, open source, brew install --cask karabiner-elements) is the standard. It runs as a system extension (approve it in System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Driver Extensions, and grant Input Monitoring). Popular "complex modifications" you can import from its online rules gallery or write yourself:

• Caps Lock → Escape if alone, Control if held (the canonical one).
• Hyper key: Caps Lock → ⌘⌥⌃⇧ when held — a fifth modifier no app uses, so HyperT can launch your terminal, HyperH/J/K/L can be arrows, etc. Pairs beautifully with Raycast hotkeys or a window manager.
• Right ⌘ → Change input source, Right ⌥ → Fn for keyboards that lack it.
• Vim-style navigation layer (hold a key → H/J/K/L become arrows everywhere).
• Per-device profiles: a different map for your external mechanical keyboard vs the built-in one.
• Swap ⌥ and ⌘ only on external PC keyboards (Karabiner does this per device, unlike System Settings' per-keyboard dropdown which sometimes forgets).

A minimal ~/.config/karabiner/karabiner.json "Caps Lock dual role" rule:

{
  "description": "Caps Lock → Escape (tap) / Control (hold)",
  "manipulators": [{
    "type": "basic",
    "from": { "key_code": "caps_lock", "modifiers": { "optional": ["any"] } },
    "to": [{ "key_code": "left_control" }],
    "to_if_alone": [{ "key_code": "escape" }]
  }]
}

Karabiner's config is JSON and lives in ~/.config/karabiner/, so it belongs in your dotfiles (Chapter 10). Alternatives: Hyperkey (just the Hyper key, one click), Keyboard Maestro (paid; macros, not just remaps — Chapter 21), or a QMK/ZMK/VIA-programmable keyboard where the remap lives in the firmware and follows the keyboard.

Text editing shortcuts that work everywhere#

These work in every native text field — Safari, Mail, Notes, Slack's composer, the address bar, Xcode, even most Electron apps — because they're implemented by the Cocoa text system, not the app.

You can add or override these globally by editing ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict (create it). Windows switchers who want Home/End to mean line start/end rather than document start/end:

{
  "\UF729"  = moveToBeginningOfLine:;                       /* Home */
  "\UF72B"  = moveToEndOfLine:;                             /* End  */
  "$\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfLineAndModifySelection:;     /* Shift-Home */
  "$\UF72B" = moveToEndOfLineAndModifySelection:;           /* Shift-End  */
  "^\UF729" = moveToBeginningOfDocument:;                   /* Ctrl-Home */
  "^\UF72B" = moveToEndOfDocument:;                         /* Ctrl-End */
}

Log out and back in. (Electron apps and terminals have their own keymaps and ignore this file.)

System shortcuts worth memorising#

Keyboard navigation of the UI#

• System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard navigation: on. Then Tab moves through all controls (buttons too), Space presses, Return is the default button, ⎋ cancels.
• ⌃F2 (or fn⌃F2) focuses the menu bar; type to jump to a menu; arrows navigate. ⌃F3 focuses the Dock. ⌃F8 focuses menu bar extras (status items).
• ⌘⇧/ opens Help → Search: type any menu command; it highlights where it lives and pressing Return runs it. This is the fastest way to run an obscure command in any app.
• In dialogs, the first letter of a button often activates it when Full Keyboard Access is on.

Custom app shortcuts#

System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts… → App Shortcuts → +. Pick an app (or All Applications), type the exact menu item title (including … typed as ⌥;), assign a key. Examples people set:

• All Applications: Merge All Windows → ⌘⇧M; Export as PDF… → ⌘⇧E; Move Window to Left Side of Screen → something ergonomic.
• Safari: Show Web Inspector if the default clashes; Pin Tab.
• Finder: New Terminal at Folder → ⌘⌥T.
• Mail: Archive → ⌘E.

Menu items in the Services submenu are enabled here too (Keyboard Shortcuts → Services) — turn off the dozens you never use; they clutter every right-click menu.

Function keys and the Touch Bar's legacy#

• Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys: Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts… → Function Keys. Developers using IDE debuggers (F5–F11) usually turn this on and hit fn for brightness/volume. Alternatively keep media keys and let the IDE bindings use fn.
• Per-app exceptions: Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts… → Function Keys has none, but Karabiner can switch behaviour per app (e.g. standard F-keys only in Xcode/IntelliJ/VS Code).

Input sources and typing in other languages#

• Keyboard → Text Input → Edit… → + to add layouts/languages. Show Input menu in menu bar. Switch with ⌃Space (previous) / ⌃⌥Space (next) — and make sure this doesn't collide with ⌘Space for Spotlight (check the Input Sources section of Keyboard Shortcuts).
• Automatically switch to a document's input source: on if you write in two scripts.
• Unicode Hex Input layout: hold ⌥ and type a code point (2192 → →). Handy for maths symbols.
• US International – PC or ABC – Extended give dead keys for accents on a US keyboard; the standard ABC layout has them via ⌥ chords as shown above.
• Dictation (🌐 twice by default, or set your own): on-device, offline, punctuation by voice ("comma", "new line"), works in any text field. Golden Gate's improved dictation (M3+, 12 GB+) is noticeably more accurate.

Coming from Windows or Linux: the translation table#

Two things trip up switchers for a week: (1) ⌘W closes the window but the app stays open with its menu bar — that's normal, and it relaunches instantly; quit with ⌘Q when you mean it. (2) Menus live in the menu bar at the top of the screen, not in each window; the active app's menus are shown. Both stop being weird by Friday.

Hardware keyboard notes#

• Keyboard layout wizard appears the first time you plug in an unknown keyboard (ISO vs ANSI detection). If § and ` (backtick) are swapped on a European keyboard, rerun it: Keyboard → Change Keyboard Type… (or Karabiner's Devices tab has a per-device §/backtick swap).
• Mechanical keyboards with QMK/VIA: set the Mac layout in firmware (swap GUI/Alt, map F-keys to media as you like). Then nothing in macOS needs remapping and the board works identically on your Linux box.
• Bluetooth lag: pair via USB-C once (Apple keyboards), keep the dongle in a USB-A port rather than a hub for Logitech Bolt receivers, and avoid 2.4 GHz Wi‑Fi congestion — Apple's N1 chip (M5 Pro/Max, M6) with Bluetooth 6 is markedly better here.
• Two keyboards, two layouts: Keyboard → Text Input → Edit… is global, but Karabiner can force a per-device input source.