Screen keyboard. Macos hotkeys How to open the on-screen keyboard on macbook

The use of keyboard shortcuts allows you to increase the convenience of working in the operating system by reducing the time to perform various operations. Instead of searching the menu for an item that is responsible for any action, you press a few buttons and perform it instantly. In this article, we will talk about the main macOS hotkeys that work in system applications.

The Mac keyboard is different from the standard PC keyboard. It has fewer keys and no function block. The navigation buttons included in it, "Printscreen" and Delete are replaced by combinations. The standard keys that are also present on the PC are shown in green in the screenshot. Red marked specific, available only on the Apple keyboard:

Option ⌥ . General system modifier. In many menus, pressing this button changes the items, opening additional functionality.
Command ⌘ . Similar to the Win key. Most keyboard shortcuts on the MacBook require her input.

The screenshot below shows how the OS menu items change when the Option button is pressed. On the left is standard command output, and on the right is extended output.

Finder

In the Apple operating system, Finder performs the same role as File Explorer in Windows. This is a constantly running file manager. Most of the operations performed in it require the use of the Command key and have a rationale in English:

⌘ +C (Copy) - create a copy of a file or document on the clipboard;
⌘ + V - paste from clipboard;
⌘ +X (Excise) – cut the selected object out of the current window. In practice, the Finder performs this operation by default for files. The selected object is immediately transferred to a new window.
⌘ +A (All) - select all files in the current window;
⌘ +Z (Zero) - return to the original (zero) state. Undoes the last action taken by the user.
⌘ +E (Eject) - eject or disable the selected external media;
⌘ +T (Tab) – create a new tab in the current window;
⌘ + F (Find) - launch the search dialog in Finder;
⌘ +I (Inspector) - display the properties of the selected file in a separate window;
⌘ +Y - start quick view. Works similar to the spacebar;
⌘ +M (Minimize) - allows you to minimize the current window to the Dock;
⌘ +O (Open) - open the selected file in the default program.

To save screen space, you can reduce the side menu, leaving only frequently used folders in it, and use keyboard shortcuts to navigate to the rest of the sections. Pressing Option opens access to the system library hidden by default.

Similarly, you can use keyboard shortcuts to change how files are displayed in the Finder window.

The following screenshot shows the Cover Flow preview mode invoked by pressing ⌘4 .

Useful Combinations

Any Macbook, regardless of the version (Air or Pro), uses the same keyboard and operating system. On macOS, there is no separation between home and professional versions. Therefore, keyboard shortcuts will work absolutely identically on any model.

Screen lock

Sleep works well on a Mac. Moving away from the laptop, you can close the lid and, returning, continue working from the same place without worrying about the safety of files. However, sometimes just locking the screen is enough. For example, if you break away from work for a few minutes, but do not want to show it to anyone.

The combination Control + Command + Q gives this opportunity. A lock window is displayed on the monitor, and after a set time, the screen saver will start. The keyboard shortcut Shift + Control + Power allows you to achieve a similar result. In this case, the monitor power is turned off and it goes out, bypassing the screensaver stage. If the specified checkbox is checked in the settings, it will be possible to access the laptop only with a password.

Forced termination of programs

Any program, including a program that has stopped responding, can be force-quitted on a Mac. To do this, in the menu bar, click on the apple logo and select the marked item. As you can see in the screenshot, this operation can also be performed using hotkeys.

Option + Command + Esc brings up a simplified analogue of the task manager. In it we find the program that needs to be completed, and press the marked button.

Often this operation has to be done with the built-in QuickTime video player. After closing the main window, it tends to remain in memory without being displayed in the Dock.

Fine tuning

Setting the sound, key backlight, and screen brightness on an Air or other iMac has sixteen positions between "Min" and "Max" values. Management is carried out by the corresponding function keys of the top row. If you hold down the Shift + Option keys while making an adjustment, then each of the control positions will be divided into four parts.

Thus, you get not 16, but 64 points of adjustment. When the additional buttons are released, the system will first fill in the incomplete division and then automatically return to normal mode.

Screenshots

As we said earlier, Apple computers do not have a separate key for taking screenshots. The following combinations are used for screenshots:

Command + Shift + 3 . Screenshot of the entire desktop;
Command + Shift + 4 . Snapshot of the selected area;
Command + Shift + 4 + Space . Snapshot of the selected window or menu item.

Download Modes

When you start macOS, before the first appearance of the apple logo, you can select the boot mode. These combinations can come in handy not only for reinstallation or troubleshooting:

Option . Boot volume selection for dual OS systems. Thus, you can choose between macOS and Windows installed on the BootCamp partition;
T. Starting the system in external volume mode. If you connect a problematic Mac to a working Mac, you can boot from its hard drive and perform initial diagnostics;
Shift. Starts the OS in safe mode;
Command + R Recovery from hard drive;
Option+Command+R . Internet recovery mode. Reinstall or restore macOS from Apple servers.

