10 iTunes Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Know

Instead of choosing items from menu or clicking button on-screen, you could use iTunes keyboard shortcuts to accomplish tasks effortlessly. But first of all, you need to remember them, which will tax your already heavy memory. But practicing make you smarter and some of iTunes keyboard hot keys also work in other programs in Mac. Here we generate 10 iTunes keyboard shortcuts you should not miss.

• 1. Space bar - Play/Pause
• 2. Command-L - Quick Back
• 3. Command-B - Show/Hide Column Browser
• 4. Command-Shift-M - Mini Player Switch
• 5. Command-I - Get Info
• 6. Command-P and Command-N - Previous and Next
• 7. Command-Option-F - Active Search Field
• 8. Command-Shift-N - New Playlist
• 9. Command-T - Show/Hide Visualizer
• 10. View Switch

Tips to use iTunes Shortcuts: the shortcuts listed in this article will all be in the pattern of key MODIFIER-LETTER. This means holding down the MODIFIER and press the letter to perform a special action. Letters are not case related here.

1. Space bar - Play/Pause

You may have been already using this shortcut. Whenever you highlight a song, movie, TV show, audiobook, or podcast, simply hit Space bar to play and hit again to pause. This is probably the most practical iTunes keyboard shortcut.

2. Command-L - Quick Back

You have just pressed the previous iTunes keyboard shortcut Space to play a song. And then you look around other iTunes libraries or visit iTunes Store for some purchases. Want to go back to the item in the location where you started to play the song? Command-L is the key, saving you lots of clicks.

3. Command-B - Show/Hide Column Browser

iTunes Column Browser help you quickly find songs you want by Genres, Artists, Albums, Composers and Groupings. By pressing Command-B, you could get it displayed on Top or on Left. To make the settings, go to View > Column Browser submenu.

4. Command-Shift-M - Mini Player Switch

What's iTunes Mini Player? It's a small player window that gives you access to basic iTunes controls like play/pause, volume, preview/next sound track, etc. Through the keyboard shortcut Command-Shift-M, you can easily switch between Mini Player and Full-size windows. The equivalent menu item locates at View > Switch to Mini Player. To make Mini Player always visible, check the option "Keep Mini Player on top of all other windows" in File > Preferences > Advanced tab. In Mini Player or even video playback windows, simply press Command-F to open full screen.

5. Command-I - Get Info

Get Info window is very useful for viewing file information and editing metadata for files. The Get Info keyboard shortcut works for one or multiple files. But the windows to open would be different.

6. Command-P and Command-N - Previous and Next

As you are editing tag information, you have the below window open for individual tracks, where you can go to Preview or Next track without closing the current windows. Then it's even more convenient to change to Previous or Next track by keyboard shortcut so that your hand can keep on the keyboard.

7. Command-Option-F - Active Search Field

Immediately active the search field and start typing words to search the music you want. But this iTunes keyboard shortcut is a little hard to press. Hopeful it will change to Command-F.

8. Command-Shift-N - New Playlist

Pressing Command-Shift-N will create a new playlist including the song tracks that are currently selected. Similarly, the Command-Option-N will create a new Smart Playlist.

9. Command-T - Show/Hide Visualizer

iTunes visualizer is mainly used for fun on a party or reunion. Just press Command-T to show or hide it. You need to go to View > Visualizer to change to another visualizer.

10. Command-Option-3, Command-Option-4, Command-Option-5 and Command-Option-6 - View Switch

iTunes provides four view methods: List, Album List, Grid, and Cover Flow. You can use this iTunes keyboard shortcut to easily switch between them.