One of the neat things about using a Mac is that macOS features various levels of interaction and customization, but many of us only ever scratch the surface of what's possible. If you regularly perform certain actions on your Mac, often there's another way of doing it that's easier, only it's not so obvious unless someone points it out to you.
With that in mind, here are few quick macOS tips that once you start using should make the time you spend on your Mac a more effortless experience. The following assumes you're running macOS Sonoma or later, but many of these tips should work on earlier versions of Apple's Mac operating system.
Access more Preview file format options
When you come to save or export a file in Preview, Option-click the Format dropdown to get access to several additional file types.
Float notes over app windows
In the Notes app in macOS, it's possible to float individual notes over other windows so that they stay visible regardless of which application is active. This makes for a convenient way to reference an existing note while writing an essay or report, for example. It also comes in useful if you want to take notes when researching something online.
To float a note in the Notes app, double-click the note to open it in a separate window, then select Window -> Keep on Top from the menu bar. The note will now remain above other open application windows, even if you switch between apps using Stage Manager. Just remember that your floating notes can't share the same screen as another app that's in fullscreen mode.
Add app, file or folder shortcuts to Finder's toolbar
Simply begin to drag the item within the Finder window, then hold down the Command (⌘) key and drop it onto an available space in the toolbar.
Quickly access specific system settings
If your Mac's keyboard has icons printed on some of the functions keys, you can press them to perform special features. For example, pressing the F11/12 keys with speaker icons adjusts the volume. If you hold down Option when you press one of these keys, the specific preferences in System Settings that are associated with the feature will open instantly. Option-F11/12 opens the Sound pane, for instance.
Tired of Typing? Dictate
macOS supports simultaneous use of keyboard input and Dictation, without any disruption in your flow of thought. In other words, you can keep typing after hitting the Dictation shortcut (assignable in System Settings... > Keyboard). So whenever your fingers need a rest, you can complete the sentence you were just typing by saying it out loud.
Automatically close Safari tabs
macOS can close Safari's browser tabs on your behalf, based on when you last viewed them. Select Safari -> Settings... in the menu bar, then click the Tabs section. Next to "Automatically close tabs" you'll find options to make the browser auto-close tabs that have not been viewed After One Day, After One Week, or After One Month.
Mail attachment downloads in Finder
In macOS Sonoma or, when you download an email attachment from Mail and view it in Finder, the file includes a new mail symbol next to it to let you know it's an email attachment. If you right-click the attachment, there's even a "Reply to [name of sender]" option in the contextual menu that when selected will open the Mail compose window, ready for you to type up your reply message.
On a Mac that has a top row of function keys, Apple includes volume and brightness controls that can be used to make adjustments in stepwise increments. However, there may be times when you want to make more fine grained adjustments to these settings than the default increments allow.
Whenever you tap the volume or brightness controls on your keyboard, you'll see an indicator appear on your Mac's screen with 16 fixed increments separated by lines. With the help of a keyboard modifier, it's actually possible to make more nuanced quarter-step changes to sound volume and screen brightness using a total of 64 increments.
Before you press the volume or brightness controls, hold down the Option and Shift keys together on your keyboard. Now go ahead and make your adjustments, and you should see the onscreen indicator move forwards and backwards in smaller increments (four over each segment). Holding down just the Option key will take you to the Sound or Displays settings.
It's a simple tip, but it's really useful for when just tapping the control on its own feels like too much of a jump, and you'd prefer more accurate control over.
Are there times when you sit down to work on your Mac and struggle to see items on the screen? Whether it’s the app icons on your desktop, text in emails or webpages, or simply your mouse pointer, there are ways to improve your screen space.
You should never have to strain to read or see what’s on your computer screen. So, here are several adjustments you can make to improve your Mac experience.
Find your pointer faster
Starting with the simple things, you may have trouble seeing your pointer on the screen or just lose track of where it is.
You can adjust the size of your pointer, so it’s easier to spot. Open System Settings.. from the Apple menu and go to Accessibility > Display. Use the Pointer size slider to increase the size of your mouse or trackpad pointer. A super handy feature on Mac is that you can shake your mouse to briefly increase the size of the pointer and thus making it simpler to find. This setting is in the same spot as the cursor size. Go there and enable Shake mouse pointer to locate.
