20 Essential Mac Hacks
This week we’re giving away our favourite and most useful Mac hacks. Check our list of top 20 and see how many you already know. We still have a few tricks up our sleeve so read until the very end.
1. Keychain Access
Forgot that WiFi password? Can’t remember your login? No worries, simply go into your Applications, find the Utilities folder and launch Keychain Access. Now, you can locate all your usernames and passwords for practically everything. Just don’t forget your Mac account password, unfortunately we can’t help you there.
2. Command + Delete
Quickly delete any files using this keyboard shortcut instead of wasting precious seconds dragging to trash.
3. Command + Shift + V
Keyboard shortcut to paste any text without formatting.
4. Command + Space
Keyboard shortcut to open Spotlight and use it as a calculator.
5. Special Character
Hold down on the selected letter on your keyboard and wait for special characters to appear. Voilà!
6. Command + Up Arrow/Down Arrow
Quickly move to the top of your browser or rush to the bottom with this keyboard shortcut.
7. Command + Control + D
Not sure what that word means? Bring up your pop up dictionary by placing your cursor over the word and clicking Command + Control + D.
8. Command + Control + Space
Express yourself and use the emoji keyboard with this keybaord shortcut.
9. Command + Shift + 3
Take a screenshot of your computer. Image is saved to your desktop.
10. Command + Shift + 4
Super tip: Drag the area of your screen you want to capture and release. Image is saved to your desktop.
11. Terminal, Type “purge”
This is only for the truly brave since even a simple error while using Terminal can really mess your computer up. But if you’ve used Terminal before and feel comfortable, here’s a tip to speed your Mac when it’s feeling sluggish. Quickly free up some unused RAM by going into Terminal from your Utilities folder. Type “purge” and hit enter. Long-term solution for slow Macs? Buy more RAM or better yet, upgrade to a SSD (Mac hack #20).
12. Activity Monitor
Open up Activity Monitor from your Applications — Utilities folder. This shows the processes that are running on your Mac, so you can see how they affect your Mac’s activity and performance.
13. Quicktime Screen Recording
Open Quicktime and click File — New Screen Recording to make a video of your computer screen.
14. Quicktime iPhone, iPad Screen Recording
Super tip: Connect your iPhone or iPad to easily record on those screens as well.
15. Command + Option + R in Safari
A neat trick for web developers. First, the developer menu in Safari must be activated. Go to Safari — Preferences — Advanced — Show Developer Menu. Press Command + Option + R to quickly view any website for mobile devices.
16. Sign documents in Preview
Relatively new feature in Preview is now you can sign any document. Use Preview to open any PDF and click on the Signature icon from the Toolbox. Use your finger on the trackpad to sign, send it off and save a tree in the process.
17. SuperDuper
Time Machine is the default for backing up your files. Our main concern is what do you do when your hard drive goes belly up? With SuperDuper you can easily clone your hard drive on another hard drive including the entire operating system, applications, files, etc. If your hard drive ever fails, simply boot up from your backup hard drive and get back to work. We recommend backing up your files at least once a week. You’re not going to want to explain to your client why you lost 3 months of work and now have to start from scratch.
18. Repairing Permissions
Running First Aid from your Disk Utility app can fix a variety of “unseen” problems. In the past, this was done by repairing permissions but that function is now incorporated in the First Aid process. We don’t want to bore you with the technical reasons why so we’ll keep it simple and say this will solve most of your Mac operating problems, promise.
19. Boot Camp
Who said you can’t have your cake and eat it too? With Boot Camp you can. Create another hard drive to run Windows. Anytime you want to switch, simply restart and boot from your desired hard drive.
20. Solid State Drive
Upgrade to a SSD for faster performance on your Mac and now it’s cheaper than ever. Roughly 500GB for $200 and 1TB for $250. Go ask Spotlight to convert to RMB.
BONUS
Press Shift + Minimize button on any window for a cool slow-motion effect
Feel like we’re missing something? Message us on our WeChat account if you think we left out any crucial Mac hacks and we’ll send out an update! Share on your moments and teach your circle a thing or two about how to use a Mac like a pro.
