Recently some minor RSI -like symptoms in my right hand have forced me to re-evaluate my day to day computer usage. Since the symptoms are exclusively in my right hand, I decided to start by restricting my mouse usage as much as possible.

To discourage my mouse using tendencies, I decided to only use the mouse left-handed. After a few minutes I found that my current repertoire of keyboard shortcuts did not meet my new mouse-free workflow.

To build my keyboard portfolio, I’ve been accumulating a list of shortcuts I find handy near my desk. I thought I’d post the list here in case others might find them useful. This list is not intended to be comprehensive; these are merely shortcuts that I have found helpful.

OS X

• Control + ← → Move one space to the left
• Control + → → Move one space to the right
• Control + ↑ → Enter mission control
• Control + ↓ → Leave mission control
• Command + Tab → Switch applications
• Command + ~ → Switch windows within an application
• Control + fn + F3 → Summon the dock (arrow keys are pretty intuitive from there)

Screenshots

• Command + Shift + 3 → Full page screenshot
• Command + Shift + 4 → Screenshot of section of screen
• Command + Shift + 4, then Space Bar → Screenshot of application window

Finder

• Command + O → Open (useful for directories)
• Command + Delete → Delete file
• Command + W → Close Finder window

Browsers

• Command + W → Close current tab
• Command + Shift + W → Close current window
• Command + 1 → Switch to tab 1, works for 2 through 9 as well
• Control + Tab → Switch to next tab
• Control + Shift + Tab → Switch to previous tab
• Command + Shift + T → Open previously closed tab
• Delete OR Command + [ → Back
• Command + ] → Forward
• Command + ↑ → Scroll to top of page
• Command + ↓ → Scroll to bottom of page
• Space Bar → Page down
• Command + Option + U → View Source (Chrome, Opera)
• Command + U → View Source (Firefox)
• Command + Option + I → Open Dev Tools

I also make use of a Chrome extension that allows me to reorder tabs using Control + Shift + Page Up and Control + Shift + Page Down.

Sublime Text 2

• Command + P → Fuzzy search of files in current project
  • Start with @ → Search symbols in current file
  • Start with # → Search current file
  • Start with : → Goto line number
• Command + Shift + V → Paste and indent
• Command + L → Select current line (can be repeated to select multiple lines)
• Command + D → Select word (repeat to select next occurrence for multiple editing)
• Command + Return → Insert new line after current line
• Command + Shift + Return → Insert new line before current line
• Command + / → Comment out current line or selection
• Command + Option + / → Block comment selection
• Control + Shift + K → Delete current line
• Command + K + K → Delete from cursor to end of the line
• Command + K + Delete → Delete from cursor to the start of the line
• Control + Command + ↑ → Move selected line(s) up
• Control + Command + ↓ → Move selected line(s) down

Layout

• Command + K + B → Toggle sidebar display
• Command + Option + 1 → One editor column
• Command + Option + 2 → Two editor columns
• Command + Option + 3 → Three editor columns
• Command + Option + 4 → Four editor columns
• Command + Option + 5 → Grid View (2 X 2)
• Control + [1, 2, 3, 4] → Focus group
• Control + Shift + [1, 2, 3, 4] → Move current file into group

Terminal

• Control + A → Move to beginning of line
• Control + E → Move to end of line
• Control + U → Clear text from cursor to the beginning of the line
• Control + K → Clear text from cursor to the end of the line
• open . → Open the current directory in a new Finder window

Twitter

• ? → List all available keyboard shortcuts
• . → Load new tweets

Gmail

• ? → List all available keyboard shortcuts
• C → Compose a new message

Applications

Being a Windows 7 user in a previous life, I miss its really nice set of keyboard shortcuts to manage windows.

To help fill the gap on OS X, I’ve been using a 3rd party application, Divvy. It allows you to assign custom keyboard shortcuts to resize and align windows. I use Control + Command + Space Bar to activate Divvy. From there I have the following keys to resize windows predefined:

• D → Dominant, left 5/6 of the screen
• S → Sidebar, right 1/6 of the screen
• T → Top half of screen
• B → Bottom half of screen
• L → Left half of screen
• R → Right half of screen