Book tip: Keyboard shortcuts for the Mac by Jonas Kraft

Somehow I have the feeling that the use of keyboard shortcuts is more common among Mac users than among Windows users. The concept of working efficiently with keyboard shortcuts is not just reserved for the Mac. But no matter whether Mac or Windows PC: I often see how users even execute commands such as "select all", "copy" and "paste" via the context menu with the mouse. The key combinations CMD + A, CMD +C and CMD + V are pressed much faster. But how do you actually know which keyboard shortcuts exist and which keys you have to press for a specific command?

Here you can either consult the Internet or put a little book on the shelf that contains such key combinations. The trade has a few books ready, of which I am here had already presented one from amac buch Verlag. Markt + Technik Verlag was so friendly and also gave me a book (and a few copies for the raffle in the newsletter: Sign up here!) sent: "Mac Keyboard Shortcuts" by Jonas Kraft.

"Keyboard shortcuts for the Mac" - a small handbook for keyboard artists

The format of the manual by Jonas Kraft is really a small reference book. You can comfortably throw it in your laptop bag or place it on your desk to be able to look in between times. I really like the small book format. The print is a two-color print (blue and black) on the inside pages, which is completely sufficient for the purpose of the book.

Otherwise, the 120-page book has a surprising amount of content in store. Even if you subtract the last eight pages, which explain how you can create keyboard shortcuts yourself and how the gestures work with the Magic Mouse and the Magic Trackpad, there are still 112 pages filled with keyboard shortcuts are. I admit: I never had a book that had soooooo many shortcuts in stock.

Content structure according to programs

If you look at the table of contents of the booklet, you can see that the author has broken down the keyboard shortcuts according to programs. Each program is in turn subdivided into areas that are individual for the program. So you can quickly find the right keyboard shortcut even with extensive lists.

To give you an impression of which programs are represented, I have taken the list from the table of contents here:

• Finder
• Safari
• Communicate: Mail, FaceTime, Messages
• Organize: contacts, calendar, reminders, notes
• Photo apps: Photos, Digital Pictures, Photo Booth, Preview
• Music and Movies: iTunes, QuickTime Player, DVD Player, iMovie, garage band
• iWork: Pages, Numbers, Keynote
• Other apps: App Store, maps, calculator, TextEdit, books, lexicon, graph, font collection, chess, sticky notes, terminal, Activity indicator, Console, Keychain Access, System Information, Automator, Script Editor, Disk Utility, Digital Color Meter

As you can see, the author really has a collection of keyboard shortcuts ready for all Apple programs. Just Final Cut Pro and the like is not listed because you have to buy these programs separately.

Important keyboard shortcuts are also represented

What is always particularly important to me with these small shortcut collections is the completeness in terms of general operation of the Mac. For example, everyone should be able to look up how to get one in an emergency Mac starts in recovery mode or execute safe system start can.

Here, too, the book provides competent help. In addition to shortcuts for starting or switching off the Mac, you can also find key commands for special characters such as French quotation marks, TM characters and many more. At this point I throw in a small list of the areas that Jonas Kraft's book still covers. So you can quickly see that he really hasn't forgotten anything:

• Explanation of options when starting the system and when switching off
• Activate and use accessibility features
• Mac keyboard keys explained
• Function keys explained
• special character
• Operation of the Finder with shortcuts
• Shortcuts for screenshots, mission control and the like
• Working with shortcuts for the Spotlight search (yes, there are more than CMD + SPACE!)
• Keyboard shortcuts for switching between apps and those that work the same in all apps (close window, save, etc.)
• Keyboard mouse operation (helpful in emergencies!)
• Commands for the trash
• Go to shortcuts
• Touch gestures for the mouse or trackpad at a glance

My conclusion: very good!

I would say: This is the last book you have to buy on the subject of keyboard shortcuts on your Mac! In fact, the little work is so extensive that I couldn't really find anything that would be missing. For just under 5 euros, it's so affordable that it should actually be included with every Mac. Working with shortcuts saves you a lot of clicks in a short time and makes the operation of the Mac much more efficient.

The only thing that you could probably buy at some point in relation to shortcuts on the Mac should be special lists or booklets for shortcuts for programs such as Photoshop, Lightroom or the like. Here the author has understandably limited himself to the Apple apps that are on board when the Mac is shipped. If you were to include other apps, you would quickly have a 10-volume collection of keyboard shortcuts that no one could put on the desk. For this reason my opinion is: thumbs up! Everything done right with the booklet.

If you want to buy "Keyboard Shortcuts for Mac", you will find it here via this link or with the following product box on Amazon. Attention: Do not confuse this with the 2014 edition, which can currently still be found for 1,95 EUR. But I only linked the new version from 2019.

Keyboard shortcuts for the Mac - all important functions - suitable for all macOS versions ...

• Kraft, Jonas (Author)

1,90 EUR

Buy it at Amazon Price includes VAT, plus shipping costs (updated: 30.03.2023 at 18: 38 clock)

Jen Kleinholz( Founder & Sir Apfelot )

Jens has been running the blog since 2012. He appears as Sir Apfelot for his readers and helps them with problems of a technical nature. In his free time he drives electric unicycles, takes photos (preferably with his iPhone, of course), climbs around in the Hessian mountains or hikes with the family. His articles deal with Apple products, news from the world of drones or solutions for current bugs.

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