This article is about how to sleep, shutdown, restart your Mac using keyboard shortcuts? A complete guide on Mac keyboard shortcuts that help you save clicks and time. You may use keyboard shortcuts to put your Mac to sleep, shut it off, or restart it. These shortcuts are compatible with all versions of macOS.
Enable Keyboard Shortcuts to Shut Down, Restart, or Put Your Mac to Sleep to save a click.
Keyboard shortcuts are helpful in a variety of circumstances. For example, though powering off or restarting a computer requires many clicks, you may speed up the process by utilizing keyboard shortcuts. Who would have guessed?
Surprisingly, keyboard shortcuts are accessible if you wish to shut down, sleep, or restart your Mac. Though they are not immediately visible, if you get the hang of them, you will be an expert at powering down or putting your Mac to sleep anytime you need to, all without having to move your mouse.
We’ll divide this guide into sections so you can learn what you’re searching for. There is also a shortcut for turning off the display if you need it for any reason.
Using a Keyboard Shortcut, Shut Down Your Mac
How to sleep, shutdown, restart your Mac using keyboard shortcuts? Here are some of these shortcuts may need you to press and hold them for a little more extended time than others. However, it allows you to avoid utilizing them inadvertently. Also read article on how to Boot a MAC in Safe Mode.
To shut down your Mac, press the key combination shown below exactly as shown:
Eject / Power + Command + Option + Control
Sleep Shortcut on the Keyboard
Press Command + Option + Eject / Power to put your Mac to sleep.
How to Restart Macbook with Keyboard
Finally, you may restart your Mac at any time by pressing the following key combination:
Eject / Power + Control + Command
Hold the power button it will turn on your Mac or wake it up from sleep. To set your Mac to sleep, press and hold for a few seconds, 1.5 seconds. * Continue to hold to force your Mac to shut down.
Control–Shift–Power button or Control–Shift–Media Eject: Use to Put your displays to sleep.
Control–Power button or Control–Media Eject: A dialogue will display asking if you wish to restart, sleep, or shut down.
Control–Command–Power button Restart your Mac without prompting you to save any open or unsaved documents.
Control–Command–Media Eject Quit all programs and restart your Mac. If any open documents contain unsaved changes, you will be prompted to save them.
Control–Option–Command–Power button or Control–Option–Command–Media Eject: Quit all programs, then shut down your Mac. If any open documents contain unsaved changes, you will be prompted to save them.
Control-Command-Q Lock your screen immediately.
Log out of your macOS user account by pressing Shift-Command-Q. You will be asked to confirm your selection—Press Option-Shift-Command-Q to log out without confirming.
As I have stated, these keyboard shortcuts are not immediately evident. It takes time for them to learn. Therefore, please print them and tape them to a wall until they are hardwired into memory.
System and Finder shortcuts
After sleep, shutdown, restart your Mac using keyboard shortcuts, here are some more useful system and finder shortcuts used in Mac book.
- Command-D: Duplicate the files you’ve chosen.
- Command-E: Eject the chosen disc or volume.
- Command-F: In the Finder window, launch a Spotlight search.
- Command-I: View the Get Info box for the currently chosen file.
- Command-R:
- (1) In the Finder, when an alias is selected, display the original file for the selected alias.
- (2) Refresh or reload the page in certain apps, such as Calendar or Safari.
- (3) Recheck for software updates in the Software Update settings.
- Shift-Command-Delete: To Empty the Trash.
- Shift-Command-C: To open the Computer window.
- Shift-Command-D: To Open the desktop folder.
- Shift-Command-F: To Open the Recents window, showing all the files you viewed or changed recently.
- Shift-Command-G: To Open a Go to Folder window.
- Shift-Command-H: To Open the Home folder of the current macOS user account.
- Shift-Command-I: To Open iCloud Drive.
- Shift-Command-K: To Open the Network window.
- Option-Command-L: To Open the Downloads folder.
