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.

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.

When you hold Command and press Tab, the Application Switcher overlay appears above all other open windows on your desktop, and remains visible until you release the Command key. Letting go switches you to the last active app, prior to the one you were just using.

Repeatedly tapping Tab with the Command key held down cycles you through the list of apps in the Application Switcher from left to right, while releasing Command takes you to the selected app. You can also press the right and left arrow keys to move the selection box forwards and backwards. A two-finger drag on a trackpad does the same thing, or you can use your mouse cursor to highlight an app in the list and then click to select it.

Bring back a minimized app

While the Application Switcher allows you to cycle through open apps, selecting an app with minimized windows doesn't automatically restore those windows. To do that, activate the Application Switcher and navigate through the row of icons. With the desired app highlighted, press and hold the Option key, then release the Command key. This action will restore the minimized window of the app in question.

Close and hide apps via the Application Switcher

Pressing the H key in the Application Switcher hides all the windows of the selected app (pressing the H key again reveals them). It's a neat way to quickly clear a space on a desktop cluttered with windows. This method streamlines window management by avoiding minimization. By invoking the Application Switcher again you can switch back to the hidden app.

Lastly, highlighting an icon in the Application Switcher and tapping Q has to be one of the fastest ways to individually quit open Mac apps.

To create a Text Clipping, simply highlight any piece of text, then hold left-click and drag it with your mouse to your Desktop or an open Finder window. This saves the highlighted text – including any rich text formatting – as a .textclipping file named after the first few words of text that you selected, but you can easily rename it to make it more identifiable.

To use the selected text in another file like a Pages document, drag the Text Clipping into the open document and the text will be automatically pasted wherever the cursor is located. You can paste the clipping in the same way into all sorts of open files and apps, including browser search engines, Mail compose windows, and more.

To quickly view the contents of a Text Clipping, simply double-click it to view the text in a dedicated window, and even highlight and copy (Command-C) just a snippet of the text from this window for pasting elsewhere.

Text clippings can speed up many repetitive tasks, making things like reusing email/letter templates and code snippets a cinch. Bear in mind that Text Clippings store content in a unique format that may not be compatible across all platforms or devices. So if you're sharing clippings, it's best to convert them into standard text formats to ensure they can be opened elsewhere.

Mac users who update to macOS 15.2 (or later) can now add a handy weather icon to the menu bar, showing the current temperature alongside a visual indicator of the conditions — such as a sun for sunny skies or a cloud for overcast weather.

Clicking the icon provides a detailed hourly forecast, upcoming temperatures, and weather updates for saved locations. It also offers quick access to the full Weather app with just a click.

You can enable this feature on your Mac by following these steps:

• Click the Apple () symbol in the menu bar and select System Settings...
• Navigate to Control Center using the sidebar
• Locate the "Menu Bar Only" section near the bottom
• Alongside Weather, click the chevrons and select Show in Menu Bar