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Alt Mac Keyboard



This is the ultimate guide for working with MacBook keyboards, including accessing special functions, characters, accents, and using keyboard shortcuts in Mac OS system. Click on the list below to jump to an appropriate section.

  1. Control Alt Delete Mac Keyboard Windows 10
  2. Option Button On Keyboard

Alt and Alt GR are slightly different in that the Apple variant just has two Alt keys. To use one as Alt GR you need to hold down the control or ctrl key at the same time. Though, some of the newest Apple keyboards such as the Magic Keyboard no longer include the “alt” label. But the Option key is also the Alt key on the Mac keyboard, which means that it can be used as an Alt key with non-Mac software. Does it mean that you can press down the Option key while you type the Cent alt code on your Mac keyboard? If you’re using an external PC keyboard connected to your Mac, the ALT key is the same as Option key. If you find that suddenly you can no longer type the “at” sign anymore after an update to macOS, it may be because the language settings on your Mac have been reset.

MacBook Keyboard Diagram / Map

MacBook keyboard has few distinctive sections: Function keys (in light blue), which provides access to various functions in MacBook itself or Mac OS system. By combining them with the FN key, you'll get access to F1 - F12 keys, which can be associated with particular application features (useful in Photoshop for example).

The second section is the modifier keys (in light yellow). Shift allows to type uppercase letters and other additional characters. Command and Alt/Option are used in keyboard shortcuts, as well as the Control key, which is used almost exclusively by Mac OS X and Apple programs.

Return and left Shift has two variants, one used in the US and Eastern Asia (horizontal Return and long Shift), and second, used in Europe, Middle East and Africa (vertical Return and short left Shift). On the diagram, this is shown by dashed lines. Of course, MacBook keyboards have lots of localizations, the most common - US English - is shown above. If you're unsure about the localization you have, go and check it with this guide.

MacBook Air 11' has slightly different keyboard, with smaller top and bottom row keys to accommodate smaller laptop size. Newest MacBooks Pro with TouchBar don't have upper F keys row, instead, they have a touchscreen which changes displayed options based on context.

MacBook Keyboard Symbols Chart

SymbolMeaningNotes
Screen brightness down
Screen brightness up
Launches Mission ControlIcon available on MacBooks Unibody
Launches Mission ControlIcon available on MacBooks pre-unibody
Launches DashboardIcon available on MacBooks Unibody
Launches DashboardIcon available on MacBooks pre-unibody
Keyboard backlight down
Keyboard backlight up
Rewind
Play / Pause
Fast Forward
Sound: mute
Sound: volume down
Sound: volume up
EjectAvailable on MacBooks with CD/DVD drive
PowerAvailable on MacBooks without CD/DVD drive
CommandOn MacBooks 1st generation this is replaced by Apple logo
Alt / OptionAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts
TabAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts
BackspaceAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts
ShiftAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts
Caps LockAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts
ReturnAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts
EnterAvailable on European/ISO keyboard layouts, accessed with FN key
DeleteNot on MacBooks, but worth knowing
ClearNot on MacBooks, but worth knowing
HomeNot on MacBooks, but worth knowing. Can be substituted by CMD + up arrow shortcut.
EndNot on MacBooks, but worth knowing. Can be substituted by CMD + down arrow shortcut.
Page UpNot on MacBooks, but worth knowing
Page DownNot on MacBooks, but worth knowing
ArrowsUsed to move things or pointer

MacBook Keyboard Special Characters and Accents Map

If you want to type special characters or accents, change your keyboard language to US International PC (thanks, Steve!) and use the map below to get them. You can also check out our solution to the two languages on one keyboard problem.

Where is the Print Screen Button?

Unlike PC keyboard, there is no Print Screen key on MacBook keyboard. This functionality is accessed by keyboard shortcuts and - on Mac - you have greater flexibility:

  • Command + Shift + 3 - captures entire screen;
  • Command + Shift + 4 - captures selected region. Your cursor turns to crosshair and by clicking and dragging you can specify which area you want to capture;
  • Command + Shift + 4 + Space - captures selected window. First press the shortcut from above, then - when you have crosshair - hit Space. The cursor will turn to the camera and the active window will have a blue overlay. Click on it to get it captured.

