2.6 Keyboard Shortcuts for the True Power User

     Virtually all OS X applications have their own keyboard shortcuts — a tencent term for a key combination that performs the same operation as a menu command or a toolbar button. Although the mouse or trackpad might seem the easier path when controlling your Mac, it’s not always the fastest. Those hardy souls who venture to learn common keyboard shortcuts can zip through a spreadsheet or warp through a complex outline at speeds that no mere rodent-wrangler could ever hope to attain.
     With that in mind — and with the goal of “pumping you up” into a power user — I hereby present the most common keyboard shortcuts for the Big X in Table 2-1. I’ve also sprinkled other keyboard shortcuts liberally through the book when I discuss other applications, but these combinations are the classics that appear virtually everywhere.

     By the way, I should mention that many keyboard combinations use three keys instead of just two (and a few even use four). When these shortcuts appear in a menu, they look something akin to Egyptian hieroglyphics, but you need hold down only the first two keys simultaneously and press the third key. Common “strange” key symbols that you’ll see in both Finder and most applications are shown in Table 2-2.