You love Mac keyboard shortcuts, right? Can remember what they are? I have a similar problem, but I’ve learned the most efficient way to use a Mac is to stop using the mouse or trackpad.

Keyboard shortcuts are what power users use to become more efficient when using a Mac. Almost every Mac app has a list of keyboard shortcuts which can save time and effort. What’s the problem with using keyboard shortcuts? Remembering where they are. You need a cheat sheet. Here it is and it’s free.

The Real Problem

The real problem isn’t that there are so many different keyboard shortcuts. The real problem is remembering the keyboard shortcuts. Click on the Menubar menu selections of nearly any Mac app and you’ll see a number of keyboard shortcuts, starting with the File, Edit, and View menus, but often with other menus specific to that app.

If you’re at all like me then you remember only a handful of keyboard shortcuts and most of those are the basics we’ve used for years. There’s Command-Tab to get to the app switcher. There’s Command-C to copy, Command-X to cut, Command-V to insert, Command-P to print, and Command-Q to quit an app.

Each Mac app may have a dozen or more keyboard shortcuts. That’s why you need CheatSheet. It’s a free way to find and use keyboard shortcuts on your Mac.

Take a look.

All it takes to get a list of an application’s keyboard shortcuts is to hold down the Command key for an extra second or so. What you get is a popup list of the frontmost app’s keyboard shortcuts.

That makes CheatSheet a good learning tool, a handy keyboard shortcut guide, and a quicker way to get an app to do what you know it can do but can’t easily find the menu selection. The latest version runs on macOS Sierra, too.

Did I mention that CheatSheet is free? The app is actually fun to use and you profit by becoming faster and more efficient when using the keyboard instead of the mouse or trackpad.

The Complexity Effect

CheatSheet is one of those rare Mac apps whose value cannot be overlooked. We mere mortals have difficulty remembering all the options, features, and functions that our Mac are capable of providing, but with a few reminders here and there we can master some– not necessarily all– of that complexity.

Windows users have the luxury of having nearly every menu option with a corresponding keyboard shortcut, all nicely visible within the pull down menus. But that visibility doesn’t make them easy to remember, and using them requires more keyboard or mouse use to see what you need to use knowing that the same keyboard shortcut in one app might have a completely different function in another app.

How is a voice controlled, Siri-like personality that can take dictation and commands going to make that process easier? I have trouble envisioning an office, meeting, school classroom, or even a cubicle farm where all Mac workers speak to their Macs to get things done.