macOS Tips & Tricks
A list of 25 hacks to make you your most productive self
Once you learn these 25 macOS tips, you won’t know how you lived without them! Be sure to try them out and share with colleagues!
1.) SCREENSHOT PART OF YOUR SCREEN
To take a snapshot of any area of your screen, press Command + Shift + 4.
2.) COMPLETE CURRENCY CONVERSIONS IN SPOTLIGHT SEARCH
Press Command + Spacebar to open Spotlight Search to do math computations and conversions.
3.) QUICKLY PREVIEW FILES
Want to preview a file? Just highlight it and press the Spacebar.
4.) RENAME FILES
Click a file to highlight it and press Return on the keyboard. Once the file name is changed, press Return again to save it.
5.) ADD SIGNATURE TO DOCUMENTS
Sign papers by adding a signature to the preview app. Go to the ‘Preview’ app then go to Tools > Annotate > Signature > Manage Signatures.
6.) QUIT ANY WINDOW
Hold Command + Q to close open programs.
7.) GET MORE SCREEN SPACE BY HIDING THE DOCK
Go to Settings > Dock & Menu Bar to control the visibility of the dock.
8.) PASTE WITH STYLE MATCHING
To make pasted content the same style as the content that already exists, press Option + Shift + Command + V.
9.) TURN A WEBSITE INTO A DOCK APP
Do you visit a specific website often? Highlight the URL address of the site, drag it to the right section of the dock, and drop it. Now, it will be alongside all of your most-used apps.
10.) FLIP THE SCROLL DIRECTION
Typically, moving your fingers down the touchpad of your Mac makes the page travel down. To flip this so the view travels up while your fingers move down, open System Preferences > Trackpad > Scroll & Zoom > mark Scroll Direction: Natural.
11.) UNLOCK MAC WITH YOUR APPLE WATCH
Make sure your Mac has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on and that your devices have the same Apple ID. Your Apple ID should use two-factor authentication and your Apple Watch should use a passcode. To set the feature, open System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General > select “Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac.”
12.) INSTANTLY LOOK UP WORDS IN THE DICTIONARY
Not sure what a word means? Highlight the word and press Command + Control + D to look it up.
13.) FIND YOUR CURSOR
Let’s be honest, cursors are small and it’s easy for them to get lost. Just wiggle the cursor back and forth (or run your finger back and forth on the trackpad) and it will grow in size. Stop moving the cursor to shrink it back to normal.
14.) RECORD YOUR SCREEN
To record a portion of your screen or the whole thing, open QuickTime Player > File > New Screen Recording.
15.) ADD FOREIGN OR ACCENTED CHARACTERS
If you need to use the letter ‘á,’ hold the letter ‘a’ key down. After a slight pause, multiple options of letter variants will appear above the letter. Choose the letter you want, and it will be inserted.
16.) DELETE FILES INSTANTANEOUSLY
On Macs, deleted files first go to the Trash bin before being permanently deleted. To avoid the Trash bin, select the file you wish to delete and press Option + Command + Delete.
17.) CREATE DUPLICATE FILES
To create an identical file as a template, right-click on the file, select Get Info > check the Stationary Pad box.
18.) SAVE SCREENSHOTS TO A PARTICULAR FOLDER
By default, all Mac screenshots are saved to your desktop. To create a specific folder for screenshots to automatically save to, take a screenshot and select Option > Other Location. Then create a new folder.
19.) ADD EMOJIS
Press Control + Command + Space to launch the emoji selector.
20.) MINIMIZE THE FRONT WINDOW TO THE DOCK
To minimize the front window, press Command + M. To minimize all windows of the front app, press Option + Command + M.
21.) OPEN A NEW TAB
Open a new tab by pressing Command + T.
22.) FORCE QUIT AN APP
To quickly force quit an app, press Option + Command + Escape.
23.) CREATE A NEW FOLDER IN THE FINDER
Quickly create a new folder by pressing Shift + Command + N.
24.) PUT YOUR MAC TO SLEEP
Press Option + Command + Power Button to put your Mac to sleep.
