Most new Mac keyboards are fairly simplified when compared to their PC counterparts, and you’ll find that some of the extraneous keys like "Home" and "End" are nowhere to be found on the Mac wireless keyboard or any keyboard included with a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Longtime Mac users appreciate this simplicity, but newcomers to the Mac platform can be a bit confused or frustrated as they’ve come to rely on the instant-action buttons on PC keyboards, sometimes making the incorrect assumption that similar actions are impossible in Mac OS X.
But even without the dedicated buttons on a Mac keyboard, this does not mean you can’t perform the exact same function in Mac OS as what the Home and End buttons offer in Windows and Linux. Instead of pressing a single key though, on the Mac keyboard you press keyboard shortcut to achieve the same desired effect.
If you are new to Mac and want to find and use the equivalents of the Home and End buttons on a Mac, follow this post to get the answer.
The "Home" button on a Mac keyboard: Fn + Left Arrow
The ‘fn’ key on the Mac keyboard is the function button, hitting that with the left arrow will immediately jump to the very top of a page in the active application of Mac OS. This is the exact same function as hitting the "Home" button on a Windows PC.
Note: On the Mac, pressing Command-Left Arrow will move the insertion point to the beginning of the current line. When you are editing a Word document or TextEdit file, you can press the Command + Left Arrow shortcuts on your Mac keyboard to return to the beginning of the current line.
For the Fn + Left Arrow key combinations, it is used to jump you to the top of the Word document, PDF file, webpage, etc.
The "End" button on a Mac Keyboard: Fn + Right Arrow
Pressing the function key with the right arrow will immediately scroll to the very bottom of an open document or page, regardless of how long it is. This is basically the same thing as pressing the "End" key on a Windows PC, except it’s a keyboard shortcut.
Note: On the Mac, pressing Command-Right Arrow will move the insertion point to the end of the current line. So, if you need to change your cursor to the end of your editing line, press Command + Right Arrow on your Mac keyboard. But if you want to jump to the end of the current uneditable document without moving Trackpad or Mouse, press Fn + Right Arrow.
FAQs
What is the Home button on a Mac?
There is no Home key on a Mac. The key combinations Command + Left Arrow and Fn + Left Arrow are regarded as the Home button on a Mackeyboard.
What is the End button on a Mac?
The End key on a Mac is Command + Right Arrow or Fn + Right Arrow shortcuts.
Conclusion
For the Home and End equivalence in Mac OS X, you can use these keyboard shortcuts or a similar set of Command key tricks which can achieve the same effect of jumping to the start and end of documents, it doesn’t matter which you use, both will get the job done and work the same, so go with whatever works better for your workflow, or whichever you memorize.
See also: How to restart your MacBook with just the keyboard