Shortcut to put Mac to sleep on a keyboard with Touch ID?

[Silly John Fatty]

Until now I used the famous shortcut Option + Command +

to put my Mac to sleep. But the

-button was replaced with a Touch ID key on the newer keyboards (it's an Apple Magic Keyboard, the big one with the number pad).

So how do you do it now? Kind of annoying going into the menu each time. Apparently I could use the power button of the Mac (2023 Mac mini here).

Does anyone have another shortcut?

 

[bogdanw]

You can create a shortcut
Keyboard - Keyboard Shortcuts- App Shortcuts
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac
I have ⌥F4 for Shut Down

 

[Silly John Fatty]

You can create a shortcut
Keyboard - Keyboard Shortcuts- App Shortcuts
https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac
I have ⌥F4 for Shut Down

Ah yes, that's a good idea! How do you chose it to shut down, though? I can add the shortcut but not the "shut down" or "sleep" feature anywhere.

 

[bogdanw]

They are in the Finder menu, so choose Finder as the app to add a shortcut for.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I use Shift+Command+ Equal Sign (=).

Set it up in Keyboard shortcuts for ALL APPS, as others have described.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

They are in the Finder menu, so choose Finder as the app to add a shortcut for.

Awesome, thanks!

Kind of surprised Apple didn't think of this. But I guess most people are using laptops these days and using shortcuts might also have become something antique I believe 😅

 

[3166792]

I believe you can just press Touch ID to lock and Esc to sleep

 

[DeltaMac]

I don't have a keyboard with touch ID...
What happens if your hold the Control key, then press touch ID button?
Do you get a shutdown menu? Press enter to shutdown, or you can press S while the shutdown menu is showing to choose Sleep.

 

[bogdanw]

Apple:
* Does not apply to the Touch ID sensor.
Power button: Press and hold for 1.5 seconds to put your Mac to sleep.*
Option–Command–Power button* Put your Mac to sleep.
Control–Power button* Display a dialog asking whether you want to restart, sleep, or shut down.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

 

[Silly John Fatty]

I believe you can just press Touch ID to lock and Esc to sleep

True, but I don't want to lock it.

I don't have a keyboard with touch ID...
What happens if your hold the Control key, then press touch ID button?
Do you get a shutdown menu? Press enter to shutdown, or you can press S while the shutdown menu is showing to choose Sleep.

The same as if you'd press only the Touch ID key (it locks the Mac and brings you to the login screen).

 

[3166792]

True, but I don't want to lock it.

Is it possible to sleep without locking? I know there's a toggle to prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off on AC power.

You can shut the display off with Hot Corners if that's helpful at all.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Is it possible to sleep without locking? I know there's a toggle to prevent automatic sleeping when the display is off on AC power.

You can shut the display off with Hot Corners if that's helpful at all.

Yes of course, when I put it to sleep via the Apple menu, it doesn't lock it in my case. Because I set it up that way. You can chose the duration after which it asks you the password/Touch ID (or if it asks you at all).

 

[Taipan]

Did you ever find a real solution to this?

They are in the Finder menu, so choose Finder as the app to add a shortcut for.

But that‘s not true, the Sleep command is found in the Apple menu, which is accessible from all apps. And it does work in other apps, but not when set to „All Applications“. If you have to switch to the Finder first, it‘s still impossible to use blindly, defeating the purpose (at least in my case).

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Did you ever find a real solution to this?

I set a custom shortcut for it!

 

[Taipan]

I set a custom shortcut for it!

Did you set it to work only in the Finder app? I‘m trying to set it up with „all applications“, but it doesn‘t seem to work.

 

[DeltaMac]

Maybe you can make this simple?
Press the power button, then release when the shutdown menu screen pops up (should be, at most, 2 seconds.
Don't hold power longer than that, as it will shut off completely, and that's probably not what you want... )
Press "S" when you see the shutdown menu, which should immediately sleep your mini.
(I might be totally off on this, as I don't have an "M" mini, only a 2018, so the power button might not do that on a newer mini -- but worth trying, I think.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

Did you set it to work only in the Finder app? I‘m trying to set it up with „all applications“, but it doesn‘t seem to work.