Make text bigger in specific apps
If it’s reading words that you’re having a hard time with on Mac, you can make the text size bigger.
Font size in Messages: Go to Messages > Settings... and on the General tab. From here, move the slider at the bottom for Text Size.
Font size in Mail: Go to Mail > Settings..., and on the Fonts & Colors tab, change the text sizes using the Select button for each font at the top.
Font size in Safari: Go to Safari > Settings..., and on the Advanced tab, check the box for Never use font sizes smaller than and pick a minimum size in the drop-down list.
Font size in Notes: Go to Notes > Settings... and move the slider at the bottom for Default Text Size.
For other Apple or third-party apps on your Mac, check the app’s Settings/Preferences or the Help section for instructions on increasing the font size if available.
Make desktop text and icons larger
In addition to increasing the size of the text in apps, you can make your screen font and icons larger as well. You can do this for text and icons on your desktop, in Finder, in your sidebars, and in your menu bar.
You can increase the size of the items on your desktop pretty easily. Right-click or hold Control and click an empty spot on your desktop and select Show View Options.
Choose a Text Size from the drop-down list and use the slider for the Icon Size. You can change the size of the font in Finder if you use Icon, List, or Column view. Open Finder and click View > Show View Options from the menu bar. Choose a Text Size and Icon Size.
For an overarching larger icon size in sidebars, head to Apple menu > System Settings... > Appearance and select Small, Medium, or Large for Sidebar Icon Size.
Text in the menu bar
You can increase the size of the text in the menu bar. Head to Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility. Select Display, and select Large as the Menu bar size. You’ll need to log out and back in to see this change.
Use system-wide large text
Besides the above finer options, you can also significantly increase the overall text size of all apps and windows. To do that, go to Apple menu > System Settings... > Displays and choose an option next to Larger Text.
Adjust the appearance of your desktop
You can make some simple tweaks to make items easier to view on your desktop, in menus, and for borders. These types of adjustments are related to the colors on your screen.
Turn transparent areas of the desktop gray in Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility. Select Display and enable Reduce transparency.
Darkening the borders also reduces transparency and makes things simpler to see. Go to Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility. Select Display and enable the switch for Increase contrast.
If seeing white on black is easier on your eyes, you can head to Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility > Display and enable Invert Colors.
For statuses and information, you can choose to see shapes instead of or in addition to colored text. Go to Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility > Display and enable Differentiate without color.
Adjust the overall contrast for the display. Head to Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility > Display and move the Display contrast slider.
For protanopia, deuteranopia, tritanopia, or a color tint, you can use filters. Go to Apple menu > System Settings... > Accessibility > Display. Enable Color Filters. Select the Filter Type and then use the adjustments options that display to personalize the filter or color tint.
Use Night Shift
Another built-in Mac feature called Night Shift can make your screen easier on the eyes. You can turn it on quickly from the Control Center or schedule it to turn on regularly. In Control Center, click Display and then the Night Shift. To Schedule Night Shift, open Apple menu > System Settings... > Displays and click the Night Shift.
Apple has a feature that’ll make you sound amazing on voice and video calls. It’s called Voice Isolation, and it focuses your mic on your voice.
Apple actually added two audio modes for apps to take advantage of, Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum. Voice Isolation is definitely the more useful of the two. Wide Spectrum is not so useful unless your group call has an actual group in one room. That’s because it focuses the audio onto the background noise, minimizing your own voice.
The setting you want for most situations is Voice Isolation. It tunes out background noise when turned on, so you come through clearly and cleanly. That could be removing traffic noise or just the general background hum of a coffeehouse.
To enable Voice Isolation:
• Open an app that supports Mic Modes, such as FaceTime
• Click the FaceTime icon in the menu bar, then click Mic Mode
• Choose Voice Isolation
Many MacBook owners use their laptops in dual use scenarios, functioning as a laptop computer when on the go, and a desktop computer when not. This leads some to wonder if it’s bad for the MacBook battery to leave the computer charging or plugged in, even if it’s not in use.
If your MacBook is at a desk, or mostly at a desk, is it bad to leave it plugged in all the time? Should you keep your MacBook plugged in and charging all the time? Is that safe to do, or is it bad for the battery and longevity of the laptop?
