December 5, 2025

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Using keyboard shortcuts is a lot faster than clicking around in the menus, but only after you learn them. That’s the hard part.

You could look up the documentation for the application or explore the menu bar—but if you’re on a Mac, you could also just install KeyClu. This free application shows an overlay with all the keyboard shortcuts for the currently open Mac application, which is very useful for anyone trying to become a more keyboard-savvy computer user.

To get started, install the application. Then, you’ll need to choose a trigger key (basically one of the modifier keys on your keyboard). By default, you will tap the key twice and hold on the second tap to trigger the overlay, but you can optionally set the application to simply press and hold the key if you prefer. I opted to press and hold Command.

After that, you’ll be asked to enable permissions so KeyClu can access the keyboard shortcuts for your applications. Then you can start using the application. I tend to ignore the application until I wonder whether a keyboard shortcut for a particular function exists. I trigger the application, look through the list of keyboard shortcuts, and see what’s available. When I let go of the trigger key, the window disappears.

This default floating window is useful, but you might want a window listing shortcuts to stay open even when you let go of the trigger. That’s where the persistent panel comes in. This window, which you can trigger using the menu bar, stays open and always shows a list of keyboard shortcuts for the currently active application. You can add a separate keyboard shortcut for this window in the settings, if you like.

What do you think so far?

Credit: Justin Pot

If you dig around in KeyClu’s settings, you can configure the layout of both the pop-up and persistent panels, changing the size of the windows, how many columns shortcuts are sorted into, and which display the panels show up on.

Credit: Justin Pot

It’s a simple piece of software, but it’s completely free and can help you get better at using your computer. And if you’re reading Lifehacker, that’s probably something you want. Speaking of keyboard shortcuts: here are a few keyboard shortcuts you should know. You can also check out our guide to creating your own macOS keyboard shortcuts.

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Jake Peterson

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