Who doesn’t love keyboard shortcuts? Assuming you can remember them, these handy little shortcuts let you do all sorts of things without lifting your fingers from the keyboard. We’ve assembled a list of keyboard shortcuts that you can use for the Messages app on your Mac. So, bookmark this page and get ready to maneuver your messages like a pro.
The Messages window
You can perform the following keyboard shortcuts with the Messages window open and active:
- Minimize the window: Command + M
- Hide the window: Command + H
- Hide all other windows: Option + Command + H
- Close the window: Command + W
- Open the window: Command + 0 (zero)
- Put the window in full-screen: Control + Command + F
- Open Messages Preferences: Command + , (comma)
- Search Messages: Command + F
- Open Emojis: Control + Command + Space
- Open Spelling and Grammar: Shift + Command + : (colon)
- Quit Messages: Command + Q
Conversation shortcuts
For navigating and taking action on your conversations, check out these shortcuts:
- Start a new conversation: Command + N
- Clear a conversation: Option + Command + K
- Delete a conversation: Delete
- Close all conversations: Option + Shift + Command + W
- Print a conversation: Command + P
- Select the next conversation: Control + Tab
- Select the previous conversation: Control + Shift + Tab
Text message shortcuts
These next shortcuts are handy for manipulating the text in your messages:
- Increase text size: Command + Plus Sign (+)
- Decrease text size: Command + Hyphen (-)
- Insert a break: Option + Return
- Copy text: Command + C
- Paste text: Command + V
- Use Spelling and Grammar check: Command + ; (semicolon)
- Send an email to the contact: Option + Command + E
As you’ve probably noticed, some of these keyboard shortcuts are used with other Mac apps, like those for copying and pasting text. But note that many others differ, so just be sure before using one that it will do what you expect.
Which keyboard shortcuts do you find that you use most often?
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