OS X Lion: New Keyboard Shortcut for “Don’t Save”

As I pointed out in a previous tip, it’s pretty great to be able to dismiss “Save As” boxes without having to use your mouse. But in Lion, the Apple lunkheads broke the Command-D shortcut to select “Don’t Save.” I could write an angry letter or picket the Cupertino campus, but instead, I’m writing about the new shortcut that they changed it to. That’s much healthier, don’t you think?

When you hit Command-W to close an unsaved document’s window (or click on the red “stoplight” button at the upper-left of the window), you’ll of course be asked if you’d like to save.

In Snow Leopard, you could choose “Don’t Save” from the keyboard by hitting Command-D. For Lion, the shortcut is now Command-Delete. You’re done. You don’t have to learn a darn thing more. Whew.

Remember, though, that programs compatible with Auto Save in Lion will only show the dialog box above if you haven’t already saved your document. If the file you’re working on has been saved somewhere, you can close its window any time you’d like without having to deal with any nonsense.