Corb3t / keyboards

This is my keyboard. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My keyboard is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

keyboards

This is my keyboard. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My keyboard is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

I got sick of keeping track of all the custom keyboard shortcuts and trackpad gestures that I've created, so I decided to create this guide to make setting this up a little easier down the road. If you think my keyboard shortcuts could be improved upon in some way, do not hesitate to contact me.

Table of Contents

• To Do
• macOS Spotlight
• Setup
  • Disable Spotlight Keyboard Shortcut
  • Capslock is a Waste
• Keyboard Snippets / Text Replacements
• macOS/iOS Text Replacement
  • macOS Text Replacement Setup
• Windows Management
  • Rectangle App
    • Rectangle Keyboard Shortcuts
    • Rectangle Windows Snapping
• Search Bars
  • Alfred
    • Clipboard History
    • Alfred Keyboard Snippets
      • Alfred Keyboard Snippets Setup
    • Raindrop
  • Other Applications
    • 1Password
      • 1Password Keyboard Shortcut Setup
    • Karabiner
      • Karabiner Setup
    • iTerm2
      • iTerm2 Keyboard Shortcut Setup
    • Fantastical
      • Fantastical Keyboard Shortcut Setup
    • Cleanshot
      • Cleanshot Keyboard Shortcut Setup
• Trackpad Gestures
  • Browser Gestures
  • Finder Gestures
• Hire Me
• Special Thanks

To Do

• Raycast section - Alfred alternative - try it out!
• Alfred config w/ workflows/snippets/gestures already setup
• BetterTouchTool config file w/ gestures/shortcuts setup
• Shell script to auto-install everything

macOS Spotlight

Have you ever used Spotlight? It's the little magnifying glass in the top right corner. It's a really fast and convenient way to open apps, files, or even the web. It's even built into iOS.

By default, you can quickly bring up Spotlight on your mac by pressing:

⌘ Command + Space

In my opinion, using spotlight search is the fastest way to navigate around a computer system, including desktop and mobile devices. Instead of navigating through folders manually, searching is often the fastest - how many times have you used Google to navigate to a website you knew the address to? Search will always be faster!

Setup

If you're willing to download some extra applications, we can create custom keyboard shortcuts that give you access to all sorts of things - a clipboard manager, application launcher, password manager, and more. While Spotlight is really powerful, there are some better tools out there.

The following applications either facilitate the setup of keyboard shortcuts or have a keyboard shortcut that can easily be accessed. Many of these app's dock icons are hidden in my menubar.

• Alfred 5 - Save countless hours by using hotkeys, keywords and customizing how you want to search your Mac and activity history. Replaces macOS Spotlight. Utilized below in Alfred Keyboard Snippets, Clipboard History, Raindrop, and more.

• BetterTouchTool - The must-have application for setting up custom keyboard shortcuts and trackpad gestures. Required for trackpad gestures below.

Disable Spotlight Keyboard Shortcut

Fortunately for us, Alfred provides us with added functionality, so we will replacing Spotlight's keyboard shortcut with Alfred. To do so, you will need to go to:

System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Spotlight Set both to "Off"

Capslock is a Waste

How often do you actually use your capslock key? Chances are, it isn't often, so let's remap it to something more useful. Natively within iOS, you can change it to ⌘ Command or Esc, which are often more useful. If you're feeling more adventurous, I'd highly recommend installing Karabiner (with my custom config in this github) to further modify your Capslock key.

To do so, you will need to go to:

System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Modifier Keys > Set to "Off" or "Command"

Keyboard Snippets / Text Replacements

Keyboard snippets, or text replacements allow a user to quickly auto-fill information with a few simple keystrokes. This functionality is built natively into macOS and iOS, but Alfred offers more powerful options.

macOS/iOS Text Replacement

macOS offers it's own "Text Replacements" natively within macOS, which are great because they sync to your iOS devices. They can be setup by navigating to:

System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input > Text Replacement

macOS Text Replacement Setup

I personally use both types of keyboard snippets/replacements - native due to the iOS syncing, and Alfred because I like to query and review them from Alfred's search bar (Command + Spacebar).

Windows Management

If there's one thing Microsoft Windows gets right out of the box, it's Windows Snapping. Unfortunately macOS's windows snapping isn't as good, which is why I recommend downloading Rectangle.

