13 ms·

Mac OS X hidden features and nice tips & tricks

341 points by franze 16y ago

tristian 16y ago
Wow, I just saw this nugget in one of the comments: VI mode for the standard Terminal. Add "set -o vi" to your profile and you get access to same modality and commands of VI. Damn, I wish I knew about this option earlier.
- spacemanaki 16y ago
  Note that I think that's a Bash thing, and the default is Emacs-style bindings (C-a, C-e, C-p, C-n) which include C-r for reverse interactive search of the history. I use that every day, a dozen or more times.
  - fkcek 16y ago
    My favorite is C-t to correct typos like 'liek' instead of 'like', I put the cursor between the e and the k and i press C-t.
  - graywh 16y ago
    It's actually a Readline thing.
    - spacemanaki 16y ago
      Yeah, that makes sense. Still, my point was that it's not specific to Terminal.app, so someone on another Unix would probably find it useful.
    - CountSessine 16y ago
      Something I've always wondered though - did emacs take them from readline or did readline take them from emacs? How old is readline? Where did all of those C-a, C-e, etc conventions come from?
      - mturmon 16y ago
        They came from emacs. Readline is now around v6, readline v2 seems to have been from the mid 1990s. There is a smaller set of standard commands for killing (C-h for char, C-w for word, C-u for line) which are used in many terminal apps. They are orthogonal to emacs, and probably about as old (1970s).
        spudlyo 16y ago
        Those emacs style editing commands actually came from TECO in the 70s. Crazy that those editing commands are hardwired into my brain nearly 40 years later.
- bittersweet 16y ago
  This one is not OSX specific though. I've tried it and can not get used to it even though I'm a VIM user at heart. I think not seeing the mode I'm in was tripping me up.
rtaycher 16y ago
Is there a similar one for linux?
- billybob 16y ago
  There are StackExchange sites for Unix & Linux: http://unix.stackexchange.com/ http://unix.stackexchange.com/ ... and for Ubuntu specifically: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/7716/ubuntu http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/7716/ubuntu You could search there.
gurraman 16y ago
I did not read the entire list, but my favorite "trick": CMD + SHIFT + g ... in Finder (or an open-file-dialog) opens up a "Go to folder"-dialog in which you can tab-complete your way to the desired destination. It's not perfect, but makes fs-navigation bearable in Finder.
- stricken 16y ago
  Oh, wow, I didn't realise you could tab-complete as well. Thanks!
- gurraman 16y ago
  Ah, #4 in the original post. It's a good feature that deserves extra mention though :)
nikcub 16y ago
The big one that I went through recently was killing startup items. You tend to hoard them over time, especially with a dev machine. Look in, and clear out in /Library/StartupItems and /System/Library/StartupItems Like any good UNIX, there are a dozen other ways that applications can launch themselves in OS X, so run a ps and find processes that you don't need and figure out where they are being started. I alias everything in bash to run the scripts manually when I need them (eg. 'apu' starts apache, 'ngu' starts nginx, 'vbx' sets up virtualbox). Saves a ton of memory and gets boot time down to seconds rather than minutes.
- experimental 16y ago
  I trust you know what you are doing. I'd like to warn others to be careful of what is removed, especially if you didn't put it there. The price is stability.
  - experimental 16y ago
    Can somebody explain how this doesn't contribute to the discussion? I was trying not to tell nikcub something they may already know, and trying to be helpful for anyone else while not making assumptions on the knowledge of anyone else.
    - nikcub 16y ago
      I have no idea, I thought it was a valid point and probably something I should have mentioned
- whimsy 16y ago
  Are you doing anything fancy inside vbx, or is it just a copy of the startup item?
  - nikcub 16y ago
    it is just a shell script that lets me do: vbx xp1 vbx ie7 etc. to setup the network and start the vm with that name
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mrspeaker 16y ago
I couldn't see it in that list, but my favourite can't-live-without shortcut is CMD + ~ to switch between windows of the same app (for example, if you have 10 textmate windows open it will flip between them). CMD + SHFT + ~ to go the other way.
- guygurari 16y ago
  Thanks for mentioning Cmd-Shift-~. It always annoyed me that pressing Cmd-~, releasing, then Cmd-~ again doesn't take you back to the first window (unlike Cmd-Tab). Now I can use this to go back.
- xinsight 16y ago
  I use this frequently. Unfortunately it doesn't work with Photoshop.
  - hboon 16y ago
    The reverse does. cmd+shift+~
- shiny 16y ago
  I use this, but cycling through all of my windows drives me crazy. I've found Witch (http://manytricks.com/witch/ http://manytricks.com/witch/) useful for switching between windows, but it can be a bit slow to load -- I wish OS X had an inbuilt system like it.
xtacy 16y ago
What's even better is that many of the keyboard shortcuts are consistent across many applications. For e.g., Cmd-, opens Application Preferences.
- zacharypinter 16y ago
  Agreed. I miss that shortcut every time I use Windows or Linux.
