How To Select All On Mac

Tips
1

I recently switched to a Mac and I’m struggling with what should be a simple task: selecting all text in documents, web pages, or selecting all files in a Finder folder. On Windows I always used Ctrl+A, but that doesn’t seem to work the same way here. What’s the correct keyboard shortcut or method to select all on macOS in different apps, and are there any exceptions or tricks I should know about to speed up my workflow?

2

On Mac, Command is your new Ctrl for almost everything.

For “Select All” use:
Command + A

That works in:
• Text editors (Pages, Word, Notes, TextEdit, etc)
• Browsers (Safari, Chrome, Firefox)
• Mail, Messages, etc
• Finder windows

Examples:
• Select all text in a document: click in the text area, press Command + A.
• Select all text in your browser page (for copy): click anywhere in the page, Command + A.
• Select all files in a Finder folder: click inside the folder (on any file or blank area), Command + A.

Some extra tips that help after a Windows switch:

  1. Modifier keys
    • Ctrl (Windows) maps mostly to Command on Mac.
    • So:
    Ctrl + C → Command + C
    Ctrl + V → Command + V
    Ctrl + X → Command + X
    Ctrl + Z → Command + Z
    Ctrl + F → Command + F
    Ctrl + A → Command + A

  2. Menu path
    If you forget the shortcut, look at the top bar.
    Edit > Select All
    The shortcut shows on the right of the menu. Good way to re-learn stuff.

  3. Finder tricks
    • Select a range: click first file, hold Shift, click last file.
    • Add or remove single items from selection: hold Command and click each file.
    • Mix both: use Shift for ranges, Command to tweak the selection.

  4. Different keyboard labels
    You might see the Command key marked as:
    • “command”
    • “cmd”
    • or with the ⌘ symbol

    Same key, near the Space bar.

After a week or two your fingers stop going to Ctrl for everything, except when some odd app still uses Control like in right click (Control + click) or some terminal shortcuts.

3

Couple of extra angles to add on top of what @byteguru already covered:

  1. System‑wide trick when shortcuts don’t work
    Sometimes Command + A doesn’t do what you expect (weird web apps, terminals, some cross‑platform Java apps). In those cases, you can often still use the menu bar:
    • Click the app’s name (or “Edit”) in the menu bar
    • Look for “Select All” there
    If it’s grayed out, that app simply doesn’t support selecting everything in that context. Not your fault, just the app being stubborn.

  2. Terminal & code editors
    This trips a lot of people up:
    • Terminal: Command + A does not select all, it jumps to the start of the line. To select all text in the Terminal window, you usually have to:
    – Click inside the window
    – Then choose Edit > Select All from the menu
    Some terminal replacements let you remap this, but default macOS Terminal doesn’t.
    • VS Code / JetBrains IDEs: Command + A works, but only in the active pane. If you have multiple splits, make sure the one you want is focused first.

  3. Safari / browser “oddities”
    On some web pages, Command + A only selects text inside a specific frame or editor (like a forum reply box or Google Docs). To select the whole page:
    • Click outside any text field (blank part of the page)
    • Then Command + A
    If you click inside a text box, you only get that box’s contents.

  4. Finder subtleties
    Yeah, Command + A selects all in a folder, but a couple of details:
    • If you’re in “Recents,” it selects all results, not files in a single folder. Easy to accidentally move way more than you meant.
    • In column view, you have to make sure the correct column (folder level) is active. Click inside the panel you care about, then Command + A, or you might think nothing is happening.

  5. Customizing shortcuts if you really miss Ctrl + A
    If your fingers absolutely refuse to retrain:
    • Go to System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts
    • Add a new shortcut for “Select All”
    • Set it to Control + A for specific apps (like Finder)
    Personally I think this just prolongs the pain, but it is doable.

  6. Mental remap tip
    Instead of thinking “Ctrl → Command” for everything, think:
    • Control is sort of “secondary / special stuff” (control‑click = right click, some terminal bindings)
    • Command is your main “do the thing” key
    Once that clicks, shortcuts feel a lot less random.

So yeah, Command + A is the main answer, but the real trick is knowing when it silently doesn’t behave like Windows and when the app is the problem, not you.