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List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks
- m-r-a-m 13y agoHere's a good time killer (I think I got all of the domains in there): https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=hidden%20features%20of%20%28site%3Astackexchange.com%20||%20site%3Astackoverflow.com%20||%20site%3Asuperuser.com%20||%20site%3Aaskubuntu.com%20||%20site%3Aserverfault.com%29 https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=hidden%20features%20of...
- gdubs 13y agoA personal favorite is setting a hyper-fast key repeat via terminal: defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0
- interpol_p 13y agoThis is amazing. Thank you so much.
- miles 13y agoHere are the comments from the last time this appeared on HN a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2436198 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2436198
- aatish 13y agoI have one: press shift and alt while changing volume or brightness and you can change it in fine-grained steps. Not super useful, but kind of neat.
- bajsejohannes 13y agoI love that little feature. The bad thing about it is that it doesn't work where I want it the most: The darkest backlight level is still the same. (It lets you set it to 1/4, but it's still the same as 1)
- bcj 13y agoThanks. The controls for this used to be different (I think it was previously command-option-volume), and I had just assumed that they had removed this.
- ixacto 13y agoHow about the PRISM and hardware tracking built into iPhones? edit: let the down votes commence, I've got some karma to burn.
- nicholassmith 13y agoI'm not sure how that's actually relevant to the conversation on the subject? Plus you may as well post the same comment when any mobile phone is mentioned, be it an iPhone, an Android or a standard dumbphone.
- mwfunk 13y agoIf you're getting downvotes for this one, it's not because you're voicing some controversial opinion, it's because you made a really dumb comment.
- dylanpyle 13y agoDidn't see this one on the list - while Command+Tabbing, if you hold down Option while letting go of Command at the end, you'll open a new window in the specified application if it currently doesn't have any open. It might sound confusing, but it's quite useful if you've closed all the windows of a given app but still have it running.
- mh- 13y agowow, thanks for this. when I switched to Mac last year I actually googled around about shortcuts to deal with the lack of a universal 'restore minimized' shortcut. this doesn't solve it entirely, I think, but can't believe I never came across it.
- coob 13y agoThe option key is involved in most of these hidden tips. If something doesn't work quite like you want it to, try doing it with option held down. 6 times out of 10 it probably will.
- davvolun 13y ago"6 times out of 10" That's such a weird number to have chosen, I know I'm being pedantic here, but why not 3 out of 5?
- evaneykelen 13y agoHere's a posting I made a while ago about this trick: http://superuser.com/questions/196141/keyboard-shortcut-to-unhide-or-unminimize-a-window-in-os-x/325530#325530 http://superuser.com/questions/196141/keyboard-shortcut-to-u...
- salgernon 13y agoSelect-all, cmd-c copy (in a document or terminal) Select a word or symbol of interest, and cmd-e to get it in the find buffer. $ pbpaste | fgrep -i `pbpaste -pboard find` I have this aliased to pbg, so will typically pipe the output to awk or some such.
- mh- 13y agowhen you pipe something to pbcopy, it doesn't strip any trailing newline: echo hi | pbcopy pasting this would get you hi<cr>. so if you want to put the output of a command in the clipboard, you can do something like (where `find .` is your command): echo -n $(find .) | pbcopy that will take advantage of the fact that subshells discard a trailing newline (at least in bash, zsh. probably others..)
- nodata 13y agoAnyone know how to filter a list of files in a Finder window by a string?
- terhechte 13y agohttp://shortcatapp.com http://shortcatapp.com allows you to search the contents of any on screen window.
- gurkendoktor 13y agoIt's not quite what you are asking for since it's recursive, but there is a setting in the Finder's preferences, Advanced, that lets you choose how the Finder's Spotlight field works. I always change it to search in the current directory only.
- fatboy 13y agoNever figured out how to do this in Finder - its search bar behaviour has always seemed really weird to me. I now use Path Finder, which does this kind of filtering and others.
- sgt 13y agoNot a hidden feature - but what confuses some of my family members is that if they install an app in OS X, they click on a downloaded dmg (or it auto-opens), and they get this Finder window opening, without "Applications" visible. Initially they just ran the application like this, as if it was installed. However, I've explained that it needs to be moved to "Applications". This is difficult, seeing that if one clicks on Finder again, it doesn't bring up a new window. I tell them to do File->New Finder Window, but I wish there was a more elegant solution to this.
- arnehormann 13y agoDoes Cmd-N (when Finder is active: open a new Finder window) help?
- visagi 13y agoThe applications folder is in the dock by default.
- cstuder 13y agoYou could click on the translucent bar button on the top right of a DMG-window, then you get the sidebar on the left back. But apparently it's been removed in Lion: http://myintarweb.com/dispatch/lion-tip http://myintarweb.com/dispatch/lion-tip
- protitap 13y agoCommand-Option-T is the equivalent key combination.
- josteink 13y agoInstalling a OS free of patent-lawsuits and bad digital karma on your otherwise good hardware: http://blog.kylebarlow.com/2013/05/installing-ubuntu-1304-raring-ringtail.html http://blog.kylebarlow.com/2013/05/installing-ubuntu-1304-ra...
- dsego 13y agoHow is this relevant or connected to OS X hidden features?
- flyinRyan 13y agoI don't believe in karma and don't think Ubuntu can ignore the game of patents. They've been able to so far because they are irrelevant in the desktop space. Personally, I'm not willing to hobble my computing experience due to some hopeless ideology.
