10 ms·

macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

587 points by pavel_lishin 2y ago

p_ing 2y ago
For a mouse-first OS, there sure is a heavy dep on keyboard modifiers. Day to day it doesn't bother me so much, and I even like some of them, but so much functionality is hidden with no mouse-based option. Opt-Shift-V? :/ Windows does this much, much better. I can't think of a feature where you need to use the Windows key to modify the options presented in the GUI (though the Windows key has some unique shortcuts). I'm sure someone else will correct me. Apple has a concise list of keyboard shortcuts/modifiers listed here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650
- jez 2y ago
  Many of these features Windows has no analogue for. Consider: > By default, clicking inside a scroll bar will scroll partially towards the clicked location. Hold Option while clicking in the scroll bar to jump directly to the clicked location. There is no way to present this option in the GUI without cluttering up the scroll bar, so neither Windows nor macOS do so. But at least this feature is available for power users. I admit that in places where there IS space in the UI (menu bar, right click), I find it odd that the option-variants are not listed unless option is actively being held.
  - cosmic_cheese 2y ago
    > I find it odd that the option-variants are not listed unless option is actively being held. Most likely to keep menus reasonably short and usable, which is particularly important on the smaller Macbooks and on iPads in Sidecar mode which can easily turn long menus into scrolling messes. Also, progressive disclosure. This way allows the options to exist without overwhelming less technical users.
  - hu3 2y ago
    > Many of these features Windows has no analogue for. Holding Shift and clicking scrollbar does jump directly to the clicked location on Windows.
efortis 2y ago
Nice list! If you need a pixel ruler, ⇧⌘4 and hit Escape to discard the screenshot
- bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
  There's also this: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/free-ruler/id1483172210?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/free-ruler/id1483172210?mt=12
Philpax 2y ago
Does anyone have any advice for making the most of the Dock? I find it pretty unhelpful coming from an older Windows / Linux background: I just want easy access to the windows that are open on my current workspace on my current monitor, and it seems ill-suited to that. I usually have it on auto-hide because it takes up space without providing much value. I'm aware that I can do the three finger swipe to look at all of my windows, but that takes over my full screen and the previews constantly move location, so I can't build any muscle memory for it. Really, I'm just looking for a classic, unobtrusive task switcher that lets me quickly navigate through what's on my screen without having to muddle through anything else (i.e. the Windows taskbar with all collapsing turned off) Edit: I appreciate the suggestions about using Cmd+Tab or Raycast or Exposé or such, but I'm really just looking for a taskbar equivalent that doesn't require me to use a hotkey or switch "visual contexts". I want something that's persistent and shows the visible applications and their windows, and lets me click on them to raise them. A big part of this for me is being able to see what I have open at a glance, especially due to macOS's historically poor window management. Edit edit: This is on me for using the words "task switcher" - that brings to mind Alt-Tab when I really meant to refer to the taskbar.
- p_ing 2y ago
  You can try dockdoor to get Windows-style hover previews. https://github.com/ejbills/DockDoor/ https://github.com/ejbills/DockDoor/
- ricardonunez 2y ago
  The main thing for me was the windows previews, I used to have hyperdock but stopped showing the windows previews. Right now I am trying DockDoor, so far is ok but you need to speed up the fade animation or it has some annoying behavior (reopens preview if pointer gets hover).
- chii 2y ago
  You can try https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ See if that suits your needs
- kbutler 2y ago
adamnemecek 2y ago
When the Open/Save dialog is open, hit Cmd+Shift+G to open a dialog where one can input the path as a string. Really useful when switching between terminal and GUI.
- js2 2y ago
  That's covered, but it's even easier: Press ~ to open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the home directory. Press / to open it prefilled with the root directory.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
miohtama 2y ago
As a tip for security sensitive users, I would also recommend this third party application to check your macOS security settings: https://paretosecurity.com/mac https://paretosecurity.com/mac
wahnfrieden 2y ago
Discovered today: Cmd-click a window that is not currently focused; it'll register the click without making that window take the foreground
Jotalea 2y ago
Nice. Now I only need a mac.
rationalbeaver 2y ago
"Hold Control and Option while clicking on a window to switch focus to that window without raising it." TIL. Amazing little hack.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  What is this useful for?
  - bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
    Writing in a text field in one window while referring to another window, where the window with the text field would overlap the other window if it were frontmost.
- johnneville 2y ago
  this doesn't work for me on 15.3.1
nomilk 2y ago
Love that this is straight to the point. My tips: - Use Alfred. Game changer. It's an immediate improvement on spotlight search, you can run commands with three keystrokes (rather than opening a terminal, just command + space, then > <cmd>), it gives clipboard history and fast append (lets you press command + c twice fast to append to clipboard, and opt + command + c to search clipboard history), and lets you make 'workflows' to make frequent tasks extremely streamlined (I use one to open LLM prompts in five LLMs, so I press command + space 'llm <prompt>' and 5 browser tabs open with the same prompt in grok, claude, chatgpt, perplexity, and (local) deepseek. - Itsycal: an 'install and forget' calendar for your menu bar (it also uses vim keybindings to move around the calendar which is a fun yet practical easter egg) - There's still no good window manager for macOS. Rectangle is as close as it gets, but it's not good IMO because it only works on non full size windows. (the solution is just get ninja-like with three finger swipe, and endure using the mouse/trackpad more than you'd prefer) - Vivid for double the screen brightness
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- rcarr 2y ago
  Other good windows management options are Hammerspoon and BetterTouchTool: https://www.hammerspoon.org/Spoons/MiroWindowsManager.html https://www.hammerspoon.org/Spoons/MiroWindowsManager.html https://folivora.ai/ https://folivora.ai/
- voltaireodactyl 2y ago
  Fwiw I hear good things about aerospace but haven’t yet had a chance to give it a shot.
  - cjlm 2y ago
    aerospace is good!
  - barrell 2y ago
    Came here to recommend aerospace. It’s been amazing. My whole desktop is like a tmux session now. It’s very much changed how I work/use my computer. More than Rectangle did, more than LLMs have. (I still adore hookshot/rectangle though :)
cosmic_cheese 2y ago
> Hold the Option key while expanding an outline view to recursively expand all children. I use this pretty frequently and it’s always a drag to find when an app doesn’t implement it. It feels so silly to be forced to manually open/close numerous items when most other apps I use can expand/collapse them all in one go.
- brianpan 2y ago
  GitHub uses this shortcut, too. (e.g. Option-click to collapse/expand all PR comments.)
linwangg 2y ago
[dead]
k310 2y ago
I am a cheapskate and use Quicksilver. Command spacebar, app pops up. I hate the Finder. I used to use an app called cols that resized finder windows to an appropriate size. Stuck it in the finder toolbar. I looked for the applescript but can't find it. How tough is it to fill the finder window with all the columns so that the Magic Mouse doesn't wag the columns back and forth? Just fill the window. Cols, anyone?
