I'm more than happy to have to enter my long, master password to unlock it. I take security seriously and so when I'm out and about with my laptop, I want 1Password to automatically lock itself after being idle, etc. I trigger 1Password with ^⇧⏎ and am very happy with how this macro turned out. For some reason the app didn't follow the standard new window behavior, so I had to script around it. Open iTerm ⇧⌘: This one is slightly interesting as I needed a way to either bring iTerm to the front or open a new window if one didn't exist.And if no windows are open, it will make a new one. If it is running, it will bring its windows to the front. This hotkey will launch Brave if it's not already open.

Web browser ⇧⌘⏎: Like most people, I'm constantly opening my web browser.Nearly all of them are built, again, using KeyboardMaestro. They quickly bring up the apps I use most often. (For the curious: I chose '5' as the trigger key because the '5' key is phsyically in the middle of the keyboard between the 1-3 and 7-0 keys I use with my other window shortcuts.) I often use it when I want to bring my focus to a specific task. I call this my 'default window position'. It sizes the window to be as tall as possible and 50% of the screen width, and then centers it on screen. Default position ^⌥5: This is a hotkey controlled by KeyboardMaestro - not Magnet.Undo ^⌥⌫: If you use Magnet to position a window using one of the above commands, this hotkey will restore the window to its previous size and position.Center on screen ^⌥C: This takes the active window and centers it horizontally and vertically on the screen without adjusting its size.It just makes the window as large as it can be. It makes the window fill the entire screen, but, crucially, does not activate macOS' fullscreen mode for that app. Full screen ^⌥⏎: This does exactly what you'd expect.Miscellaneous window positioning commandsĪnd here are the remaining miscellaneous commands I use for a few special window positions. But if you want to quickly send a window to the next or previous screen, you can do that, too. Magnet works great in that the window position commands apply to the screen that the window is currently on. Here's how I see my screen in the thirds layout:Īnd I use these shortcuts to position my windows.Īnd similarly, I also visualize my screen like this: In my head I divide my screen into top / bottom and left / right halves, which I position windows with using. Each one is prefixed with the ^⌥ modifier keys and then a trigger key that sort of mnemonically maps in my head to what the window position should be. (Along with a few miscellaneous commands that I'll describe.)Īt first glance many of my window position shortcuts might seem arbitrary, but they make sense to me. The system I use divides my screen into three arrangements: halves, thirds, and quadrants. Magnet allows for a fair amount of positioning options without going deep into the weeds.

Here are the keyboard shortcuts I've setup in it. But at some point I switched to another app that I no longer remember before finally settling on Magnet in 2012. Years and years ago I used and was a huge fan of MercuryMover. (Which is great for some people!) As you'll see below, while I generally want my windows arranged in an orderly fashion, sometimes I do need to break away from my grid-based system and arrange them freeform like a sane, normal person. But they were all a little too fiddly and unforgiving for my taste.

I've played around with automatic window layout managers on Linux - and even a few that have been ported in spirit to macOS. And constantly having to reposition new widows by delicately dragging their edges and titlebars into place drives me mad. Everything you do on a Mac takes place inside a window. And here are the shortcuts I couldn't do without. And so the majority of the keyboard shortcuts I use are about launching things on my Mac that would otherwise take too many mouse clicks or key presses. For me, much like traveling in real life, getting to my destination as fast as possible is usually the goal. I don't just open an app or visit a website. In my head I think of apps, websites, and folders on my Mac as 'places'. It was all of the custom, global keyboard shortcuts I use to automate repetitive tasks on my Mac in the hope that what I'm telling my Mac to do with my hands might just barely be fast enough to keep up with what my brain wants it to do. And it wasn't about me having all the standard macOS shortcuts wired-in as muscle memory or even obscure hotkeys specific to a given app. The other day a coworker was making fun of me (in a good natured way) after we spent some time coding together and they realized just how many keyboard shortcuts I use.

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