navs 16y ago
My absolute favorite is cmd+shift+/ which brings up the Help Menu search box. With this I can type any menu item string and execute the item rather than having to remember each shortcut.
- riobard 16y ago
  To be fair, the shortcut should really read "cmd+?". Much easier to remember!
_delirium 16y ago
I like ctrl+opt+cmd+8 to toggle reverse video.
iaskwhy 16y ago
"I love the fact that OS X will scroll the window that the mouse is hovering over, even if another application has focus. That way I can scroll an example that I am coding in TextMate without having to lose keyboard control on TM" This also happens on Windows (at least on Chrome) but Windows goes even further: you can click through a link or button on a non-focused window. On OS X, in order to follow a link or click a button on some non-focused window, you need to activate it by clicking and then click again on the desired link/button. This drives me nuts as I found out I use this all the time on Windows. I call this feature "smart focus".
- anon1385 16y ago
  Command click on buttons in background windows to click them without bringing the window to the front. Works for most things (at least anything using standard cocoa controls), although clicking links in Safari is a notable exception since it still seems to bring the window to the front. You can also command+click and drag background title bars to move those windows without bringing them to the front.
  - iaskwhy 16y ago
    It's a good workaround I guess. I'm still not sure which way is the best. OS X kinda prevents the user from misclicking outside the window while Windows doesn't but if you're in need of some speed (and fewer clicks/keys) then you might prefer the Windows way.
- phsr 16y ago
  This happens between Chrome windows, because you are still within Chrome if you have one of the windows in focus, so Chrome can determine which window you want to scroll by figuring out which one you are hovered over. On Mac, it scrolls even if the application in question is out of focus.
  - iaskwhy 16y ago
    Oh, I didn't know it would work with any window, that's very nice!
thelibrarian 16y ago
One I like is Ctrl+Cmd+d while the pointer is over a word will pop up a small dictionary with a definition of that word. This does not work in every application (e.g. it doesn't work in Chrome or Firefox), but it should work in any Cocoa based application.
bbsabelli 16y ago
Don't post tips here, post them on apple.stackexchange.com so others can find them...
GeneralMaximus 16y ago
A few I can think of: - Open the Apple menu. Now hold Shift. More menu options! Now try holding Opt. Even more menu options! This works for several Apple applications. - Hold Opt when clicking on a menubar icon for extra information. For example, holding Opt and clicking the WiFi icon in the menubar brings up the signal strength, IP address and other useful information. Likewise for the rest of the icons. - In Spotlight, select an entry in the search results and hit Cmd+Return to go to its parent folder. Opt+Return opens results in a Finder window. - You know you can drop files on dock icons? Did you know you can also drop them on the icons in the app switcher (the thing that comes up when you hit Cmd+Tab)? - This one is a bitch to describe, but very useful. You know you can hit Cmd+M to iconify ("minimize" in Windows-speak) applications to the Dock. But how do you get them back? Just do this: Cmd+Tab to the application, but don't release Cmd yet. Without releasing Cmd, press Opt. Now release Cmd. Done! This is equivalent to clicking the application's icon in the Dock, which means it has more uses than the one I described.
- nfg 16y ago
  > - You know you can drop files on dock icons? Did you know you can also drop them on the icons in the app switcher (the thing that comes up when you hit Cmd+Tab)? This also works with Exposé, it's particularly nice if you set up hot-corners in the system preferences to trigger exposé: 1. Start dragging something. 2. Flick to a corner to tile windows exposé style. 3. Drop the dragged object on the window of your choice.
- xuki 16y ago
  Note: Your 5th trick only works if it's the only window opens. I tried Chrome and iTerm
- bonaldi 16y ago
  That fifth trick is superb. Apps that don't reopen their closed main window when cmd-tabbed to drive me nuts (Mail especially, as there's no shortcut to open the message viewer).
  - xpaulbettsx 16y ago
melling 16y ago
Shouldn't people sign up and put their answers on StackExchange? They have pretty good search built into it. Search: [haskell] mysql This will return all questions tagged haskell that mention mysql. I'd love a HN article search by title, comment, author, or my saved stories.
BasDirks 16y ago
Wow I feel ignorant, great stuff!
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
jws 16y ago
Bring up "About this Mac…" from the apple menu, then click on the OS version number and it will cycle through some extra information including the serial number so you don't have to try to read the 2 point tall, minimal contrast serial number printed on the case.
emehrkay 16y ago
The first two are part of the reason why I hate using Windows at work. The fact that you cannot drag files to their icons and have that file opened in the application seems like something out of the past. To scroll a window in Windows, the window needs to have focus. To scroll a scroll pane in an active window, that pane needs to have focus -- it is maddening especially when hover events work for non-focused windows and panes. I could go on and on, but this isn't a Windows hatefest.