ldkge 2y ago
It feels like Ms. Casey is narrating these in my head.
- nozzlegear 2y ago
  Your outie uses Alfred.
sooheon 2y ago
> On modal dialogs/sheets, press Command + the first letter of the button to press that button. ⌘. is the shortcut equivalent of the Escape key. This was my favorite, but no longer works on Sequoia or whenever was the version that changed modal dialogs.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
amitgupta6 2y ago
Does anyone know of a good solution to manage menubar on Mac? Have M2 Pro with a notch which hides many of many items and it's so difficult to access them unless I quit a few of them.
- muppetman 2y ago
  Icebar
  - nbbaier 2y ago
    I second Ice - it's great https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice
    - swah 2y ago
      Its good but I kill it frequently..
      - nbbaier 2y ago
        Huh, I've never had to kill it!
- moi2388 2y ago
  Bartender or dozer depending on what you want
- fredoliveira 2y ago
  I have used HiddenBar for a while and it's been pretty solid. It's open-source: https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
nailer 2y ago
> Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Shift command slash, got it. > Press ⌃F2 to move keyboard focus to the application's menu bar. Start typing the first few letters of a menu title to jump to that menu. Control F2? Control shift F2? None of those work on macOS Sequoiua.
- spidey1 2y ago
  Try Fn+Control+F2
  - nottorp 2y ago
    You also need Fn on laptops. I just tried it. And it seems to start with focusing the apple menu without opening it, and the focus marker is hard to notice, at least in natural light where I am now.
  - danaris 2y ago
    This will depend on whether you have the function key row set to act as function keys or as special keys (based on the icons printed on them).
mherrmann 2y ago
My favorites: To quickly find text, select some text and press ⌘E followed by ⌘G. In save dialogs, press ⌘= to switch between the compact and expanded layout. In save dialogs, press ~ to open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the home directory. Press / to open it prefilled with the root directory. Hold Option while opening the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth menus to access extra options. After copying a file, press ⌥⌘V to move the file instead of pasting a copy of it. Terminal: Press ⇧⌘A to select the output from the previous command. Press ⌘L to clear the output from the previous command. Press ⌃⌘V to paste and format text that is properly escaped for the shell. Press ⌃T while a command is executing to view runtime statistics about the execution so far.
- nbbaier 2y ago
  > After copying a file, press ⌥⌘V to move the file instead of pasting a copy of it. This one is very cool
  - SkiFire13 2y ago
    Coming from other OSes it's very dumb though, since ⌘X does not work for files (but it does for text! It's really confusing)
    - dkga 2y ago
      My thought exactly!
- georgeck 2y ago
  > To quickly find text, select some text and press ⌘E followed by ⌘G. This is really nice. Once I am in this 'search' mode, I couldn't figure out how to get out of this mode. - Edited to make question more descriptive.
- thomasstuttard 2y ago
  How do you exit the find text, selection mode (⌘E, ⌘G)? I have tried pressing the escape key, with no luck.
achairapart 2y ago
There are so many hidden/obscure keyboard shortcuts in macOS, from time to time a post with a nice collection (and usually some hidden gems) appears on the front page here. But I always wondered if there is a place where you can find all of them, for reference.
- f_allwein 2y ago
  Also pity that macOS makes very little effort to communicate these, so they almost feel like Easter eggs…
- galad87 2y ago
  https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650
notpushkin 2y ago
> Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Then use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate the results and press Return to execute that menu bar action. Kinda like command palette for every app, I like it. Would be even better if it preselected the matching option. Unfortunately, this is broken in Firefox – they’ve bound ⌘ ? to their help page, and it opens then immediately closes the Help menu. You can rebind it to something else (e.g. ⌥ ⇧ ⌘ /) in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts → Firefox, menu title: Get Help. One other problem is, it doesn’t always find the command I’m looking for. E.g. when I typed “dev”, it didn’t show “Web Developer Tools” at first. I then checked Tools menu (it was there), then tried typing it in the Help menu again, and sure enough, it found it this time.
- hafta 2y ago
  The menu immediately closing was recently fixed[1] in Firefox 136. We'll look into the content of that menu not working correctly. Thanks. 1. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1935257 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1935257
- liamkearney 2y ago
  Shortcat basically does this. It indexes a lot of native AX APIs and also menu items https://shortcat.app https://shortcat.app
- Dagonfly 2y ago
  I've never gotten this to work on an ISO-keyboard (chunky enter key). It opens "Help" in every single app, even Apple's like Finder or Safari. I've tried GB, German, US-International, and my default EurKey layout. None of them work. This shortcut always felt like an Alt+F4 prank to me.
  - madeofpalk 2y ago
    The help menu is what searches all menu items.
    - 2y ago
AdieuToLogic 2y ago
Regarding Terminal: Press ⌘L to clear the output from the previous command. To unconditionally clear all buffered output, regardless how many commands have been invoked, use ⌘K.
benknight87 2y ago
you guys didn't already know this stuff?
treetalker 2y ago
- I love Shortcat (https://shortcat.app/ https://shortcat.app/). It lets you do almost anything on your screen without having to leave your keyboard. - Also, Houdahspot (https://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/ https://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/) for advanced searching and file-filtering (you can even exclude results from certain folders). It has search templates, saved searches (which appear as files in Finder), and the ability to export the current search as a Smart Folder (amazing!). I just wish that Smart Folders worked on iOS and Dropbox …
azinman2 2y ago
Here’s my tip: Messages stuck with a badge but you have no idea what’s unread / how to clear it? Ask Siri for your unread messages. It’ll go through them and remove the badge.
dilDDoS 2y ago
> When a video is playing, right click the speaker icon in the address bar or tab to enter Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode. You can also double right-click the video itself and enter Picture-in-Picture mode from that menu
guardian5x 2y ago
When i first moved from Windows to MacOS i was shocked there was no default shortcut to start Apps from the Dock, like Windows Key +1, 2, 3 etc. (It is configurable though)
- AnonymousPlanet 2y ago
  Ubuntu Unity had that first, way before Windows had morphed the task bar to something dock like.
mingus88 2y ago
Remember when Mac was intuitive? I dig these cheat sheets but wow, what a total shift in paradigm from when you had one mouse button and if a feature wasn’t discoverable then it wasn’t shipped
- dkga 2y ago
  I think the issue goes beyond this. I get that Apple was always opinionated and wanted to ship intuitive features. Now they lost track of the intuitive and continued with the opinionated part, which degrades the experience in my opinion.
- nottorp 2y ago
  We sure (most) of these features haven't been available for ages?
  - jrmg 2y ago
    Most of these features have been available, for years, if not decades.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  Apple has been using these non-discoverable keyboard modifiers since the very start. I remember using them with System 6 back around 1990. Their design philosophy has always been discoverability for regular features, and then these extra "hidden" features for power users. Nothing has changed.