Shutdown

In normal mode, the MacBook can be turned off or restarted using the system menu. To do this, it contains all the options available to the user.

For these purposes, you can also use various combinations:

Control + Power . Calls the shutdown menu in a separate window;

Control +Command +Power . An analogue of the "three-finger combination" for Windows. Causes a forced reboot;
Option + Command + Power . Switching to sleep mode without closing the lid;
Shift + Command + Q . Ending a user session with a warning;

Shift + Option + Command + Q . User logout without warning. When you next log in, previously opened windows are automatically restored.

Keyboard settings

In the Sierra version, Apple has changed the language switching combination familiar to many Mac users. Instead of Command in combination with a space, the Control key began to be used. Many users first change this setting to a familiar and convenient one.

Open System Preferences and select the marked item.

Go to the "Keyboard Shortcuts" section. In the navigation area, select the item of interest to us. In the right part of the window, the given and possible, but not preset, combinations will open. For example, Launchpad can be called from the keyboard, but there is no default shortcut for it. Mark it with a tick and open the edit field. We enter a combination that is convenient for ourselves.

If desired, hotkeys can be set independently. For example, in the Finder there is a "Compress" item, which does not have its own combination. If the need for archiving arises constantly, then it can be created. Switch to the marked section. Using the "+" button, we call up an additional menu. We choose the program. Enter the exact name of the item and set the desired combination.

The result of the performed manipulations is visible immediately, a reboot is not required. Using a given combination, you can quickly create archives.

In the first section of the keyboard settings, you can set how the top row of function keys is used. By default, they are used to quickly access system settings such as media or backlight control. Their traditional role is activated by pressing the Fn key in the lower left corner. In some graphic editors, these buttons are used quite actively. In order not to use a combination of two keys every time, you can return them to their direct assignment. To do this, put a tick in the place indicated by the arrow. Now, to add volume, you need to use not F12, but Fn + F12.

Here, lovers of experiments can independently reassign the role of modifier keys. Pressing the marked button will bring up an additional menu. Using drop-down lists, you can set new values. For example, swap Command and Control .

Finally

Using various keyboard shortcuts is a matter of habit. If this is not directly necessary, then they can be perfectly dispensed with. The convenience of macOS is that they are listed in the menu of each program and, if desired, are easily remembered.

Video instruction

If this topic interests you, the overview video below will help you learn more about how hotkeys work and find the most useful ones.

We all have been using the new operating system for a long time. macOS Sierra. Although the update has become unavailable for, Apple feels great on other computers.

It's time to discover some hidden features to get the most out of your new operating system.

1. RAID Assistant

Why is it needed: Appendix disk utility in OS X El Capitan simplified to the limit. The ability to create RAID arrays and combined virtual disks was cut out of the program. Luckily, the developers of macOS Sierra have come to their senses and brought back a useful set of features.

With it, you can use it for the house from old flash drives and not only.

How to turn it on: in the application disk utility in the menu bar select File - Raid Assistant.

2. Keyboard from iOS

Why is it needed: there are little things in the iOS keyboard that are missing on a computer or laptop. iOS has long been able to put a period when double-clicking on Space and capitalize the word after the dot.

Now macOS can do this too, only these features are turned off by default.

How to turn it on: go to Settings - Keyboard - Text and enable options Add a dot with a double space and Capitalize words automatically.

3. Restore tabs in Safari

Why is it needed: standard way to restore tabs by clicking on Command+Z allows you to return a limited number of closed sites. It will be useless if you accidentally close a window with several tabs or completely close the browser.

Another useful keyboard shortcut will come to the rescue, which will restore all the necessary pages or even a tabbed window.

How to turn it on: you don't need to configure anything, just click Command+Shift+T and the browser will open the last closed tabs, completely restore the closed browser window with all pages, or return all tabs when opened, if the display of a blank page on startup is enabled in the settings.

4. Picture in picture anywhere

Why is it needed: Initially, a window with a clip detached from the browser can be placed in one of the corners of the desktop. This location is not always convenient. Often you need to move the picture a little, and the window jumps a different corner instead.

How to turn it on: while dragging the video window, hold down the key command. Now you can place it absolutely anywhere.

5. Improve performance

Why is it needed: If your Mac can't handle the load, there are a couple of default settings that will improve your computer's performance. Options Reduced motion and Reduce transparency got into the desktop operating system from iOS and perform similar functions. The first switch will remove the animation, and the second - the transparency of the elements in the system.

