Who doesn’t like tricks? We are not talking about the tricks in life, rather not a witty thing to do. But what you can do on your Mac to improve productivity. Below are the best hands-on Mac tips and tricks you can use to make your life easier. These Mac tips and tricks will help you to use your Mac in a most efficient way possible in 2023.
YourMac can do a lot. for instance, you can use your Mac for video editing, signing documents and much more. However, some of its best features are hidden away and most people don’t know them. After you have mastered them, however, you can get the most out of your Mac.
These tips, tricks, and time-savers greatly expand what you can do with your Mac and will do wonders for your workflow.
Need more Mac tips? Try our guide toMac keyboard shortcuts In addition, check iPhoneGeeks article on the best macOS Monterey tips and tricks to improve your overall Mac experience.
Best Mac tips and tricks 2023
The following are the best Mac tips and tricks for 2023.
1. How to digitally sign your documents
With so many of us working from home, signing documents on your Mac has become essential than ever. But there is a much simpler way to do it than printing the document, signing it, then scanning it back to your Mac.
Open Preview, then in the menu bar click Tools > Annotate > Signature > Manage Signatures. In the pop-up box, click Create Signature. You can now use your trackpad or iPhone to write your signature, or your Mac’s camera to capture your signature written on a piece of paper. Any time you want to sign a document, just open it in Preview, then click Tools > Annotate > Signature and click your signature to drop it in place.
2. How to customize the Finder sidebar
Finder is the default file browser on MacOS. It is pretty customizable and can be shaped to your needs with a few quick clicks. For instance, if you have a folder you access frequently, you can add it to the Finder sidebar for fast access. Simply go to the folder, then click and drag it over to the sidebar. For apps, hold the Cmd key then drag their icon over. You can remove items using the Sidebar tab in Finder > Preferences.
in addition, you can change what buttons appear at the top of the Finder window. Click View > Customize Toolbar, then add, remove, or rearrange the buttons as you like.
3. How to rename groups of files in Finder
Apple makes it easy to batch rename groups of files on MacOS however, you get a lot of advanced options if you need more control. To get started, select all the files you wish to rename, then Cmd+click them and click Rename x items (where x is the number of files you have highlighted).
A pop-up window with various options will appear. You can opt to rename the files by replacing their current names, appending text to the end of their names, or renaming them based on various factors, like their name and date. You can use a name base, too. At the bottom of the pop-up window is a preview so you can see how the renamed files will look.
4. How to use Stationery Pad
looking to use a file as a template for subsequent documents? There is a nifty method known as Stationery Pad that does the difficult task for you.
locate the file you need to use as a template, then Ctrl+click it and click Get Info. From here, tick the Stationery Pad checkbox. Now, every time you double-click this file, MacOS will launch a duplicate of the original for you, letting you make changes without altering the template document.
5. How to use Spaces for multiple desktops
Enjoy keeping work and play separate? Use Spaces. This nifty MacOS feature lets you have multiple desktops, each with different windows and files open. It comes in handy when you need to separate out your projects and focus on one at a time.
To open the Spaces menu, swipe up with four fingers on your trackpad, press the Mission Control button, or press Ctrl+Up arrow. Click the “+” icon to add a new desktop. Move between desktops by swiping with four fingers or pressing Ctrl+Left arrow or Ctrl+Right arrow. To move files or windows onto a different desktop, click and drag it to the top of your screen until the Spaces menu appears, then drop it on your desktop of choice.
6. How to assign shortcuts to your window corners
Windows 10 has Peek, which temporarily shows the desktop when your mouse moves to the bottom-right corner of the Display. MacOS goes one better with Hot Corners, which allows users to assign controls to each corner of their screen.
launch System Preferences > Mission Control > Hot Corners. Here, you can choose an action for each corner, including showing Notification Center, locking the screen, starting the screen saver, and more. You can add keypresses into the mix and assign the same action to multiple corners Simultaneously, as well
7. How to use Mac’s hidden window-resizing tricks
Resizing windows may appear straightforward — you just click and drag the window corners, easy? But in MacOS, you get some nifty additional options.
