I’ve decided to begin a small featurette designed specifically to keep my fellow Mac users, new and old, in the know about the best ways to get the most out of your Mac. What does that look like? Everything from cleaning tips to third party applications, widgets to WiFi, and anything else that could be of interest.

Also, as part of this little venture, I want to encourage you readers to leave feedback with tips and tricks of your own. Just because it was highlighted somewhere else on the internet doesn’t mean you can’t bring it up, and I’ll most likely run out of ideas and end up using yours from time to time, so please: speak your mind!

Today I want to talk about something I’m sure many of you are familiar with: ways to maximize efficiency through keystrokes rather than troublesome mouse or trackpack navigation.

I can definitively say I was something of a mouse addict until relatively recent. Before I made the beautiful transition to Mac, I was the quickest pointer in the computer lab. Once I entered college, however, I realized that efficiency wasn’t linked to my developing carpel tunnel…it was in keystrokes.

Sure, for leisurely internet browsing and movie watching, using the ole’ mouse or trackpad works fine; however, if your job relies on efficiency, you recognize the need for shortcuts and time-saving devices.

My first “Make the most of your Mac” tip is:

1. Learn to use quick keys in OS X

For you seasoned vets, I know you utilize quick keys better than any, but you surely remember that time when you fumbled around your keyboard, perhaps wondering why “Control+P” wouldn’t print your document (if you were transitioning from PC). This is a quick refresher of how to make the best of those simple quick key commands.

“Command” (again, for new users, this is the Apple key) mixes with many letters to give you easy control of your operations. Below I’ll tag the keys it can be mixed with, and what effect the combo has.

- a - select all

- c - copy selected material

- e - eject disc

- h - hide present program window (I’ll explain why I don’t use this)

- k - connect to server…used in mail programs to connect to server to upload and download messages, synchronize

- m - minimize current program window (I use this over hide because I can still see the document on the dock, and it has that pretty animation. If you’re going for secrecy, go with h)

- n - open new window in current program (blank document in Pages, new Camino window, etc.)

- o - open

- p - print current window

- q - quit current program (note: on Macs, you can either close the current window and keep the program running, or completely quit the program. It is always humorous to encounter new Mac users who have all their programs running, and can’t figure out why all those triangles stay beneath every program they open. Use the “command+q” if you’re done with the program, otherwise your RAM will fill up)
- t - you can use this to add something to a sidebar, or favorites, but I use it to add a tab to my current window browser. Tabbed browsing is old news, but if you don’t use it, start! Save yourself the time of clicking around 8 different browser windows, and save the memory.

- v - paste current selection. Staple quick key, along with copy, quit, etc.

- z - undo last action. If you do any sort of creating (writing, photo editing…anything really) this will be your best friend.

That list seems extensive, and it is; however, once you start using them, you won’t go back to using the Finder bar to browse for these commands.

2. Function keys - these you could generally experiment with on your own, but I’ll outline their uses below.
F1 - brightness down

F2 - brightness up

F3 - mute

F4 - volume down

F5 - volume up

F6 - number lock

F7 - display voice-over menu

F8 - open voice-over utility

F9 - exposé function that separates all open windows so you can select which you’d like. Play with it and see if its your style; some people use it, some people don’t. It’s handy if you’re trying to maximize desktop space

F11- hide all open windows. I don’t know about you, but in my life there are moments when hiding my current windows is adviseable. For instance, when my professor directs his gaze at my screen as he passes by. However, I have a better solution to the secrecy problem which I will highlight later.

F12 - show dashboard. I like to use this key, coupled with setting my dashboard to appear when I move my mouse to the bottom left corner of the screen. Depends on my mood, really.

That’s all I have for today, but I have plenty of other ideas swimming around the ole’ noggin that I will be sharing very soon. Again, please share ideas you have by posting or emailing me! Until next time, good readers…