50 Mac Features Hidden Behind the Option Key

When you look in the Mac Menu Bar you can see most of the commands and functions of the app you are using. But holding the Option key sometimes reveals hidden items. You can also get access to other functions when clicking or selecting something with the Option key.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you lots of hidden functions you can access on your Mac using the Option Key. 
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Now often when using apps on your Mac you don't see all of the features and functions that are available to you just by looking at the buttons and menus. Sometimes there are hidden functions and a lot of those could be accessed by simply holding down the Option Key on your keyboard. For instance, let's start with the Apple Menu at the top left hand corner of your Mac's screen. If you click to reveal it you'll see a variety of commands. But if you hold down the Option Key you'll see some of those change. For instance About This Mac changes to System Information. You can go directly to System Information in System Settings this way saving several steps. Also, notice that several items here, Restart, Shutdown, and Log Out all have three dots or ellipses after them. That means when you select them you're going to get a prompt as to whether or not you really want to do this action. Well, if you hold down the Option Key those three dots go away meaning that you can simply select one of these and skip the confirmation. 
Now a lot of these hidden menu commands are in all applications. So I'm going to use TextEdit here as an example. If I look at the application menu here and I hold down the Option Key you can see that Quit changes to Quit and Close Windows. Actually if you've got your System Settings set to Always Close Windows when quitting an app that will change to Quit and Keep Windows. So it will toggle in the opposite direction. When you hold down the File Menu and you hold down the Option Key several things change. One is the Close Menu changes to Close All. Another is Duplicate will change to Save As. Notice the keyboard shortcuts change on the right for each one of these. So if you're used to using Command W for Close you don't need to use the menu. Just use Option Command W and it will be Close All. 
Now in the Window Menu of most apps holding the Option Key down also changes a bunch of things. For instance, minimize will change to Minimize All so all the open windows will be minimized. Zoom changes to Zoom All. Tile windows to the left or right side of the screen, which will start a SplitView Mode having a special space that is one app to the left and one app to the right. That changes to Move Windows to the Left Side of the Screen so it takes the current window and actually resizes it to fit exactly in half the screen. It doesn't change the fact that it is a regular window on a regular space though. You can also see Bring All To Front which will bring any windows that are behind windows of other apps to the front, changes to Arrange In Front and when I select that it changes the positions of windows as well as bringing them to the front. 
Now let's take a look at the Finder. A lot of things changed in the Finder with the Option Key. Besides the usual things in the Applications Menu Empty Trash will change to Empty Trash without the 3 dots. So it won't Confirm. In the File Menu, Open will change to Open and Close Window. Open With will change to Always Open With and Get Info changes to Show Inspector. So if you select something, like say a file like this, and you use Get Info you get a regular window that is just going to give you information for that one item. But, if instead you hold the down the Option Key and bring up the Inspector it looks about the same but it will always stay floating on top and will always show you information for whatever is selected changing as you change what your selection is in the Finder. The Open and Close Window option is kind of interesting. If you were to use that on a Folder you could see what happens. It actually closes that window that you had open before and opens a new one with that particular item. This also works with Files. If I select a file and you could see there's Open. I could hold down the Option Key and Open and Close Window will Close that Finder window and Open up that item. 
Now in the Edit Menu if you hold down the Option Key, Copy changes to Copy as Pathname. So you can get the Path of any selected file that way. Select All changes to Deselect All. Also, notice that Paste changes to Move Item Here. So if I were to select a file like this, Copy and then go into a Folder, if I were to Paste it with Command V it would make a Copy. But if I were to hold the Option Key down then it would actually move the original to that location. 
Now in the Go Menu you can jump to some specific Folders on your Drive. Holding the Option Key down reveals an additional item here, the Library Folder. So you can jump to your User Library by using Go, holding down the Option Key and selecting Library. Also, notice up here where it shows enclosing folder and if you hold down the Option Key it shows the Keyboard Shortcut changes there but it doesn't change the actual menu item itself. So what is happening there is it is doing the same thing as Open and Close Window when you hold down the Option Key. So normally if I were to use Command Up Arrow it goes up one level. But if I hold down the Option Key and then Command Up Arrow you can see it closes the current window and opens a new one with what is on the level above. 