  - cosmic_cheese 2y ago
    Yep, a number of these tips are Classic Mac OS holdovers.
- kps 2y ago
  For a long time, Macs shipped with a tutorial that trained people to double-click. Unlike a second button, it's not discoverable.
- 2y ago
tannhaeuser 2y ago
All I want is an app that can fix the "broken window" focus management. Like when I click a window, Mac OS brings to top all windows of the respective app, and when an app (say, Finder) has no window open currently, bringing it to front also unaskedly manipulates the stacking order such that other app's windows become the top most one, completely destroying the visual context. Also, back in the days I used Expose a lot to navigate, but it has completely lost any spatial determinism and usefulness for me. These issues are very noticable, and feel gross and like a team of ignorants has messed around; it's very irritating that nobody is speaking about it.
- soulofmischief 2y ago
  I'll never get over the fact that I had to pay $8 just to have two windows split side-by-side without using the obtuse and intrusive fullscreen mode.
  - TrappedInCorner 2y ago
    Made an account just to reply. I use https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/ on Mac and it's great. I mostly use shortcuts Left Half and Right Half, and also Maximize (Not the fullscreen mode thank God) Might as well recommend enabling moving windows around with by clicking anywhere on the window with a keybind just like in most Linux desktop environments https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/321918/move-window-by-clicking-on-any-part-as-on-linux/365860#365860 https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/321918/move-window...
    - wiredfool 2y ago
      I (personally) forked rectangle a few years back to give me thirds of a window, for a 32" display running in 4k@1x. I use (basically) left, middle, right, and top half/bottom half.
      - cbm-vic-20 2y ago
        Rectangle supports thirds, "two-thirds", fourths, "three-fourths", and sixths (top/bottom * thirds).
YcYc10 2y ago
Any recommendations for some kind of file manager to replace finder?
- sandbags 2y ago
  PathFinder is the only one I can think of. I find it overly complicated when all I really need is Finder - the endless jank.
- FeloniousHam 2y ago
  I like ForkLift and QSpace. ForkLift "feels" more Mac native, but QSpace is kind of the everything tool use see in the Windows world.
  - FeloniousHam 2y ago
    QSpace is bad. You can't use it without turning off the firewall: https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1ea3aye/qspace_file_manager/#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20different%20versions,services%20and%20certain%20terminal%20services. https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1ea3aye/qspace_fil... (I like the functionality in QSpace. I just happened to be looking for a Finder replacement a day before this post came out and downloaded whole bunch of them)
ssl232 2y ago
Anyone know how to copy and paste without formatting into Outlook for Mac, without having to click the tiny dropdown box it creates when pasting formatted text? Outlook appears to have no setting for this and also ignores the key combination that works for most other apps…
- daef 2y ago
  dont know whether that works on apple or not - but i just paste into an unformatted textbox (e.g. browser address bar) and copy again from there
- mediumsmart 2y ago
  command-option-shift v maybe?
  - mikestew 2y ago
    …and also ignores the key combination that works for most other apps…
tacker2000 2y ago
I remember a launcher that was kind of bare bones and didnt use spotlight for indexing, it compiled its own index, and was able to do great fuzzy searching, but I forgot the name and cant find it, anyone else have a clue?
- sandbags 2y ago
  Possibly QuickSilver?
  - tacker2000 2y ago
    No, it's not that, it look more "command-line" style, very minimal UI... if that helps
- tonyedgecombe 2y ago
  LaunchBar?
- lycopodiopsida 2y ago
  Certainly LaunchBar as mentioned above.
countrymile 2y ago
How do I right click and add a blank text file to a folder?
- ozim 2y ago
  Switch back to windows - for me that is one of the things I struggle with on MacOS. Creating a file at a path where I have my file explorer is so ingrained in me. It feels awful when I have to open an app then click through to save file where I want all those clicks are supper annoying because I already was in that place. Awful thing getting current path from Finder to paste it in save dialog is also not really easy. So I am just not creating new files on MacOS. On one hand I kind of get the idea that well you start with opening an app and then save your work and most likely it could be in default documents folder. But years of other way I was used to work it feels annoying. Basically I use Windows for like 30 years now and in that last 10 I use MacOs as primary OS for my personal device.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  This one kills me too. I don't miss anything about Windows. Except this. I've been using a Mac for 15 years now, and I still want to right-click and create an empty text document.
- kibbi 2y ago
  I've used Apple's Automator app to add a new custom Quick Action which does exactly this. After right-clicking a folder, the right-click menu shows my custom Quick Action to create an empty text file. This requires about 5 to 10 minutes to set up. You'll find instructions for this on the web or via some LLM. I've looked right now for a suitable article, but the ones I've found are subtly different from my Quick Action. I've asked ChatGPT and its instructions seem to be correct.
- aheckler 2y ago
  I use Supercharge for this. Creates a new text file with ⌥+N. Lots of other handy tweaks as well. https://sindresorhus.com/supercharge https://sindresorhus.com/supercharge
abhaynayar 2y ago
Personal-Bookmarks:: Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Then use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate the results and press Return to execute that menu bar action. Hold Option while resizing a window to resize from the center of the window. Hold Shift while resizing a window to lock the aspect ratio. When a window is inactive, use the Command key to interact with it without making it active. If an app has windows in multiple spaces, click the app's Dock icon repeatedly to cycle through the spaces with that app's windows. Quickly move the Dock to a different side of the screen by holding Shift while dragging the resize handle. Press ⌘B to search the web for the current query. Press ⌘⏎ or ⌘R to reveal the selected file in Finder. Use the name: filter to only search in the filename. Add kind:folder to only search for folder names. Hold Command to show the path to the currently selected file. QuickTime Player: Grab a single frame from a video by pausing on the desired frame (using the Left and Right arrow keys to navigate individual frames) and pressing ⌘C. Photo Booth: Hold Option while taking a picture to skip the countdown. Hold Shift while taking a picture to disable the screen flash.
- extraduder_ire 2y ago
  > Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items This is the one feature I miss most from using macos. I got used to it back when Ubuntu used unity as its DE and called it "HUD". Didn't work everywhere (looking at you, java), but a huge timesaver.
  - TingPing 2y ago
    Ubuntu had to basically patch every toolkit for it to work. Not maintainable.
vbezhenar 2y ago
"Hold Option while double-clicking a window's corner to expand the window to fill the screen." - this is the most important tip for macOS, IMO. I still don't understand what's in their heads that they don't maximise Safari/Preview to the full width by default. I have 32" display and I'm using all my windows maximized, I just don't ever want them side by side or something like that.
- vages 2y ago
