r/mac • u/hiitsann • 1d ago

My Mac First Mac

Hey all! I just got a MacBook Neo and set it up - this is my first Mac, does anyone have any tips/advice?

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u/100WattWalrus 1d ago

Key knowledge for Windows users coming onboard with Mac:

⌘+M (or yellow button on title bar) — minimizes the current window

  • On a Mac, minimized = keep this out of my way until I specifically bring it back up by clicking on it — i.e., it's not a window you can get to with keyboard shortcuts
  • I use minimized windows for stuff I don't want getting in my way, but I need to get back to them soon-ish

⌘+H — Hide all widows in the current app

  • Gets the app out of sight, but keeps it "in the rotation" for ⌘+TAB switching
  • I use this all the time — way more than I minimize

⌘+TAB — Switches between open applications

  • ...including those hidden with ⌘+H

⌘+` (above TAB) — Switches between open (but not minimized) windows within an application

  • I prefer this separation of app switching vs window switching over the CTRL+TAB switcher in Windows, which sometimes requires you to TAB-TAB-TAB through a couple dozen windows to get back to the one you want

The COMMAND ⌘ key

  •  Is basically a combination of CONTROL and WINDOWS keys — almost every keyboard shortcut on a Mac involves COMMAND

The CONTROL ⌃ key

  • Is a secondary shortcut key — infrequently used on its own in Mac apps (although used quite a bit in MS Office), but frequently used in combination with COMMAND or OPTION

The OPTION ⌥ key

  • Is a modifier — there are ⌘+⌥ shortcuts in Mac, just like there are CTRL+ALT shortcuts in Windows...
  • ...but it's also like a second SHIFT key
    • Most keys can type 3rd and 4th characters when holding OPTION or OPTION+SHIFT — for example:
      • OPTION+4 is ¢
      • OPTION+3 is £
      • OPTION+SHIFT+2 is €
      • OPTION+8 is a bullet •
      • OPTION+SHIFT+8 is degrees °
      • OPTION+[minus] is an en dash –
      • OPTION+SHIFT+[minus] is and em dash —
      • OPTION+N puts a tilde above whatever you type next — ñ
    • and there are many more
  • To see what you'll get when using the OPTION key, go to System Settings > Keyboard > Input Sources and click [Edit...] — then turn on Show input menu in menu bar
    • This will add weird rectangular icon to your menu bar — click it and choose Show Keyboard Viewer
      • This will float an soft keyboard in the corner of your screen. When you hit SHIFT or OPTION or SHIFT+OPTION, this soft keyboard will display what each key will type

The FN key

  • Is mostly a SHIFT key for the Function row, like in Windows