- UnFleshedOne 16y ago
  You can drag files to application icons just fine in windows. You can't drop them on taskbar, but can on desktop (which you can embed into task bar to have immediate access to all your desktop icons with other apps maximized). Just add desktop as a toolbar on the task bar, uncheck all the text and make it take full line, so as not to conflict with running apps. Then drag files onto those icons and they will be opened in new or running instances, whatever apps are designed to do. Edit: so it looks like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15669592/taskbar.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15669592/taskbar.png
- emehrkay 16y ago
  I use spotlight for all kinds of math (12 / 4) * (44 + 35) etc Command + c will copy the highlighted spotlight result. Expose (show all windows) and drag and drop files to that window (i grab the file, while dragging show all windows by either a keybord key or hot corner and drop it to the new window) Hold down command to move around background windows without giving it focus. Ctrl + (arrows or numbers) to go to certain spaces. While in spaces expose, hold down ctrl to move all of the windows of a certain application to another space. Hold down a window's titlebar while switching spaces to move that window to the new space. Drag folders that you frequent into the left side of finder. I have /private/etc in mine Hold down command while clicking or pressing enter on a spotlight result will open its containing folder. How did I forget about keyboard modifiers by holding down the alt key. Drag a file/folder to terminal to get the path to that file printed in terminal. so I often type "cd " and then drag folder to get there While switching apps via command+tab you can let tab go and either hide the application by pressing h or quit it by pressing q (I wish that you could minimize it by pressing m). You can also cycle backwards by pressing tilde (this only works if youre already command+tabbing) or shift+tab * Gone from snow leopard, but i miss it* there used to be a keyboard shortcut (command, option, ctrl space) that opened a list of your last accessed files (i mistakenly found a bunch of porn website cookies on an intern's laptop once). This used to be useful to see which files you needed to upload /ftp.
andrewgleave 16y ago
Hold Ctrl-Shift while moving your cursor over the Dock to temporarily enable magnification. Useful when your Dock is crammed with tiles.
- earl 16y ago
  you can also hold down ctrl and scroll up or down the trackpad with two fingers to magnify the whole screen. Really helpful for zooming in when your laptop is hooked up to a projector.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
maguro 16y ago
What the hell is this crap doing on Hacker News?!?!?!
padmanabhan01 16y ago
Anyone know how to set a default view option across all folders? Like overwriting the previously set option for all folders?
vault_ 16y ago
The coolest hidden feature of OS X is probably the text input system. http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html
matthew-wegner 16y ago
CMD-down will open the selected file in the Finder (same as double-clicking).
- hboon 16y ago
  cmd-o too.
jackery 16y ago
A more comprehensive DB of various tips for MacOS: http://secrets.blacktree.com/ http://secrets.blacktree.com/
mirkules 16y ago
I wish there was a way to do these (like you can in windows), maybe someone knows a way? - Right click a file, "Send To". The nice thing about it is you can add items to the Send To folder so you can have a customized list of apps you can open files with - Right click on a folder and "open in terminal" - Type a path into a finder window and have finder open it
srik 16y ago
View a powerpoint presentation: Option (or Option-Space for fullscreen) My macbook air's measly 64 GB cannot accomodate a seperate powerpoint app, so I use the builtin preview features. It works great.
te_chris 16y ago
Not a native tip, but using hyperdock has made window management on OSX so much nicer thanks to it's smart porting of win 7 features like dock window previews, dragging and window to the top and having it fill the screen. Can't rave about that little app enough!
experimental 16y ago
I don't use OS X, but I thought I'd share a few bits of information. Also this page demonstrates why native local software is so great - no redundancy (exposing a dictionary to all apps), low memory footprint etc. - In 10.6 Snow Leopard, hold Space to zoom in on a window in Exposé. - Not a hint exactly, but there exists at least one unnecessary dissatisfaction people have of Finder. In real life, you cut text and paste it in a scrapbook, but you don't cut an object like a folder with scissors in order to move it. You usually use a hand or two. Therefore the inability to "move" an object using "cut" (Cmd+X) is the correct behavior. Secondly it prevents you from accidentally pasting a file elsewhere, then needing to remember if you meant to do that, or undo. Adding visibility in some way is not enough, and you can still move by dragging the object to the desktop or wherever else. Note: Edited for spacing.