  That is because the green button is a «zoom» button, which maximizes the window to display its contained document: https://blog.xoria.org/macos-tips/#window-management https://blog.xoria.org/macos-tips/#window-management I am not sure if I agree with the choice either, but that’s the explanation.
- frizlab 2y ago
  That’s how you work, though. Having Safari fullscreen is really not great for me. Nor Preview. Actually the only thing I have fullscreen (not in its Space) is Xcode. EDIT: I meant window maximized to fill the screen, not fullscreen, which is what option-double-clicking a window corner does.
  - nottorp 2y ago
    Full screen is not the same as maximized to fill the screen.
noname120 2y ago
This might interest you too: https://gist.github.com/devnoname120/4767a0aa18879217170fd0c68809fc24 https://gist.github.com/devnoname120/4767a0aa18879217170fd0c... Disclaimer: I wrote this. It's a random gist that I wrote for me but it somehow got 150+ stars. Tbh I'm not even sure how people even heard about it because I didn't post it anywhere… Either way I guess people seem to like it, so hopefully you will find it useful too!
- jrmg 2y ago
  YMMV, but I’ve found that at least for my display, this: > When Macbook Air M1 is sleeping, external screens connected via USB-C keep waking up every few minutes and then go straight to sleep again. is fixed in Sonoma (yay!)
  - noname120 2y ago
    Good to know thanks for the heads-up! I'll wait for a confirmation from someone else and then update the article
reddalo 2y ago
It's interesting but also annoying because localized versions of macOS don't have the same shortcuts, or at least I cannot make them work. The main problem is that some special characters such as / are in a different key and they also require modifier keys to type them.
soci 2y ago
> Open/Save Dialogs > Drag a file or folder from Finder into an open/save dialog to jump directly to that file. Doesn't work consistently anymore (Sequoia 15.2). Instead of focusing on the file, it moves the file you selected from Finder to the folder shown in the save dialog. It completely breaks the workflow. Surprisingly, it works as expected one out of ten times. It seems to depend on where on the save dialog you drag the file from Finder. Extremely frustrating!
- crazygringo 2y ago
  That's never happened to me. I'm on Sequoia 15.3.1 and just tried it out, and can't get it to move a file at all. It correctly selects the dragged file/folder every time. No matter if I drag it right on top of an existing folder in the open/save dialog. I've just tried with multiple applications. Definitely seems like a bug. Maybe you have some kind of system extension interfering? Or I hate to tell you to reinstall macOS, but hopefully that would fix it?
miki123211 2y ago
And I'll add: cmd+opt+shift+esc force quits the current app (cmd+opt+esc opens the force quit window, as the former doesn't work sometimes). Cmd+q quits the current app, and, when command is held and we're cycling through apps with cmd+tab, it quits the currently selected app. If you need to quit multiple apps at once, hold cmd, press tab to select the apps to quit, and just quit them with q.
varispeed 2y ago
It is weird to say, but I wish macOS had Windows 10 interface. It's incredible to me how backwards macOS is in comparison to W10, that is already deemed clunky. Finder is an abomination, window management seems like embodies ADHD, separate apps needed for basic things like direction of scrolling or switching windows...
cynicalsecurity 2y ago
Is it really a good UI if they need to write a talmud to explain it?
victor106 2y ago
awesome tips. Thanks for posting. For screenshots:- does anyone know of a way to take scrolling screenshots? I often need to take screenshots of webpages that are long.
- jpb0104 2y ago
  Firefox has this built in. That’s how I do it. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/take-screenshots-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/take-screenshots-firefo...
- mkmk 2y ago
  Chrome dev tools > the three little dots at the top right of the window > capture full size screenshot. I always look for it in the three little dots that are next to the 'x' in the dev tools drawer, but it's actually behind the dots in the top nav that show screen dimensions, throttling, device orientation, etc.
aikinai 2y ago
I'm not affiliated, but when this kind of thing comes up, I always want to share GoToFile[0]. As far as I've seen, this is the only app for Mac that doesn't just reuse Spotlight search (which I find to be terrible). I looked for exactly this type of app for years before finding it, and when I did, it didn't seem real with the old-fashioned website and zero mentions on sites like HN. But I can assure that it works great and it's maintained. I just wish the author would promote it better so it gets more attention and isn't so hard to find. [0] https://www.soma-zone.com/GoToFile/ https://www.soma-zone.com/GoToFile/
georgehill 2y ago
My one and only tip: use AI file renaming: https://keepitshot.com https://keepitshot.com. This is the app I have recently fallen in love with. It has drastically improved my file search experience with Spotlight. I am not affiliated with them.
james-bcn 2y ago
A shout-out for https://espanso.org https://espanso.org a wonderful and free text expander configurable in a YAML file.
- n8henrie 2y ago
  Love espanso! Particularly because it is FOSS and cross-platform, allowing me to use my snippets across macOS, Linux, and windows!
donbrae 2y ago
One of my favourite tips is to hold down Command while dragging important apps, files and folders to the Finder toolbar in order to ‘pin’ them. You can then drag files to ‘Open in…’ (eg, images to ImageOptim) or just launch apps.
jbverschoor 2y ago
Don't forget you can drag the proxy-icon from any open document or folder. Handy for the open/save-dialog
Noumenon72 2y ago
> Hold Option while pressing the Page Up/Page Down keys to also move the cursor while scrolling. Not working for me on Sonoma, which is too bad because this always gets me when I think I've scrolled up.
lloeki 2y ago
Huge miss in the "Native UI Conventions" which has a lot of keyboard shortcuts is that emacs/readline shortcuts are supported basically everywhere there's a text field: ^A ^E ^K ^Y opt-left/right behave as expected. Sadly no ^W tho. I always miss that separation between command key and control key in other OSes.
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samch 2y ago
One Windows shortcut that I use habitually is Ctrl + left or right arrow keys and optionally with shift in order to navigate by or select entire words at a time instead of single characters. I’ve looked into MacOS approaches to achieve the same functionality in the past, but I never seemed to find anything of use. I’m wondering if anybody here would be aware of a solution.
- kps 2y ago
  Option-Left/Right to move by word; Command-Left/Right to move to the beginning or end of the line.
I_dream_of_Geni 2y ago
What I miss is when they had these T&Ts native to the OS. Like way back in the 90's...
FeloniousHam 2y ago
Install the sanest keyboard text navigation bindings globally: http://xahlee.info/kbd/osx_keybinding.html http://xahlee.info/kbd/osx_keybinding.html (I'd been mapping individual app configs to this for years before finding this, but the seamless OS-wide application is big upgrade)
theposey 2y ago
For calculator obviously Cmd-1/2/3 for the different modes but when you're in programmer mode 'R' changes the base (8/10/16)
quotemstr 2y ago
Huh. I didn't know about most of these little touches. It would be nice if the same level of care and thought were placed in the major Linux desktops.
XajniN 2y ago
I moved to macOS two years ago, after buying a Mac Mini with M2 Pro. I used macOS in the years before from time to time, but never committed to it, so I was surprised by the level of quality of so many small apps (both free and paid), that improve your productivity and experience of using a computer. But, without those apps, using macOS would be kinda crappy comparing to Windows. I’m really wondering why there are no quality Windows alternatives to such apps like Alfred, Dropover, BTT, Karabiner, etc.

