This is the ultimate guide for working with MacBook keyboards, including accessing special functions, characters, accents, and using keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS system. Click on the list below to jump to an appropriate section.
- When you use a Windows (PC) keyboard on a Macintosh computer, the keyboard shortcuts that you use map to different keys. In particular, the primary key that is used in keyboard shortcuts in combination with other keys is frequently different. The following are the primary key substitutions on the Windows keyboard, and their Macintosh equivalents.
- Excel’s keyboard shortcuts are similar on the PC and Mac, but not always. Some are quite different between the two OSes and others are Windows-only. The side-by-side comparison can help if you.
A simple solution to this problem is to remap the Windows and ALT key and the command and option/alt keys on the Windows PC keyboard connected to the Mac, so that the keyboard layouts will mimic expectations based on the standard Apple modifier key layout, rather than what it says on the PC keyboard.
MacBook Keyboard Diagram / Map
MacBook keyboard has few distinctive sections: Function keys (in light blue), which provides access to various functions in MacBook itself or Mac OS system. By combining them with the FN key, you'll get access to F1 - F12 keys, which can be associated with particular application features (useful in Photoshop for example).
The second section is the modifier keys (in light yellow). Shift allows to type uppercase letters and other additional characters. Command and Alt/Option are used in keyboard shortcuts, as well as the Control key, which is used almost exclusively by Mac OS X and Apple programs.
Return and left Shift has two variants, one used in the US and Eastern Asia (horizontal Return and long Shift), and second, used in Europe, Middle East and Africa (vertical Return and short left Shift). On the diagram, this is shown by dashed lines. Of course, MacBook keyboards have lots of localizations, the most common - US English - is shown above. If you're unsure about the localization you have, go and check it with this guide.
MacBook Air 11' has slightly different keyboard, with smaller top and bottom row keys to accommodate smaller laptop size. Newest MacBooks Pro with TouchBar don't have upper F keys row, instead, they have a touchscreen which changes displayed options based on context.
MacBook Keyboard Symbols Chart
| Symbol | Meaning | Notes |
| Screen brightness down | ||
| Screen brightness up | ||
| Launches Mission Control | Icon available on MacBooks Unibody | |
| Launches Mission Control | Icon available on MacBooks pre-unibody | |
| Launches Dashboard | Icon available on MacBooks Unibody | |
| Launches Dashboard | Icon available on MacBooks pre-unibody | |
| Keyboard backlight down | ||
| Keyboard backlight up | ||
| Rewind | ||
| Play / Pause | ||
| Fast Forward | ||
| Sound: mute | ||
| Sound: volume down | ||
| Sound: volume up | ||
| Eject | Available on MacBooks with CD/DVD drive | |
| Power | Available on MacBooks without CD/DVD drive | |
| Command | On MacBooks 1st generation this is replaced by Apple logo | |
| Alt / Option | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts | |
| Tab | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts | |
| Backspace | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts | |
| Shift | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts | |
| Caps Lock | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts | |
| Return | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts | |
| Enter | Available on European/ISO keyboard layouts, accessed with FN key | |
| Delete | Not on MacBooks, but worth knowing | |
| Clear | Not on MacBooks, but worth knowing | |
| Home | Not on MacBooks, but worth knowing. Can be substituted by CMD + up arrow shortcut. | |
| End | Not on MacBooks, but worth knowing. Can be substituted by CMD + down arrow shortcut. | |
| Page Up | Not on MacBooks, but worth knowing | |
| Page Down | Not on MacBooks, but worth knowing | |
| Arrows | Used to move things or pointer |
MacBook Keyboard Special Characters and Accents Map
If you want to type special characters or accents, change your keyboard language to US International PC (thanks, Steve!) and use the map below to get them. You can also check out our solution to the two languages on one keyboard problem.
Where is the Print Screen Button?
Unlike PC keyboard, there is no Print Screen key on MacBook keyboard. This functionality is accessed by keyboard shortcuts and - on Mac - you have greater flexibility:
- Command + Shift + 3 - captures entire screen;
- Command + Shift + 4 - captures selected region. Your cursor turns to crosshair and by clicking and dragging you can specify which area you want to capture;
- Command + Shift + 4 + Space - captures selected window. First press the shortcut from above, then - when you have crosshair - hit Space. The cursor will turn to the camera and the active window will have a blue overlay. Click on it to get it captured.
In some apps, like Photoshop, you need to add Control into the mix, to paste the screenshot into the app.
MacBook Keyboard Tricks
There's a lot you can do in Mac OS by using the keyboard only. Here's a list of highly useful and not-so-useful keyboard shortcuts:
| Shortcut | Action |
| Command + W | Quickly closes the active window in Safari or any other browser. Works also with many applications, like Pages, Numbers, Photoshop. Great way to quickly close something when your boss is coming around :) |
| Command + H | Hides the active application. Useful for hiding something quickly ;) |
| Option + Shift + F11/F12 | Makes tiny changes in volume level instead of standard jumps. |
| Control + Option + Command + 8 | Reverses colors on the screen. |
| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | When watching YouTube video, this will advance you to 10%, 20%, 30%... of movie completion. |
| Option + Delete | Deletes whole word in text editors |
| Control + Command + V | Pastes copied text without formatting. Useful when copying something from Pages and pasting into eg. Wordpress :) |
| Control + Command + Option + Eject/Shutdown | Shuts down the MacBook without the need to provide username and password. |
| Command + Shift + A | Opens the Applications folder in Finder. |
| Command + Shift + U | Opens the Utilities folder in Finder. |
| Command + Shift + D | Opens the Desktop folder in Finder. |
| Command + Shift + I | When in Safari, this shortcut copies the URL, opens Mail app and creates a new email with the copied URL pasted as a link in a message. |
| Command + Option + M | Minimizes all open windows, showing Desktop. |
| Command + Option + Shift + Esc | Hold for 3 seconds to force quit any app. |
| Command + Tab | Cycle through opened apps from left to right. |
| Command + Shift + Tab | Cycle through opened apps from right to left. |
| Command + ` | Cycles through active app windows. |
| Command + Q | Quit active app. |
| Command + T | Opens a new tab in Finder. Opens a new tab in a web browser. |
| Command + N | Creates new Finder window. |
| Command + Shift + N | Creates new folder in Finder. |
| Command + Space | Launches Spotlight. |
| Command + Option + Space | Switches to next keyboard language (if you have more than one). |
| Command + Control + Space | In some websites and apps this will give you the emoji keyboard. |
| Command + Delete | Sends selected files/folders to trash. |
| Fn + Delete | Deletes text from left to right. |
| F10 + Shutdown | Hold while launching MacBook to get a silent start. |
| Command + up arrow/down arrow | Jump to the beginning or end of a page. This is equivalent to PC's Home and End keys. |
| Command + up arrow + L | Highlights the address bar in a web browser. |
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