#SECRET KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD WINDOWS#

For example, look at your Wi-Fi icon on the menubar. There are two other places where the Option key does it’s magic - menubar apps and buttons on dialog boxes. You may be surprised at what you’ll find. While the menus are open, press the Option key, and notice any variations in the commands listed. Some day when you have nothing better to do, I urge you to peruse all menus in Finder as well as in your favorite apps. You’ll find that these hidden and poorly documented commands, revealed by pressing the Option key, are found in just about all apps - not just in the Finder. This leads to a handy shortcut when you select these commands while pressing the Option Key, the confirmation dialogs will be bypassed, and the command will be executed immediately. You will notice that these ellipses disappear. Now, with the menu still open press the Option key. This is because, in each of these three cases, you will be presented with a confirmation screen when you select them. In another example, this time in the Apple menu, notice that the Restart, Shutdown and Log Out commands show an ellipsis at the end of each line. Where ellipses appear after certain commands The File menu in Pages contains several instances For example, see what happens when you select the Print… command from the File menu. The request is presented in the form of a dialog box. What about that matter regarding the ellipsis (…)? You may already know that an ellipsis in a menu command always means that before the command can execute, OS X or the app requires additional input from you.

#SECRET KEYS ON MAC KEYBOARD WINDOWS#

Finally, if you’d rather use the little red close bubble in an open window in order to close it, by doing so with the Option key pressed, all other open windows will close as well. You’ll also see the associated keyboard shortcut command change from Command-W to Option-Command-W in case you prefer using just your digits for everything. With the Option key pressed while the File menu is open, the item that is normally called Close Window now becomes Close All. Notice that several items in the list will change in some way - perhaps different wording, or perhaps the disappearance of normally present ellipses that directly follow certain menu items.īack to the example at hand. Now, with the menu still open, press the Option key. Instead, use Option key magic! Pop open the File menu, and look at all your choices listed there. The Finder’s File menu on the left, and with the Option key pressed on the right What if you have a number of open Finder windows and you want to close them all, simultaneously? Do you just go to the trouble of clicking the close bubble for each and every window? Do you press Command-W for each window? Or, do you go to the File menu and select Close Window? Here’s an example: a common method of closing an open Finder window is to use a Command-W keyboard shortcut. But, did you know that opening a menu while pressing the Option key will reveal otherwise hidden, alternate commands? We’re all familiar with the Finder menus and the list of commands each one offers us. Secret Alternate Menu Commands With the Option Key They are also used to help you generate special symbols, alternate character sets and diacritical marks (such as the ones found in résumé, señorita and façade). Modifier keys are used in combination with the regular alpha-numeric keys to provide alternate functionality to keyboard shortcuts. The Option key is adjacent to other modifier keys

The Option key is located on either side of the space bar for your convenience. This key is known generically as a “modifier” key, and shares this moniker with the Command (Apple) key, the Control Key, and the Shift key. I'm going to show some of the magical things you can do with it. Mac users are usually pretty familiar with it, so much so that we sometimes take it for granted. The venerable Mac Option Key has been around since the Apple Macintosh first appeared way back in 1984.

Secret keys on mac keyboard