I recently got ahold of a nice MacBook Pro and I’m using it as my primary Windows box at work. It’s nice and snappy and I like it, but I’m having trouble getting used to the keyboard, let alone the one-button mousepad. I thought I’d use this post to collapse several google searches into one location. I’ll likely add to this list as I learn more tricks.
| Windows Shortcut | MacBook Pro Equivalent | Function+Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alt+PrintScreen | fn+F11 | copy screen capture of entire desktop to clipboard |
| Ctrl+PrintScreen | fn+option+F11 | copy screen capture of current window to clipboard |
| Insert | fn+bottom enter key (next to arrows) | overstrike mode |
| Shift+Insert | ctrl+v | paste clipboard |
| Shift+Delete | ctrl+x | cut selected |
| Backspace | Delete | delete character to left of caret |
| Delete | fn+Delete | not backspace, but delete character to right of caret |
| Home | fn+left arrow | put caret at beginning of line |
| End | fn+right arrow | put caret at end of line |
| PgUp | fn+up arrow | page up |
| PgDn | fn+down arrow | page down |
| Ctrl+PgUp | no equivalent | Go to top of document |
| Ctrl+PgDn | no equivalent | Go to bottom of document |
| Function keys | fn+Function key | Various things. You can switch this behavior in Control Panel > Boot Camp if you want, I recommend this |
| Right-click Mouse | put two fingers on mousepad and press button | Bring Up Context Menu |
And finally, some flamebait questions:
- Why in God’s name are there duplicate enter and Apple keys?!?
- Does anyone REALLY think the MacBook right-click equivalent is simpler than putting two #@!$ buttons on the pad?!? That button is huge-ass!
Tags: Windows
I xmodmap’d my layout to have two backspace keys, one for left hand and 1 for right hand, so I don’t have to drop the mouse to backspace.
About Apple keys, don’t Windows keyboards have two Windows keys too? (my left windows key is the aforementioned backspace)
2007-12-01 @ 5:16 AM
Two finger right click rocks. Better than any windows solution.
2007-12-21 @ 11:19 PM
ctrl+pgdn(windows) = fn+ctrl+pgdn (apple)
2008-06-03 @ 2:35 PM
@Mya: Actually I’ve noticed that this seems to be a per-application thing. For instance, Excel lets me use Alt+Ctrl+PgUp/Dn as you suggest. However, TextPad requires me to use Alt+PgUp and Alt+PgDn to go to top and bottom of the document. However, Outlook or Word does not support either shortcut
2008-06-03 @ 3:06 PM