New to OS X
Hello All,
I just recently got my first ever mac. I am really enjoying OS X it is a lot more fun to use then XP, but as a newbie there are a few things that I do not know how to do and it is brothering me. So I am hoping that you can help me out.
How do you navigate the menu bar without using the mouse? (for example in windows you press alt)
In a web browser what is the shortcut to get to address bar, so I can type a url? (alt+D in windows)
On a windows keyboard there is a button next to ctrl and below shift on the right hand side that will bring up a menu (like when you right click) does OS X have a similar key (keystrokes) to this?
How do you delete forwards?
I know these are small things but they are things I grew accustom to in all my years using windows and I do miss being able to do them on my new mac.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
I just recently got my first ever mac. I am really enjoying OS X it is a lot more fun to use then XP, but as a newbie there are a few things that I do not know how to do and it is brothering me. So I am hoping that you can help me out.
How do you navigate the menu bar without using the mouse? (for example in windows you press alt)
In a web browser what is the shortcut to get to address bar, so I can type a url? (alt+D in windows)
On a windows keyboard there is a button next to ctrl and below shift on the right hand side that will bring up a menu (like when you right click) does OS X have a similar key (keystrokes) to this?
How do you delete forwards?
I know these are small things but they are things I grew accustom to in all my years using windows and I do miss being able to do them on my new mac.
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Comments
You can right-click using Ctrl + left-click, or clicking on the touchpad if you have a MacBook.
Galley, Thanks for your replay. The fn+delete is a nice keystroke to know. I was not asking how to right click (or crtl+click) but rather how to "right-click" without using the mouse or trackpad.
That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure. Anyway, here's a handy page for OS X shortcuts.
- next/previous word (Control-cursor in Win): worked but cursor ended at a different character than it would have in Windows
- delete word left or right from cursor (Control-backspace or -delete): did not work at all
- mark text by word or line (Control-Shift-Cursor) did not work at all (?? not sure)
- move to next paragraph (Alt-Cursor): did not work at all (??)
Chances are pretty good that the functions above actually DO work but with different keys only.
How do you navigate the menu bar without using the mouse?
Press Control-F2, then use the ←, →, ↑ and ↓ keys to navigate.
Press Control-F2, then use the ←, →, ↑ and ↓ keys to navigate.
However you need to enable full keyboard access. This can be done going to keyboard and mouse in system preferences and under the keyboard tab check 'use F1-F12 keys to control software features'
Galley, Thanks for your replay. The fn+delete is a nice keystroke to know. I was not asking how to right click (or crtl+click) but rather how to "right-click" without using the mouse or trackpad.
I'm not sure what you mean by right click without using the mouse or trackpad...all clicking requires a trackpad or mouse...
If you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro however, you can set your computer up so that if you tap the trackpad with two fingers, it right clicks.
I'm not sure what you mean by right click without using the mouse or trackpad...all clicking requires a trackpad or mouse...
If you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro however, you can set your computer up so that if you tap the trackpad with two fingers, it right clicks.
There's a key between Alt and Ctrl(Windows) which allows you to right click without a mouse or a trackpad.
There's a key between Alt and Ctrl(Windows) which allows you to right click without a mouse or a trackpad.
No, as far as i know you can't do that on mac os x
There's a key between Alt and Ctrl(Windows) which allows you to right click without a mouse or a trackpad.
How useful could that possibly be? The mouse would have to just happen to be in the right place for where you want to right click.
How useful could that possibly be? The mouse would have to just happen to be in the right place for where you want to right click.
I don't think that can do much either and I just found it after his question
I am enjoying the switch from Windows to OSX but I have to say I am missing having that key. As a computer user I tend to like to use the Keyboard or the mouse and do not like to use both at the same time; if I am typing something it is easier to just hit a few keystokes then to move my hands over to use the mouse and like wise if I am using the mouse it is easier to just click an icon then it is to move my hand(s) to the keyboard and to type a keystroke.
But an examples of how a "right-click" key can be useful. I am not the best speller and I tend to use spell check on everything I type, so when I am writting something and it gets underlined as a mis-spelled word on windows I just hit the back arrow twice then the press the "right-click" key select the right spelling of the word from the menue that comes up press return and just key on typing. Using the mouse for this tends to slow me down and worse destories the flow of my typing.
Their are other uses too, it seems that most people did not know what I was talking about and could not see a use for it, I wanted to share an example that I use several times each day.
But in regard to my other questions let me say thanks for you help.
Yes, Rokken that was the key I was wondering about.
I am enjoying the switch from Windows to OSX but I have to say I am missing having that key. As a computer user I tend to like to use the Keyboard or the mouse and do not like to use both at the same time; if I am typing something it is easier to just hit a few keystokes then to move my hands over to use the mouse and like wise if I am using the mouse it is easier to just click an icon then it is to move my hand(s) to the keyboard and to type a keystroke.
