If you are a Mac user, you should know that there are many tips and tricks for making your workflow easier. However, not many of us know about every shortcut, thinking it would be difficult to remember.
In this article, we will be discussing five must-know macOS tips. irrespective of whether you are a beginner, intermediate level, or an advanced Mac user.
5 macOS Tips For Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Mac Users
- Force Quit the Apps
There could be instances in which some of the apps could get unresponsive on your Mac, even though the chances are very rare. You should know how to get rid of such a situation by force quitting the apps. Instead of the Ctrl + Alt + Delete option you follow in Windows, in Mac, you should click the option Cmd+Opt+Esc, which is (Command, option, and escape key) altogether.
This will open a ‘Force Quit Application’ box. From the list of apps provided, you should choose the application which you think is misbehaving. Suppose you cannot remember the keyboard shortcut, then you will have to use an alternative method for accessing the force quit app window in that case. You have to click the menu displaying the Apple icon, and in the left corner, you will find the Force Quit option.
- Set Screen Time
Screen Time is a very popular feature of Mac computers, and it gives us an estimation about the time we spend on iOS devices such as Mac, iPad or iPhone. Screen Time can be found in System Preferences.
You should choose the Options button and turn on the option for enabling the feature. Furthermore, you can also share Screen Time across multiple devices.
There are also options to view the app usage, schedule downtime and set limits using screen time for macOS. Even though this setting can be of utmost use, it can be frustrating when you have to use some services or send some messages or emails, but your screen time limit has exhausted.
You will find that the apps are restricted, and you cannot get away from the restrictions as you have forgotten the screen time passcode. Check this guide if you want to reset a forgotten screen time passcode.
- Volume and Brightness Adjustment
A user will have the option to make adjustments to the brightness and volume according to the requirements. For making adjustments to the brightness, a user will have to click F1 & F2, whereas, for volume, a user has to click the option denoted as F11 & F12.
However, suppose you are a user who wants to adjust the volume and brightness according to their custom requirement in Mac. In that case, you will have to hold down the option and the Shift key along with the volume or brightness keys. Performing a single press will reduce only a quarter bar instead of a full bar of the volume or brightness adjustment.
- Clipping the Text
It is one of the oldest features in the Mac computer, however not many know about it. You can simply drag a text towards a finder window or the desktop, which will clip the text. The clipped text can then be saved as a .txt file format for future references.
The feature could be of utmost help whenever you want to save information from a book. Users can seamlessly use the text clipping feature. Simply double-clicking the file will open it. You can copy the text directly from there. You can also drag and drop the file into any document, and the text will be right away pasted in the cursor head.
- Screenshot in JPG Format
If you are a user who needs to take screenshots on Mac for work or personal reasons, you might have noticed that Mac takes screenshots only in PNG format. Even though PNG is known for its high-quality images, it can consume a lot of space in your Mac’s hard drive because of its large file size.
Hence, it is desirable to take screenshots in JPG format. It also helps in the easier sharing of the files as the file size is smaller than PNG format images. All you need to do is open Spotlight by clicking on Command + Space. Next, find Terminal and select it. Type “defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg;killall SystemUIServer” into Terminal and press Enter. Apart from PNG and JPG, you can choose to save the screenshots in GIF, PDF, and TIFF formats.
Also Read: Adobe Premiere Pro Alternatives for Windows & Mac
There are various other macOS tips & tricks for beginners, intermediate and advanced Mac users such as performing faster app search in Spotlight, accessing the Emoji keyboard, displaying file path in the finder, smart navigation of the text as well as making use of smart text selection, organizing of the files using the tags and stacks and creating of custom keyboard shortcuts to name among a few.
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