[golfer]

Ok, call me a dumbar%$# but being a relatively new mac user, as opposed to using the mouse to click on the command, I cannot figure out what the keystrokes are to force quit a program from the apple menu. I understand the command key, but don't know what the first or last keys are.

[Ken Gracey]

You have two options #1 apple menu, 7th selection down is Force Quit.

Option #2 . Hold down the Command Key and option key (next to it) and Press Esc ( top left hand corner) then select which program from the pop up menu that is causing you grief.

[golfer]

You have two options #1 apple menu, 7th selection down is Force Quit.

Option #2 . Hold down the Command Key and option key (next to it) and Press Esc ( top left hand corner) then select which program from the pop up menu that is causing you grief.

Thanks, I've been using your first option, but could not work out the keystrokes beside the option, such as the "staircase" before the command key, so I'm assuming that sign means "option/alt" and the arrow out of the circle is escape?

[Ken Gracey]

Yep thats it, i know what you mean by the they are a bit confusing, and you are 50% right Option Option Option, repeat that over and over, cause there is no ALT key on a Mac...

[kim jong il]

gramsey; you want to know what the keyboard shortcut symbols mean? In "Finder" click on the "Help" menu and type in "symbols for special keys". This will give you the graphical representation of the keys used in keyboard shortcuts.

[Sean McNamara]

Ok, call me a dumbar%$# but being a relatively new mac user, as opposed to using the mouse to click on the command, I cannot figure out what the keystrokes are to force quit a program from the apple menu. I understand the command key, but don't know what the first or last keys are.

You can also hold down the Option key while holding down the mouse button over the Dock icon of the program you want to force quit. The popup menu will show a "Force Quit" option at the bottom, then.

Sean

[Ken Gracey]

Hey now that is a cool tip, Sean.. where did you find that hidden gem ?

[golfer]

Thanks everyone, all tips very helpful.

[coins]

apple key + the following

apple Q to quit an application

apple W to close a window

apple F to view fullscreen

apple D to bookmark a webpage


apple / shift 4 (hold all 3 keys down) then drag the mouse over an area to take a screen shot!

apple Z to undo your last keystrokes

[Sean McNamara]

Hey now that is a cool tip, Sean.. where did you find that hidden gem ?

Oh, boy, now there's a question - it might have been Mac OS X Hints, my all-time favourite hints site, or it might have been MacFixit my favourite troubleshooting site before these forums came along or it might have been from random key holding down experiments performed over the years in Mac OS X

Oh, and if you press the Space bar after doing Shift-Command-4, you get a camera icon instead of the cross-hairs, and you can click on a window (or a screen element like the Dock, a popped up menu, a desktop icon) to take a picture of just that item. Repeatedly pressing the space bar will toggle between the camera and the cross-hairs, and pressing Esc will, obviously, Escape out of the screenshot mode without taking the screenshot.

Shift-Command-3 takes the whole screen.

Holding down the Control key while doing Shift-Command-3 or Shift-Command-4 will put the screenshot in the clipboard.

I did a Help Folder "extra" a while back which went through all the screenshot commands - I'll try and drag it out and create a sticky note here somewhere.

Sean

[Ken Gracey]

Now that would be handy even for us more seasoned guys around here, there are some really handy short cuts that you tend to forget over time.

Thats my excuse for getting old and forgetful, thats my excuse and i wont change it for anybody

[Sean McNamara]

Something else I forgot in my previous post (you're not the only "seasoned" one one around here, TLCAUS) is that the Activity Monitor in Utilities in Applications can also Force Quite programs - open it up, click on the program in the list, then click the Quit Process button in the toolbar or choose it from the View menu (strange place for such a command, but there you go).

You'll then get options about what sort of quit you want to do (either a standard Quit or a Force Quit).

Of course, if it's the Finder you want to Force Quit (or Relaunch, as you always have to have the Finder open), and you don't have Activity Viewer already open, you might not be able to open it to use this method and you may have to rely on the others.

Sean