Here’s a fact: Your Mac can do much more than what meets the eye. A majority of its features are focused on offering smart and time-saving tricks to boost your productivity. Whether it’s about signing documents, boosting your working speed, or even securing yourself online, we’ve rounded up 10 of the most amazing tips to help you unlock the full potential of your Mac.
Use Spotlight for Unit Conversions
While you may know that Spotlight lets you perform basic calculations, what you might not know is that it can also perform quick unit conversions. For example, if you enter something like “$1129”, it will show you the value of this unit in Pounds, Sterling, or any other native currency that’s set in your system. Additionally, Spotlight will also show other currencies like Yen, Euros, etc.
Sign PDFs in the Mail Itself
In case you didn’t know, you can use your Mac to sign documents in the mail itself, reducing the need to use additional signing programs. Here’s how you can go about doing it:
- Drag the PDF you want to send into the email
- Hover over it to find a little button at the top right
- Click it to see a variety of markup options
- Use the sign option to sign your documents
Show and Hide Menu Bar Automatically
While Macs are known to have a fixed menu bar, all its laptops since the OS X EL Captain give you the option of hiding the menu bar. Here’s how you can go about it:
- Click on System Preferences
- Head to General
- Click “automatically hide and show the menu bar”
Once you tick off this option, you will see that you can now make your menu bar appear or disappear just by gliding the cursor towards the top of the screen.
Secure Your Mac with a VPN
Using a secure VPN for Mac ensures that all your data that travels between your internet and your Mac is entirely encrypted. This in turn ensures that none of your data can ever be stolen or accessed by hackers, identity thieves, the government, your ISP, or just about anyone.
In other words, a VPN makes you practically invisible on the internet so that your identity, passwords, browsing activity, personal messages, IP address, location, and online purchases stay hidden from everyone.
Take Versatile Screenshots
Unlike in Windows, taking screenshots on Mac is simple and streamlined. Here’s how you can take different kinds of screenshots on it:
- Press Shift + Command + 3 to automatically store the screenshot on the desktop
- Press Shift + Command + 4 to save only a portion of a screenshot
- Press Shift + Command + 4 followed by pressing the space button to capture the window you’re trying to click
Create Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts
Sure, shortcuts can make life endlessly easier. But they don’t need to be something that you should memorize. Fortunately, you can easily create your very own shortcuts on Mac. Here’s how you can go about it:
- Head to System Preferences > Keyboard > App Shortcuts
- Press the + button for adding a new shortcut
- Pick the app you want to assign the shortcut to from the drop-down list
- Come up with a key combination and press Add
Try Using Split Screen
Mac makes it incredibly easy to work with two apps or windows by keeping them side-by-side. When you opt for a split-screen, select the second app or window you want to open simultaneously and put it to the opposite side. Because split-screen conceals both Menu Bar and the launcher, you get to have more screen space and fewer distractions when you’re working.
Rename Files in Batches
In the latest Mac versions, you can batch rename files in one go without having to use third-party software. Simply select the group of files you want to rename and select Rename either from the cog icon in the drop-down button of Finder windows or by right-clicking the contextual menu.
Communicate with Your Mac
With the arrival of Siri on Mac, you can now enjoy the full benefits of this amazing assistant on your Mac. In fact, Siri is now more powerful than ever because it can perform functions like pulling up your system files, toggle functions like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and much more. To start interacting, simply press Command+Space.
Use iCloud Drive to Store Anything You Want
Previously, you could store only specific files on iCloud. However, with the help of the upgraded iCloud Drive in the latest Macs, you can now store just about any file you want on the drive. Simply drop any file either into the Documents or Desktop folder and select the iCloud Drive icon from the Finder sidebar to get all these folders and files to sync automatically.
Conclusion
While your MacBook is pretty intuitive to use, there are a few important aspects of it that can only be understood if you do a fair bit of exploring. We’re sure this article has helped you explore and utilize some of these smart hacks so that you can work smarter, faster, and more securely.
