If you want to dismiss the Dock, press Esc. Use the arrow keys to navigate the dock, or type the first letter of the app you want to launch. If you have the file available on your Mac, simply drag and drop it onto your Finder window, and the full file path will be displayed. If the Dock is hidden, it slides out onto the screen. Find the file path of the file you’re searching for, then select its file path Right-click the selected text and choose copy or use the control + c keyboard command There’s a simpler way, though. You can navigate the Dock using the keyboard, and therefore launch any apps that are in the Dock. The Finder’s selection will jump to the second letter you type, so just type the first letter or letters, use the arrow keys if necessary to get the app you want, and then press Return. Note that for apps with two-word names, such as QuickTime Player or System Preferences, you can’t type QP or SP. Press Command-down arrow to open the app. So, to launch an app such as Preview, type PR, and, unless you have another app whose name begins with those two letters, Preview is selected. However, typing in a Finder folder merely selects an item it doesn’t hide other items in that folder, showing only the apps with the letters you type. Use the Up and Down to highlight the file or folder, and then press + R you'll get a Finder window with the given folder or file. As with Spotlight and Launchpad, you can type letters to access your apps. If you want to open Finder with a specific file or folder: Press + Space to show Spotlight and start typing the name of the file/folder you want. It’s not that hard to get to that folder in the Finder, just press Command-Shift-A. When you invoke Launchpad, the Search field is selected.Īnother way to launch apps from the keyboard is to do so in the Applications folder.

If not, use the arrow keys to select it, and then press Return. If it is the first app selected, press Return to launch it. Type the first couple of characters of the name of the app you want to launch. That Search field has focus when you start typing the characters automatically get entered into that field. You’ll see some of your app icons with a Search field above them.

Command key to open finder on mac