Tag Archive: mac

Keyboard Kung Fu: Change of Address
Posted Mar.28, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

This week we explore the ⌘ L shortcut, useful for changing the URL in the browser’s address bar and one that can be used in conjunction with earlier Keyboard Kung Fu tips such as Cut, Copy & Paste and Switching Between Open Apps.

Address the Situation with Command L

Throughout the course of a general work day I regularly need to access a website’s URL, that is, a website’s address. Sometimes I need to copy the URL and paste it into another field or application, often into an email so that I can share the website with a colleague. Other times I want to paste a URL that I have obtained from elsewhere into the address bar of the web browser.

This is where the ⌘ L combination is a very useful weapon in your repertoire of Keyboard Kung Fu moves.

Mac Keyboard showing CMD L keyboard combo

Highlight the URL ready to either paste over or copy

How to Select the URL in the Address Bar

Whenever you are using a web browser, be it Safari, Chrome, Firefox or other, simply holding down the ⌘ key with your thumb and then tapping the L key highlights the URL in the address bar, ready to either paste over or copy.

Exercise: Copy & Paste a URL from one browser to another

Now that we have a few Keyboard Kung Fu lessons under our belt let’s consolidate our learning by combining some of these techniques to achieve a practical task.

Task: In this scenario you have opened a website in Firefox but the page is not displaying properly so you want to see what the same website looks like in Safari. How would you do that using as many of the keyboard shortcuts we’ve already learned?

Here’s one way we could do that:
Assuming that you already have both browsers open:
1. While in Firefox use the ⌘ L technique to select the URL in the address bar.
2. Use ⌘ C to copy the URL.
3. Using ⌘ tab will allow you to then move from Firefox to the Safari browser.
4. The ⌘ L combo is then used to select the URL in the address bar of Safari.
5. Finally, use ⌘ V to paste the URL into the address bar and tap return to load the website.

All of this is achieved without ever needing to take your hands from the keyboard to touch the mouse.


Without going out the door, know the world.
– Chapter 47, Tao Te Ching.

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Keyboard Kung Fu: Quitting Applications
Posted Mar.14, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Keyboard Kung Fu: Command-Q = Quit application

You’ve probably noticed when you close an application by clicking on the little ‘x’ at the top left of the window that this doesn’t completely close the app. You can tell that the app is still running by the little arrow beneath the app’s icon in the Dock. Completely closing the app is known as ‘quitting’ the app. To quit the current application, simply hold down the Command key and tap on the ‘Q’ key: ⌘ Q

Photo of keyboard showing Command-Q = Quit

Quitting an Application with Command-Q

When Lion (10.7) was released it introduced a new ‘resume’ feature that adds the ability to restore the state of files and windows of an application as they were when the program quit with ⌘ Q. If, however, you don’t want the program to save and restore its last state, you can now include the Option key while quitting, eg: ⌥ ⌘ Q and the previous state will not be saved.

Combine Command-Q with Command-Tab

Like the Command-H move, ⌘ Q can be used together with ⌘ tab to quickly & easily access the app that you want to quit once.

I often ⌘ tab to see what apps are still running that I am no longer using and then ⌘ Q to stop them running, freeing up system resources.

A good commander achieves the result, then stops.
Chapter 30, Tao Te Ching.


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Keyboard Kung Fu: Hiding Applications
Posted Mar.07, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

Clear your view, move your focus to the task at hand with ⌘ H.

Command-H = Hide application

Put simply, the ⌘ H shortcut will make the current application disappear from view. It remains open and running, but invisibly in the background.

Command-H kyboard shortcut

Clear your view with Command-H

This is a handy keyboard shortcut when you have many applications running and you want to hide some of them from view without actually quitting the apps. Try repeatedly tapping ⌘ H and one by one the open apps will disappear leaving you on the desktop.

Combine two Keyboard Kung Fu moves to swiftly refocus attention

The ⌘ H combination is very useful when used in conjunction with the Command-Tab action that we covered in a previous Keyboard Kung Fu lesson. Any app that is open can be selected and hidden quickly & easily, and any hidden application can be brought back into view by Command-Tabbing to it. These two actions, hiding an app and then bringing it back into view, replace the need to minimise applications to the dock and then restore them using the mouse.

The Tao is hidden and nameless
Yet it is only the Tao that excels in giving and completing everything.
– Chapter 41, Tao Te Ching.


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Keyboard Kung Fu: Switching to a Closed Application
Posted Feb.28, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

In a previous Keyboard Kung Fu lesson we saw how easy it is to switch between open applications using Command-Tab. Sometimes though, an app is minimised or closed and can’t be tabbed to. That’s where this handy little manoeuvre comes in.

Command-Tab / Command-Option

Use the ⌘ tab / ⌘ ⌥ key combination to open an application that has been minimised or closed. These apps can be brought up by taking your finger off the tab key, moving it to the ⌥ key, and then removing your thumb from the ⌘ key.

Keyboard Kung Fu shortcuts

Switching between open apps with the ⌘ tab, ⌘ ⌥ move.

In the image above I have already tried to switch to the Mail app but found that it is closed. So I have then used ⌘ tab to select the Mail app and then taken my middle finger off the tab key and put my index finger onto the ⌥ key. Then when I removed my thumb from the ⌘ key the Mail app popped up into the foreground.



The returning is the movement of the Tao.
– Chapter 40, Tao Te Ching.

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Keyboard Kung Fu: Switching Between Open Applications
Posted Feb.21, 2014 under How to, Keyboard Kung Fu, Productivity

This is perhaps the most useful keyboard shortcut you can learn, and it’s very simple.

Command-Tab = Switch to the next application

When you want to move to another application that you have already opened, instead of moving the mouse cursor down to the app’s icon on the tool bar, just hold down the ⌘ key and tap the tab key to bring up the panel displaying all open apps. While holding down the ⌘ key keep tapping that tab key until the desired application is selected and then let go of both keys.

Hand on a keyboard on the Command and Tab keys

Switch to another open application with Command-Tab

Command-Shift-Tab = Switch to the previous application

If you accidentally go past the app that you were looking for while tapping on the tab key then hold down the shift key (while still holding the ⌘ key down) and then tap the tab key again and the selector backwards to the previous application.



The great Tao is like a flood – it can flow to the left or to the right.
– Chapter 34, Tao Te Ching.

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