In some apps, like Photoshop, you need to add Control into the mix, to paste the screenshot into the app.

MacBook Keyboard Tricks

Alt

There's a lot you can do in Mac OS by using the keyboard only. Here's a list of highly useful and not-so-useful keyboard shortcuts:

ShortcutAction
Command + WQuickly closes the active window in Safari or any other browser. Works also with many applications, like Pages, Numbers, Photoshop. Great way to quickly close something when your boss is coming around :)
Command + HHides the active application. Useful for hiding something quickly ;)
Option + Shift + F11/F12Makes tiny changes in volume level instead of standard jumps.
Control + Option + Command + 8Reverses colors on the screen.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9When watching YouTube video, this will advance you to 10%, 20%, 30%. of movie completion.
Option + DeleteDeletes whole word in text editors
Control + Command + VPastes copied text without formatting. Useful when copying something from Pages and pasting into eg. Wordpress :)
Control + Command + Option + Eject/ShutdownShuts down the MacBook without the need to provide username and password.
Command + Shift + AOpens the Applications folder in Finder.
Command + Shift + UOpens the Utilities folder in Finder.
Command + Shift + DOpens the Desktop folder in Finder.
Command + Shift + IWhen in Safari, this shortcut copies the URL, opens Mail app and creates a new email with the copied URL pasted as a link in a message.
Command + Option + MMinimizes all open windows, showing Desktop.
Command + Option + Shift + EscHold for 3 seconds to force quit any app.
Command + TabCycle through opened apps from left to right.
Command + Shift + TabCycle through opened apps from right to left.
Command + `Cycles through active app windows.
Command + QQuit active app.
Command + TOpens a new tab in Finder. Opens a new tab in a web browser.
Command + NCreates new Finder window.
Command + Shift + NCreates new folder in Finder.
Command + SpaceLaunches Spotlight.
Command + Option + SpaceSwitches to next keyboard language (if you have more than one).
Command + Control + SpaceIn some websites and apps this will give you the emoji keyboard.
Command + DeleteSends selected files/folders to trash.
Fn + DeleteDeletes text from left to right.
F10 + ShutdownHold while launching MacBook to get a silent start.
Command + up arrow/down arrowJump to the beginning or end of a page. This is equivalent to PC's Home and End keys.
Command + up arrow + LHighlights the address bar in a web browser.

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  • Most recent

Columns in the tables:

  • Sym: The symbol representing the key
  • Key: The common name of the key
  • CrossPlat?: Whether the symbol is cross-platform. If 'No', then the symbol is unlikely to render properly outside the Apple ecosystem.
  • Alt: An alternate symbol used in some contexts (e.g., legacy)
  • Alt CrossPlat?: Whether the alternate symbol is cross-platform

Modifiers

When a key combination is displayed, the modifiers are written in the order presented here. For example, Control + Option + Shift + Command + Q would be written as ⌃⌥⇧⌘Q.

SymKeyCrossPlat?AltAlt CrossPlat?
ControlYes
OptionYes
ShiftYes
CommandYesNo

The Command key was formerly represented by an Apple logo. The Apple logo is one fo the few symbols here that can be easily typed with a typical keyboard layout: ⌥⇧K

There is also a Fn modifier on modern Mac keyboards. Typically this isn't seen in keyboard shortcuts because it's only used to access keys F1 through F20. However, it can technically be combined with Control plus one other key to get a unique legacy combination. Each of these Fn + Control combinations maps to a character in Unicode's U+F700 to U+F7FF private use range. Some programs will erroneously print these characters upon receiving such a combination. With system Mac fonts, these characters lack visible glyphs, and are for internal use only. Quote from ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/CORPCHAR.TXT:

NeXT's OpenStep reserved corporate characters in the range 0xF700 to0xF8FF for transient use as keyboard function keys. The ones actuallyassigned in NextStep are 0xF700-0xF747, as follows. These are stillused in the Mac OS X AppKit frameworks. Note that there is no glyphassociated with these, and they are not mapped or used by the Mac OSText Encoding Converter.

