Safari Shortcuts That I Just Learned

Updated December 3rd, 2015.

I did a little experimenting today and found some new (to me) Safari shortcuts. Maybe they are new to you too. Try ’em out and see how they work for you.

Option-Down Arrow: scrolls down one windowful. Fantastic. No more “click click click” to scroll down.
Option-Up Arrow: scrolls up one windowful. Duh.

(Yes, the above do exactly what “Page Down” and “Page Up” do… but if you’re on a laptop, you don’t have Page Down and Page Up keys. And, even if you do have Page Down and Page Up keys, the Option-Arrow shortcuts may be easier to hit. You don’t have to reach as far, that’s one plus.)

Space bar: scrolls down one windowful. Same as Option-Down Arrow but easier to do.
Shift-Space bar: scrolls up one windowful. Same as Option-Up Arrow.

Command-Down Arrow: scroll to the bottom.
Command-Up Arrow: scroll to the top. This one you’ll use a lot.

(Yes, these functions are handled nicely by “End” and “Home” but I kinda like Command-Down Arrow and Command-Up Arrow better. Command is not the same as Control, so be sure you’re using the Command key (on either side of the space bar) before you give up on this one.)

Control-Down Arrow and Control-Up Arrow: same as Option-Down Arrow and Option-Up Arrow. Nice to have options but the Space bar method is the best choice.

Not Really a Shortcut, but Impressive Anyway:
Select some text on a web page. Then, go to Safari’s Edit menu, slide down to Speech, and slide over and choose “Start Speaking.” Your Mac will read the selected text out loud. Advice: don’t select a lot of text the first time you do this. (There is a way to stop it– Edit/Speech/Stop Speaking.)

Not New to Me, But Too Cool and Useful to Not Include:
Here’s the scene: you want to download something from a website. You click a button that says “Download Now” or something like that. The download begins. And then you never find the thing you downloaded. Sound familiar?

Your problem is solved quickly and easily using the “Downloads” window in Safari. If the Downloads window is not showing, go to Safari’s Window menu and choose “Downloads”. It’s a toggle, so if you choose “Downloads” from the Window menu while the Downloads window is showing, the window will close. FYI.

Notice the magnifying glass buttons at the right in the Downloads window. I’ve circled one in red below. If you click one of those magnifying glass buttons the corresponding file will be revealed in the Finder! That’s way better than you shoving Safari out of the way, opening up a window in the Finder, and climbing around trying to locate the thing. Even if you know where downloads go, this is still the fastest way to find the file you want. Give this a try and you’ll never go back to the dig-around-in-your-hard-drive method.

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