For most Mac users who connect a PC keyboard to their Mac, this will dramatically improve their typing experience when using a PC keyboard. Using a Windows PC Keyboard on Mac with Remapped Windows & ALT Keys. This trick works the same with all Windows and PC keyboard with the standard CTRL / Windows / ALT key layout, and all versions of Mac OS. If you're using Excel for the web on a Mac computer, press Control+Option to start. To get to the ribbon, press Alt+Windows logo key, or press Ctrl+F6 until you reach the Home tab. To move between tabs on the ribbon, press the Tab key. To hide the ribbon so you have more room to work, press Ctrl+F1. Repeat to display the ribbon again.

Alt key on Mac is indeed exist. And it’s called Option key.

Windows vs Mac—there are so many differences. A lot of our customers have used a PC before and then decide they want to switch to Mac for better performance, nicer design, or for better security. However, they were afraid they would have a hard time getting used to the macOS keyboard. We hear questions like, “How can I close a Window? The Mac keyboard doesn’t have the Alt + F4 shortcut.” We always give them two answers:

1. With Parallels Desktop for Mac you have the choice to use the same keyboard shortcuts you had on your PC.

2. If you want to use the Mac keyboard you will experience that the alt key is very different, as we explain in this blog post.

Where is the Alt key on a Mac keyboard?

The PC-keyboard equivalent of Alt on a Mac is called the Option key, and you’ll find the Option Key on your Mac if you go two keys to the left of the spacebar. However, the option key on a Mac keyboard is used in a different way than the alt key on a Windows PC. In terms of functionality, the alt key in Windows is often more comparable with the Command key than with the Option key on a Mac. You might be also familiar with the Ctrl and Alt keys from your PC. On your Mac keyboard, you have Command (⌘ cmd), Control (ctrl), and Option (⌥ alt) keys.

How do Windows shortcuts change on a Mac?

Check out some equivalents of popular Windows alt shortcuts on a Mac, which might be especially helpful for those users who are new to Mac:

When running Windows on a Mac with Parallels Desktop, is it possible to use Windows shortcuts on a Mac?

If you run Windows on your Mac with Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can configure your keyboard shortcuts the way you want to work, with either macOS or Windows shortcuts. Click here for more information on how to set the different shortcuts.

You can find even more useful Mac shortcuts in the infographic here.

Missing your Start Menu and familiar Windows look and feel? You can use Parallels Desktop and have Windows 10 along with your favorite Windows apps on your new Mac.

Contents

1. Keyboard Shortcuts

Introduction

Standard keyboard shortcuts for the GNOME 3 OS and applications.

Designers

JakubSteiner

Objectives

Separate system level shortcuts and application level shortcuts. Right now we 'steal' some key modifier keys from applications.

Constraints

Relevant Art

Discussion

- find a possible work around for non-existent keys like PrnScr, !Meta/!Super.

Tentative Design

System

The primary system modifier key should be <Super> (Super/Windows/Command key).

Applications

Comments

• I was looking for it! I think Mac OS X shortcuts are a lot better than Windows shortcuts. What about Super+Z for undo and Super+Shift+Z for redo? Super+T for open a new tab and Super+Shift+T for reopen the last closed tab? Super+C for copy and Super+V for paste? I think it's very annoying to have to memorize Ctrl+Shift+C for copy and Ctrl+Shift+V for paste while using Terminal. And what about remove the Alt+F1 shortcut or replace it with Super+F1 (and do the same with Alt+F2/Super+F2)? --TaeSandoval

  • Instead of moving to Super+F2 we could use Super+R (R like run and it's nice for windows switchers) --RobertPrömper

• If we want to establish Super as system modifier, is it really a good idea to use it in default application shortcuts? --FlorianMuellner

  • Default application shortcuts would be very useful imho, something like Super+T for Terminal, Super+F for Files and Super+B for the default browser would be free for example. --RobertPrömper

    • By 'default application shortcuts' I mean 'default shortcuts used by applications' like the proposed Super+W to close a tab/window. Any global shortcut to launch an application is a system shortcut, so super would indeed be an appropriate modifier ... --FlorianMuellner

• It should be possible to move a application to the next Display in a Multi-Monitor-Setup --Wutzara

  • Done in 3.12, see bug 671054 --FlorianMuellner

• After the closure of bug 681528, having default shortcuts for some accessibility features became more relevant. Quoting comment 26 'Toggling frequently can be done with hotkeys or gestures in both cases'. I have just added some links on the 'See also' section, about accessibility related links on other OSs and distros. See also bug 632363 for more information.

• I think OSX got it right here. Using Super/cmd/GNOME key for system level and app level is the best. It also has the effect of freeing Control for exclusive use on the terminal and additional complex functionality. My scenario today was using gnome-terminal: I couldn't copy the selection without some finger yoga, when my thumbs are already on 'Super/cmd' because of Super+tab, Super as overview trigger, etc... --DiegoEscalanteUrrelo

  • Another thing: we would need to convince some apps like Firefox to sync with us so instead of having alt+# to switch tabs it would be Super+# (although I believe they are using alt to mimic GNOME already?) --DiegoEscalanteUrrelo

• Changing the most used shortcuts to something else than Ctrl+[key] would be the best decision! We've got the problem with the shell (mostly copy&paste) and the Ctrl key is not really well positioned for such a frequent usage. But instead of switching to Super, which isn't well positioned on most keyboards either, Alt would be a very good candidate for that job. BeOS (now HaikuOS) would be an example for this. --JochenBreuer

See Also

Ctrl Tab Macro

• GNOME HIG Standard Shortcut Keys

• Windows

  • http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/keyboard-shortcuts

  • Windows 8 Shortcuts and more Windows 8 Shortcuts

  • Windows 8 Gestures

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_of_keyboard_shortcuts

• Accessibility related keyshortcuts:

  • Sonar, custom accessibility-oriented Linux distro

  • MacOS

    • Probably a good starting set of accessibility shortcuts for GNOME would be the equivalents for screen reader activation and Table A-1 on this link

  • Windows (also mentioned on previous links

    • Note that I didn't find a global shortcut for screen reader activation (Narrator or JAWS)