Difference between Windows and Mac keyboard

Most of the people in one part of the world are habitual of working on Windows OS due to its wide presence in homes and offices outside USA. Apple’s Macintosh (Mac) is another popular OS, but limited knowledge about it, especially in Asia, dissuades many from adopting this OS. In this new series of articles our attempt will be imparting some basic knowledge about Mac and how its Office suite differs from that of Microsoft. 

The very first step in this direction is to understand how the keyboard of Mac differs from that of windows. Let's see how a Mac keyboard looks like. 

Windows keys and their Macintosh equivalents

Windows Keys	Mac Keys
Control (CTRL)	Command (CMD)
ALT	Option (OPT)
Delete	DEL
Backspace	Delete
Enter	Return

Mac Keys and their symbols

Key symbols	Mac Keys
⌘	Command (CMD)
⌃	Option (OPT)
⌥	DEL

Now let’s have a look at some brief information about the Macintosh keys mentioned above

1. Command - This key is the substitution of the ‘control’ key on windows keyboard. Like its windows counterpart, command is used in popular shortcuts. In some keyboards this key is labeled ‘cmd’ with a Bowen knot symbol. Earlier Apple logo was used as a symbol.

E.g. Command + A (shortcut for ‘Select All’)

2. Option -  This key is the substitution of the ‘ALT’ key on the windows keyboard. The combination of Option along with some other key (option + 8 key will insert the bullet character) is used to perform any action.

E.g. Option + 8 (Shortcut for ‘Inserting Bullet character)

3. Delete - There is no ‘Backspace’ key in the Mac keyboard. Instead you will find the key ‘Delete’. It is used to delete the typed characters.

4. DEL -  It is the substitute of ‘Delete’ key in the windows keyboard and functions in the similar way. 

5. Return - 'Enter’ in the Windows keyboard is replaced by Return in the Mac keyboard. The function though remains the same.

Function Keys in Mac keyboard

Unlike Windows, which has 12 function keys (F1 to F12) on any type of keyboard, a Mac keyboard can either has 12 or 19 function keys depending upon the inclusion of the num pad. It's imperative to give a brief knowledge about the function keys here. 

Function Keys	Use
F1 and F2	Controlling brightness
F3	Mission control
F4	Launchpad
F7-F9	For music
F10-F12	Volume control
F5/F6/F13-F19	Unassigned or blank keys

Some important points regarding these function keys are as follows

1. Mission Control gives an overview of all the running applications by showing them separately on screen. 

2. Launchpad lets you see, organize and easily open your apps. 

3. The blank keys can be assigned a particular function by the users.