- Shift-Command-N: To Create a new folder.
- Shift-Command-O: To Open the Documents folder.
- Shift-Command-P: To Show or hide the Preview pane in Finder windows.
- Shift-Command-R: To Open the AirDrop window.
- Shift-Command-T: To Show or hide the tab bar in Finder windows.
- Shift-Command-U: To Open the Utility folder.
- Option-Command-D: To Show or hide the Dock.
- Option–Mission Control: To Open Mission Control preferences.
- Command–Mission Control: To Show the desktop.
- Control–Down Arrow: To Show all windows of the front app.
- ption-Command-P: To Hide or show the path bar in Finder windows.
- Option-Command-S: To Hide or show the Sidebar in Finder windows.
- Command–Slash (/): To Hide or show the status bar in Finder windows.
- Command-J: To Show View Options.
- Command-K: To Open the Connect to Server window.
- Control-Command-A: To Make an alias of the selected item.
- Command-N: To Open a new Finder window.
- Option-Command-N: To Create a new Smart Folder.
- Command-Y: To Use Quick Look to preview the selected files.
- Option-Command-Y: To View a Quick Look slideshow of the selected files.
- Command-1: To View the items in the Finder window as icons.
- Command-2: To View the items in a Finder window as a list.
- Command-3: To View the items in a Finder window in columns.
- Command-4: To View the items in a Finder window in a gallery.
- Command–Left Bracket ([): To Go to the previous folder.
- Command–Right Bracket (]): To Go to the next folder.
- Command–Up Arrow: To Open the folder that contains the current folder.
- Command–Down Arrow: To Open the selected item.
- Right Arrow: To Open the selected folder. It works only when in list view.
- Left Arrow: To Close the selected folder. It works only when in list view.
- Command-Delete: To Move the selected item to the Trash.
- Option-Shift-Command-Delete: To Empty the Trash without confirmation dialog.
- Control-Command-T: To Add the selected item to the sidebar (OS X Mavericks or later).
- Control-Shift-Command-T: To Add selected Finder item to the Dock (OS X Mavericks or later)
- Command–Control–Up Arrow: To Open the folder that contains the current folder in a new window.
- Command–Brightness Down: To Turn video mirroring on or off when your Mac is connected to more than one display.
- Option–Brightness Up: To Open Displays preferences. It works with either Brightness key.
- Command-T: To Show or hide the tab bar when a single tab is open in the current Finder window.
- Option-Command-T: To Show or hide the toolbar when a single tab is open in the current Finder window.
- Option-Command-V: To Move the files in the Clipboard from their original location to the current location.
- Option–Volume Up: To Open Sound preferences. It works with any of the volume keys.
- Option–Shift–Volume Up or Option–Shift–Volume Down: To Adjust the sound volume in smaller steps.
- Option–Keyboard Brightness Up: To Open Keyboard preferences. It works with either Keyboard Brightness key.
- Option key while double-clicking: To explore the item in a separate window, then close the original window.
- Command-click a window title: To See the folders that contain the current folder.
- Control–Brightness Up or Control–Brightness Down: To Change the brightness of your external display if supported by your display.
- Option–Shift–Keyboard Brightness Up or Option–Shift–Keyboard Brightness Down: To Adjust the keyboard brightness in smaller steps.
Option–Shift–Brightness Up or Option–Shift–Brightness Down: To adjust the brightness of the display in smaller stages. If your monitor supports it, add the Control key to this shortcut to adjust your external display.
The most helpful shortcut for me is turning off the display. Use it to keep things running in the background without disclosing your work or putting your Mac to sleep. It is beneficial when you don’t want to put your Mac to sleep while downloading anything. Simply turning off the display solves the problem. So this is our article on how to sleep, shutdown, restart your Mac using keyboard shortcuts. Hope this article will helps you in saving time. Also read our article on how to Fix Safari Can’t Establish Secure Connection Mac.