Now somethings you can do with the Option Key that don't involve the menu. For instance, here in List View in the Finder I could open up a Folder by clicking on the little disclosure triangle here to the left. But if I Option click instead it opens up not just that folder but all of the folders inside it. You could see the same thing happens here if I use Command and Right Arrow. It opens up that one Folder. But if I use Option Command and then Right Arrow it opens up everything underneath. When you go to Drag a file, like say this one, into another folder it will move it there. But if you hold the Option Key down you see the little Plus icon appears and this means it actually going to make a copy, not move it. 
When you want to do a Search you do Command F, start a search in the Finder and you can add all sorts of criteria here. So I can do, say, Kind is a document. I can click the Plus button and then say Name Matches, etc., always using the little Plus button to the right here to add a new item. But if I hold the Option Key down these change to 3 dots instead of a Plus button. If I do that then it adds a subsection here where I can have Any, All, or None of the following are true and have several bits of criteria in here. This is how you can basically have a complex search using many items and bullion logic. 
Also when dragging windows around in the Finder or any app if I were to grab a side it just drags that side. If I were to grab a corner it just drags that corner. But if I hold the Option Key down and Drag it will drag from the center. In other words both sides or both the top and bottom move, or in the case of a corner both corners, the one here and the opposite one, move as well. If you were to double-click on anything, like double-click on the top you could see how it snaps to the top there. Double-clicking with the Option Key held down will snap both the top and bottom or both the left and right to the sides. So, if you Option Double-Click on anyone of the four corners it will snap this corner and this corner to the corners of the screen thus filling the entire screen with that window. 
There's also a lot that you can do with the Option Key in the Status icons here at the top right. So if I look at the Sound one here and I click it I can change the volume and the output. But if I Option Click I can also change the Input. For WiFi this is what it looks like normally. But if I Option Click it I get a lot more options here and some information and diagnostics as well. Plus, if I click this just by itself without the Option Key I can go directly to WiFi settings. Holding Option will give me Network settings. Bluetooth as well gives you a lot more when you use the Option Key when you initially click it. Oh, when you click the Date & Time in the upper right hand corner it actually switches you to Do Not Disturb mode. You can see it is turned On right there. Option clicking again will turn Off Do Not Disturb mode. 
Now you can also use Option with the special feature keys at the top of your keyboard. The Brightness controls, the Volume keys. When you do so it should go to System Settings for that particular item. So you may need to use the Globe or fn key with these depending upon your settings. I'm going to use the Volume Up key. But holding the Option Key down will launch System Settings and take me right to Sound. Holding Option and then Brightness Up will take me to Displays. 
Let's take a look at Safari. In the Application Menu there's Clear History. But if you hold the Option Key down it will clear history and Keep Website Data. So Cookies and other website data that you may need for logging in or using the site are kept. But it just clears out your browsing history. You can use File and New Tab or Command T to create a New Tab but Option will change that to New Tab at the end of the List. If you do that a few times and create a bunch of tabs then under you File you've got Close Tab but Option will close that to Close Other Tabs. So every tab in this window except the one that you are currently using. The same thing is true if you click on the little x here. So if I click on this one it just closes the one tab. But if I Option Click on this one it will close all the tabs except the one that I Option Clicked on. 
In the View Menu there is Reload Page. But if you hold the Option Key down then it changes to Reload Page From Origin. If you're having trouble with a webpage this means it will basically clear the cache for that webpage and reload it all fresh. Also, you've got Zoom In and Zoom Out. Those change to Make Text Bigger and Make Text Smaller. So you can actually enlarge the text on the page without changing the images and other elements. When you go to download something on a webpage, sometimes if you click on it you actually just load up that image or pdf in the browser. Whether that happens or the actual file is downloaded depends on how the website is setup. But if you want to force something to download, instead of loading a new page, hold the Option Key and click. 
