posted by
Seth Azria on January 04, 2010 21:43

Just Do it the Fast and Easy Way
I was copying and pasting using perhaps the most popular series of keyboard shortcuts of all time- cut, copy, and paste. When I stumbled upon another handy shortcut.
By pressing ALT (Option) + "C" iCal opens up a new window. I was expecting to just copy some info from one place to another and there I had iCal, staring me in the face. This handy shortcut works whether iCal is running or not.
I am a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts, they just save so much time and effort. In case you didn't know and have been right-clicking your way around, the shortcut for:
- Cut is CMD (or CTRL on PC) + X
- Copy is CMD (or CTRL on PC) + C
- Paste is CMD (or CTRL on PC) + V
A very non-techie friend asked me today how to make iTunes stop playing. I pressed CMD + Tab to bring up the application switcher, pressed tab, while holding down CMD, until I reached iTunes and then pressed Q, also while holding down CMD. It blew his mind and it looks like this:

- To quit any program on a Mac just press CMD + Q.
- To close any window on a Mac, click on it to bring it to the front, and press CMD + W.
The PC also has an application switcher press Alt + Tab.
Here are couple of video I did about Keyboard Shortcuts:
Work Fast with a Few Keyboard Shortcuts: For Mac and PC
I go over a bunch of handy shortcuts in this video demo, it includes a PDF download for a handy reminder.
Getting Great File Names Fast: Excellent Keyboard Shortcuts
Download 20 cases from Westlaw, Lexis, or Fastcase and you have law and lousy file names. In this video, I use a few shortcuts in succession to rename 9 cases in seconds. The techniques apply to just about everything.
If you have a Mac and some time to kill go to System Preferences --> Keyboard --> Keyboard Shortcuts and kick around.
Do you have any keyboard shortcuts or handy computer tricks? I would love to hear about them.
Shortcuts for the Web Browser
To adjust the text size you in your web browser larger:
- On a Mac, hold "Command" and press the the "+" or "-" button. (On a PC hold down "ctrl")
To zoom in on any part of a Mac screen at anytime:
- Hold "control" and scroll in or out.
Download a PDF with a bunch of Keyboard Shortcuts