Did you know that in Oct 2018, there were 100 million Macs and MacBooks users around the world? And 51% of them were new to the platform, the company said.
Have you recently jumped the bandwagon and gotten a Mac or MacBook? Are you wondering how you can get up to speed fast and start using your MacBook to its full potential?
Keep reading for 7 of our best MacBook tips and increase your level of satisfaction with your new Apple purchase.
- Spotlight
If you are new to Mac, you are probably searching for files traditionally, by going to the Finder, which is the File Manager in the macOS system. But you don’t have to do that! It’s time-consuming and it’s not the Mac way.
Just use Command + Space and it will open up the Spotlight tool. You can then type in whatever you are searching for and it will show up everything related to the search words you typed in.
Not only will your file or application show up, but if that word or phrase shows up in any of your documents, those will pop up as well. Spotlight is an extremely useful tool for all Mac users and should be used as much as possible to streamline searching for a file.
If you are trying to get path of file, then you will need to go to Finder to see that.
- Screenshot Tool
One of the most useful tools that modern operating systems have is the screenshot tool. But if you are thinking you have to download a separate app to screenshot important pictures or articles on your Mac, then you are sorely mistaken.
As with everything else, Apple makes this quite simplistic for you. You can use Command + Shift + 3 to take a screenshot of your entire screen. And Command + Shift + 4 to select a portion of it.
Finally, you can use Command + Shift + 5 to give you some additional options like capturing a selected window or recording your screen, and more.
You can even choose where you wish your screenshots to be stored, whether it be on your desktop, your downloads, or your documents.
- Split View
Are you missing the comfort and luxury of having multiple screens? Perhaps you have 2 or 3 screens attached to your computer at work. It’s quite convenient to have that option available, so you don’t have to click back and forth between two applications to do your work.
Don’t worry! Apple has you covered. You can convert your laptop screen into a split view screen.
Just hover over the green button on your application window and it should show up several options – you can either enter full-screen mode, or you can tile this window to the left or right of the screen. Then you can open up another application that you can tile to the other side, creating a split view.
Now you don’t have to purchase an additional screen to be able to do your work in split-screen mode. Bazinga!
- Airdrop
If you have the full Apple deal, with an iPhone, iPad, MacBook, and Mac, then you will want the capability to send files in between your different devices quickly. Don’t think that you need to email your documents or pictures each time around.
Use Airdrop to easily send files across all your Apple devices. As long as you have an Internet connection and your Bluetooth is on, you can send whatever documents you wish from one device to another.
You can even use this option to send documents to your family members or friends who have Apple devices.
- Hot Corners
Do you wish to make yourself an even better and faster working machine? Well, efficiency on a Mac is all about using the various in-built shortcuts.
One way you can do this on the macOS system is by setting up shortcuts on the four corners of your application window. Visit System Preferences > Mission Control and click “Hot Corners.”
Then you can select the dropdown next to the corner you wish to set up and choose what action you want it to take. When you hover over the corner, it will execute the shortcut that you have chosen. You can lock your computer, or take a quick note, or whatever else, by hovering over your screen’s corners.
- Force Quit Apps
You must have used Task Manager on Windows before you moved over to the macOS system. Well, there’s a similar tool on your Apple computer.
You can click Command + Option + Esc and it should display a window where you choose which windows you wish to force quit. This way you can quit some or all of the open programs.
- Preview Files
Do you have hundreds of files and documents stored on your computer and sometimes you have no idea what they are all about? Or maybe you have thousands of photos on your laptop and you wish you could see a preview of them before opening them up?
You can see previews of files by selecting the file and hitting Space. The content of that file will pop up on your screen allowing you to see a preview of the file. This way you can quickly check the document before deciding if you need to open it or not.
This is one of those MacBook shortcuts that isn’t very well known, so use it to your advantage.
8. Use Macbook Tips to Make You a Faster Mac User
There’s no point in purchasing a MacBook or a MacBook Air if you not going to use any of the useful Macbook tips that it comes loaded with. At first, you might have a hard time remembering the Macbook tips and tricks shared above, but soon you will be using it like a pro.
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