Mac and Windows shortcuts compared

Command replaces Control for almost everything. The genuinely different ones are screenshots, forward delete, Home and End, and the fact that Mac has no Ctrl+Alt+Delete — it has Force Quit instead.

1. 1

   Start with the modifier swap

   Windows	Mac
   Ctrl	⌘ Command
   Alt	⌥ Option
   Windows key	⌘ Command
   Ctrl (rarely)	⌃ Control

   Mac keeps a separate Control key, but it's used far less. When something asks for Control on a Mac it usually means it literally — don't substitute Command.

2. 2

   The everyday ones that carry over

   Action	Windows	Mac
   Copy	Ctrl C	⌘ C
   Paste	Ctrl V	⌘ V
   Cut	Ctrl X	⌘ X
   Undo	Ctrl Z	⌘ Z
   Redo	Ctrl Y	⌘ ⇧ Z
   Save	Ctrl S	⌘ S
   Find	Ctrl F	⌘ F
   Select all	Ctrl A	⌘ A
   New tab	Ctrl T	⌘ T
   Close window	Alt F4	⌘ W
   Switch apps	Alt Tab	⌘ Tab

3. 3

   Screenshots

   Mac has no Print Screen key, but it has better built-in options.

   What you want	Mac
   Whole screen	⌘ ⇧ 3
   Selected area	⌘ ⇧ 4
   A specific window	⌘ ⇧ 4 then Space
   Screenshot toolbar and recording	⌘ ⇧ 5

   Add Control to any of these to copy to the clipboard instead of saving a file — ⌘ ⌃ ⇧ 4, for example.

4. 4

   Delete, Home and End

   These trip people up daily because the physical keys aren't there.

   Action	Mac
   Forward delete	Fn + Delete
   Start of line	⌘ ←
   End of line	⌘ →
   Start of document	⌘ ↑
   End of document	⌘ ↓
   Delete whole word back	⌥ Delete

   On a full-size Mac keyboard with a number pad, Home and End keys do exist and work as expected.

5. 5

   Right-click and Force Quit

   Right-click: two fingers on the trackpad, or hold Control and click. If two-finger click isn't working, enable Secondary click in System Settings → Trackpad.

   Ctrl+Alt+Delete has no direct equivalent. The nearest thing is ⌘ ⌥ Esc, which opens Force Quit and lets you kill a frozen app.

   To force a restart when the whole machine is locked up, hold the power button until it shuts off. That's the last resort, same as on Windows.

6. 6

   Swap the keys if you keep reaching wrong

   If you use a Windows keyboard on a Mac, the Alt and Windows keys sit in swapped positions relative to Option and Command, which makes every shortcut land wrong.

   Fix it in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Modifier Keys. Pick the keyboard from the dropdown and remap Option and Command to match the physical layout.

   This is per-keyboard, so your laptop keys stay as they were.