Magical Macintosh Key Sequences

 

On Boot

 

Key Combination

Effect

mouse down

Eject removable media ( I think Boot ROMs prior to 2.4f1 excluded the CD drive )

opt

Bring up OF system picker on New World machines - boot to 9 on pre-New World machines

cmd-opt

Hold down until 2nd chime, will boot into Mac OS 9 ?

cmd-x (or just x?)

Will boot into Mac OS X if 9 and X are on the same partition and that's the partition you're booting from.

cmd-opt-shift-delete

Bypass startup drive and boot from external (or CD). This actually forces the system to NOT load the driver for the default volume, which has the side effect mentioned above. For SCSI devices it searches from highest ID to lowest for a partition with a bootable system. Not sure about IDE drives.

cmd-opt-shift-delete-#

Boot from a specific SCSI ID # (# = SCSI ID number)

cmd-opt-p-r

Zap PRAM. Hold down until second chime.

cmd-opt-n-v

Clear NV RAM. Similar to reset-all in Open Firmware.

cmd-opt-o-f

Boot into open firmware

cmd-opt-t-v

Force Quadra AV machines to use TV as a monitor

cmd-opt-x-o

Boot from ROM (Mac Classic only)

cmd-opt-a-v

Force an AV monitor to be recognized as one

c

Boot from CD. If set to boot to X and no CD is present, may boot to 9.

d

Force the internal hard disk to be the startup device

n

Hold down until Mac logo, will attempt to boot from network server (using BOOTP or TFTP)

r

Force PowerBooks to reset the screen

t

Put FireWire machine into FireWire Target Disk mode

z

Attempt to boot using the devalias zip from first bootable partition found

shift

(Classic only) Disable Extensions

shift

(OS X, 10.1.3 and later) Disables login items. Also disables non-essential kernel extensions (safe boot mode)

cmd

(Classic only) Boot with Virtual Memory off

space

(Classic only) Trigger extension manager at boot-up

cmd-v

(OS X only) show console messages during boot

cmd-s

(OS X only) boot into single user mode

cmd-opt-c-i

(Mac IIci only) Set date to 20 Sep 1989 to get a graphical easter egg

cmd-opt-f-x

(Mac IIfx only) Set date to 19 Mar 1990 to get a graphical easter egg

 

 

 

 

After display of Happy Mac icon

 

Key Combination

Effect

space

(Classic only) Invoke Extensions Manager

shift

(Classic only) Disable Extensions including MacsBug

shift-opt

(Classic only) Disable exetensions, except MacsBug

ctrl

(Classic only) Break into MacsBug as soon as it is loaded

 

 

 

 

As Finder Starts

 

Key Combination

Effect

cmd-opt

(whenever Classic Finder sees a new disk) Rebuild Desktop

opt

(Mac OS 9) Do not open Finder windows

shift

(Mac OS X) Do not open Finder windows when launching Finder. The windows' states aren't changed to closed, as they will be reopened if you reboot again.

shift

(Mac OS 9) Do not launch anything from the "Startup Items" folder

 

 

 

 

In Finder

 

opt-click close box (or cmd-opt-w)

Close all open finder windows (except popup windows)

cmd-shift-opt-w

Close all open finder windows (including popup windows)

cmd-right arrow

Open folder in list view

cmd-opt-right arrow

Recursively open folder and nested folders in list view

cmd-left arrow

Close folder in list view

cmd-opt-left arrow

Recursively close folder and nested folders in list view

cmd-up arrow

Open parent folder. On Mac OS X, when nothing is selected and no windows are open, open User directory

cmd-opt-up arrow

Open parent folder, closing current folder

cmd-opt-shift-up arrow

Make desktop the active window, select parent volume

cmd-down arrow

Open selected item. On Mac OS X, when nothing is selected and no windows are open, open the desktop folder

cmd-opt-down arrow

Open selected item, closing current folder

opt-click

(In disclosure triangle) expand or collapse all folders within that window

tab

select next icon alphabetically

shift-tab

select previous item alphabetically

cmd-delete

move selection to trash

space

while navigating, opens folder under mouse immediately (with spring-loaded folders enabled)

 

 

In Finder Menu Window

 

cmd-select

Close window

cmd-shift-select

Put away popup window

cmd-opt-select

Expand selected window and close all others

ctl-select

Expand selected window and collapse all others

ctl-opt-select

Activate selected window and expand all others

 

 

 

 

On disk mount

 

cmd-opt

(whenever Classic Finder sees a new disk) Rebuild Desktop

opt

(Mac OS 9) Add session numbers (;1, ;2, etc) to ISO-9660 CD filenames

opt

(Mac OS X) Show each session on an ISO-9660 CD as a volume

 

 

 

 

After startup

 

Key Combination

Effect

 

 