Rectangle App

Rectangle offers a wide range of customizable Windows snapping options, but I largely use it two ways:

• To quickly snap windows to the top/left/bottom/right using ⌘ Right Command + ▲ ▼ ◀ ▶ Arrow keys (see below).
• To quickly snap windows using my trackpad by clicking and dragging a window
• To quickly move windows from one display to the next (when using external displays)

Rectangle Keyboard Shortcuts

Since I try and keep my hands on the keyboard at all times to improve productivity, I have mapped the following shortcuts to my keyboard:

Snap Window to Top Half: ⌘ Command + ▲ Up Arrow

Snap Window to Bottom Half: ⌘ Command + ▼ Down Arrow

Snap Window to Left Side: ⌘ Command + ◀ Left Arrow

Snap Window to Right Side: ⌘ Command + ▶ Right Arrow

Rectangle Windows Snapping

Rectangle also offers similar functionality to Windows by allowing the user to "throw" or "snap" a window. This is on by default.

My Rectangle Config

I've included my Rectangle config with my keyboard shortcut preferences and snapping settings. It can be imported in:

Rectangle > Preferences > Settings > Import Config

Search Bars

Alfred

Like spotlight search, but better. Alfred has a long list of features. Alfred is activated by pressing:

⌘ Command + Space

Clipboard History

I use the clipboard history to easily copy and paste images and text anywhere. This is great for putting together professional documents. Another really great feature is Alfred's Clipboard History merging, which lets users copy multiple times in a row.

Alfred's clipboard history can be activated by pressing:

⌥ Option + X

Alfred Clipboard History Setup

Alfred Keyboard Snippets

Great for quickly filling in information you regularly use like e-mails, dates, and links. Alfred's snippets are a little better than macOS/iOS's because you can open the search bar and preview them with:

⌥ Option + S

Alfred Keyboard Snippets Setup

Raindrop

My favorite bookmark manager. I use the Raindrop search-bar to quickly open links to my Github projects, work-related Sharepoint pages, Google Drive folders, and more. Raindrop is an Alfred Workflow.

Other Applications

A list of other applications with keyboard shortcuts. This includes easy access to entering items in my Calendar, adding items to my reminders/to do list, opening a terminal window, accessing my password vault, and more.

1Password

My favorite password manager. I use 1Password to save important information including my glasses prescription, ID cards, healthcare cards, passports, software IDs, and passwords.

The 1Password search bar lets me quickly open and login to a website with just a few keystrokes. 1Password can even be used as a 2fa authenticator app, and auto-fill the code into your browser of choice (I suggest Firefox).

The 1Password search bar is displayed when I press ⌥ Option + Space

1Password Keyboard Shortcut Setup

Karabiner

Karabiner Elements - Optional. A free powerful keyboard customizer, used to remap "Capslock" to:

Hyper (⌃ CTRL + ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command) with any other key, or Esc when pressed alone.

Karabiner Setup

You can automatically import my Karabiner profile by placing /.config/karabiner in your ~/ path.

iTerm2

• iTerm2 - Great Terminal alternative with extra features like split pane. I have iTerm2 automatically appear when I type:

⌥ Option + ⏎ Esc

iTerm2 Keyboard Shortcut Setup

Fantastical

Fantastical is a great free calendar app that integrates with Google, iCloud, Outlook, and more. Using neutral text language entry, users can enter items easily.

Fantastical even has an iOS version with great customizable homescreen widgets.

I have Fantastical calendar entry automatically appear when I type:

⌥ Option + ⏎ Esc

Cleanshot

CleanShot X is a great screenshot capturing app - I used it to create this guide! CleanShot X lets you capture, edit, and annotate sceenshots and record videos & GIFs. My screenshots are captured with:

⇪ Capslock/Hyper (AKA ⌃ CTRL + ⌥ Option + ⌘ Command) + 1

Cleanshot Keyboard Shortcut Setup

Trackpad Gestures

For Trackpad gestures, I use BetterTouchTool. BTT lets you create gestures and keyboard shortcuts on a global and per-app basis, allowing flexibility.

Browser Gestures

When I am working in a web browser, the following trackpad gestures allow me to...

Three Finger Swipe Right - Navigate to right tab
Three Finger Swipe Left - Navigate to left tab
Three Finger Swipe Down - Close active tab
Three Finger Swipe Up - Open new tab

BetterTouchTool's Trackpad Configuration

Finder Gestures

I apply the same swiping gestures in Finder, the following trackpad gestures allow me to...

Three Finger Swipe Right - Navigate to right finder tab
Three Finger Swipe Left - Navigate to left finder tab
Three Finger Swipe Down - Close active finder tab
Three Finger Swipe Up - Open new finder tab

Hire Me

Do you think I would be a valuable asset to your software development team? I am currently open to employment - e-mail me at [e-mail]!

Special Thanks

Nikita Noloboev's my-mac-os - Inspired me to document most of my digital garden. Thanks Nikita! Capslock - Inspired me to modify my capslock key.