- Select "All applications"
- Find the exact name of the feature under the Apple logo in the menu bar (I think in English it will be "Sleep" or something like that)
- Enter it there + add a shortcut

You are basically adding a shortcut for a specific menu item with a precise name!

Maybe you can make this simple?
Press the power button, then release when the shutdown menu screen pops up (should be, at most, 2 seconds.
Don't hold power longer than that, as it will shut off completely, and that's probably not what you want... )
Press "S" when you see the shutdown menu, which should immediately sleep your mini.
(I might be totally off on this, as I don't have an "M" mini, only a 2018, so the power button might not do that on a newer mini -- but worth trying, I think.

That’s too long tbh! It’s fine the way I have it now, can’t think of anything shorter except if pressing the power button would do it with a short tap, like it used to be years ago I believe.

But right now this will just lock it and keep the display on. I however wish to not lock it, but turn off the display (and put the Mac to sleep).

Perhaps someone knows if there’s an easy (macOS-native) way to set this up for the power button?

 

[DeltaMac]

So, you don't get the shutdown menu when you press power button (hold for less than 2 seconds), and release?
And, it simply locks the screen?
That's a different response from my intel mini.
Is there another way to bring up the shutdown window from your keyboard?
That's only 2 strokes to full sleep then: shutdown menu, then press S.
No, not just one key press, but not sure if I could say "That's too long tbh!"

 

[Taipan]

AFAIK, there‘s no (preconfigured) way to invoke the shutdown menu with the Touch ID keyboard.

 

[Silly John Fatty]

So, you don't get the shutdown menu when you press power button (hold for less than 2 seconds), and release?
And, it simply locks the screen?
That's a different response from my intel mini.
Is there another way to bring up the shutdown window from your keyboard?
That's only 2 strokes to full sleep then: shutdown menu, then press S.
No, not just one key press, but not sure if I could say "That's too long tbh!"

Exactly, it locks the screen but the screen stays on! I can't find a menu option to bring the shutdown window. I know it used to be possible on much older OSs. But the entire menu seems to be missing on Ventura.

Maybe there's also no use to have the shutdown window. It's just one extra step that's realistically never needed, is it?

And yes that would be too long for me btw - if there's no reason for it to be longer, it shall not be. These kinds of things accumulate. One thing that takes a second more, then another … not just talking about computers here. It really accumulates and our lives are short. My computer is just the means for higher purposes. Do you really want to spend your precious time on earth browsing shutdown windows? Think about it … 😛

 

[Taipan]

- Select "All applications"
- Find the exact name of the feature under the Apple logo in the menu bar (I think in English it will be "Sleep" or something like that)
- Enter it there + add a shortcut

You are basically adding a shortcut for a specific menu item with a precise name!

I did that, but it didn't work when using "All applications", only when using single specific applications. But I found help in another thread:
It started working when I enabled "Use F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys". Strangely enough, it continued to work after disabling this setting again after having set the shortcut.
Do you have this enabled?

 

[whshep]

Press the Touch ID button for about one second. The login screen will appear. Wait. After about 30 seconds, it will go to sleep. I haven't found this documented anywhere, unfortunately; not sure why, as the Apple Keyboard Shortcut Help page gives the options for non-Touch ID Macs, but nothing about this.

This does lock the screen, so if you want sleep without lock, follow the instructions above to create a keyboard shortcut.

Another option would be to use a third-party utility like LaunchBar, Alfred, or Keyboard Maestro. In LaunchBar, invoking it, then typing SLE gives me a Sleep command.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Press the power button, then release when the shutdown menu screen pops up (should be, at most, 2 seconds.

For my M1 Mac mini, press+hold the power button for ~2 seconds doesn’t show the shut down dialog, it appears to put the Mac directly to sleep.

EDIT: Actually, it’s really any amount of hold (i.e., even ~1 second). A (quick) press appears not to trigger any action.