On machines with a power key

 

power

Bring up dialog for shutdown, sleep or restart (see next table)

cmd-ctrl-power

Unconditionally reboot (sometimes referred to as 'control flower power' to easily remember) (dirty reboot - may corrupt disk)

ctrl-cmd-opt-power

Fast shutdown

cmd-power

Bring up debugger (if debugger installed). Really old macs (mac ii era) needed Paul Mercer's debugger init to do this, then it got folded into the firmware, around 040 timeframe.

cmd-opt-power

Put late model PowerBooks & Desktops to sleep

cmd-opt-ctrl-power

(PowerBook 500) Reset Power Manager

shift-fn-ctrl-power

(PowerBook G3, G4) Reset Power Manager

 

 

On machines without a power key

 

ctrl-eject

Bring up dialog for shutdown, sleep or restart (see next table)

cmd-ctrl-eject

Unconditionally reboot

ctrl-cmd-opt-eject

Fast shutdown

cmd-eject

Bring up debugger (if debugger installed). Really old macs (mac ii era) needed Paul Mercer's debugger init to do this, then it got folded into the firmware, around 040 timeframe.

cmd-opt-eject

Put late model PowerBooks & Desktops to sleep

 

 

On all machines

 

cmd-opt-esc

Force quit current app

cmd-shift-0

Put late model PowerBooks & Desktops to sleep No longer work in OS X. On Macs with three floppy drives (Mac SE) they eject the third floppy disk.

cmd-shift-1 or 2

Eject internal or external floppy. Not sure which is which on dual floppy machines (Mac SE, Mac II, etc.)

cmd-shift-3

Screen shot

cmd-shift-4

Abstract user defined area screen shot (hold control while selecting to direct it to the clipboard on Mac OS 9)

cmd-shift-capslock-4

(Classic only) User selectable window screen shot

cmd-ctl-shift-3

Screen shot to clipboard

cmd-ctl-shift-4

Abstract user defined area screen shot to clipboard

cmd-ctl-shift-capslock-4

(Classic only) User selectable window screen shot to clipboard (classic only)

cmd-tab

Switch apps (possible to change key in Mac OS 8-9)

cmd-space

Switch keyboards/script systems (if more than one is installed)

opt-f3, opt-f4 or opt-f5

bring up the system preferences (Mac OS X only - maybe powerbooks only? only if system preferences isn't already running)

cmd-f1

toggle between video mirroring and extended desktop mode (works on Ti Powerbooks)

cmd-f2

auto-detect a newly-connected display (works on Ti Powerbooks)

f12

Eject CD/DVD (must be held down on 10.1.2 or later). If the device can be dismounted, it is. If not, nothing happens.

f14

dim display (cubes/g4 iMacs/others?)

f15

brighten display (cubes/g4 iMacs/others?)

cmd-ctl-shift-0

Spin down HD (when possible) on machines running OS 9

opt-"Empty Trash"

Emptry trash without locked file or contents summary alert. Empties locked items, as well

cmd-opt-D

(Mac OS X only) toggle dock

cmd-opt (when opening chooser)

(Mac OS 9 only) rebuild chooser cache of printer driver information

 

 

 

 

In the sleep/restart dialog

 

Key

Effect

S

Sleep

R

Restart

esc

cancel

cmd-. (period)

cancel

Return or Enter

Shut Down

Power

Cancel (9.2.x only?)

 

 

 

 

In other dialogs

 

Key

Action

esc

Cancel

command-. (period)

Cancel

enter

Default button

return

Default button (if there are no text fields that use return

cmd-d

Don't save (in save/cancel/don't save dialog)

 

 

 

 

On keyboards with a function key

 

Key Combination

Effect

fn-backspace

forward delete

 

 

 

 

Clicks

 

click / modifier

Effect

option-click in another application

Switch to that application and hide previous app

cmd-drag (window)

Drag window without bringing it to front (requires application support to work behind dialogs)

cmd-drag (window background)

Pan contents of window with hand (Finder)

cmd-drag (Mac OS X)

Rearrange menu extras

cmd-click window title

Pop-up menu showing path to current folder/document (in some applications)

option-windowshade

Windowshade all windows of application (classic only)

option-zoom

Zoom window to full-screen

option-yellow

Dock all windows of application (Mac OS X only)

option-green

Zoom window to fill screen (in some applications)

 

 

Mac OS X only - items in dock

 

cmd-click

Reveal in Finder

cmd-opt-click

Activate app and hide other apps

ctl-click (or click and hold)

contextual menu

cmd-drag into dock

Freeze current dock items from moving so icon can be dropped onto an app

cmd-opt-drag into dock

Force application you're dropping onto to open dropped item

 

 

 

 

Control Strip

 

opt-drag control strip

Move control strip

opt-drag CS module within strip

reorders CS modules

opt-drag CS module to trash

uninstalls a module

opt-drag CS module elsewhere

whatever dragging the module file itself would

 

 

Copyright 2002, Dave Polaschek. Last updated on Tue, 25 Jun 2002 16:36:07.

http://davespicks.com/writing/programming/mackeys.html