341 points by franze 16y ago

Wow, I just saw this nugget in one of the comments: VI mode for the standard Terminal. Add "set -o vi" to your profile and you get access to same modality and commands of VI. Damn, I wish I knew about this option earlier.

spacemanaki 16y ago
Note that I think that's a Bash thing, and the default is Emacs-style bindings (C-a, C-e, C-p, C-n) which include C-r for reverse interactive search of the history. I use that every day, a dozen or more times.
- fkcek 16y ago
  My favorite is C-t to correct typos like 'liek' instead of 'like', I put the cursor between the e and the k and i press C-t.
- graywh 16y ago
  It's actually a Readline thing.
  - spacemanaki 16y ago
    Yeah, that makes sense. Still, my point was that it's not specific to Terminal.app, so someone on another Unix would probably find it useful.
  - CountSessine 16y ago
    Something I've always wondered though - did emacs take them from readline or did readline take them from emacs? How old is readline? Where did all of those C-a, C-e, etc conventions come from?
    - mturmon 16y ago
      They came from emacs. Readline is now around v6, readline v2 seems to have been from the mid 1990s. There is a smaller set of standard commands for killing (C-h for char, C-w for word, C-u for line) which are used in many terminal apps. They are orthogonal to emacs, and probably about as old (1970s).
      - spudlyo 16y ago
        Those emacs style editing commands actually came from TECO in the 70s. Crazy that those editing commands are hardwired into my brain nearly 40 years later.
bittersweet 16y ago
This one is not OSX specific though. I've tried it and can not get used to it even though I'm a VIM user at heart. I think not seeing the mode I'm in was tripping me up.

rtaycher 16y ago

Is there a similar one for linux?

billybob 16y ago
There are StackExchange sites for Unix & Linux: http://unix.stackexchange.com/ http://unix.stackexchange.com/ ... and for Ubuntu specifically: http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/7716/ubuntu http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/7716/ubuntu You could search there.

