If you have TextEdit in your Dock, you can select text in a document or web page, then drag that selected text to the TextEdit Dock icon to instantly create a new document with that text in it. You can do the same by dragging the text to Mail, which will create a new message with that text as the body.
Launchpad can be a powerful app launcher, but it requires that you move the cursor over to its icon in the Dock and click it to start. But you can assign a keyboard shortcut to do this. In System Preferences, Keyboard, Shortcuts, choose Launchpad & Dock on the left and enable the Launchpad shortcut. Assign something like Command+Shift+A or Command+Shift+Up, or anything you like that isn’t already in use. Then use that shortcut, type the first few letters of an app, and hit Return to launch any app from the keyboard.
Ever want to see what you have copied into the clipboard? You can go to the Finder and choose Edit, Show Clipboard to bring up a little window that shows the contents of the clipboard. It displays any text or image, and will show a description, such as a filename in other cases.
In the Finder in List view it is easy to change the sort order of the files and folders by clicking on the column headings. But in Column View there are no headings. However, when you hold the Option key down and choose the View menu, the Arrange By commands change to Sort By and you can sort this way. This also is handy in List View if you wish to sort by a column that isn’t visible.
Say you send an email to someone asking them to review some information, but you want them to use Messages to respond, not an email. You can include a link like imessage://3035551212 that they can click on to open Messages and start a conversation. You can use a phone number or an email address. You can even put the link inside documents. The recipient must be on a Mac and have the Messages app configured for this to work.
If you’d like to see the Chinese, Hebrew or Islamic calendar overlaid on the standard calendar in the Calendar app, go to Calendar, Preferences, General. You can switch on Show Alternate Calendar and then choose from one of the three.
If you want directions in the Mac Maps app, you have to start with searching for the destination, then clicking Directions, then entering a new Start location unless you are starting from your current location. I wanted a quicker way to do this, and nothing I entered in the search field would get me from point A to B with one step. But Siri will do it. Just ask Siri on your Mac something like “Show me directions from Coors Field to the Denver Zoo.”
If you ever need to restart the Finder, you don’t need to use Command+Option+Esc to force it to quit and relaunch. Instead, you can Control+Option click the Finder icon in the Dock and choose Relaunch.
If you want the Mac App Store to show you apps that have Photos extensions, use the search field and try “appex:com.apple.photo-editing” to find extensions for editing. You can also use “appex:com.apple.photo-project” to find extensions that offer more printing and project options.
Once you close a tab in Safari, you can easily reopen it. If you just closed the tab, you can use Edit, Undo (Command+Z) to quickly reopen it. You can also go to History, Recently Closed to reopen tabs or windows. You can also use History, Reopen Last Closed Tab, which changes to Reopen Last Closed Window if you more recently closed a Window. Reopen Last Closed Window will include all of its tabs.
When you click the title bar of a window to drag it around, it jumps ahead of other windows on your screen. You can leave it where it is, allowing you to move it behind other windows, by holding the Command key and dragging the title bar.
Instead of going to System Preferences, Dock, you can quickly access most Dock preferences by Control+clicking the line dividing the left and right sides of the Dock. Hiding. Magnification, Position and Minimizing are all available to change in the menu. You can also choose to go directly to the System Preferences pane.
If neither bookmarks nor the Reading List is quite right for what you are doing, maybe look into using Reminders to store a list of links. On any web page, click the Share button and choose Reminders. Or choose File, Share Reminders. A link to the page will be saved in your default Reminders list, or another that you choose. You can edit the title or text. Could be extra handy if you use a shared Reminders list.
The quickest way to switch on Do Not Disturb on your Mac is to Option + click on the notifications button at the very top right corner of the menu bar. The icon will dim to indicate that you are in Do Not Disturb mode. This is handy to quickly silence notifications while in meetings or during conversations.
Ever notice that each list in the Reminders app has a color? The title is all that uses that color in the Mac app. You can set the color on your Mac by Control+clicking the title in the left sidebar and selecting a color chip. On iOS, you go into the lest and tap the Edit button at the top, then Color to select a new color.
If you like having the Mac Dock always visible, but sometimes find it gets in the way, then learn the keyboard shortcut Command+Option+D. This hides or shows the Dock. It is one of the few keyboard shortcuts that seems to work at all times, not just when the Finder or a specific app is in the foreground.
Remember the Home button? If you have a browser Home page that you like to use, you can get that Home button back by going to View, Customize Toolbar and dragging the Home button back to the toolbar. You can set your Home page in Safari Preferences, General.
If you go to the Apple Menu and choose Restart or Shut Down, you then have to confirm by clicking a button. Instead, you can do either of those things in one step by holding down the Option key while selecting either item in the Apple Menu.
When you use the Save dialog in an app to save a file, you can also rename and throw away files you see in the dialog. You must be using the list or column view in the expanded Save dialog, and then you can Control+click on a file to bring up a context menu on another file that you see. This is handy when you want to rename or trash a file so you can replace it with the new one you just created.
If you have System Preferences in your Mac Dock, you can Control+click it to reveal shortcuts to each individual section within System Preferences. So no need to launch it first and then find the section you want. The list is in alphabetical order, which can also make finding things easier. If System Preferences isn’t in your Dock, just go to the Applications Folder and drag and drop it from there to the Dock to add it.