But an examples of how a "right-click" key can be useful. I am not the best speller and I tend to use spell check on everything I type, so when I am writting something and it gets underlined as a mis-spelled word on windows I just hit the back arrow twice then the press the "right-click" key select the right spelling of the word from the menue that comes up press return and just key on typing. Using the mouse for this tends to slow me down and worse destories the flow of my typing.
Their are other uses too, it seems that most people did not know what I was talking about and could not see a use for it, I wanted to share an example that I use several times each day.
But in regard to my other questions let me say thanks for you help.
ok, think I get what you mean. try this[Control]+[Apple]+[D] cursor needs to be at the right side of the word or in the middle of the word to work.
Also this will work with just the mouse hovering over the word, great feature IMO
The most common shortcut key is 'Command' - shown by a cloverleav. this is the key either side of the space bar. The other keys you might use are Alt (Option) shown by a fork glyph, and Ctrl (control), shown with a ^, and Shift, shown with an up arrow.
To activate a shortcut, you just hold down all the keys shown together. For instance in Safari, to jump to the location bar you hold down 'Command + L', to show the downloads window it's 'Command + Alt + L'
very easy, very fast.
Most of this you'll just have to learn by tinkering around and learning for yourself, as it's not easily explained. But it's not what OS X or Windows does that the other doesn't do, it's how each OS implements that given feature.
One example that I can think of in my own personal experience is the CMD+W and CMD+Q argument. In Windows, if you close the window via the red X button, you closed the application. So not only would you have to wait for the app to load and open again, you lost RAM in the process.
It's like leaving a car running for those 20 seconds you're stopped in a parking lot rather than turning the car off, you use more gas turning it off and starting the engine up again than you would have had if you'd left it running.
This is the most common mistake I see in most people who are new to OS X. they'll close the window and think the application has quit, when in reality the app itself is still running. Use CMD+Q to quit the app, and CMD+W to close the window.
- delete word left or right from cursor (Control-backspace or -delete): did not work at all
option-backspace or -delete works for this.
Yes, Rokken that was the key I was wondering about.
I am enjoying the switch from Windows to OSX but I have to say I am missing having that key. As a computer user I tend to like to use the Keyboard or the mouse and do not like to use both at the same time; if I am typing something it is easier to just hit a few keystokes then to move my hands over to use the mouse and like wise if I am using the mouse it is easier to just click an icon then it is to move my hand(s) to the keyboard and to type a keystroke.
But an examples of how a "right-click" key can be useful. I am not the best speller and I tend to use spell check on everything I type, so when I am writting something and it gets underlined as a mis-spelled word on windows I just hit the back arrow twice then the press the "right-click" key select the right spelling of the word from the menue that comes up press return and just key on typing. Using the mouse for this tends to slow me down and worse destories the flow of my typing.
Their are other uses too, it seems that most people did not know what I was talking about and could not see a use for it, I wanted to share an example that I use several times each day.
But in regard to my other questions let me say thanks for you help.
If you're a heavy keyboard user, my advice is to get Quicksilver, learn it, love it, and never look back.
You'll thank me one day.
- next/previous word (Control-cursor in Win): worked but cursor ended at a different character than it would have in Windows
- delete word left or right from cursor (Control-backspace or -delete): did not work at all
- mark text by word or line (Control-Shift-Cursor) did not work at all (?? not sure)
- move to next paragraph (Alt-Cursor): did not work at all (??)
Chances are pretty good that the functions above actually DO work but with different keys only.
Yes. Remember the Mac OS came BEFORE Windows, so all the control-key stuff is how Windows copied (verbatim) the Mac OS Command-key shortcuts. The original Mac did not even HAVE a Control key - that was a relic of mainframe keyboards.
All of the select word, select paragraph, etc. commands were in the Mac before Windows existed.
However, the Home key goes to the top of the document and the End key goes to the end of the document. That's just the way it is. If you want to go to the beginning and end of a LINE, type command-left arrow or command-right arrow.
Yes. Remember the Mac OS came BEFORE Windows, so all the control-key stuff is how Windows copied (verbatim) the Mac OS Command-key shortcuts. The original Mac did not even HAVE a Control key - that was a relic of mainframe keyboards.
True, but it didn't come before DOS and there were conventions defined then, which are oddly different to what Windows used. Windows picked up the Mac conventions eventually but not immediately.
Back in the DOS days, and OS/2 for that matter later, the IBM sequences for cut, copy and paste were Shift+Del, Ctrl+Ins and Shift+Ins, F1 = help, F3 = exit etc even if many DOS vendors completely ignored that. IIRC Windows still uses those in some of it's apps.