How to turn it on: we pass along the way Settings - Accessibility - Monitor and activate one or both options at the same time.

With these features, using your Mac will become even more convenient. Remember yourself and tell your friends.

If you think Mac and PC keyboards are exactly the same, you'll be surprised when you get started with Mac. Letter keys, fortunately, are in their usual places, as are function keys such as Esc, Tab, Caps Lock, Shift, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down. On full-sized keyboards, you will also find a number pad.

But then - confusion and vacillation ... How do the Command and Options keys work? Do the Control keys on a Mac keyboard and Ctrl keys on Windows perform the same function? What is the return key? Here is a brief overview of these and other standard keys on the Mac keyboard, which will help you get rid of confusion:

command. This is the main special key that participates in the so-called "hot" key combinations: you press it, hold it, press one or two other keys and thus start the desired process. From your Windows experience, you are familiar with the Ctrl + S shortcut to save a document. The Ctrl key is a special key. The vast majority of keyboard shortcuts include Command, so the closest analogy to Ctrl from a Windows environment on a Mac would be Command. To save the document, use the combination Command + S.

Option. This is another service key, which is mainly used in combination with Command. For example, in most programs that have a Toolbar, you can hide or show it with Option + Command + T.

control. Rarely used. You can, for example, restart your Mac by pressing Control + Command + Eject. It is mainly used to display the context menu of a selected object, such as a file. To do this, hold the key down and click once on the object of interest.

return. This is the Windows equivalent of the Enter button. On keyboards with a numeric keypad, you will see the Enter key, the functions of which are exactly the same as Return.

Delete. Acts like the Backspace button in Windows, that is, it erases the character to the left of the cursor. Don't confuse it with the Windows Delete button, which removes the character to the right of the cursor!

Forward Delete([x>). Works exactly like Delete on Windows, that is, it deletes the character to the right of the cursor. Note that the Forward Delete key only appears on the number pad and is indicated by a symbol. This will help avoid confusion.

fn. Used to work with function keys. For example, on one of the top row keys you will find a schematic representation of a speaker without sound waves and the designation F10. By pressing this key, you can disable and enable the sound of the speaker, and in combination with the Fn key, you can launch additional program functions that are "bound" to the F10 key.
Navigation keys. The Page Up, Page Down, Home, and End arrow keys, which are always present on full-size keyboards, work just like they do in Windows. There are no last four keys on portable keyboards, and their functions are available through Fn and arrow key combinations: Fn + up arrow - Page Up, down arrow - Page Down, left - Home, right - End.

eject (±). By pressing this key, you will eject the CD from the drive (sometimes you need to hold this button for a couple of seconds).

Function keys. This is the top row of keys from F1 to F19 and with icons for additional features. On most modern keyboards, the last key in the row is F12. In table. Table 1.1 lists the standard F1 to F12 key features that are relevant to most modern Mac keyboards.

Of course, it is difficult to remember all these combinations, therefore, in the drop-down menus after the commands, the corresponding keyboard shortcuts are given. For example, the commands of the View menu of the Finder program (Icons, List, Columns, Cover Flow) correspond to the shortcuts Command + 1... Command + 4. Pay attention to the Hide Toolbar command. (Hide Toolbar): Notice an unfamiliar icon?

Open the Apple menu and take a look at keyboard shortcuts. You will not find such icons on the keyboard even with a magnifying glass. But I will help you deal with them. In table. 1.2 shows the conventional icons and their corresponding keys.

What do the key symbols for the Force Quit and Log Out commands mean?

The best way to remember all these keys is to keep the virtual keyboard on all the time.

To activate it, do the following:

1. Launch System Preferences from the Dock. The system settings window will appear.
2. Click the Language & Text icon. The "Language and text" settings window will open.
3. Switch to the Input Sources tab and check the box next to Keyboard & Character.
4. Check the box next to Show input menu.
5. Click the Close button to exit the system settings.
6. Click on the input menu icon in the "Menu Bar".
7. Select Show Keyboard Viewer. The Keyboard panel will appear (although the layout of the Keyboard panel will vary depending on your Mac).

Sometimes, for work or study, we need specific characters that are not found in the official Russian or English layout - an arrow, a mathematical root, a currency symbol, letters and hieroglyphs of other alphabets, etc. In this article, we'll show you where to find them on a Mac computer.

In contact with

Something, by the way, can be done with keyboard shortcuts. For example, in the English layout, pressing Option (Alt) + Z will give you a letter Ω ("omega", the last letter of the Greek alphabet). To access all special characters, do the following:

How to quickly invoke special characters (emoji, icons) on Mac (macOS)

1 . your Mac and select a partition Keyboard.

2 . Check the box next to Show Keyboard and Symbols panels in the menu bar.