Normal

SymKeyCrossPlat?AltAlt CrossPlat?
EscapeYes
EjectYesNo
Delete fwdYes
DeleteYes
Caps lockYes
LeftYes
RightYes
UpYes
DownYes
ReturnYes
❘⃝PowerNo
Page upYes
Page downYes
Back tabYes
TabYes
EndYes
HomeYes
EnterYesYes
Context menuNo
ClearYes
SpaceYesNo
Num lockYes

The alternate eject symbol,  (U+F804), is from a Unicode private use region. Apple designates it for use with mapping to/from the Mac OS Keyboard encoding. Ideally, the official Unicode variant should be used instead, as it will be compatible with fonts on other platforms. Divvy download free. Quote from ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/CORPCHAR.TXT:

The following (11) are for mapping the Mac OS Keyboard and Mac OS Koreanencodings (for Mac OS Korean also see 0xF83D, 0xF840-0xF84F).

Reference: ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/KEYBOARD.TXT

These are the official Unicode symbol mappings published by Apple.

SymUnicodeMacKey nameNotes
U+21E70x05Shift
U+23030x06Control
U+23880x8AControlISO
U+23250x07Option
U+23870x8BAlt
U+23180x11Command
U+F8FF0x14CommandOld; solid Apple logo
U+F8FF U+F87F0x6CCommandOld; outlined Apple logo
U+21E50x02Tab right (LTR)
U+21E40x03Tab left (RTL)
U+23240x04Enter
U+24230x09Space
U+21A90x0BReturn (LTR)
U+21AA0x0CReturn (RTL)
U+232B0x17Delete left (LTR)
U+23260x0ADelete right (RTL)
U+238B0x1BEscape
U+23270x1CClear
U+24230x61Blank
U+21EA0x63Caps lock
?⃝U+003F U+20DD0x67Help
U+21920x65Right
U+21900x64Left
U+21910x68Up
U+21930x6ADown
U+21960x66Home
U+21980x69End
U+21DE0x62Page up
U+21DF0x6BPage down
U+F8030x6DContext menu
❘⃝U+2758 U+20DD0x6EPower
U+23CF0x8CEject
英数U+82F1 U+65700x8DEisuJapanese
かなU+304B U+306A0x8EKanaJapanese
F1U+F860 F 10x6FF1
F2U+F860 F 20x70F2
F3U+F860 F 30x71F3
F4U+F860 F 40x72F4
F5U+F860 F 50x73F5
F6U+F860 F 60x74F6
F7U+F860 F 70x75F7
F8U+F860 F 80x76F8
F9U+F860 F 90x77F9
F10U+F861 F 1 00x78F10
F11U+F861 F 1 10x79F11
F12U+F861 F 1 20x7AF12
F13U+F861 F 1 30x87F13
F14U+F861 F 1 40x88F14
F15U+F861 F 1 50x89F15
F16U+F861 F 1 6F16
F17U+F861 F 1 7F17
F18U+F861 F 1 8F18
F19U+F861 F 1 9F19
F20U+F861 F 2 0F20
U+F8020x0F
U+27130x12
U+25C60x13
U+21E30x10
U+21E00x18
U+21E10x19
U+21E20x1A

Some entries are missing key names; these don't map to physical keys.

LTR indicates usage with left-to-right languages: that means text flows from left to right, such as in most Western languages. RTL indicates the opposite. Many keyboards have both Delete Left and Delete Right, regardless of text direction.

Control Alt Delete Mac Keyboard Windows 10

ISO indicates a symbol designated by an ISO standard. Cyberduck 6 4 1 – ftp and sftp browser free. ISO standard symbols aren't necessarily used by Mac.

Symbols composed of multiple Unicode characters are special in that they are treated as a single character on Mac, despite appearing as multiple symbols. For most of the characters, this grouping is controlled by the first character, which is a Unicode private use character that is invisible on Mac. The others use standard Unicode combining techniques. Lutify me download. Quote from ftp://ftp.unicode.org/Public/MAPPINGS/VENDORS/APPLE/KEYBOARD.TXT:

Option Button On Keyboard

The block of 32 characters 0xF860-0xF87F is for transcoding hints.These are used in combination with standard Unicode characters to forcethem to be treated in a special way for mapping to other encodings;they have no other effect. Mac d for danger.





Alt Mac Keyboard
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