Homerow For Mac

Just when you think there’s something that a mouse is essential for, along comes an app that lets you do it with the keyboard instead.

Homerow gives you the ability to navigate an app’s interface simply by typing — using a Spotlight-like search bar to filter UI elements. It works even with apps that were not designed with keyboard use in mind, particularly native ones; support for many non-native apps has been integrated as well.

You can bring up the search bar with Cmd+Shift+Space. Then, just type the name of a specific UI element to highlight it, and press Enter to trigger a click. You can right-click with Shift+Enter and Cmd-click with Cmd+Enter.

If an exact match is not found, or if there are multiple matches, you can cycle through them using the arrow keys or hold down Shift and type its generated label.

If you use the feature a lot, you can even disable the search function altogether. In this case, when using the hotkey, all labels will be displayed for all visible UI elements.

For some items, it can be difficult to figure out what to search for to activate them. To see the element’s title, you can simply place the cursor over it or press ? while it is highlighted.

Homerow might not seem like the most efficient way to navigate an interface, but it can be invaluable for users who are highly adept at using keyboard hotkeys. It can speed up repetitive workflows, especially once you learn the names of UI elements.

Alternatively, if you can’t use a mouse for any reason, this app gives you another way to select and click parts of the UI.

It should work with most native apps, and a lot of popular software running on non-native code is also supported. Some apps, like Firefox and Spotify, might have some issues, but they are disabled by default.