Hold Shift as you resize the window and it will maintain its current aspect ratio. Hold Alt, meanwhile, and the opposite side or corner will resize in an equal amount to the side you are resizing. Hold both Shift and Alt at the same time and you can combine both features.
8. How to share contact information in Contacts
The Contacts app allows users to share their details with other people, however, sometimes you may only need specific information to be sent out — say your work email address but not your home street address,.
To do this, you first need to define your own card by selecting it in Contacts, then clicking Card > Make This My Card. Now, open Contacts’ preferences and click the Card tab, then tick the “Enable private me card” checkbox. Click Edit on your card and untick the boxes next to any item you do not want to share, then click Done.
9. How to add spacers to the Dock
You can add some handy spacers to your Mac’s Dock with just a couple of Terminal commands, giving you a new way to organize your app icons. Open Terminal from Go>Utilities, then type the following: “defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add ‘{“tile-type”=”spacer-tile”;}’; killall Dock” and press Return (the command is case-sensitive).
The Dock will disappear, then reappear with a spacer tile on the right-hand side. Type “exit” into Terminal and press Return, then quit Terminal. You can now drag the spacer tile to wherever you want in the Dock. Repeat for as many spacers as you like.
10. How to unlock your Mac with your Apple Watch
A great example of how the Apple ecosystem works is setting your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac. When both devices are signed to the same Apple ID, you simply need to wake your Mac by pressing any button and your Watch will automatically unlock it.
To set up this feature, launch System Preferences, then click Security & Privacy. Tick the checkbox next to Use your Apple Watch to unlock apps and your Mac (you might be prompted to type in your Mac’s password). If you are using MacOS Catalina and watchOS 6, this also works anywhere else you would normally type in your Mac password.
11. How to transfer Files Fast
If you hold down “T” when your Mac is turning on, you can enter Target Disk Mode. In this mode, use a Thunderbolt 3 cable to transfer large files at fast speeds between two Macs.
12. How to paste With Style Matching
When pasting something, if you use Option-Shift-Command-V instead of just Command-V, you can transform the pasted content into the style of the content that already exists in a document. If you have a block of text that’s italicized, for example, and then want to paste in text from the web and make it italicized too, you can use this keyboard shortcut.
13. How to turn a Website Into a Dock App
You can add any website to your dock by dragging the URL bar over to the bottom section of the dock that houses open and recently used apps. Adding a website to the dock makes it faster to launch because you can click from that spot alongside all your apps.
14. How to print quickly
If you head over to the Printers and Scanners section of System Preferences and drag the icon for your favorite printer to your desktop, you can then drag and drop files onto the printer icon to print them automatically.
15. How to share screen in Messages
In a Messages chat with someone, click on the “Details” link and then click on the icon that looks like two screens together to start screen sharing with the person whom you’re chatting with. This is super handy for troubleshooting problems for less tech savvy family members from afar, provided you can get them to click the screen sharing option.
16. How to preview Files From the Dock
In the Downloads or Documents folder on the Dock, hover your mouse over a file and then press the space bar to see a preview. This also works for selected files in Finder.
17. How to see Where Files are Stored
If you have a Downloads or Documents folder on your dock, you can hold Command and click on a folder or file to show its location in Finder.
18. How to move Files Quickly
To move files from one location to another using keyboard shortcuts, simply use Command-C to copy the files you want to move and then Option-Command-V to move those files to a different location.
19. How to activate Spotlight for Searching
To launch a handy search interface that will let you find files on your Mac, simply use Command + Space. Spotlight can do all sorts of things, from locating files to answering basic questions to solving math problems.
20. How to swap Between Apps
To switch between your running apps, press Command + Tab. Keep holding down the Command key and then press Tab to cycle through the open apps. release when the app you want is highlighted.
21. How to close Apps From App Switcher
When you’re in the Command + Tab view, press the Q key with command held down to close an open app.
Best Mac tips and tricks? Now you know
And that covers everything about Mac tips and tricks 2023. Have we missed some Mac tips and tricks here? let us know in the comments section below.