The Top 10 Keyboard Shortcuts [Finder] [System]

I've been writing for the second half of this week about keyboard shortcuts that you should know. I've already covered Safari and Mail. Today I'll finish off the week with Finder and system wide keyboard shortcuts.


Finder

Move to Trash: Cmd-Delete

While it might be cute to see the trash icon change from empty to full when you drag an item into it, it's a very inefficient way of deleting files. Just use Cmd-Delete.
While on the topic of trash, you can empty your trash with Cmd-Shift-Delete or Cmd-Option-Shift-Delete if you don't want to see the warning dialog.


Eject Disk: Cmd-E

In the same way that it's inefficient to drag trash to the dock, it's also inefficient to eject a disk by dragging it to the dock. Use Cmd-E instead. (To help you remember: E as in Eject.)


Slideshow: Cmd-Option-Y

Slideshow (a.k.a. Fullscreen QuickLook) is very helpful if you're wanting to show your pictures in fullscreen. If you don't want to do quicklook in full screen, use Cmd-Y (Or the spacebar if you want to.)


Show Inspector: Cmd-Option-I

This one is really handy to know. Select a file and hit Cmd-Option-I to open up the inspector. This is the same as an Info window (Cmd-I) except if you change your selection, the inspector will change to reflect your new selection.
The advantage of the Inspector is that you can select two or more files and it will do a combined inspect instead of opening a different info window for each item.



System

Desktop: Cmd-Shift-D

This works in both Finder and system wide. If you're in an Open/Save dialog box, then you can hit Cmd-Shift-D to instantly jump to the desktop. The same applies to Finder. If you're in a Finder window, you can hit Cmd-Shift-D to jump to the Desktop from anywhere.


Screen Shots: Cmd-Shift-3/4

If you need help with anything, or you want to show off something funny, then you can use these keyboard shortcuts to take a picture of your screen:

Cmd-Shift-3: Full Screen
Cmd-Shift-4: Drag selection screenshot.
Cmd-Shift-4, then space: Take a screenshot of a window.

If you add Ctrl to any of these, then your screenshot will be saved to the clipboard instead of the Desktop.


Force Quit Application: Cmd-Option-Escape

We Mac users don't like to admit it, but sometimes a program has a problem and you need to force quit it. (Although, this is usually Microsoft applications, right? Right.) Well, if you need to force quit an application, use Cmd-Option-Escape. You can modify this with the Shift key to force quit the front application. However, you'll have to hold down Cmd-Option-Shift-Escape for a short time before anything will happen. (This prevents you from hitting it accidently.)


The Application Switcher: Cmd-Tab

This is a great one that you should use unless you've lost your keyboard. Type Cmd-Tab and a little window will pop up showing you all your open applications. You can then keep holding the Command key and then switch from one application to the next. Once the application you want is selected, you can then let go of the Command key to jump to that application.

Also, instead of just using tab to switch, you can use Shift-Tab to go backwards in the list. In addition, if you keep holding the command key, you can then hit Q to quit or H to hide the selected application. Finally, if you hold Option when you let go of the Command key, all the windows for that application will un-minimize.


Help: Cmd-Shift-/ (Cmd-?)

I wouldn't have included this one in Tiger. But in Leopard's help menus, you can now search menu contents. So, if you want to superscript some selected text in TextEdit, you can hit Cmd-Shift-/ and then type in "Superscript" to find the menu that it's in.


Well, these are my top ten picks for keyboard shortcuts. Obviously you have your favorite keyboard shortcuts, so post away in the comments.