Generally speaking, it is safe to leave a MacBook plugged in all the time. A huge number of MacBook usage are in scenarios where a MacBook is sitting on a desk, connected to a charger, and often to an external display, keyboard, and mouse too. These “use a laptop as a desktop” situations are incredibly common in the workplace and school with Apple laptops, and for many home users as well.
When a MacBook is plugged in and charging, it will typically perform at it’s best, since there is no need to engage in energy conservation or battery life extension. It’s not totally unusual for some MacBook users to have discovered their laptop feels like it’s running slower than usual when running on battery particularly when battery life is relatively low, and in fact it often is running slower because of the Low Power Mode feature, which directly throttles performance to extend battery life.
While there’s nothing wrong with keeping a MacBook plugged in all the time, and you’ll often have the best CPU performance by doing so, there are a few things to keep in mind that may contribute to the broader battery health and battery longevity of your MacBook, so it’s important to keep those in mind.
Important considerations for keeping MacBook plugged in
Most modern laptop and gadget batteries are lithium-ion based, including those that are found in MacBooks, which means they degrade over time and with usage. The battery in a MacBook is designed to be used. Keeping a lithium-ion battery at 100% charge constantly may reduce the overall lifespan of a battery, but modern Macs include battery maintenance features that help to prevent this. Nonetheless, it’s still good practice to use your Mac laptop as a laptop from time to time, and let the battery discharge to 20%-30% or so, and then charge it again.
Apple explains the various factors that can contribute to Mac battery health and battery lifespan as follows: “All rechargeable batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they get older—and their age isn’t determined only by time. A battery’s lifespan depends on its chemical age, which is affected by factors such as its temperature history and charging pattern. As your notebook’s battery ages chemically, its charging capacity gets smaller.”
Let’s pay particular attention to the ‘temperature history’ and ‘charging pattern’, because those are both often directly controllable by MacBook users.
Modern versions of MacOS have built-in battery optimization features that aim to extend the lifespan of the devices battery. One of the primary means of doing this is by learning your laptop usage and charging habits, and then delaying the amount of time the MacBook spends fully charged. For example, let’s say you get to your desk every day at 8am, plug in your MacBook, and then leave your desk every day and disconnect the MacBook at 4pm – macOS battery optimization will observe and learn this schedule, and then hold your laptop battery at an 80% charge level until the end of the day, when it will then charge the battery to 100%. Apple Silicon Mac laptop batteries will use fast charging tech to get to 80% capacity, and then they automatically switch over to a slower charging style referred to as ‘trickle charging’, where the remaining 20% will charge much slower, at a defined time, or sometimes not at all.
Battery Optimization is enabled by default on every modern Mac, but you can confirm it is enabled on your particular Mac laptop by going to Apple menu > System Settings > Battery > Battery Health > clicking the tiny (i) button next to Battery Health make sure “Optimized Battery Charging” is enabled. Battery Optimization should be enabled on Mac laptops for best performance and longevity.
Avoid extreme heat
Extended exposure to high heat or extreme heat can negatively impact battery health and battery life, and it’s also not great for any tech in general. Heat can directly damage lithium-ion batteries. Keep the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro out of direct sunlight, and away from heat sources. Do not smother the laptop, which can prevent heat from dissipating as designed.
Additionally, if you run the MacBook in clamshell mode (meaning closed, but still on and connected to an external display), you will want to make sure it is well ventilated around it, particularly with the modern MacBook Air since it does not include a cooling fan. The fan-less design of the Apple Silicon MacBook Air series makes it a very power efficient and silent computer, but it is known to throttle performance when overheating or in clamshell mode and under heavy usage.
Aside from potential battery issues, high heat will often cause CPU performance to reduce and throttle. If you’ve ever used a MacBook outside in the sun on a warm day, felt the computer get very hot to the touch, and then suddenly become almost unusably slow with beachballs, it’s likely because the Mac is overheating and the system is reducing performance and other activity to try and cool things down. There are a variety of helpful ways to keep a MacBook cool in hot weather and high temperatures if you want more specifics, but a little common sense goes a long way.
Keep macOS updated
It’s important to keep up to date with macOS software updates and install those updates when they are available. Not only do macOS system software updates routinely fix bugs and security issues, they may also address any known issues with energy usage, battery optimization and usage, or other power management related circumstances. You can update macOS by going to Apple menu > System Settings > General > Software Update.