gurraman 16y ago

I did not read the entire list, but my favorite "trick": CMD + SHIFT + g ... in Finder (or an open-file-dialog) opens up a "Go to folder"-dialog in which you can tab-complete your way to the desired destination. It's not perfect, but makes fs-navigation bearable in Finder.

stricken 16y ago
Oh, wow, I didn't realise you could tab-complete as well. Thanks!
gurraman 16y ago
Ah, #4 in the original post. It's a good feature that deserves extra mention though :)

nikcub 16y ago

The big one that I went through recently was killing startup items. You tend to hoard them over time, especially with a dev machine. Look in, and clear out in /Library/StartupItems and /System/Library/StartupItems Like any good UNIX, there are a dozen other ways that applications can launch themselves in OS X, so run a ps and find processes that you don't need and figure out where they are being started. I alias everything in bash to run the scripts manually when I need them (eg. 'apu' starts apache, 'ngu' starts nginx, 'vbx' sets up virtualbox). Saves a ton of memory and gets boot time down to seconds rather than minutes.

experimental 16y ago
I trust you know what you are doing. I'd like to warn others to be careful of what is removed, especially if you didn't put it there. The price is stability.
- experimental 16y ago
  Can somebody explain how this doesn't contribute to the discussion? I was trying not to tell nikcub something they may already know, and trying to be helpful for anyone else while not making assumptions on the knowledge of anyone else.
  - nikcub 16y ago
    I have no idea, I thought it was a valid point and probably something I should have mentioned
whimsy 16y ago
Are you doing anything fancy inside vbx, or is it just a copy of the startup item?
- nikcub 16y ago
  it is just a shell script that lets me do: vbx xp1 vbx ie7 etc. to setup the network and start the vm with that name

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

mrspeaker 16y ago

I couldn't see it in that list, but my favourite can't-live-without shortcut is CMD + ~ to switch between windows of the same app (for example, if you have 10 textmate windows open it will flip between them). CMD + SHFT + ~ to go the other way.

guygurari 16y ago
Thanks for mentioning Cmd-Shift-~. It always annoyed me that pressing Cmd-~, releasing, then Cmd-~ again doesn't take you back to the first window (unlike Cmd-Tab). Now I can use this to go back.
xinsight 16y ago
I use this frequently. Unfortunately it doesn't work with Photoshop.
- hboon 16y ago
  The reverse does. cmd+shift+~
shiny 16y ago
I use this, but cycling through all of my windows drives me crazy. I've found Witch (http://manytricks.com/witch/ http://manytricks.com/witch/) useful for switching between windows, but it can be a bit slow to load -- I wish OS X had an inbuilt system like it.

xtacy 16y ago

What's even better is that many of the keyboard shortcuts are consistent across many applications. For e.g., Cmd-, opens Application Preferences.

zacharypinter 16y ago
Agreed. I miss that shortcut every time I use Windows or Linux.

navs 16y ago

My absolute favorite is cmd+shift+/ which brings up the Help Menu search box. With this I can type any menu item string and execute the item rather than having to remember each shortcut.

riobard 16y ago
To be fair, the shortcut should really read "cmd+?". Much easier to remember!

_delirium 16y ago

I like ctrl+opt+cmd+8 to toggle reverse video.

iaskwhy 16y ago

"I love the fact that OS X will scroll the window that the mouse is hovering over, even if another application has focus. That way I can scroll an example that I am coding in TextMate without having to lose keyboard control on TM" This also happens on Windows (at least on Chrome) but Windows goes even further: you can click through a link or button on a non-focused window. On OS X, in order to follow a link or click a button on some non-focused window, you need to activate it by clicking and then click again on the desired link/button. This drives me nuts as I found out I use this all the time on Windows. I call this feature "smart focus".