587 points by pavel_lishin 2y ago

For a mouse-first OS, there sure is a heavy dep on keyboard modifiers. Day to day it doesn't bother me so much, and I even like some of them, but so much functionality is hidden with no mouse-based option. Opt-Shift-V? :/ Windows does this much, much better. I can't think of a feature where you need to use the Windows key to modify the options presented in the GUI (though the Windows key has some unique shortcuts). I'm sure someone else will correct me. Apple has a concise list of keyboard shortcuts/modifiers listed here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650

jez 2y ago
Many of these features Windows has no analogue for. Consider: > By default, clicking inside a scroll bar will scroll partially towards the clicked location. Hold Option while clicking in the scroll bar to jump directly to the clicked location. There is no way to present this option in the GUI without cluttering up the scroll bar, so neither Windows nor macOS do so. But at least this feature is available for power users. I admit that in places where there IS space in the UI (menu bar, right click), I find it odd that the option-variants are not listed unless option is actively being held.
- cosmic_cheese 2y ago
  > I find it odd that the option-variants are not listed unless option is actively being held. Most likely to keep menus reasonably short and usable, which is particularly important on the smaller Macbooks and on iPads in Sidecar mode which can easily turn long menus into scrolling messes. Also, progressive disclosure. This way allows the options to exist without overwhelming less technical users.
- hu3 2y ago
  > Many of these features Windows has no analogue for. Holding Shift and clicking scrollbar does jump directly to the clicked location on Windows.

efortis 2y ago

Nice list! If you need a pixel ruler, ⇧⌘4 and hit Escape to discard the screenshot

bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
There's also this: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/free-ruler/id1483172210?mt=12 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/free-ruler/id1483172210?mt=12

Philpax 2y ago

Does anyone have any advice for making the most of the Dock? I find it pretty unhelpful coming from an older Windows / Linux background: I just want easy access to the windows that are open on my current workspace on my current monitor, and it seems ill-suited to that. I usually have it on auto-hide because it takes up space without providing much value. I'm aware that I can do the three finger swipe to look at all of my windows, but that takes over my full screen and the previews constantly move location, so I can't build any muscle memory for it. Really, I'm just looking for a classic, unobtrusive task switcher that lets me quickly navigate through what's on my screen without having to muddle through anything else (i.e. the Windows taskbar with all collapsing turned off) Edit: I appreciate the suggestions about using Cmd+Tab or Raycast or Exposé or such, but I'm really just looking for a taskbar equivalent that doesn't require me to use a hotkey or switch "visual contexts". I want something that's persistent and shows the visible applications and their windows, and lets me click on them to raise them. A big part of this for me is being able to see what I have open at a glance, especially due to macOS's historically poor window management. Edit edit: This is on me for using the words "task switcher" - that brings to mind Alt-Tab when I really meant to refer to the taskbar.

p_ing 2y ago
You can try dockdoor to get Windows-style hover previews. https://github.com/ejbills/DockDoor/ https://github.com/ejbills/DockDoor/
ricardonunez 2y ago
The main thing for me was the windows previews, I used to have hyperdock but stopped showing the windows previews. Right now I am trying DockDoor, so far is ok but you need to speed up the fade animation or it has some annoying behavior (reopens preview if pointer gets hover).
chii 2y ago
You can try https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ See if that suits your needs
kbutler 2y ago

adamnemecek 2y ago

When the Open/Save dialog is open, hit Cmd+Shift+G to open a dialog where one can input the path as a string. Really useful when switching between terminal and GUI.

js2 2y ago
That's covered, but it's even easier: Press ~ to open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the home directory. Press / to open it prefilled with the root directory.
deleted 2y ago
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miohtama 2y ago

As a tip for security sensitive users, I would also recommend this third party application to check your macOS security settings: https://paretosecurity.com/mac https://paretosecurity.com/mac

wahnfrieden 2y ago

Discovered today: Cmd-click a window that is not currently focused; it'll register the click without making that window take the foreground

Jotalea 2y ago

Nice. Now I only need a mac.

rationalbeaver 2y ago

"Hold Control and Option while clicking on a window to switch focus to that window without raising it." TIL. Amazing little hack.

crazygringo 2y ago
What is this useful for?
- bobbylarrybobby 2y ago
  Writing in a text field in one window while referring to another window, where the window with the text field would overlap the other window if it were frontmost.
johnneville 2y ago
this doesn't work for me on 15.3.1

nomilk 2y ago

Love that this is straight to the point. My tips: - Use Alfred. Game changer. It's an immediate improvement on spotlight search, you can run commands with three keystrokes (rather than opening a terminal, just command + space, then > <cmd>), it gives clipboard history and fast append (lets you press command + c twice fast to append to clipboard, and opt + command + c to search clipboard history), and lets you make 'workflows' to make frequent tasks extremely streamlined (I use one to open LLM prompts in five LLMs, so I press command + space 'llm <prompt>' and 5 browser tabs open with the same prompt in grok, claude, chatgpt, perplexity, and (local) deepseek. - Itsycal: an 'install and forget' calendar for your menu bar (it also uses vim keybindings to move around the calendar which is a fun yet practical easter egg) - There's still no good window manager for macOS. Rectangle is as close as it gets, but it's not good IMO because it only works on non full size windows. (the solution is just get ninja-like with three finger swipe, and endure using the mouse/trackpad more than you'd prefer) - Vivid for double the screen brightness

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
rcarr 2y ago
Other good windows management options are Hammerspoon and BetterTouchTool: https://www.hammerspoon.org/Spoons/MiroWindowsManager.html https://www.hammerspoon.org/Spoons/MiroWindowsManager.html https://folivora.ai/ https://folivora.ai/
voltaireodactyl 2y ago
Fwiw I hear good things about aerospace but haven’t yet had a chance to give it a shot.
- cjlm 2y ago
  aerospace is good!
- barrell 2y ago
  Came here to recommend aerospace. It’s been amazing. My whole desktop is like a tmux session now. It’s very much changed how I work/use my computer. More than Rectangle did, more than LLMs have. (I still adore hookshot/rectangle though :)

cosmic_cheese 2y ago

> Hold the Option key while expanding an outline view to recursively expand all children. I use this pretty frequently and it’s always a drag to find when an app doesn’t implement it. It feels so silly to be forced to manually open/close numerous items when most other apps I use can expand/collapse them all in one go.

brianpan 2y ago
GitHub uses this shortcut, too. (e.g. Option-click to collapse/expand all PR comments.)

linwangg 2y ago

[dead]

k310 2y ago

I am a cheapskate and use Quicksilver. Command spacebar, app pops up. I hate the Finder. I used to use an app called cols that resized finder windows to an appropriate size. Stuck it in the finder toolbar. I looked for the applescript but can't find it. How tough is it to fill the finder window with all the columns so that the Magic Mouse doesn't wag the columns back and forth? Just fill the window. Cols, anyone?

ldkge 2y ago

It feels like Ms. Casey is narrating these in my head.

