MacMost: System Preferences

If you ever have trouble reading text on your Mac because it is tool small, there are many ways to adjust text in different places to help. You can make a universal change by adjusting your display resolution, use helper features like Accessibility Zoom, or change the display size for text in apps like the Finder, Safari, Mail and more.

Text Replacements are one of the most useful productivity features on your Mac. But even people that use them don't always use them to their fullest potential. Here are 10 examples of things you can do with Text Replacement on your Mac.

You can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts on your Mac for any item in the Mac menu bar. By going into System Preferences you can set a shortcut using the exact name of the menu item in an app or across all apps. You can also change the shortcut assigned to a menu item.

How can you type on your Mac if you keyboard isn't working or is missing? How can you control the cursor to click on things if your mouse or trackpad is not working? There are methods to type and point that you can use in an emergency or until you get a replacement. You can bring up the Accessibility Keyboard to type using the cursor, and use Mouse Keys to move to cursor using only the keyboard. The trick is to know how to bring those up when things aren't working.

The Notification Center appears on the right side of your Mac's screen and contains lots of useful information. To get the most from it, you should take the time to customize both the Today view and Notifications view. Eliminating notifications you don't care about and learning how to use the Today view widgets will help you get more from this useful macOS feature.

Most Mac apps have toolbars at the top of each window with a collection of buttons and other controls. You can customize these toolbars, adding more buttons, arranging them and removing them. You can always easily revert to the default set. Some apps, like the Finder, even let you do more with toolbars.

In macOS Catalina enhanced dictation is now part of Voice Control as part of your Mac's Accessibility features. It has several improvements over previous version of macOS dictation, including several ways to work to correct text, move the cursor, make selections and type difficult words.

You don't have to settle for using Apple's images as your desktop background. You can use any photo from your library or image you can obtain as a desktop background. You can also make your own graphics in an image editing app or Keynote to use as a background. You can combine photos and graphics to make an ideal background.

If you like to switch between light and dark mode frequently, you can create a keyboard shortcut or Dock icon to do it with one fast action. By using a very simple workflow in Automator, with no scripting required, you can create either a Quick Action or a application for your Dock. The Quick Action can then be assigned to a keyboard shortcut.

A new feature in macOS Catalina is the ability to track and restrict your app usage. You can use Screen Time for yourself, to attempt to limit your use, or as parent controls on a standard account on your Mac. You can also limit individual websites.

You see your Mac user account picture every time you log in to your Mac. You can customize this image easily in System Preferences with some default images, a photo, or any graphic you want. You can choose a photo and zoom in on one part of the image. You can create your own graphics or download an image to use.

Most Mac users never take the time to customize their login screen. But there are several options there you will want to change to increase security or have the login screen better fit your needs. There is one very easy change that every user should make, to include a message on the login screen in case you lose your Mac and want to increase the chances that it will be returned to you.

Hot Corners are shortcuts that you can set so an action is performed when you move the cursor to one of the four corners of your screen. You can set these up in System Preferences if you know where to look. You can use them to instantly put your Mac to sleep, trigger Mission Control and other actions. You can also set them to work only with modifier keys. There is a trick to knowing which corners work in a multi-screen setup.

Many apps will give you alerts that appear in the upper right corner of your Mac screen. You can set whether these alerts need you to click on them to dismiss, or they dismiss themselves automatically, or they don't appear at all. The settings for this are in System Preferences, under Notifications.

Dark Mode in macOS Mojave is a great new feature, but Apple didn't give us a way to quickly switch between light and dark modes. The little donation-ware app NightOwl gives you that control in your menu bar. You can also set a keyboard shortcut, select apps to stay in light mode, and set specific times to switch between modes.

If you are using more than one screen with your Mac, you can set where each screen is located relative to the others in your desktop's virtual space. You can choose which screen is the main one by dragging the menu bar representation to that screen. You can also adjust the rotation of your screens to use them vertically.

Mojave changes how apps ask for privacy settings and gives you easier control of those settings. In System Preferences, Security & Privacy, Privacy, you can see all of the permissions that have been granted to apps and change them. However, for typical users it is often hard to determine why an app needs access to a specific type of information.

A new feature of macOS Mojave is Dark Mode. This favors light text on a dark background instead of dark text on a light background in the system and standard apps. You can see the change in the menu bar, app toolbars and sidebars, and even the backgrounds of apps like Contacts, Calendar, Reminders, Notes, Mail and Maps. Not all apps will change, especially third-party apps. Document content and images will not change either, as they keep using the true color specified in the document. You can also change the accent color used in standard interface elements throughout macOS.

The new Dynamic Desktop feature will change the image on your desktop depending on the time of day, or more accurately, the position of the sun. You can see this in action by manually adjusting your Mac's time. Apple includes two dynamic desktops with Mojave, but we may see more from Apple or third-parties at some point.

New Mac users may not have yet explored their display preferences. You can stick with the native resolution for your display or choose one that shows text and graphics larger or smaller. Which setting you use is a personal preference, and it is easy to switch between them when you need something different.