How Can I Use My Mac Efficiently?

To optimize your Mac user experience, you might want to get to know useful shortcuts. In this article, you’ll find a selection of handy recommendations that will save you time and effort. The more time you spend with your Mac daily, the more effort you would like to save. Apple computers offer seasoned customers plenty of shortcuts, hotkeys, and other tricks to optimize their user experience.

How Can I Use My Mac Efficiently

However, some people might be working on their devices for decades, remaining unaware of their hidden potential — let alone newbies who have just purchased their first Mac. In this review, you’ll find valuable recommendations on how to enhance your productivity, avoid making excessive clicks, and get the best of your computer.

How Can I Use My Mac Efficiently?

1. Use Gestures When Launching the Apps in Full-Screen Mode

To switch an app to the full-screen mode, press Control + Command + F.

Warning: Certain apps are not compatible with this mode, so don’t worry if they don’t respond to the command.

Use Gestures When Launching the Apps in Full-Screen Mode

Feel free to scroll between a full-screen active window with the help of the four fingers that you place on the trackpad. Otherwise, press Control and resort to the right or left arrows.

2. Save Frequently Used Phrases Right on the Desktop

If you often need to introduce certain phrases or fragments of text in diverse apps and documents, there is a way to automate this process. Select the desired fragment in a document, then drag and drop it to the desktop.

To insert this fragment into any page, repeat this procedure in the reverse direction. Like this, you won’t need to retype the same phrases over and over again.

3. Get Rid of Unwanted Formatting

When you copy and paste fragments of text, you transfer to a new window, not just the contents of the text but also formatting. This might be handy in many cases, but some users don’t need this function. The app where you paste the fragment might malfunction because of bizarre formatting. To clean the format each time before pasting a copied fragment, complete the subsequent steps:

Step 1: Proceed to the Shortcuts Pane in the Keyboard tab of the System Preferences.

Step 2: Select All Applications in the App Shortcuts section.

Step 3: Push Plus.

Step 4: Enter “Paste and Match Style” in the first box.

Step 5: Push Command + V in the second box.

For Word, please introduce “Paste and Match Formatting” not “Style”.

This piece of advice might provoke certain issues. For instance, when creating links, you might fail to paste URLs properly. Those apps that don’t include the “Paste and Match Style” option will paste nothing — to fix it, resort to the Paste item in the Menu.

To get rid of this option, proceed to the Shortcuts Pane and push Minus.

4. Quickly Modify the Settings of Any App

Sometimes it would take just one second to change the settings of an app — but first, you would spend ages trying to figure out how to access these settings. From now on, this will be a no-brainer: Just push Command + Coma, and you’ll immediately see the inventory of buttons and toggles.

5. Disable Smart Quotes

If they thoroughly irritate you, uncheck the Use Smart Quotes and Dashes option in the Text section of the Keyboard.

6. Apply Accents

To accent, any letter in a text that you are typing, tap it and hold down for a while. A contextual menu will pop up, offering you a list of accents. After selecting the one you need, tap the number underneath it. Normally, the accent would appear. If it fails, it might be not applicable to this particular symbol.

7. Promptly Save Files to Their Designated Folders

If you have a habit of saving all the crucial files in one folder, you might waste too much time finding and opening it. To accelerate the procedure, consider the subsequent algorithm:

Step 1: Proceed to the Print section in the File.

Step 2: Open the PRF item lower left.

Step 3: Scroll down to Edit Menu.

Step 4: Push Plus and let the Finder pop up.

Step 5: In the Finder, proceed to the folder where you normally store the necessary files.

Step 6: After clicking this folder, press Save.

Next time you will be about to save a file in that folder, press Print, and choose the new item in the PDF drop-down menu.

6. Find Things in One Click

Whenever you want to obtain any information, press Command + Space and then introduce the name of the thing that you are seeking. This might be the name of an app or a file — in this case, the app will launch, and the file will open. By inserting the name of a currency, you’ll get to know its exchange rate.

Inserting numbers will let you know their sum. The results will be displayed in the Spotlight search bar. If it’s not yet highlighted, please do so and press Return.

7. Optimize Your Navigation on the Finder

In Finder, you might need to switch too often from mouse to keyboard and back again. To make life easier, remember handy shortcuts:

  • Command + 1 = Icons format
  • Command + 2 = List format
  • Command + 3 = Columns format
  • Command + 4 = Cover Flow format

Like this, you will be seamlessly shifting from List to Column views, without relocating the cursor to the View section or tapping the icons in the folder.

8. What to Do If You Discover Shortcuts that You Didn’t Enable

On rare occasions, it might happen so that the Mac goes out of control and starts performing operations you didn’t plan. It might be the consequence of you accidentally using a shortcut, or this might be a virus.

Mac goes out of control

To make sure that your device is not infected by malware, run a full system scan with MacKeeper. We won’t focus on this app in detail here — read this MacKeeper review to get a notion of it.

Conclusion

Now you know what to do to work on your Mac like a pro. At first, the above-listed recommendations might seem too difficult to memorize. But once you try them, they will stick in your mind, and you will keep using them intuitively. Please mind that this list is far from being complete and exhaustive, and you can discover plenty of additional pieces of advice on the Internet.