nozzlegear 2y ago
Your outie uses Alfred.

sooheon 2y ago

> On modal dialogs/sheets, press Command + the first letter of the button to press that button. ⌘. is the shortcut equivalent of the Escape key. This was my favorite, but no longer works on Sequoia or whenever was the version that changed modal dialogs.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

amitgupta6 2y ago

Does anyone know of a good solution to manage menubar on Mac? Have M2 Pro with a notch which hides many of many items and it's so difficult to access them unless I quit a few of them.

muppetman 2y ago
Icebar
- nbbaier 2y ago
  I second Ice - it's great https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice https://github.com/jordanbaird/Ice
  - swah 2y ago
    Its good but I kill it frequently..
    - nbbaier 2y ago
      Huh, I've never had to kill it!
moi2388 2y ago
Bartender or dozer depending on what you want
fredoliveira 2y ago
I have used HiddenBar for a while and it's been pretty solid. It's open-source: https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden https://github.com/dwarvesf/hidden

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

nailer 2y ago

> Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Shift command slash, got it. > Press ⌃F2 to move keyboard focus to the application's menu bar. Start typing the first few letters of a menu title to jump to that menu. Control F2? Control shift F2? None of those work on macOS Sequoiua.

spidey1 2y ago
Try Fn+Control+F2
- nottorp 2y ago
  You also need Fn on laptops. I just tried it. And it seems to start with focusing the apple menu without opening it, and the focus marker is hard to notice, at least in natural light where I am now.
- danaris 2y ago
  This will depend on whether you have the function key row set to act as function keys or as special keys (based on the icons printed on them).

mherrmann 2y ago

My favorites: To quickly find text, select some text and press ⌘E followed by ⌘G. In save dialogs, press ⌘= to switch between the compact and expanded layout. In save dialogs, press ~ to open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the home directory. Press / to open it prefilled with the root directory. Hold Option while opening the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth menus to access extra options. After copying a file, press ⌥⌘V to move the file instead of pasting a copy of it. Terminal: Press ⇧⌘A to select the output from the previous command. Press ⌘L to clear the output from the previous command. Press ⌃⌘V to paste and format text that is properly escaped for the shell. Press ⌃T while a command is executing to view runtime statistics about the execution so far.

nbbaier 2y ago
> After copying a file, press ⌥⌘V to move the file instead of pasting a copy of it. This one is very cool
- SkiFire13 2y ago
  Coming from other OSes it's very dumb though, since ⌘X does not work for files (but it does for text! It's really confusing)
  - dkga 2y ago
    My thought exactly!
georgeck 2y ago
> To quickly find text, select some text and press ⌘E followed by ⌘G. This is really nice. Once I am in this 'search' mode, I couldn't figure out how to get out of this mode. - Edited to make question more descriptive.
thomasstuttard 2y ago
How do you exit the find text, selection mode (⌘E, ⌘G)? I have tried pressing the escape key, with no luck.

achairapart 2y ago

There are so many hidden/obscure keyboard shortcuts in macOS, from time to time a post with a nice collection (and usually some hidden gems) appears on the front page here. But I always wondered if there is a place where you can find all of them, for reference.

f_allwein 2y ago
Also pity that macOS makes very little effort to communicate these, so they almost feel like Easter eggs…
galad87 2y ago
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650 https://support.apple.com/en-us/102650

notpushkin 2y ago

> Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Then use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate the results and press Return to execute that menu bar action. Kinda like command palette for every app, I like it. Would be even better if it preselected the matching option. Unfortunately, this is broken in Firefox – they’ve bound ⌘ ? to their help page, and it opens then immediately closes the Help menu. You can rebind it to something else (e.g. ⌥ ⇧ ⌘ /) in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → App Shortcuts → Firefox, menu title: Get Help. One other problem is, it doesn’t always find the command I’m looking for. E.g. when I typed “dev”, it didn’t show “Web Developer Tools” at first. I then checked Tools menu (it was there), then tried typing it in the Help menu again, and sure enough, it found it this time.

hafta 2y ago
The menu immediately closing was recently fixed[1] in Firefox 136. We'll look into the content of that menu not working correctly. Thanks. 1. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1935257 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1935257
liamkearney 2y ago
Shortcat basically does this. It indexes a lot of native AX APIs and also menu items https://shortcat.app https://shortcat.app
Dagonfly 2y ago
I've never gotten this to work on an ISO-keyboard (chunky enter key). It opens "Help" in every single app, even Apple's like Finder or Safari. I've tried GB, German, US-International, and my default EurKey layout. None of them work. This shortcut always felt like an Alt+F4 prank to me.
- madeofpalk 2y ago
  The help menu is what searches all menu items.
  - 2y ago

AdieuToLogic 2y ago

Regarding Terminal: Press ⌘L to clear the output from the previous command. To unconditionally clear all buffered output, regardless how many commands have been invoked, use ⌘K.

benknight87 2y ago

you guys didn't already know this stuff?

treetalker 2y ago

- I love Shortcat (https://shortcat.app/ https://shortcat.app/). It lets you do almost anything on your screen without having to leave your keyboard. - Also, Houdahspot (https://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/ https://www.houdah.com/houdahSpot/) for advanced searching and file-filtering (you can even exclude results from certain folders). It has search templates, saved searches (which appear as files in Finder), and the ability to export the current search as a Smart Folder (amazing!). I just wish that Smart Folders worked on iOS and Dropbox …

azinman2 2y ago

Here’s my tip: Messages stuck with a badge but you have no idea what’s unread / how to clear it? Ask Siri for your unread messages. It’ll go through them and remove the badge.

dilDDoS 2y ago

> When a video is playing, right click the speaker icon in the address bar or tab to enter Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode. You can also double right-click the video itself and enter Picture-in-Picture mode from that menu

guardian5x 2y ago

When i first moved from Windows to MacOS i was shocked there was no default shortcut to start Apps from the Dock, like Windows Key +1, 2, 3 etc. (It is configurable though)

AnonymousPlanet 2y ago
Ubuntu Unity had that first, way before Windows had morphed the task bar to something dock like.

mingus88 2y ago

Remember when Mac was intuitive? I dig these cheat sheets but wow, what a total shift in paradigm from when you had one mouse button and if a feature wasn’t discoverable then it wasn’t shipped

dkga 2y ago
I think the issue goes beyond this. I get that Apple was always opinionated and wanted to ship intuitive features. Now they lost track of the intuitive and continued with the opinionated part, which degrades the experience in my opinion.
nottorp 2y ago
We sure (most) of these features haven't been available for ages?
- jrmg 2y ago
  Most of these features have been available, for years, if not decades.
crazygringo 2y ago
Apple has been using these non-discoverable keyboard modifiers since the very start. I remember using them with System 6 back around 1990. Their design philosophy has always been discoverability for regular features, and then these extra "hidden" features for power users. Nothing has changed.
- cosmic_cheese 2y ago
  Yep, a number of these tips are Classic Mac OS holdovers.
kps 2y ago
For a long time, Macs shipped with a tutorial that trained people to double-click. Unlike a second button, it's not discoverable.
2y ago

tannhaeuser 2y ago

All I want is an app that can fix the "broken window" focus management. Like when I click a window, Mac OS brings to top all windows of the respective app, and when an app (say, Finder) has no window open currently, bringing it to front also unaskedly manipulates the stacking order such that other app's windows become the top most one, completely destroying the visual context. Also, back in the days I used Expose a lot to navigate, but it has completely lost any spatial determinism and usefulness for me. These issues are very noticable, and feel gross and like a team of ignorants has messed around; it's very irritating that nobody is speaking about it.

