MacBook Air keyboard shortcuts: the ones you will actually use

On a MacBook Air, almost everything goes through the ⌘ Cmd key, next to the space bar. Here are the everyday shortcuts, sorted by task, valid on every MacBook Air, recent or old.

The keys to know

⌘ Cmd: the shortcut key, on both sides of the space bar.
⌥ Option (or alt): gives access to special characters and to shortcut variants.
⌃ Ctrl: mainly used for system shortcuts and right-clicking (Ctrl + click).
fn (or 🌐 on recent models): activates the F1 to F12 keys and secondary functions.

Text: copy, paste, undo

Shortcut	What it does
⌘ + C / ⌘ + V	Copy / paste
⌘ + X	Cut
⌥ + ⇧ + ⌘ + V	Paste without formatting
⌘ + Z / ⇧ + ⌘ + Z	Undo / redo
⌘ + A	Select all
⌘ + F	Find in the page or document
⌘ + ← / ⌘ + →	Go to the beginning / end of the line
fn + ⌫	Delete the character to the right of the cursor

Windows and apps

Shortcut	What it does
⌘ + Tab	Switch from one app to another
⌘ + W	Close the window or tab
⌘ + Q	Quit the app
⌘ + M	Minimise the window into the Dock
⌘ + H	Hide the app
⌃ + ⌘ + F	Full screen (or exit it)
⌥ + ⌘ + Esc	Force a frozen app to quit
⌘ + ,	Open the app’s settings

Screenshots

Shortcut	What it does
⇧ + ⌘ + 3	Capture the entire screen
⇧ + ⌘ + 4	Capture an area selected with the mouse
⇧ + ⌘ + 5	Open the Screenshot tool (areas, windows, video)

Finder and files

Shortcut	What it does
Space bar	Quick Look at the selected file
⌘ + ⌫	Move the file to the Trash
⌘ + ↑	Go up to the parent folder
⇧ + ⌘ + .	Show or hide hidden files
⌘ + Space bar	Spotlight: search for a file or an app

System

Shortcut	What it does
⌃ + ⌘ + Q	Lock the screen
⌃ + ⌘ + Space bar	Open emoji and symbols
⌥ + ⌘ + D	Show or hide the Dock
⌘ + + / ⌘ + -	Zoom in / out in most apps

A shortcut is not working? First check the keyboard language in System Settings > Keyboard: on an AZERTY keyboard set to QWERTY, the punctuation and number keys are no longer in the same place.