- bornhuetter 13y ago> some hopeless ideology The fact that someone would say, on a forum called Hacker News, that the free software movement is a hopeless ideology is astonishing. > irrelevant in the desktop space Hardly. Ubuntu is about as popular now as Macs were a few years ago, or at least in the same league. > hobble my computing experience Ubuntu has many productivity advantages over both OSX and Windows. It's not necessarily the best for everyone, but the have taken a lot of good ideas from both Windows (eg. Maximise works properly, aero snap) and OS X (Expose), and added their own (HUD). If you consider Ubuntu to be hobbling your experience, then other people could consider using OSX as hobbling theirs.
- dsego 13y agodon't know about hidden, but really useful is a three finger tap on a word to open a small dictionary popup.
- interpol_p 13y agoThis was one of the feature that made me get my first Mac back in 2002. You could easily tell apps that didn't use OS standard controls (e.g., Firefox) because they didn't support the dictionary lookup. At the time it was ctrl+cmd+D while hovering over a word with the mouse cursor (you can still trigger it this way now).
- pkamb 13y agoLeopard-style (spatial) Exposé in Snow Leopard (grid): http://superuser.com/questions/118424/old-leopard-expose-on-snow-leopard-for-mac http://superuser.com/questions/118424/old-leopard-expose-on-...
- scrrr 13y agoSometimes Stackexchange sites will close a thread, because it's "not a question". Sometime's they won't. Nitpicking, but this is not a question. (Still great answers, though.)
- kryten 13y agoAt the end of the day though, if it provides some value to the world, does it matter? I think there is a section of stack overflow moderators who shoot down questions purely due to ego. Someone obviously trying to solicit an answer for their CS homework, close! Intoxicated monkey whacking the keyboard: close!. This: keep it, please! In fact I'm surprised it's still there.
- JeremyBanks 13y agoThis isn't Stack Overflow. Stack Overflow needs to be strict to handle the thousands of questions that pour in every day. Many other Stack Exchange sites are under less pressure and could decide on different policies. However, most sites' communities have also rejected such questions because they do not fit the Stack Exchange model. The software and policies are not optimized the handle this them a site filled with them would be terrible. The Apple Stack Exchange community decided that list-style questions are acceptable in very limited quantities. (They tend to be broad, which help avoid the need for too many of them.)
- prof_hobart 13y agoDo you mean the title? Because the first line of the main body "Do you know any hidden or little-known nice feature of Mac OS X?" certainly looks like a question to me.
- itafroma 13y agoAs I recall, and it's been a while so things may have changed, Stack Exchange's Apple site has always been more forgiving of these types of "hidden features" lists, much to the consternation of the rest of the network (example: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/110611 http://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/110611).
- digitalboss 13y agoIf you have an external display hooked up to a MacBook, using the Macbook keyboard’s brightness keys will change the laptop display. The external keyboard will change the external display (if attached). Ctrl + brightness key inverts the behavior for both external and internal. http://finerthings.in/mac/tips-for-changing-brightness-on-macbook-external-displays/ http://finerthings.in/mac/tips-for-changing-brightness-on-ma...
- illbert 13y agoI recommend looking at BetterTouchTool http://www.bettertouchtool.net http://www.bettertouchtool.net (free) and Alfred http://www.alfredapp.com http://www.alfredapp.com (free without the Powerpack). I start all programs with Alfred and use BTT taps/movements on my trackpad to arrange/resize windows. I used to fire up applications with spotlight but alfred feels much quicker + I can create lots of custom web search queries which I use all the time. Loving this thread and the one from around two and a half years ago. I'm probably missing out on a few things as I'm still running 10.6.8.
- johnmw 13y agoAgain, not really a hidden feature but one I was very happy to find: moving files via Finder using Cmd-C to 'cut' and Cmd+Opt-V to 'paste'. (I come from a Windows background and cutting and pasting using the keyboard is deep in my DNA).
- brown9-2 13y agoThe Opt key in "Cmd+Opt-V to 'paste'" is unnecessary.
- joeschmoe 13y agoWithout the option key, Cmd-C/Cmd-V just copies and pastes. Cmd-C/Cmd+Opt-V cuts and pastes.
- surapaneni 13y agoThank you. No more two finder windows.
- brown9-2 13y agoPerfect, never knew about this!
- morsch 13y agoNeat. I didn't know Apple still did this. Mac OS 7 and 8 hat tons of useful hidden features and modifiers. Having a keyboard key modify basic actions is such a benevolent way to increase productivity for power users without harming newbies. It's also fairly easy to add. I don't understand why Linux desktops apps don't do this more often. Or maybe they do and I just don't know where to look.
- obeattie 13y agoYou realise how long you've been using a Mac when you know every single one of these, bar one (Opt+Clicking Menu Bar Extras)
- JeffJenkins 13y agoI was just playing around with option+menu bar items and discovered that notifications can be disabled by option-clicking the notification center icon on the far right in Mountain Lion. Then if you click to open notification center there is text which says that notifications will turn back on tomorrow and a toggle to turn them back on now
- smackfu 13y agoPersonally, I'm not a big fan of how Apple likes to hide useful features all over the place in OS X hidden behind completely non-discoverable modifier key + mouse click options or double modifier key + another key.
- cynwoody 13y agoMy favorite has to be ⌘+Space. It brings up Spotlight Search. I use it instead of the Dock to launch applications. It quickly adapts to your preferences. For instance, after a few tries, it will learn that you want Digital Color Meter when you type 'dig'. So, you just type "⌘+Space dig Return", and the app starts. It's also useful to look up words quickly in Dictionary and to evaluate simple arithmetic expressions. That's all in addition to its normal use: searching your machine