soulofmischief 2y ago
I'll never get over the fact that I had to pay $8 just to have two windows split side-by-side without using the obtuse and intrusive fullscreen mode.
- TrappedInCorner 2y ago
  Made an account just to reply. I use https://rectangleapp.com/ https://rectangleapp.com/ on Mac and it's great. I mostly use shortcuts Left Half and Right Half, and also Maximize (Not the fullscreen mode thank God) Might as well recommend enabling moving windows around with by clicking anywhere on the window with a keybind just like in most Linux desktop environments https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/321918/move-window-by-clicking-on-any-part-as-on-linux/365860#365860 https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/321918/move-window...
  - wiredfool 2y ago
    I (personally) forked rectangle a few years back to give me thirds of a window, for a 32" display running in 4k@1x. I use (basically) left, middle, right, and top half/bottom half.
    - cbm-vic-20 2y ago
      Rectangle supports thirds, "two-thirds", fourths, "three-fourths", and sixths (top/bottom * thirds).

YcYc10 2y ago

Any recommendations for some kind of file manager to replace finder?

sandbags 2y ago
PathFinder is the only one I can think of. I find it overly complicated when all I really need is Finder - the endless jank.
FeloniousHam 2y ago
I like ForkLift and QSpace. ForkLift "feels" more Mac native, but QSpace is kind of the everything tool use see in the Windows world.
- FeloniousHam 2y ago
  QSpace is bad. You can't use it without turning off the firewall: https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1ea3aye/qspace_file_manager/#:~:text=There%20are%20two%20different%20versions,services%20and%20certain%20terminal%20services. https://www.reddit.com/r/macapps/comments/1ea3aye/qspace_fil... (I like the functionality in QSpace. I just happened to be looking for a Finder replacement a day before this post came out and downloaded whole bunch of them)

ssl232 2y ago

Anyone know how to copy and paste without formatting into Outlook for Mac, without having to click the tiny dropdown box it creates when pasting formatted text? Outlook appears to have no setting for this and also ignores the key combination that works for most other apps…

daef 2y ago
dont know whether that works on apple or not - but i just paste into an unformatted textbox (e.g. browser address bar) and copy again from there
mediumsmart 2y ago
command-option-shift v maybe?
- mikestew 2y ago
  …and also ignores the key combination that works for most other apps…

tacker2000 2y ago

I remember a launcher that was kind of bare bones and didnt use spotlight for indexing, it compiled its own index, and was able to do great fuzzy searching, but I forgot the name and cant find it, anyone else have a clue?

sandbags 2y ago
Possibly QuickSilver?
- tacker2000 2y ago
  No, it's not that, it look more "command-line" style, very minimal UI... if that helps
tonyedgecombe 2y ago
LaunchBar?
lycopodiopsida 2y ago
Certainly LaunchBar as mentioned above.

countrymile 2y ago

How do I right click and add a blank text file to a folder?

ozim 2y ago
Switch back to windows - for me that is one of the things I struggle with on MacOS. Creating a file at a path where I have my file explorer is so ingrained in me. It feels awful when I have to open an app then click through to save file where I want all those clicks are supper annoying because I already was in that place. Awful thing getting current path from Finder to paste it in save dialog is also not really easy. So I am just not creating new files on MacOS. On one hand I kind of get the idea that well you start with opening an app and then save your work and most likely it could be in default documents folder. But years of other way I was used to work it feels annoying. Basically I use Windows for like 30 years now and in that last 10 I use MacOs as primary OS for my personal device.
crazygringo 2y ago
This one kills me too. I don't miss anything about Windows. Except this. I've been using a Mac for 15 years now, and I still want to right-click and create an empty text document.
kibbi 2y ago
I've used Apple's Automator app to add a new custom Quick Action which does exactly this. After right-clicking a folder, the right-click menu shows my custom Quick Action to create an empty text file. This requires about 5 to 10 minutes to set up. You'll find instructions for this on the web or via some LLM. I've looked right now for a suitable article, but the ones I've found are subtly different from my Quick Action. I've asked ChatGPT and its instructions seem to be correct.
aheckler 2y ago
I use Supercharge for this. Creates a new text file with ⌥+N. Lots of other handy tweaks as well. https://sindresorhus.com/supercharge https://sindresorhus.com/supercharge

abhaynayar 2y ago

Personal-Bookmarks:: Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Then use the Up/Down arrow keys to navigate the results and press Return to execute that menu bar action. Hold Option while resizing a window to resize from the center of the window. Hold Shift while resizing a window to lock the aspect ratio. When a window is inactive, use the Command key to interact with it without making it active. If an app has windows in multiple spaces, click the app's Dock icon repeatedly to cycle through the spaces with that app's windows. Quickly move the Dock to a different side of the screen by holding Shift while dragging the resize handle. Press ⌘B to search the web for the current query. Press ⌘⏎ or ⌘R to reveal the selected file in Finder. Use the name: filter to only search in the filename. Add kind:folder to only search for folder names. Hold Command to show the path to the currently selected file. QuickTime Player: Grab a single frame from a video by pausing on the desired frame (using the Left and Right arrow keys to navigate individual frames) and pressing ⌘C. Photo Booth: Hold Option while taking a picture to skip the countdown. Hold Shift while taking a picture to disable the screen flash.

extraduder_ire 2y ago
> Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items This is the one feature I miss most from using macos. I got used to it back when Ubuntu used unity as its DE and called it "HUD". Didn't work everywhere (looking at you, java), but a huge timesaver.
- TingPing 2y ago
  Ubuntu had to basically patch every toolkit for it to work. Not maintainable.

vbezhenar 2y ago

"Hold Option while double-clicking a window's corner to expand the window to fill the screen." - this is the most important tip for macOS, IMO. I still don't understand what's in their heads that they don't maximise Safari/Preview to the full width by default. I have 32" display and I'm using all my windows maximized, I just don't ever want them side by side or something like that.

vages 2y ago
That is because the green button is a «zoom» button, which maximizes the window to display its contained document: https://blog.xoria.org/macos-tips/#window-management https://blog.xoria.org/macos-tips/#window-management I am not sure if I agree with the choice either, but that’s the explanation.
frizlab 2y ago
That’s how you work, though. Having Safari fullscreen is really not great for me. Nor Preview. Actually the only thing I have fullscreen (not in its Space) is Xcode. EDIT: I meant window maximized to fill the screen, not fullscreen, which is what option-double-clicking a window corner does.
- nottorp 2y ago
  Full screen is not the same as maximized to fill the screen.