anon1385 16y ago
Command click on buttons in background windows to click them without bringing the window to the front. Works for most things (at least anything using standard cocoa controls), although clicking links in Safari is a notable exception since it still seems to bring the window to the front. You can also command+click and drag background title bars to move those windows without bringing them to the front.
- iaskwhy 16y ago
  It's a good workaround I guess. I'm still not sure which way is the best. OS X kinda prevents the user from misclicking outside the window while Windows doesn't but if you're in need of some speed (and fewer clicks/keys) then you might prefer the Windows way.
phsr 16y ago
This happens between Chrome windows, because you are still within Chrome if you have one of the windows in focus, so Chrome can determine which window you want to scroll by figuring out which one you are hovered over. On Mac, it scrolls even if the application in question is out of focus.
- iaskwhy 16y ago
  Oh, I didn't know it would work with any window, that's very nice!

thelibrarian 16y ago

One I like is Ctrl+Cmd+d while the pointer is over a word will pop up a small dictionary with a definition of that word. This does not work in every application (e.g. it doesn't work in Chrome or Firefox), but it should work in any Cocoa based application.

bbsabelli 16y ago

Don't post tips here, post them on apple.stackexchange.com so others can find them...

GeneralMaximus 16y ago

A few I can think of: - Open the Apple menu. Now hold Shift. More menu options! Now try holding Opt. Even more menu options! This works for several Apple applications. - Hold Opt when clicking on a menubar icon for extra information. For example, holding Opt and clicking the WiFi icon in the menubar brings up the signal strength, IP address and other useful information. Likewise for the rest of the icons. - In Spotlight, select an entry in the search results and hit Cmd+Return to go to its parent folder. Opt+Return opens results in a Finder window. - You know you can drop files on dock icons? Did you know you can also drop them on the icons in the app switcher (the thing that comes up when you hit Cmd+Tab)? - This one is a bitch to describe, but very useful. You know you can hit Cmd+M to iconify ("minimize" in Windows-speak) applications to the Dock. But how do you get them back? Just do this: Cmd+Tab to the application, but don't release Cmd yet. Without releasing Cmd, press Opt. Now release Cmd. Done! This is equivalent to clicking the application's icon in the Dock, which means it has more uses than the one I described.

nfg 16y ago
> - You know you can drop files on dock icons? Did you know you can also drop them on the icons in the app switcher (the thing that comes up when you hit Cmd+Tab)? This also works with Exposé, it's particularly nice if you set up hot-corners in the system preferences to trigger exposé: 1. Start dragging something. 2. Flick to a corner to tile windows exposé style. 3. Drop the dragged object on the window of your choice.
xuki 16y ago
Note: Your 5th trick only works if it's the only window opens. I tried Chrome and iTerm
bonaldi 16y ago
That fifth trick is superb. Apps that don't reopen their closed main window when cmd-tabbed to drive me nuts (Mail especially, as there's no shortcut to open the message viewer).
- xpaulbettsx 16y ago

melling 16y ago

Shouldn't people sign up and put their answers on StackExchange? They have pretty good search built into it. Search: [haskell] mysql This will return all questions tagged haskell that mention mysql. I'd love a HN article search by title, comment, author, or my saved stories.

BasDirks 16y ago

Wow I feel ignorant, great stuff!

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

jws 16y ago

Bring up "About this Mac…" from the apple menu, then click on the OS version number and it will cycle through some extra information including the serial number so you don't have to try to read the 2 point tall, minimal contrast serial number printed on the case.

emehrkay 16y ago

The first two are part of the reason why I hate using Windows at work. The fact that you cannot drag files to their icons and have that file opened in the application seems like something out of the past. To scroll a window in Windows, the window needs to have focus. To scroll a scroll pane in an active window, that pane needs to have focus -- it is maddening especially when hover events work for non-focused windows and panes. I could go on and on, but this isn't a Windows hatefest.

