MacOS Shortcuts for Missing Windows Keys

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If you are looking for a keyboard shortcut on Mac that’s equivalent to the PageUp, PageDown, Home, End, Insert, Delete, or Print Screen key on a Windows or Mac’s full-sized keyboard, read on. This article will list all the alternative keyboard shortcuts you can use on smaller Macbooks.

I recently bought a MacBook after being a Windows user for the past 15 years. Before this, I had zero experience using a Mac and quite frankly, I found it quite troublesome at first. Almost everything was different, especially the keyboard shortcuts.

A quick online search informed me that the command key on Mac is equivalent to the Control key on Windows and the option key replaces the alt key. That removed about 50% of the confusion, because Macbooks, in addition to the command key also have their own control key, which doesn’t have any equivalent on a Windows machine.

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Anyway, what frustrated me most were the missing keys on Mac, which are crucial on Windows; keys such as PrintScreen, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, delete, insert. I was quite frustrated because I relied on these keys (and their shortcuts) for navigating and working on the Windows machine.

So, missing keys meant that all the shortcuts tied to them were gone and I had to find equivalent shortcuts on Mac. That’s what spawned the idea for this blog post.

This blog post covers all the keyboard shortcuts tied to these Windows keys and their equivalents on a Mac. It is also helpful if you have come from a full-sized Mac keyboard (found on larger Macbooks) to a regular ten-keyless keyboard.

Table of Contents Hide

Windows shortcuts alternative for Mac

Shortcuts with the Home key

  1. Move the Cursor to the Beginning of the Line
    • Windows shortcut: Home
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Left Arrow
  2. Select Text from the Cursor to the Beginning of the Line
    • Windows shortcut: Shift + Home
    • MacOS shortcut: Shift + Command (⌘) + Left Arrow
  3. Navigate to the Beginning of the Document/Page
    • Windows shortcut: Ctrl + Home
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Up Arrow
  4. Select Text from Cursor to Beginning of Document/Page
    • Windows shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + Home
    • MacOS shortcut: Shift + Command (⌘) + Up Arrow

Shortcuts with the End key

  1. Move the Cursor to the End of the Line
    • Windows shortcut: End
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Right Arrow
  2. Select Text from Cursor to End of Line
    • Windows shortcut: Shift + End
    • MacOS shortcut: Shift + Command (⌘) + Right Arrow
  3. Navigate to the End of the Document/Page
    • Windows shortcut: Ctrl + End
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Down Arrow
  4. Select Text from Cursor to End of Document/Page
    • Windows shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + End
    • MacOS shortcut: Shift + Command (⌘) + Down Arrow

Shortcuts with the PageUP and PageDown

  1. Scroll Up One Page
    • Windows shortcut: Page Up
    • MacOS shortcut: Fn + Up Arrow
  2. Scroll Up One Page and Select Text
    • Windows shortcut: Shift + Page Up
    • MacOS shortcut: Shift + Fn + Up Arrow
  3. Scroll Down One Page
    • Windows shortcut: Page Down
    • MacOS shortcut: Fn + Down Arrow
  4. Scroll Down One Page and Select Text
    • Windows shortcut: Shift + Page Down
    • MacOS shortcut: Shift + Fn + Down Arrow

Printscreen shortcuts

  1. Capture Entire Screen
    • Windows shortcut: PrtScn or Fn + PrtScn (on some keyboards)
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 3
  2. Capture Selected Area of Screen
    • Windows shortcut: Alt + PrtScn
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 4, then select the area to capture
  3. Capture Active Window
    • Windows shortcut: Alt + PrtScn
    • MacOS shortcut: Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 4, then press Space and click on the window to capture
  4. Save Screenshot to Clipboard
    • Windows shortcut: PrtScn
    • MacOS shortcut: Control (^) + Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + 3 (captures entire screen to clipboard)

Shortcuts with the Delete key

The delete key on a Mac works differently compared to the delete key on Windows. On a Mac, the delete key erases characters and words to the left of the cursor, whereas the delete key on Windows removes characters on its right. The delete key on a Mac is similar to the backspace key on Windows.

This leads to the question: how can you delete characters located to the right of the cursor on a Mac?

  • Windows shortcut: Delete
  • MacOS shortcut: Fn + Delete

How to delete a word to the Right of the Cursor

  • Windows shortcut: Ctrl + Delete
  • MacOS shortcut: Option (⌥) + Fn + Delete

Insert key

There is no direct equivalent on MacOS to the window’s Insert key as MacOS does not have a concept of insert mode.

Wrap up

So, there you have it — a lowdown on the Mac shortcuts for the keys found on the Windows and the full-sized Mac keyboards.

If you found it helpful, please consider sharing this article with your friends and family.

Thanks for reading.

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