Now in Numbers there really are no hidden menu items. But there are some things that you can do in Tables that require the Option Key. For instance, if I were to start a new formula using the Equals Key there I could then use my Pointer to click on any cell to refer to that cell. But if I hold the Option Key down notice I get those little arrows there. That means I can now use the keyboard instead of the pointer to select something. I didn't even hold the Shift key down to select a range if I want. When you have a Table like this and you have extra cells that are blank you could easily drag from the bottom up and it will remove those extra rows. But if you try to go up with cells that are filled it won't do it. It won't let you delete rows that actually have some data in them. But you can force that with the Option Key. So I'll hold the Option Key down and then drag up and I can delete these rows even though they had data.
Now in Keynote when you play a slideshow, like using Play, Play slideshow or the Play button, it will start playing at the slide you are currently at. But a trick to know is that if you hold the Option Key down and click the Play button it will actually start at the first slide. 
Now the first thing you should know when using the Option Key with Photos App is that it is the primary way that you are able to select different libraries. So, without the Photos App running if I were to launch it from the Dock or anywhere holding the Option Key down, it actually produces this dialogue here which allows me to select a photos library. If I don't see one that I want listed there I can click Other Library and go to look for it or I can create a New Library. Once I'm in Photos I can select a photo and if I want to rotate it notice I can rotate counterclockwise here. Holding the Option Key down changes that to rotate clockwise. In addition if I go into a photo and then click Edit to go into the editing tools then under Adjust I have all of these sliders here. Notice the measurements at the top of the slider. If I hold the Option Key down they change and get finer. So for instance I can drag to the right here and I get to 2.5 or 1. But if I hold the Option Key down notice how I can go past that. So I get more range using the Option Key. That works for a lot of different controls here in the Adjustment Tools. If you go to the Cropping Tools here notice you've got Flip Horizontal. Hold the Option Key down changes that to Flip Vertical. Speaking of Photos if you're in the Finder and you turn On the Preview Sidebar here you have some tools at the bottom. One of those tools you may see is Rotate or you may need to click More to see that. You'll notice Rotate left changes to Rotate right if you hold down the Option Key. 
Now like you were able to select different Libraries in Photos you can do the same thing in Music. If you hold the Option Key down and launch Music you get Choose Music Library. So if you're not using Apple Music, if you just have your own local library, you can actually have multiple ones. The same thing is true with TV. The TV App allows you to have multiple libraries. By the way, when you go to launch an app and use the Option Key to launch it it will Hide the current app and just show the new one. So kind of like swapping a new app for an old one. The old one is still there. You can use Command Tab to just switch back to it. 
In iMovie the Option Key is important in Sound Editing. Here I've got the audio at the bottom of a clip and I could clip and drag it up to increase the volume or down to decrease the volume. But, if I were to use the Option Key and click it creates a point in there and I can use these points to actually control the volume at different sections of the video. 
Now, let's look at the Dock. The Dock also has some use for the Option Key. If you click and hold or Control Click on an icon you get a list of different commands. What you get depends on the app itself. But you usually have a Hide and Quit at the bottom. Holding the Option Key down will change Hide to Hide Others. So hide everything except that one app. It changes Quit for Force Quit. So if the app is misbehaving you can use this to Force it to quit. The Finder has a similar thing where I can click and hold and then holding the Option Key down will change Hide to Hide Others. But you don't see a Force Quit there. The Finder is always running. However, if you hold the Option Key down when you click and hold the Finder, then the Menu will include a Relaunch Item. Which basically Force Quits and Relaunches the Finder. This comes in very handy if the Finder is misbehaving. 
One last one. If you have an older Intel based Mac then when you start your Mac up if you hold down the Option Key this is what gives you access to the Starter Manager which allows you to choose if you've got more than one Drive that is bootable. However, if you're using a newer Apple silicon Mac then all you need to do is press and hold the Power button and wait for the screen to indicate that the Startup Options would be loading. 
So, have I shown you every single hidden feature that uses the Option Key on the Mac? No, not at all. There are more and different apps, even third party apps, may have some as well. So I hope if you have learned just one thing from this. It's that when you're exploring a new app or trying to learn more about the apps you already use, use the Option Key with the different menu items. Use the Option Key with the different buttons and sidebars, and interfaces to see what additional features may be hidden there. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.

