Press left or right arrow keys to move from one open menu to another.Press the down arrow key to open the currently highlighted menu.

Press left or right arrow keys to move from one menu bar item to another.Press Ctrl+F2 or Fn+Ctrl+F2 and the Apple logo in the menu bar is highlighted.Conflicts can occur! Access the menu bar with a keyboard shortcut It is something to be aware of and what you expect to happen may not because a keyboard shortcut is being grabbed by an app. When TextEdit is on the screen, a new TextEdit document is created. When there is nothing on the screen, pressing Cmd+N opens a new Finder window. This is important to know because if you have a keyboard shortcut in macOS, but an app is currently being used, the app can ‘steal’ the shortcut. If the app does not use that key combo for anything, it is then sent to macOS. When you press Cmd+K, Ctrl+j, Fn+Ctrl+F8 or whatever, it is sent to the app first. They are not to be used exclusively, just when it is more convenient than reaching for the mouse or trackpad.Īpps have priority when keyboard shortcuts are used. It is useful to learn a few keyboard shortcuts and use them when appropriate. In this article I will focus mostly on the menu bar at the top of the screen and show some little known keyboard shortcuts that enable it to be accessed without using the mouse or trackpad. Even when using an app that requires the mouse or trackpad, like a paint program or photo editor, keyboard shortcuts can sometimes be useful. I can type, save, and continue typing smoothly and without interruption. For other things, it is brilliant, quick and easy.įor example, as I type this, I can keep my fingers on the keyboard and press Cmd+S to save it, which is much easier than reaching for the mouse or trackpad, moving the pointer to the File menu, looking for the Save menu and then clicking it. For some things, keyboard access or control is downright awkward and should be avoided. There are keyboard shortcuts and keyboard controls for everything, but this does not mean that you should use them for everything. Access the Mac menu bar with the keyboard

Mac menu bar settings