noname120 2y ago

This might interest you too: https://gist.github.com/devnoname120/4767a0aa18879217170fd0c68809fc24 https://gist.github.com/devnoname120/4767a0aa18879217170fd0c... Disclaimer: I wrote this. It's a random gist that I wrote for me but it somehow got 150+ stars. Tbh I'm not even sure how people even heard about it because I didn't post it anywhere… Either way I guess people seem to like it, so hopefully you will find it useful too!

jrmg 2y ago
YMMV, but I’ve found that at least for my display, this: > When Macbook Air M1 is sleeping, external screens connected via USB-C keep waking up every few minutes and then go straight to sleep again. is fixed in Sonoma (yay!)
- noname120 2y ago
  Good to know thanks for the heads-up! I'll wait for a confirmation from someone else and then update the article

reddalo 2y ago

It's interesting but also annoying because localized versions of macOS don't have the same shortcuts, or at least I cannot make them work. The main problem is that some special characters such as / are in a different key and they also require modifier keys to type them.

soci 2y ago

> Open/Save Dialogs > Drag a file or folder from Finder into an open/save dialog to jump directly to that file. Doesn't work consistently anymore (Sequoia 15.2). Instead of focusing on the file, it moves the file you selected from Finder to the folder shown in the save dialog. It completely breaks the workflow. Surprisingly, it works as expected one out of ten times. It seems to depend on where on the save dialog you drag the file from Finder. Extremely frustrating!

crazygringo 2y ago
That's never happened to me. I'm on Sequoia 15.3.1 and just tried it out, and can't get it to move a file at all. It correctly selects the dragged file/folder every time. No matter if I drag it right on top of an existing folder in the open/save dialog. I've just tried with multiple applications. Definitely seems like a bug. Maybe you have some kind of system extension interfering? Or I hate to tell you to reinstall macOS, but hopefully that would fix it?

miki123211 2y ago

And I'll add: cmd+opt+shift+esc force quits the current app (cmd+opt+esc opens the force quit window, as the former doesn't work sometimes). Cmd+q quits the current app, and, when command is held and we're cycling through apps with cmd+tab, it quits the currently selected app. If you need to quit multiple apps at once, hold cmd, press tab to select the apps to quit, and just quit them with q.

varispeed 2y ago

It is weird to say, but I wish macOS had Windows 10 interface. It's incredible to me how backwards macOS is in comparison to W10, that is already deemed clunky. Finder is an abomination, window management seems like embodies ADHD, separate apps needed for basic things like direction of scrolling or switching windows...

cynicalsecurity 2y ago

Is it really a good UI if they need to write a talmud to explain it?

victor106 2y ago

awesome tips. Thanks for posting. For screenshots:- does anyone know of a way to take scrolling screenshots? I often need to take screenshots of webpages that are long.

jpb0104 2y ago
Firefox has this built in. That’s how I do it. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/take-screenshots-firefox https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/take-screenshots-firefo...
mkmk 2y ago
Chrome dev tools > the three little dots at the top right of the window > capture full size screenshot. I always look for it in the three little dots that are next to the 'x' in the dev tools drawer, but it's actually behind the dots in the top nav that show screen dimensions, throttling, device orientation, etc.

aikinai 2y ago

I'm not affiliated, but when this kind of thing comes up, I always want to share GoToFile[0]. As far as I've seen, this is the only app for Mac that doesn't just reuse Spotlight search (which I find to be terrible). I looked for exactly this type of app for years before finding it, and when I did, it didn't seem real with the old-fashioned website and zero mentions on sites like HN. But I can assure that it works great and it's maintained. I just wish the author would promote it better so it gets more attention and isn't so hard to find. [0] https://www.soma-zone.com/GoToFile/ https://www.soma-zone.com/GoToFile/

georgehill 2y ago

My one and only tip: use AI file renaming: https://keepitshot.com https://keepitshot.com. This is the app I have recently fallen in love with. It has drastically improved my file search experience with Spotlight. I am not affiliated with them.

james-bcn 2y ago

A shout-out for https://espanso.org https://espanso.org a wonderful and free text expander configurable in a YAML file.

n8henrie 2y ago
Love espanso! Particularly because it is FOSS and cross-platform, allowing me to use my snippets across macOS, Linux, and windows!

donbrae 2y ago

One of my favourite tips is to hold down Command while dragging important apps, files and folders to the Finder toolbar in order to ‘pin’ them. You can then drag files to ‘Open in…’ (eg, images to ImageOptim) or just launch apps.

jbverschoor 2y ago

Don't forget you can drag the proxy-icon from any open document or folder. Handy for the open/save-dialog

Noumenon72 2y ago

> Hold Option while pressing the Page Up/Page Down keys to also move the cursor while scrolling. Not working for me on Sonoma, which is too bad because this always gets me when I think I've scrolled up.

lloeki 2y ago

Huge miss in the "Native UI Conventions" which has a lot of keyboard shortcuts is that emacs/readline shortcuts are supported basically everywhere there's a text field: ^A ^E ^K ^Y opt-left/right behave as expected. Sadly no ^W tho. I always miss that separation between command key and control key in other OSes.

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samch 2y ago

One Windows shortcut that I use habitually is Ctrl + left or right arrow keys and optionally with shift in order to navigate by or select entire words at a time instead of single characters. I’ve looked into MacOS approaches to achieve the same functionality in the past, but I never seemed to find anything of use. I’m wondering if anybody here would be aware of a solution.

kps 2y ago
Option-Left/Right to move by word; Command-Left/Right to move to the beginning or end of the line.

I_dream_of_Geni 2y ago

What I miss is when they had these T&Ts native to the OS. Like way back in the 90's...

FeloniousHam 2y ago

Install the sanest keyboard text navigation bindings globally: http://xahlee.info/kbd/osx_keybinding.html http://xahlee.info/kbd/osx_keybinding.html (I'd been mapping individual app configs to this for years before finding this, but the seamless OS-wide application is big upgrade)

theposey 2y ago

For calculator obviously Cmd-1/2/3 for the different modes but when you're in programmer mode 'R' changes the base (8/10/16)

quotemstr 2y ago

Huh. I didn't know about most of these little touches. It would be nice if the same level of care and thought were placed in the major Linux desktops.

XajniN 2y ago

I moved to macOS two years ago, after buying a Mac Mini with M2 Pro. I used macOS in the years before from time to time, but never committed to it, so I was surprised by the level of quality of so many small apps (both free and paid), that improve your productivity and experience of using a computer. But, without those apps, using macOS would be kinda crappy comparing to Windows. I’m really wondering why there are no quality Windows alternatives to such apps like Alfred, Dropover, BTT, Karabiner, etc.