OS X Keyboard Shortcuts

Screen Capture to disk:

  ⌘ ⇧ 3                   Screen to jpeg file on desktop
 ⌘ ⇧ 4 + Drag:           Selection to jpeg file on desktop
 ⌘ ⇧ 4 + Spacebar:       Window (click camera) to jpeg file

Screen Capture to clipboard:

  ⌘ ⇧ 3 + Ctrl:           Screen to clipboard
 ⌘ ⇧ 4 + Drag + Ctrl:    Selection to clipboard
 ⌘ ⇧ 4 + Spacebar + Ctrl Window (Camera effect)

Dock /Switch Applications

  ⌘ ⌥ D      Show/Hide Dock
 ⌘ Tab      Switch applications
 ⌘ `        Switch between document Windows in current application
 ⌥ Dock     Switch application, hide previous one
 ⌘ Dock     Switch application, hide all others
Ctrl ⌥ ⌘ *  Toggle Monochrome Hi Visibility
 ⌘ +drag will prevent dock icons from moving out of the way
            (useful for when dragging stuff to trash)

Apple Finder

  ⌥ + Drag   Explicit COPY (will copy even if destation is on same volume)
 ⌘ + Drag   Explicit MOVE (will move even if destation is on different volume)
 ⌘ ⌥ + Drag Make alias in new location
 ⌘ D        Duplicate
 ⌘ L        Make Alias
 ⌘ R        Show original
 ⌘ O        Open item
 ⌘ ↓        Open item
 ⌘ S        Save
 ⌘ ⇧ S      Save as
 ⌘ N        New Finder window
 ⌘ ⇧ N      New Folder
 ⌘ Q        Close Application
 ⌘ W        Close Window
 ⌘ ⌥ W      Close all Windows
 ⌘ I        Get Info
 ⌘ ⌥ I      Super Get Info (change whatever you click on)
 ⌘ P        Print
 ⌘ T        Add to Favorites
 ⌘ Delete   Move to Trash
 ⌘ E        Eject
 ⌘ F        Find
 ⌘ ~        Cycle finder windows (including desktop)
 Tab        Highlight next item
 ⌘ + double-click folder icon will open in new window
 ⌘ + ↑      Move up one directory
 ⌘ + [      go back
 ⌘ + ]      go forward
 ⌘ ⇧ A     Open Applications Folder
 ⌘ ⇧ U     Open Applications/Utilities/ Folder
 ⌘ ⇧ H     Open Home Folder
 ⌘ ⇧ K     Go to network
 ⌘ K        Connect to server
 ⌘ ⇧ G     Go to folder... (type full path)
 ⌘ ⇧ ⌫     Empty Trash (Finder Menu )
 ⌘ ⇧ ⌥ ⌫   Empty Trash without dialog

Finder-Hide App:
 ⌘ H        Hide Finder
 ⌘ ⌥ H      Hide Others

Hide all other apps*:
 ⌥ ⌘ + click on dock icon
 ⌥ ⌘ + click inside app window

Hide all other apps that are in front*:
 ⌥ + click dock icon (of running app)
 ⌥ + click inside app window

*Some older (pre-intel) apps may struggle with these

Terminal

  ⌘ left/right arrow   Switch windows
  ⌘ 1                  Switch to 1st terminal window
  ⌘ 2, ⌘ 3...          Switch to 2nd, 3rd window

Editing Text (email, TextEdit etc)

  ⌥ ←       Move one word left
 ⌥ →       Move one word right
 ⌘ ←       Beginning of line
 ⌘ →       End of line
           Scroll one page up (cursor retains position)
           Scroll one page down (cursor retains position)
 ⌥         Move one page up  (reposition cursor)
 ⌥         Move one page down
 ⌘ ↑ or   Scroll to beginning of document
 ⌘ ↓ or   Scroll to end of document

 Add shift key ⇧ to the above to also SELECT the text.

 ⌥ ⌫       Delete word 
 ⌥ Del     Delete next word

 ⌥ Scrollbar           Jump to exact scrollbar location
 ⌥ Scrollbar arrows    Scroll page at a time (page up/down)
 ⌥ Volume up/down      Open Sound preferences
 ⌥ Brightness up/down  Open Display preferences

Shutdown/Logoff:

  POWER         Sleep now
 POWER         Hold for 10 seconds (force shut down) 
 Ctrl Eject    Restart, Sleep, Shutdown dialog box
 ⌘ Ctrl Eject  Quit all applications and restart
 ⌘ ⌥+ctrl+eject Graceful Shutdown
 ⌘ ⌥ Eject     Sleep now
 ⌘ ⌥ + Esc     Force Quit
 ⌘ + .(period) Stop a process
 ⌘ Ctrl+power  Immediate restart (dangerous, only if system is frozen)

Log out:

  ⌘ ⇧ Q         Log out (Apple Menu)
 ⌘ ⇧ ⌥ Q       Log out immediately (Apple Menu)

During Startup:

  Shift      Safe Boot mode - Press shift asap AFTER the startup chime
 ⌘ V        Start up in Verbose mode.
 ⌘ S        Start up in Single-User mode (command line)
 X          Force OS X startup
 ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ ⌫   Bypass primary startup volume (will seek DVD or external disk)
 C          Start up from a CD that has a system folder
 D          Start up from first partition
 N          Attempt to start up from a network server(NetBoot)
 R          Force PowerBook screen reset
 T          Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode
 ⌘ ⌥ P R   PRAM Reset - Hold down Cmd-Option-R with your left hand,
             then press POWER to start up and immediately press P with your right hand.
             See KB 2238  At the prompt you can  type: reset-nvram and/or reset-all
 ⌘ ⌥ O F   Open Firmware
 ⌘ E        Eject CD (press during/after startup chime)
 mouse      Eject CD (hold mouse button down during startup)

⌘ is the Command or Apple key
⌥ is the Option or Alt key
⇧ is the Shift key
⌫ is the Backspace key

System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse

To change any keyboard shortcuts (including per-application settings) : open Keyboard Shortcuts and press [+]
To reset to defaults, open Keyboard Shortcuts and press [Restore Defaults]

To enable keyboard control in dialog boxes: Keyboard > Full Keyboard Access=All Controls
Full keyboard access will allow you to use Tab,Shift-Tab,Enter, Esc and the Space bar to navigate a dialogue box.

Emacs style shortcuts

Ctrl+H: Backspace delete (right-to-left)
Ctrl+D: Forward delete (left-to-right)
Ctrl+K: Kill / delete text between cursor and the end of the line
Ctrl+U: Delete current line
Ctrl+T: Transpose two characters (typo)

Ctrl+A: Beginning of line (Home)
Ctrl+E: End of line (End)
Ctrl+B: Back (left) one character
Ctrl+F: Forward (right) one character
Ctrl+N: Next line down
Ctrl+P: Previous line up
Ctrl+V: Page down

'Command + Tab' cycles through Applications,
'Command + ~ (tilde)' cycles through an individual Applications windows"