The Option key is probably one of the most powerful and underused keys on the Mac keyboard. I was listening to Mac Geek Gab, my favorite podcast, and heard a tip that involved pressing the Option key while selecting a menu item or adding the Option key to a keyboard shortcut. The Option key is a modifier key present on Apple keyboards. You might be also familiar with the Ctrl and Alt keys … I'm trying to re-install a fresh copy of Mojave through a USB Stick, and I'm trying to boot from the USB. Now release the keys and then turn your Mac back on using the power button. The Option key is also known as the Alt key. Print these boot option keys, because they’re particularly helpful to have […] I mean, there are just so many things you can do and shortcuts that you can uncover using the Option key. You can also change what your Mac does by holding down the following keys or key combinations during startup. The Option key on a Mac, alternatively known as the Alternate key. Whenever I hold the option key upon boot, my Mac Pro does not register any input and just hangs on a black screen and never boots up. It is located between the Control key and Command key on a typical Mac keyboard. Other keyboard shortcuts are available after your Mac has started up. Reset SMC: Shut down your Mac, and then press and hold the left-side Shift (⇧)—Control (⌃)—Option keys along with the Power (⎋) button, all at the same time, until the computer turns on. Below is where you can find the OPTION / ALT key on the major Apple keyboards you are likely to encounter. Your Mac and OS X have a variety of startup keys and key combinations you can use to affect how the device starts up. However, the option key on a Mac keyboard is used in a different way than the alt key on a Windows PC. The Mac Option key has different functions depending on the application and key combination. It usually marked with the letters Alt and the symbol below, especially on Apple Mac keyboards. On a PC/Windows keyboard, however, many of the same keyboard shortcuts utilize the Control Key (⌃) instead of the Command Key. When your Mac powers up, it normally uses the system on its internal hard drive unless you change this behavior by choosing System Preferences@@→Startup Disk. And yes, in case it wasn’t evident; the OPTION key is the ALT key, which is also represented by the funny looking symbol ⌥ on Apple and Mac … It is located in between the Command/Apple key and the Ctrl key. The Option key can help you get things done in one click which otherwise would have taken you at least a couple of clicks. In terms of functionality, the alt key in Windows is often more comparable with the Command key than with the Option key on a Mac. The Mac ALT key is the Mac OPTION key. (As of 2005, some laptops had only one to make room for the arrow keys.) The most common and probably most frequently used commands are:. 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