Best MacBook Keyboard Shortcuts for Productivity!
About this video
Jeff Su walks through the Mac keyboard shortcuts he uses daily at work, starting with cross-application text navigation, then Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Chrome, finishing with software and hardware. Across apps, Command plus left/right arrows jumps to the start or end of a line, Option plus arrows moves word by word, adding Shift highlights a sentence or a word, Command+F finds text, Command+Shift+V pastes without formatting, Command+K adds a hyperlink, and Command+Space switches language inputs. In Google Docs he opens a new doc with doc.new, uses Command+Shift+8 for bullets and Command+Shift+7 for numbered/action lists, and Command+Shift+period to increase font size while taking meeting notes. In Gmail, with shortcuts enabled in Settings, semicolon expands a long thread and Shift+semicolon collapses it, R replies, Command+right bracket indents and Command+left bracket un-indents, G then I returns to the inbox, L labels, E archives, V moves to a label, and K moves to the next email. In Sheets he highlights a row with Shift+Space, inserts rows or columns with Command+Option+plus and deletes with Command+Option+minus, then uses Command+D to fill a formula down and Command+R to fill right. In Slides presentation mode, L turns the cursor into a laser pointer. In Chrome he switches windows with Command plus the tilde key, apps with Command+Tab, and tabs with Control+Tab and Control+Shift+Tab. He relies on the free Alfred app, launched with Command+Space, to open files and apps, search Google, Drive, YouTube and Amazon, and run commands like empty trash and lock, and uses a Magic Trackpad 2 or an MX Master 3 mouse with Logi Options. He advises starting with just three shortcuts you will use regularly.
Key takeaways
- Navigate and edit text mouse-free: Command+arrows for line ends, Option+arrows for words, add Shift to select, Command+Shift+V to paste without formatting, and Command+K to hyperlink
- In Google Docs use doc.new to start fast, Command+Shift+8 for bullets, Command+Shift+7 for numbered lists, and Command+Shift+period to enlarge text
- In Gmail enable shortcuts first, then use R to reply, Command+] / Command+[ to indent or un-indent, G then I for inbox, L to label, E to archive, V to move to a label, and K for the next email
- In Google Sheets insert rows/columns with Command+Option+plus, delete with Command+Option+minus, fill formulas down with Command+D and right with Command+R
- Adopt gradually: Jeff recommends picking three shortcuts you will use daily, supported by free Alfred for search and commands, rather than trying to learn everything at once
Episode details: published March 23, 2021 · 12:00 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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