What is Ctrl on a Mac?

Command, not Control. Almost every Windows shortcut that uses Ctrl uses Command on a Mac: Ctrl+C becomes Command+C, Ctrl+Z becomes Command+Z. Macs do have a Control key, but it is used for different things, which is why pressing it out of habit appears to do nothing.

Is there an Alt+Tab on a Mac?

Not exactly. Command+Tab switches between apps rather than windows, and Command+backtick cycles the windows of the app you are already in. There is no built-in single shortcut that steps through every open window the way Alt+Tab does.

How do I rename a file on a Mac without F2?

Select the file in Finder and press Return. On Windows Return opens a file; on a Mac it renames it, and Command+Down opens it instead. This pair catches out most people in their first week.

Where is the Delete key on a Mac?

The key marked Delete on a Mac keyboard is Backspace: it deletes to the left. For forward delete, the Windows Delete behaviour, press Fn+Delete. On a full-size Apple keyboard there is a separate key marked with a crossed-out arrow pointing right.

29 September 2026 · 8 minute read

Windows keyboard shortcuts on a Mac: the full table

Switching from Windows costs you about a week, and almost none of it is spent learning the Mac. It is spent on your own fingers doing things that no longer work. Here is the whole translation in one place, so you can stop searching for them one at a time.

The single rule that covers most of it: Ctrl becomes Command. Nearly every Windows shortcut using Ctrl uses ⌘ on a Mac. Macs do have a Control key, but it does different things — which is exactly why pressing it out of habit seems to do nothing at all.

Editing — these just work, with ⌘ instead of Ctrl

Windows	Mac
Ctrl+C	`⌘`+`C`	Copy
Ctrl+V	`⌘`+`V`	Paste
Ctrl+X	`⌘`+`X`	Cut — text only, see below for files
Ctrl+Z	`⌘`+`Z`	Undo
Ctrl+Y	`⌘`+`⇧`+`Z`	Redo
Ctrl+A	`⌘`+`A`	Select all
Ctrl+F	`⌘`+`F`	Find
Ctrl+S	`⌘`+`S`	Save
Ctrl+P	`⌘`+`P`	Print
Ctrl+N	`⌘`+`N`	New

Moving the cursor — where it gets awkward

This is the group that catches people out, because the keys exist but do something different.

Windows	Mac
Home	`⌘`+`←`	Start of the line
End	`⌘`+`→`	End of the line
Ctrl+Home	`⌘`+`↑`	Top of the document
Ctrl+End	`⌘`+`↓`	Bottom of the document
Ctrl+←/→	`⌥`+`←`/`→`	Move a word at a time
Delete (forward)	`fn`+`⌫`	The Mac's "Delete" key is Backspace

On a Mac laptop there are no Home and End keys at all, which is why the habit fails silently rather than doing something wrong.

Files and Finder

Windows	Mac
F2 (rename)	`Return`	Select the file and press Return
Return (open)	`⌘`+`↓`	The exact opposite of Windows, which trips up nearly everyone
Ctrl+X then Ctrl+V on a file	`⌘`+`C` then `⌘`+`⌥`+`V`	Finder has no cut. Copy, then Move Item Here
Delete	`⌘`+`⌫`	Move to Bin
Shift+Delete	`⌘`+`⌥`+`⌫`	Delete immediately
F5 / Ctrl+R	`⌘`+`R`	Refresh, in apps that have it
Win+E	`⌥`+`⌘`+`Space`	Opens a Finder search window from anywhere. Already in Finder, `⌘`+`N` opens a plain new window

The Finder cut is the one people ask about most. We wrote it up separately in how to cut and paste files on a Mac.

Windows, apps and the system

Windows	Mac
Alt+Tab	`⌘`+`Tab`	Switches apps, not windows. See the note below
(cycle windows of one app)	`⌘`+`	Backtick, above Tab
Alt+F4	`⌘`+`W` or `⌘`+`Q`	W closes the window, Q quits the app — a real distinction on macOS
Ctrl+W	`⌘`+`W`	Close the tab
Ctrl+Alt+Delete	`⌘`+`⌥`+`Esc`	Force Quit
Ctrl+Shift+Esc	Activity Monitor	In Applications ▸ Utilities, no shortcut of its own
Win+L	`⌃`+`⌘`+`Q`	Lock the screen
Win+D	`fn`+`F11`	Show Desktop
Win+Tab	`⌃`+`↑`	Mission Control
Win+Shift+S	`⌘`+`⇧`+`4`	Snip a region
PrtScn	`⌘`+`⇧`+`3`	Whole screen
Win+V	—	No clipboard history in older macOS; macOS 26 added a basic one in Spotlight
Win+←/→	Drag to the screen edge	macOS tiles on drag rather than by keyboard

Alt+Tab is the one with no real equivalent. ⌘Tab moves between apps; if you have six Chrome windows open it treats them as one. ⌘` then cycles within that app. There is no built-in single shortcut that walks every window the way Alt+Tab does, and that is a genuine gap rather than something you are missing.

Rather than memorise all of that

A table you have to keep coming back to is not much of a solution. The problem is that you need the translation at the moment your hand hits the wrong key, not later in a browser tab.

Switchover Cheat Sheet puts it in front of you. Press ⌃+⌥+/ in any app and an overlay shows that app's shortcuts, each one paired with the Windows shortcut you already know. It detects the app you are in, so in Word you get Word’s and in Chrome you get Chrome’s.

The Switchover Cheat Sheet overlay in Finder, showing the system-wide shortcuts beside their Windows equivalents — The Mac shortcut on the left, the Windows one you already know on the right.

The bundled library is 375 shortcuts: a system-wide set that applies everywhere, including Finder, plus app-specific sets for Safari, Chrome, Mail, Notes, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Slack, Xcode, Terminal, Visual Studio Code, Preview, Photos and Messages. In an app it does not know, it falls back to the system-wide set and says so.

It asks for no permissions at all — not Accessibility, not Screen Recording, not Input Monitoring. It cannot read your screen or the contents of other apps. It asks macOS which app is in front, which needs no permission, and looks the answer up in its own list. It has no network access either.

Switchover Cheat Sheet on the Mac App Store · what it does in full

And if you would rather keep the Windows keys

Learning the Mac way is the right long-term answer, but there is no prize for doing it in week one. Switchover maps several of the habits above back onto the keys you already use: ⌘X and ⌘V genuinely move files in Finder, Home and End behave the Windows way, ⌃⌥⌫ opens Activity Monitor, and ⌥F4 closes a window. Every feature has its own switch, so you can turn them off one at a time as the Mac way sinks in.

Most of the table above, demonstrated in three and a half minutes. Watch on YouTube

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Copyright © 2026 Thanujan Sathiyamoorthy. All rights reserved. Switchover is an independent product and is not affiliated with Apple Inc. or Microsoft Corporation. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; Mac, macOS and Finder are trademarks of Apple Inc. No part of this site may be reproduced or redistributed without permission.