Show Notes:
Apple Menu (top left corner of the screen):
• About This Mac changes to System Information
• Restart, Shutdown, and Log Out options skip the confirmation prompt
Application Menu (e.g., TextEdit):
• Quit changes to Quit and Close Windows or Quit and Keep Windows
• Duplicate changes to Save As
File Menu:
• Close changes to Close All
• Duplicate changes to Save As
Window Menu:
• Minimize changes to Minimize All
• Zoom changes to Zoom All
• Tile windows to the left or right side of the screen changes to Move Windows to the Left Side of the Screen
• Bring All To Front changes to Arrange In Front
Finder:
• Empty Trash changes to Empty Trash without confirmation
• Open changes to Open and Close Window
• Open With changes to Always Open With
• Get Info changes to Show Inspector
• Copy changes to Copy as Pathname
• Select All changes to Deselect All
• Paste changes to Move Item Here
• Additional option to access the Library folder in the Go menu
• Command + Up Arrow changes to close the current window and open a new one with the parent folder
Miscellaneous:
• Option-click on a folder in List View to open all subfolders
• Option-click and drag a file to make a copy instead of moving it
• Option-click in the search bar to create complex search criteria
• Option-drag a window from the side or corner to move both sides or corners simultaneously
• Option-double-click on a corner of a window to snap it to the screen edges
Status icons (top right corner):
• Option-click on Sound icon to change input settings
• Option-click on Wi-Fi icon for more options and diagnostics
• Option-click on Bluetooth icon for additional settings
• Click on Date & Time to switch to Do Not Disturb mode, Option-click to turn it off
Special feature keys (Brightness, Volume, etc.):
• Option + Brightness Up opens Displays settings
• Option + Volume Up opens Sound settings
Safari:
• Clear History changes to Clear History and Keep Website Data
• New Tab changes to New Tab at the end of the list
• Close Tab changes to Close Other Tabs
Numbers (Table functionality):
• Use Option key to select cells with the keyboard
• Use Option key to delete rows with data in Tables
Keynote:
• Option-click on the Play button to start the slideshow from the first slide
Photos:
• Hold Option key to select different libraries when launching the Photos app
• Rotate counterclockwise changes to rotate clockwise when holding Option
• Hold Option key to fine-tune adjustments in editing tools
• Flip Horizontal changes to Flip Vertical in cropping tools
• Rotate option in Finder sidebar changes direction when holding Option
Music and TV:
• Hold Option key when launching to choose a specific library
Dock:
• Option-click on an app icon to hide all other apps or force quit the app
• Option-click on Finder in the Dock to relaunch it
Startup Options:
• Older Intel-based Macs: Hold Option key at startup to access the Startup Manager
• Newer Apple silicon Macs: Press and hold the Power button to access Startup Options

Comments: 5 Responses to “50 Mac Features Hidden Behind the Option Key”

John MacKenzie

1 year ago

Another highly informative video, Gary. I'm so glad I found MacMost, I learn so much from you.

Tate

This is mind blowing. As a fairly new Mac user, I'll be referring to this again and again. Thank you, Gary.

Andrea Grasselli

Thank you Gary, really useful!

Dave Hunter

Superb Option-key tips for novice users. The tips like this give users like myself clues as to how to get into hidden corners that are otherwise invisible.

Steve Johnson

Hey Gary... I was playing with the "Option Key" and turned on the mouse key function! Didn't realize it till I had some keys that didn't work! Then I remembered 💡the Mouse keys! Ü might want to mention this as some might think their keyboard is bad?? I did the first time it happened to me! 🤔

Comments Closed.

50 Mac Features Hidden Behind the Option Key

Comments: 5 Responses to “50 Mac Features Hidden Behind the Option Key”

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