17 Cool Mac Tricks You Should Know (2018)

No ane can deny the fact that macOS is a great operating organization. Since I bought my get-go Mac, I have fallen in dearest with it and have never looked dorsum. Although I have been using a Mac since last ii to three years, I am always fascinated by its hidden features which I keep on finding, time and again. Especially with the macOS updates, like macOS Sierra and macOS High Sierra bringing some great hidden features. In fact, over fourth dimension I have congenital a listing of Mac tricks which are not but absurd merely also applied when information technology comes to regular day-to-24-hour interval utilise. Today, I am going to share this list with you. Some of yous might already know some of the tricks on the list only I am pretty sure none of y'all volition know all of them. So, if you are ready to learn something new about your Mac, hither are 17 cool Mac tricks you may not know:

Cool Mac Tricks Yous Should Know

i. Show Full File Path In Finder

When I kickoff moved from the Windows to the macOS organization, the matter which frustrated me the most was its file organisation structure. I always knew where my files were on my Windows machine as I could categorise the files in different drives and folders. Since the Finder saves all the files in one drive and the only way you could organise files is by creating folders, it becomes confusing specially for the new users. Moreover, unlike Windows, there's no file path shown in the Finder window which makes information technology harder to navigate.

Fortunately, there'south a way using which you lot can the file path in the Finder window. To exercise that, open the Terminal app, copy and then paste the post-obit command, and hitting return/enter.

defaults write com.apple tree.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool Yep; killall Finder

Now you will be able to see the file path in the Finder window (look at the pictures for clarity). To become back to the original setting just supervene upon the word "Yes" with "NO" in the code block.

two. Batch Rename Files

In my work, I have to take a lot of screenshots and renaming them one past 1 can be a pain. I am sure, at some indicate in fourth dimension, you might too take felt the need of renaming multiple files. Well if y'all did, there's an easy mode to practice that on your Mac. Merely select all the files and right click (control+click). Now, Select the "Rename 10 items" from the right click menu.

Yous will at present encounter a drib downwards menu where y'all can select the format and cull your naming scheme. If you can't encounter the format option (yous might see "Replace or Add together Text"choice), simply click on the menu item and select "Format". Look at the picture show below for more clarity.

3. Lock Your Mac with Keyboard Shortcut (Needs High Sierra)

Some other cool Windows feature which was missing in macOS was the lack of a keyboard shortcut to lock your device. The only way to lock your Mac was to arrive sleep. The major trouble for me because of this was that I had to go along my Mac unlocked while I was downloading something which is not an ideal situation. But, now with macOS High Sierra, you go the choice to lock your Mac with a keyboard shortcut. To lock your Mac, just hit "Control+Command+Q" and it volition lock your device. Alternatively, you can too access the picture by clicking on the Apple menu.

4. Create Smart Folder To Automatically Categorise Files

Smart Folders are a feature that virtually of the Mac users know almost but rarely use. Even so, I would debate that they can be very useful if you know how to utilize them. For example, I have a Smart Folder which pulls all the written documents created in the terminal week and keep it there. Thus, my writing binder is not cluttered while still giving me access to previous weeks files. In the aforementioned way, I have a folder which saves all the pictures (screenshots) taken in the last 24 hours. You tin blueprint the Smart Folder equally per your piece of work blazon.

To create a Smart Folder, open Finder, click on the file menu and select "New Smart Folder". Yous volition meet a folder open where you can set rules equally per requirement. To add rules click on the (+) icon. For example, I have my rules fix to show all files which have been created in last one calendar week (1st dominion) which are documents (2nd rules). It might take a fiddling time to utilise the Smart Folders but once you practise you will never go back.

v. Rapidly Type Emojis on Mac

Emojis are loved by almost everyone. This is a craze which is refusing to dice. Although, you might take known that y'all can use emojis on your Mac, did y'all know that y'all could fetch them with a simple keyboard shortcut, I didn't think then. To become to emoji keyboard, just hitting the following key philharmonic, "Control+Command+Space" and the emojis will appear out of nowhere.

6. Enhance Your Spotlight Search

For me, Spotlight is the primal to my productivity on my Mac. It allows me to quickly find files and launch programs which otherwise would take a lot of time. We all search for things in the Spotlight by typing the full name, but there's even a quicker style to do that. Instead of typing the proper name, you can just type the initials of the app or the file yous are searching for. For example, you can type "AS" for App Store, GB for Garage Band, and then on.

1 cool affair which might not that be practical but is fun to use is searching in the Spotlight using emojis. Yes. y'all read that right. You tin can type emojis in your spotlight to search. For example, you can apply the pizza emoji to observe pizza places nigh you. Not really useful, but still a fun play tricks to check out.

7. Enable Double Tap To Insert Menses (Needs Sierra)

Something which I like well-nigh smartphone keyboards is that they use unconventional means to make your typing experience smoother and quicker. One of the features that aid in doing that is the double tapping on the space button to insert a period. Well, if you wanted that characteristic on your Mac, in that location's a manner y'all tin can do that. Just go to, System Preferences->Keyboard->Text and enable the "Add together flow with double-space" option.

viii. Change Dock's Hiding and Showing Animation

The Terminal is a very handy tool which can be used to change a ton of features on the Mac. The next few tricks will be utilising the Final on the Mac, so let's get started with the beginning one. Most of the users who desire to utilise the full desktop infinite tend to continue their dock hidden. However, the animation to show the dock is pretty slow. Thankfully, using a simple command line you can speed up the blitheness or totally remove it if you want to. To disable the blitheness, open the Terminal and paste the following command and hit enter/return.