3 . In the status menu, click on the small flag (Russian, American). There will be two new lines - Show Keyboard Panel and Show Symbols panel.

Keyboard panel

By clicking on this inscription, a virtual keyboard is displayed. Press any of the "optional" keys - and be surprised at how many special characters you can type on it! The usual Russian layout is shown below, and then it is the same, but taking into account the key pressed Option (Alt).

You can hold down several optional keys at once. For example, here are additional options for the English keyboard obtained using the combination Option (Alt) +⇧Shift:

It is enough to press a button on the virtual keyboard, and the desired special character will immediately appear in your text editor.

The disadvantage of this panel is that it only shows the characters that can be typed on the keyboard layouts you have chosen. In reality, there are many more of them (symbols), so it's time to move on to the next section.

Symbols panel

All Unicode special characters are collected here. Initially, ten items are displayed in the panel - Arrows, Parentheses, Punctuation, Currency Symbols(including the ruble icon), Pictograms, Icons/Stars, Math Symbols, Letter Symbols, Emoji and Latin. Various font options are available, and similar characters are displayed. Special characters used at least once fall into the section used. You can also add new collections - to do this, click on the "gear" in the upper left corner of the window and select Customize list... There are many options here, from the aviation alphabet to ancient writing systems and code tables.

The on-screen keyboard is a very effective tool. It allows you to perform any action in any program using only the mouse or any similar manipulator.

Click the Start button.In the menu that opens, select All Programs - Accessories -Accessibility and click the On-Screen Keyboard icon. An on-screen keyboard will appear in front of you.

This is a regular program window - like any other, it can be dragged by the title on the screen, resized with the mouse. What distinguishes the on-screen keyboard from a real keyboard is the presence of the Options key and the fact that the right numeric keypad is hidden by default.

The on-screen keyboard operates in one of three modes. To set the appropriate one, press the Options key. The settings dialog will open. The mode is selected with a switch.

The first mode is Keystrokes. It uses the standard program trick of pointing the pointer at an object and then clicking the mouse button. Thus, the key on the on-screen keyboard is "pressed".

The Hover over keys mode differs from the first mode in that there is no need to click the mouse button - just point the pointer at the desired key and hold it there for a while. How long to delay the pointer so that the drawn key is “pressed” is set by the Hover Duration slider. The default is one second.

Hover mode solves the problem with both pointer movement and button movement at the same time. It was developed primarily for people who use alternative manipulators, like a "head mouse" or a trackball.

The scan mode helps to overcome the most serious limitations in "communication" with the computer. The principle is that rows of keys are illuminated in turn on the on-screen keyboard. If you click the mouse button, press the joystick button, etc. while highlighting a row, groups of four keys in this row start to be highlighted in turn. After selecting a group, one of the four keys is selected in the same way. Then the process is repeated: a row, a group of 4 keys, one key.

In Scan mode, pressing one key on the on-screen keyboard takes three button presses and a fairly long time. But the user requires a minimum of movement. In fact, all computer control is concentrated in a single button that is pressed at the right moments. Almost any special sensor can act as a button.

It is clear that two keys cannot be pressed at once on the on-screen keyboard. How to type keyboard shortcuts and other keyboard shortcuts?

To do this, on the on-screen keyboard, the keys , and are made sticky by default. The first click or press of the paddle button "presses" the key, and the second "releases".

How to use the on-screen keyboard?

It can be invoked once through the Start button menu, as shown at the beginning of the section.

To have the on-screen keyboard load every time you turn on your computer, open the Ease of Access Center (Start | Control Panel | Ease of Access Center). Select the Use your computer without a mouse or keyboard link. A dialog box will open in which you must select the Use On-Screen Keyboard check box.

Apply the setting and close this dialog box by clicking the OK button. Now the on-screen keyboard will appear on the screen automatically when the computer starts.

Use the mouse or alternative pointing device to position the blinking cursor where you want to enter text: in the work area of a document or instant messaging program, in the input field of a dialog box, in the address bar or search field of a browser, and so on.

Move your mouse pointer to the on-screen keyboard. Type letters and other symbols on it. The characters you enter will appear where the cursor was placed.

To continue entering text elsewhere in the document or in another field, click there. If you're working with a spreadsheet, you can also use the arrow keys on the on-screen keyboard to navigate to other cells. In short, the on-screen keyboard works almost the same as a "real" keyboard.

Customizing the Desktop and Programs

Accessibility input is well complemented by some special working techniques. We will not reveal any fundamental secrets here! It's just that when using only the mouse or only the keyboard, limiting the number of keys pressed or the movements performed by the manipulator, certain well-known actions are most effective, increase speed and reduce fatigue.