With modern macOS releases (Mojave and later), Macs have a hidden screen record app with more advanced controls like a timer, save to destination choices, show/hide the mouse pointer, remember last selection, microphone control, and more.

If you mostly do straightforward screen recording on Mac, the native functionality is free with no app to download.

• On your Mac keyboard, press the combination Command + Shift + 5 (can be used while running any app)
• In the bottom middle of the screen, choose the rectangle with a circle icon to record the whole screen or the dotted-line rectangle with a circle icon to record a selection of your screen
• Click the Options button if you’d like to enable the microphone, show mouse clicks, select a save location, and more
• Choose Record to start
• When you’re done, click the Stop button (circle with square icon) in the menu bar found in the top middle/right of your screen
• Your recording will show up on your Mac’s desktop by default unless you picked a different save location

You can also pull up this menu in QuickTime by clicking File > New Screen Recording but the keyboard shortcut is usually faster.

Unicode incorporates nearly 150,000 symbols, and our keyboards let us directly enter no more than several dozen (even with Shift and Option). Many of the remaining characters can be found in Character Viewer, a part of macOS that’s hidden by default. This viewer lets you find symbols, drag them or double-click them to insert symbols into text, and mark them as favorites for later access.

You can bring up the Character Viewer through several methods:

• On a keyboard with a Globe key (lower-left corner), you can press that key to bring up the viewer. If pressing Globe doesn’t bring up the viewer, check your settings. In macOS 13 Ventura or later, go to Apple menu  > System Settings > Keyboard and choose Show Emoji & Symbols from the “Press Globe key to” menu; in macOS 12 Monterey or earlier, go to Apple menu  > System Preferences > Keyboard and enable the option in the Keyboard tab.

• Press Command+Control+Space.

• In macOS 13 Ventura or later, go to Apple menu  > System Settings > Keyboard, click Edit next to Input Sources (under Text Input), and enable “Show Input menu in menu bar”.

• In macOS 12 Monterey or earlier, go to  > System Preferences > Keyboard, choose the Input Sources tab, and check “Show Input menu in menu bar”: Emoji & Symbols is one choice.

When it first appears, the viewer might be in an abbreviated form that emphasizes emojis and shows links along the bottom. If so, click the palette icon in the upper-right corner to expand it into the larger Character Viewer.

You can search for characters via the field in the upper-right corner, and the viewer provides matches. Say you want to routinely insert 1/2, 1/4, and other fractions using the compact drawn fraction symbols in a font? Search for fraction, and all fractions appear. You can then select each one you want to have easy access to and click Add to Favorites below its preview on the right-hand side.

After adding the first favorite, a Favorites link appears in the left-hand navigation list. You can then click Favorites to access characters and symbols you’ve added to the list.

Open any PDF file, and if Preview recognizes that it contains form elements, an "AutoFill Form" button appears in the upper-right corner of the PDF window. Click it, and the page is now populated with editable fields highlighted in pale blue. You can now click in a field to add text or click the field and drag its location. If you decline to click or it seems like Preview hasn’t recognized there were fields on a page, you can click the new "Show Form Filling Toolbar" icon, which looks like a long rectangular with an ellipsis in it (…) and a thin pencil angled at far right.

The process isn't perfect. Preview sometimes only generates some of the necessary text boxes. You can add more by holding Option and dragging a field to a new position. That new field lacks the blue highlighting.

If you want to add additional text or other elements, you can use the Form Filling Toolbar items, which include buttons for redacting text, adding a scanned or mouse/stylus written signature, and adding text fields. For even more control, click the "Show Markup Toolbar" button in the main toolbar, which looks like a marking pen inside a circle.

Modern MacBooks can last 18 hours or more on a single battery charge, but like all rechargeable batteries, the one in your Mac has a finite lifespan. Over time, its capacity to hold a charge gradually diminishes, potentially leaving you tethered to a power outlet more often than you'd like. This is where understanding your Mac's battery cycle count can be important.

Checking your Mac's battery cycle count provides valuable insight into its overall health and remaining lifespan. A cycle count represents the number of times your battery has gone through a full charge cycle, which occurs when you use 100% of its capacity – whether in one sitting or spread across multiple partial charges. By monitoring this number, you can gauge how much life your battery has left and plan accordingly, whether that means adjusting your usage habits or preparing for a potential battery replacement down the line.

Here's how to check it your Mac's battery cycle count:

• Click the Apple symbol () in the menu bar while holding the Option key
• Select System Information from the dropdown menu
• In the new window, click the Hardware list in the left sidebar if its contents aren't showing
• Click Power in the expanded Hardware list
• Look for Cycle Count under "Health Information" in the Battery Information section of the main window

This number represents how many times your battery has been fully discharged and recharged.

Apple designs MacBook batteries to maintain up to 80% of their original capacity at their maximum cycle count, which varies by model. Recent MacBooks typically have a maximum cycle count of 1,000, while older models range from 300 to 500. You can find your specific model's maximum on Apple's support website. Remember, reaching the maximum cycle count doesn't mean your battery stops working. It simply indicates when you might notice a decrease in battery life.

Every new Mac bought from Apple comes with a one-year warranty that includes service coverage for a defective battery. If your Mac is out of warranty and the battery hasn't aged well, Apple offers battery service for a charge.

If you wish to change the keyboard shortcut for Type to Siri on Mac, you can do so rather quickly with a settings change:

• Go to the  Apple menu and choose “System Settings...”
• Select “Apple Intelligence & Siri”
• Select the “Keyboard Shortcut” dropdown menu to choose your desired keyboard shortcut for starting Type to Siri, the default options are: Globe/fn+S, Press Left Command key twice, Press Right command key twice, Press either command key twice or Customize (you can select just about any keyboard shortcut this way)

If you find yourself accidentally initiating the Type to Siri feature with the double press of command key, you might try switching the Type to Siri keyboard shortcut to Globe/fn+S instead, or something else entirely using the customize feature. Or, if you only use one of the Command keys, you might find switching the keyboard shortcut to the non-used Command key to be helpful as well.