If you are an age-old Mac user or are new to macOS, there are a lot of things to know about it. Mac offers you many tips and shortcuts that you can learn and use to improve your performance, productivity, and user experience.
Encrypt Your Startup Disk
Apple gives you an easy way to protect your data by encrypting the hard disk. This feature is known as FileVault that provides full-disk XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key. It encrypts the entire data stored on the hard drive to prevent unauthorized access.
According to https://setapp.com/how-to/filevault-disk-encryption-mac, FileVault is an amazing feature that every Mac user must use. The link explains everything about FileVault, its benefits, and how you can enable it to encrypt your data.
Forward Delete with Function + Delete
If you are switching to Mac from Windows, you must be surprised to see that the Delete key is missing from the keyboard. Some Mac laptops don’t even have the backspace key, so using shortcuts can be the only quick solution.
Moreover, the Delete key on Mac keyboards erases the text left to the cursor, similar to the backspace key. So what if you need to delete the text right to the cursor. Use Function + Delete keys simultaneously to delete the text towards the right.
Minimize Open Window With Command + M
To minimize a window in Mac, click the yellow-colored – (dash) icon or alternatively, press Command + M keys. Using keyboard keys or shortcut combinations improves productivity as they let you work efficiently.
With shortcut keys, you don’t have to take your hands off the keyboard to hover over the various parts of the screen. If you are running multiple windows on your Mac Computer, press the Command + Option + M key combination to minimize all the windows together.
Quit Apps With Command + Q
Do you know that you have to navigate your mouse to the top-left of the screen to close any window? Since you usually do it from the right side of the screen in Windows, that can confuse new Mac users.
Clicking the X red-colored button can close the window, but the application keeps running in the backend, consuming system resources. Quitting and deleting unnecessary apps will help you to manage your hard disk in an organized manner. Press down Command + Q keys together to quit the open application.
Switch Between Apps with Command + Tab
While working in macOS, you can switch between apps from the Dock, and this makes you multitask in a better way. Open the App Switcher window by pressing down the Command + Tab keys.
To move right towards the active applications, hold down the Command key while pressing down the Tab button. To move towards the left through the open apps, hold down the ~ (tilde) key available just above the Tab key while pressing down the Command key.
View Menu Bar Icons with Option + Click
Expand the menus on the Mac by pressing down the Option key with the Menu bar icons. For example: To change the input and output source, press the Option key and click on the volume icon.
Similarly, hold down the Option key and click WiFi and Bluetooth to get access to detailed information about the connected devices and the network. This feature enables you to bypass multiple clicks to gain access to information about any particular feature and lets you do your work efficiently.
Learn Relevant Mac Keyboard Shortcuts
Apart from what we have already discussed in prior sections, you should also consider learning even more relevant Mac keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to improve your performance on the device and get the most out of it.
- Command + T: Open new Tab
- Command + P: Print a document
- Command + S: Save a document
- Command + O: Open selected item
- Command + W: Close front window
- Command + Z: Undo the last action
- Option + Command + Esc: Force quit an app
- Command + H: Hide window of the front app
- Command + X: Cut items and copy to clipboard
- Control + Command + F: Open app in full screen
- Command + M: Minimize from window to the Dock
- Command + C: Copy selected items to the clipboard
- Shift + Command + N: Create a new folder in the Finder app
- Command + F: Open a Find window or find items in a document
- Command + V: Paste the contents into the current app or document
- Command + G: Find the most recent occurrence of the item than the previous one
Your Mac is a powerhouse of multiple features and shortcuts, and learning even a few of them will make you more productive. Initially, you may find using the keyboard shortcuts quite difficult, but you will get acquainted with them once you start using them regularly.