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -int 0;killall Dock

To speed upwardly the animation, use the post-obit control.

defaults write com.apple tree.dock autohide-fourth dimension-modifier -float 0.12;killall Dock

To go back to the original settings, paste the following command.

defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier;killall Dock

Unfortunately, I cannot prove the results in a flick, so try it out for yourself and decide on the one you lot want to keep.

9. Keep The Mac Awake

We all know that Mac'due south go to sleep after a lilliputian while of inactivity and virtually of the time it is good as it saves power. But, when you lot are downloading a large file the aforementioned feature becomes irritating, to say the least. Of form, yous could get to System Preferences and change the settings just it takes a lot of time and y'all take to modify the settings again afterward you are done. Even so, you tin do the same affair easily by using a elementary Terrminal command.

Caffeinate -i -t 'time in seconds'

Now, the Mac volition not slumber for the amount of time you have specified in your code. Recollect the time is entered in seconds so summate accordingly.

ten. Change Screenshot File Type

The Screenshots you accept on your Mac are saved in the PNG format. Although in that location are a lot of advantages of using PNG files (for example, they are lossless), they also come up with a major drawback. PNG files are generally much larger in size as compared to other file formats such as JPG. JPG files accept less space while retaining almost the same epitome quality. This as well makes them the go-to format for sharing around the internet. Using a elementary Terminal control, y'all tin tell your Mac to save the screenshots in the format you want. For taking a screenshot in JPG format, apply the following control.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

You lot can too relieve the screenshot straight in the PDF format. Merely supersede the word jpg in the command line with PDF or PNG to go back to the default format.

11. Know Which Apps Are Subconscious

I always prefer the hiding function in the macOS over the minimising function every bit the hiding function allows me to bring back the app by simply using the "Command+Tab" keyboard shortcut, something I cannot exercise if I have minimised the app. Yet, if you lot have kept a lot of apps on your dock, there'southward no way to exactly know which of them are hidden merely by looking at it. An piece of cake way you can use to identify the hidden apps is by using the following Concluding command:

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool Truthful; killall Dock

Now, whenever you lot hide an app'southward window the app's icon will be a picayune greyed out as shown in the pic. If you look closely you can run across that the Last and the Safari icon are a little chip greyed out. To revert back, just replace the word TRUE with Fake inside the code.

12. Use Siri To Go More Things Done (Needs Sierra)

At first glance, Siri might not seem that useful on the macOS. However, it can make your life easier if you allow it. You can alter organisation preferences, send out a tweet, search on the web, pin the results of your search on the "Today Panel", and practice so much more. To add the search results to your "Today Panel", just click on the + sign present at the top of the result.

Too, macOS High Sierra allows you to type to Siri which co-ordinate to me is a more convenient method if yous are on a Mac. To enable type to Siri, go to Organization Preferences->Accessibility->Siri and enable "Blazon to Siri".

13. Accelerate Multi-text Selection

If you want to select multiple blocks of text and paste it somewhere else, yous don't accept to do it separately for each block. Just concord the Command button and select the blocks you want to and then re-create it.

At present when you paste the text anywhere all the text blocks will be pasted together merely as shown in the picture.

14. Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are one of the most important tools in a Mac user's arsenal. They allow you to get more work done without fifty-fifty lifting your fingers away from the keyboard. Although, apps come with their own inbuilt keyboard shortcuts, did yous know you can create your own shortcuts for any app? I love this characteristic as it has helped me to improve my productivity by getting the things done quicker.

For instance, there's no keyboard shortcut for resizing photos in the preview app and since I employ that office a lot, I created one for myself. To create a shortcut go to System Preferences->Keyboard->Shortcuts->App Shortcut. At present click on the + button and follow the instruction on the screen to create your ain shortcut.

15. Sign Documents Using TrackPad

Did you know that you tin easily sign documents on your Mac digitally? There's no reason to print the whole document, sign information technology, scan information technology, and and then uploading it. Only open the PDF in Preview and click on the markup button. Now select the signature choice and then Trackpad. Here, you can record your signature and then drag and drop information technology in the signature field.

16. Elevate Motion picture-in-Moving-picture show Mode Player Anywhere (Needs Sierra)

Apple introduced the Picture-in-Picture mode in Safari with macOS Sierra. If yous do not know how to apply this feature, information technology is pretty elementary. Whenever y'all are playing a video in Safari, only double right click on the video and select the picture-in-motion picture fashion option.

However, the just problem with this part was that the window only snapped to whatever of the 4 corners. If you desire to snap the window to anywhere on the desktop just hold the 'Control' button while moving it. That style the window will remain in the position where you left information technology and won't snap to any corner.

17. Minutely Control Brightens And Book

The function rows at the pinnacle of your keyboard come in very handy when changing the brightness or the volume on your Mac. However, there's one problem which I encounter when using those keys. The first few steps tend to brand no difference while the final few seem to pack the 50-seventy% of the output. If you want to control the book or the brightness more minutely merely hold Shift+Option while changing them. Now the change will occur at a quarter of the step ane time, giving you more than control over them.

Meet Also: How to Add Spaces and Organize Apps in Dock on Mac

Utilise These Cool macOS Tricks to Enhance Your Mac Experience

Well, those were some cool Mac tricks that I use in my daily experience with macOS. I hope you found some new tricks which will help you to get the nigh out of your Mac. I would also urge you to share your favourite tricks which are not on the list to help the community. Information technology's always overnice to see the customs interacting in the annotate section. Do tell us your thoughts in the annotate section below.

Source: https://beebom.com/cool-mac-tricks/

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