

Whether you’re using Mojave or Big Sur, MacOS has many shortcuts, but there are a few that everyone should know. Thanks to Apple’s integration of hardware and software, you’ll rarely have to reach for your mouse or trackpad once you learn to speak the language of the keys. If you want to dismiss the Dock, press Esc.If you’re not using keyboard shortcuts on your Mac, you’re missing out on a big part of the reason why so many people love Apple’s desktop operating system. Use the arrow keys to navigate the dock, or type the first letter of the app you want to launch. If the Dock is hidden, it slides out onto the screen. You can navigate the Dock using the keyboard, and therefore launch any apps that are in the Dock. The Finder’s selection will jump to the second letter you type, so just type the first letter or letters, use the arrow keys if necessary to get the app you want, and then press Return. Note that for apps with two-word names, such as QuickTime Player or System Preferences, you can’t type QP or SP. Press Command-down arrow to open the app. So, to launch an app such as Preview, type PR, and, unless you have another app whose name begins with those two letters, Preview is selected. However, typing in a Finder folder merely selects an item it doesn’t hide other items in that folder, showing only the apps with the letters you type. As with Spotlight and Launchpad, you can type letters to access your apps. It’s not that hard to get to that folder in the Finder, just press Command-Shift-A. When you invoke Launchpad, the Search field is selected.Īnother way to launch apps from the keyboard is to do so in the Applications folder. If not, use the arrow keys to select it, and then press Return. If it is the first app selected, press Return to launch it. Type the first couple of characters of the name of the app you want to launch. That Search field has focus when you start typing the characters automatically get entered into that field. You’ll see some of your app icons with a Search field above them. To invoke Launchpad, press F4 on newer Apple keyboards (older Apple keyboards use F4 to launch Dashboard) on a Trackpad, use a pinching motion with your thumb and three fingers. Launchpad presents your apps with big icons on your screen, laid out in a similar way to iOS app icons on an iPad. If an app’s name has two words, such as GarageBand or Microsoft Word, you can type, for example, GB or MW to zero in on it. You don’t always need to type the first letters of an app’s name for it to come up in Spotlight. Using Spotlight, you can quickly launch apps by typing a couple of letters.

If the app you want to launch isn’t the first one in the list, use the arrow keys to select it, and then press Return. Spotlight should put Safari at the top of the list press Return to launch it. For example, if you want to launch Safari, type SAF. Press the Spotlight keyboard shortcut (by default this is Command-Space) and type the first couple of letters of an app’s name.

The simplest way to launch an app from the keyboard is to use Spotlight.

Mac hotkey for dock mac#
Here are five ways to launch Mac apps from the keyboard. But there are also a number of ways that you can launch apps without taking your hands off the keyboard.
Mac hotkey for dock how to#
You know how to launch Mac apps: you click an icon in the Dock, or you double-click an icon someplace else, such as in the Applications folder.
