Finder and system shortcuts

The Finder is the macOS file manager, and almost everything it does has a keyboard shortcut: jumping straight to a folder, switching between icon, list, column and gallery views, ejecting a disk, showing the sidebar or path bar, emptying the Trash.

This section also collects the system-wide keys — display and keyboard brightness, volume, Mission Control — and the modifier tricks that quietly change what a click or a drag does, such as holding Option while dragging a file to copy it instead of moving it.