Ask any avid Mac user their browser of choice and chances are you will hear them say Safari. But, there are non-Mac users that also prefer the Safari browser. But, many do not know there are some great keyboard shortcuts to make this browser even more useful. This article will go over some of the top keyboard shortcuts you can use for Safari.
1. Scroll up and down a screen
While you can use your mouse to scroll, if you are on a laptop or need to quickly scan down one screen, you can press the spacebar. This will move the page down one screen (based on your current screen size). You can move up one screen by pressing Shift + Spacebar.
2. Open a page in a new tab
If you are looking at a page with a link that you would like to click and open, but you would like to also keep the existing page open, you can do so by simply pressing Command + clicking on the link. When you do this, the link will open in a new tab. You can also use this shortcut with bookmarks, and if you are entering a URL, hit Command + Return to open the URL in a new tab.
3. Open and close tabs
If you would like to quickly open a new tab in the same Safari window, press Command + T and it should open to the right of the tab you are currently looking at. If you would like to close the tab you are looking at, press Command + W. Should you accidently close the wrong tab, hitting Command + Z will reopen the closed tab, as long as you have not entered any information in, say, an address field or form.
4. Cycle between open tabs
Because of the tabbed nature of Safari, there is a good chance that you have one window open with multiple tabs. While you can simply click on the tab you want to switch to, you can also use Control + tab to switch to the tab to the right of the currently open one. Pressing Shift + Control + tab will switch to the tab to the left of the currently open one.
5. See a list of recent pages by Web address
When working in Safari, you can press and hold on the back arrow to view a list of recent pages you have visited. The problem with this is that sometimes you see just the page name, so if you have looked at a site with a long name, or the same pages, it can be tough to pick the right one to go back to.
Instead, press Option + the back arrow to bring up the list of recently viewed pages and their URL or Web address. This only works for the tab you are currently looking at.
6. Go to your homepage
If you would like to quickly go back to your homepage, press Command + Home key. This should automatically load the page you have set as your homepage.
7. Add page as a bookmark and open pages from your Favorites Bar
You can add the page you are currently looking at to your bookmark list by hitting Command + D. To open pages from your Favorites Bar (shown below the URL Bar) hit Command + 1-9. For example, if you hit Command + 3, you will open the third site on the bar (counting from the left). If you can’t see the Favorites Bar, press View and select Show Favorites Bar.