UnFleshedOne 16y ago
You can drag files to application icons just fine in windows. You can't drop them on taskbar, but can on desktop (which you can embed into task bar to have immediate access to all your desktop icons with other apps maximized). Just add desktop as a toolbar on the task bar, uncheck all the text and make it take full line, so as not to conflict with running apps. Then drag files onto those icons and they will be opened in new or running instances, whatever apps are designed to do. Edit: so it looks like this: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15669592/taskbar.png http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15669592/taskbar.png
emehrkay 16y ago
I use spotlight for all kinds of math (12 / 4) * (44 + 35) etc Command + c will copy the highlighted spotlight result. Expose (show all windows) and drag and drop files to that window (i grab the file, while dragging show all windows by either a keybord key or hot corner and drop it to the new window) Hold down command to move around background windows without giving it focus. Ctrl + (arrows or numbers) to go to certain spaces. While in spaces expose, hold down ctrl to move all of the windows of a certain application to another space. Hold down a window's titlebar while switching spaces to move that window to the new space. Drag folders that you frequent into the left side of finder. I have /private/etc in mine Hold down command while clicking or pressing enter on a spotlight result will open its containing folder. How did I forget about keyboard modifiers by holding down the alt key. Drag a file/folder to terminal to get the path to that file printed in terminal. so I often type "cd " and then drag folder to get there While switching apps via command+tab you can let tab go and either hide the application by pressing h or quit it by pressing q (I wish that you could minimize it by pressing m). You can also cycle backwards by pressing tilde (this only works if youre already command+tabbing) or shift+tab * Gone from snow leopard, but i miss it* there used to be a keyboard shortcut (command, option, ctrl space) that opened a list of your last accessed files (i mistakenly found a bunch of porn website cookies on an intern's laptop once). This used to be useful to see which files you needed to upload /ftp.

andrewgleave 16y ago

Hold Ctrl-Shift while moving your cursor over the Dock to temporarily enable magnification. Useful when your Dock is crammed with tiles.

earl 16y ago
you can also hold down ctrl and scroll up or down the trackpad with two fingers to magnify the whole screen. Really helpful for zooming in when your laptop is hooked up to a projector.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

maguro 16y ago

What the hell is this crap doing on Hacker News?!?!?!

padmanabhan01 16y ago

Anyone know how to set a default view option across all folders? Like overwriting the previously set option for all folders?

vault_ 16y ago

The coolest hidden feature of OS X is probably the text input system. http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~jrus/site/cocoa-text.html

matthew-wegner 16y ago

CMD-down will open the selected file in the Finder (same as double-clicking).

hboon 16y ago
cmd-o too.

jackery 16y ago

A more comprehensive DB of various tips for MacOS: http://secrets.blacktree.com/ http://secrets.blacktree.com/

mirkules 16y ago

I wish there was a way to do these (like you can in windows), maybe someone knows a way? - Right click a file, "Send To". The nice thing about it is you can add items to the Send To folder so you can have a customized list of apps you can open files with - Right click on a folder and "open in terminal" - Type a path into a finder window and have finder open it

srik 16y ago

View a powerpoint presentation: Option (or Option-Space for fullscreen) My macbook air's measly 64 GB cannot accomodate a seperate powerpoint app, so I use the builtin preview features. It works great.

te_chris 16y ago

Not a native tip, but using hyperdock has made window management on OSX so much nicer thanks to it's smart porting of win 7 features like dock window previews, dragging and window to the top and having it fill the screen. Can't rave about that little app enough!

experimental 16y ago

I don't use OS X, but I thought I'd share a few bits of information. Also this page demonstrates why native local software is so great - no redundancy (exposing a dictionary to all apps), low memory footprint etc. - In 10.6 Snow Leopard, hold Space to zoom in on a window in Exposé. - Not a hint exactly, but there exists at least one unnecessary dissatisfaction people have of Finder. In real life, you cut text and paste it in a scrapbook, but you don't cut an object like a folder with scissors in order to move it. You usually use a hand or two. Therefore the inability to "move" an object using "cut" (Cmd+X) is the correct behavior. Secondly it prevents you from accidentally pasting a file elsewhere, then needing to remember if you meant to do that, or undo. Adding visibility in some way is not enough, and you can still move by dragging the object to the desktop or wherever else. Note: Edited for spacing.