What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for Sleep Display Without Eject Key?

Question

I read that if you want to put your display into sleep the keyboard shortcut is Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Eject ⏏, but what is it in Mountain Lion or Lion using a retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air without an eject button?

The combination 'control-eject' is a shortcut for 'power'. (ADB keyboards had a real power button, but virtually none of Apple's USB/BT keyboards do.) So 'control-shift-eject' seems like it should be the same as 'shift-power'. Does that combo work for you? — Ken, Aug 06 '12 at 18:48
Is there anything in this question that isn't covered here: [Is there a similarly fast alternative to Crtl + Shift + Eject for new Macbook Air?](http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/18365/) Also relevant are [What's the purpose of the eject button on the MacBook Air?](http://apple.stackexchange.com/q/5736/) and [Put the display to sleep without putting the whole computer to sleep?](http://apple.stackexchange.com/q/27279/) — bmike, Aug 28 '12 at 18:56
@bmike It's probably a duplicate of the first one, but the second one is misleading for owners on 2011 or 2012 Airs and this question is only covered in an answer in the third. — Cajunluke, Aug 28 '12 at 19:05
Since Mavericks (10.9), just the Power button sleeps the display (does not put the computer to sleep). — Jason S, Nov 22 '14 at 12:29

score 34 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 28 '12 at 18:51

34

(At least on the Retina display MacBook Pro) use the Power button the same as you previously used the Eject button. So Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Power puts the display to sleep and Command ⌘+Option ⌥+Power puts the machine to sleep.

edited Aug 28 '12 at 18:51

Cajunluke

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answered Aug 28 '12 at 18:40

Doug Brown

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At any rate, this is the best answer. – Cajunluke Aug 28 '12 at 18:53
@CajunLuke I agree, but my money is on this [other question](http://apple.stackexchange.com/q/5736/) being the best question. – bmike Aug 28 '12 at 19:00
Strangely, this seems to deactivate my USB network adapter at the same time. – mgjk Feb 25 '14 at 13:05
Since Mavericks, just the Power button sleeps the display (without putting the computer to sleep). – Jason S Nov 22 '14 at 12:30

score 4 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 28 '12 at 18:53

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Found two options:

Use BetterTouchTool add global keyboard shortcut and choose Sleep Display.
Use Hot Corners (System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver) and choose Put Display To Sleep. (You can hold down Command ⌘ and then it will only work when you're in the selected corner and while ⌘ is pressed.)

edited Aug 28 '12 at 18:53

Cajunluke

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answered Aug 06 '12 at 18:33

Anonymous

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Hrrm... Call me crazy, but I *think* that's one option. ;) – ravron Aug 06 '12 at 18:34
Ah, there you go. – ravron Aug 06 '12 at 18:36
WOW. I didn't know that a 'Put display to Sleep' even existed. I think Command ⌘ + Hot Corner is the way to go. The Mac is so AWESOME. :D – Leniel Maccaferri Apr 18 '13 at 06:24

score 4 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 29 '12 at 23:43

I finally found the solution to get the same functionality as the previous model (The model with the Eject ⏏ button).

The same thing can be achieved by replacing the Eject ⏏ button with Fn + Power button.

Control ^ + Shift ⇧ + Fn + Power: Turns off your screen

Command ⌘ + Option ⌥ + Fn + Power: Put Macbook to Sleep

All other solutions involved a third party software, a new shortcut or did not work.

Source: https://discussions.apple.com/message/19115443#19115443

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 06 '12 at 18:33

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Found a solution over at the Apple Support Communities:

I just found out that pressing the function (fn) key and the power button calls up a dialog box where you can choose to sleep or shut down (shut down is the default when you press return.

Give it a shot!

answered Aug 06 '12 at 18:33

Terrance Shaw

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sleep the computer or display? – Anonymous Aug 06 '12 at 18:34
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This only allows the user to sleep the computer, not the display. Also, on a sidenote, it doesn't matter whether you press fn or not – the power button does the same thing. At least, that's true for me on 10.8. – ravron Aug 06 '12 at 18:35
That one I'm not entirely sure on. The post over there comes to an abrupt end after the solution is posted. – Terrance Shaw Aug 06 '12 at 18:36

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

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There's a short program on StackOverflow which uses a "semi-undocumented api" to put all displays to sleep.

Putting this in Automator should allow you to hook it to a global keyboard shortcut, I think.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:40

Community

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answered Aug 06 '12 at 20:56

Ken

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score -1 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 19 '14 at 16:07

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you can hold the power button for a little more than 1 second!!

answered Feb 19 '14 at 16:07

Marcel

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and this will put the display to sleep? – nohillside Feb 19 '14 at 19:15

score -3 · Answer 7 · edited May 04 '13 at 05:41

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The difference between putting the display to sleep and putting the computer to sleep might be important to some users:

Ctrl-Shift-Eject ⏏ puts the display to sleep
Opt-Cmd-Eject ⏏ puts the whole computer to sleep

Putting only the display to sleep allows any running programs (including large downloads that are in progress) to continue while you lock your screen (if you have it set to require a password) and leave the computer, while putting the whole computer to sleep will stop a download's progress as soon as you put it to sleep.

edited May 04 '13 at 05:41

nohillside

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answered May 04 '13 at 02:21

costarec

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This does not answer the question which is about how to put the display to sleep **without** the eject key (not present on devices without an optical drive) – Matteo May 04 '13 at 06:26

What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for Sleep Display Without Eject Key?

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