Americans waste an average of 8 days a year in the workplace moving their cursor around.
This statistic applies to people who work at a computer every day, which is more and more of us as society becomes more digital.
If you want to avoid wasting all of this time, there is a solution: shortcuts.
Whether you use your computer for work or fun, continue reading to discover the best Mac tricks that will help make you more productive and efficient!
1. Easily Sign PDFs
One of the best tips to utilize on a Mac computer is easily signing your PDF files directly in your mail.
Printing PDFs to sign them and scan back into the computer can be a long and frustrating process. Instead, you can drag PDFs straight into your email.
When you put your cursor over the PDF, an icon will appear for you to make mark-ups. The mark-up options include a button for signing documents.
Add your signature into your Mac by signing a piece of paper and putting it in front of the camera. You can also upload your signature by drawing it on your tracking pad.
2. Using Siri
If you’re new to using a Mac, there are plenty of resources to help you navigate.
Siri is one of the best tools and shortcuts for getting tasks done on the computer. You can press down the command+space keys to activate Siri or click the Siri button on your menu bar.
Those that enjoy using Siri to pull up music and documents can put the icon in their dock to quickly get access. Siri on your Mac works just like it would on a phone.
Once everything is set up, you can simply say “Hey Siri” to activate voice dictation.
3. Use the Competitor
The average computer user may not use this hack often, but you can run Windows software on your Mac!
Sometimes work projects, gaming, and hobbies require a Windows computer. By downloading an emulator app on your Mac, you can still have access to the competing OS. Try using Parallels Desktop or VirtualBox on your Mac to get Windows working.
It is recommended that you backup your computer and files before doing this to secure your data.
4. Opening Files
One of the best Mac tricks revolves around opening files.
There are a dozen ways to get the job done. Most people are comfortable with double-clicking the file to open it. You can also right-click to open the file.
Besides clicking on the files, you can open them by pressing command+down arrow to open your files and select a specific one. Holding command+O can help you open the selected file.
Other places that you can locate files are in the dock and by searching for them on Quick Look.
If you are trying to open compressed files like ZIP or RAR, you will have to use the RAR extractor for Mac.
5. Split Your Screen
Are you constantly going between tabs to get work done each day?
If you are, you can split your screen. Older versions of Macs can do so by left-clicking an app’s green button (maximize button) and dragging it to a preferred spot.
Anyone that has macOS Catalina can split the screen by left-clicking the maximize button. The difference is that a menu will appear where you can choose to tile the window to the left or right screen.
6. Change Your Icons
Having a Mac is exciting and as a new user, you may want to customize it in every way you can.
A fun way to customize your computer is by changing the icons for files and folders. Not only will it match your preferences, but it will also confuse other people that try and use your computer.
To change the icon you can right-click the icon and select “get info.” Then paste your preferred icon into the document thumbnail and it’s all done!
7. Never Worry About Passwords
If you are new to the Apple family, you should know about the Keychain feature.
This software helps remember all of the passwords used for Wifi and more. Instead of asking your friend for their Wifi password every time you visit, you can look up the password yourself.
Go to the Keychain app, search the connection name, and double-click it. Once the SSID you need appears, you can select “show password” to enter it back in.
8. Create Custom Shortcuts
A good trick for Mac computers is to create custom keyboard shortcuts that will help save you time.
If you are frequently typing the same responses or symbols on the keyboard, you can access them easier. To do this you must go into your system preference and select the keyboard tab. Then select app shortcuts and click the plus to add whatever you want.
Be sure to follow the steps and click add to save your custom shortcuts!
9. Scroll with Ease
Using your Mac may feel weird to begin with, but once you learn how to use the trackpad you’ll be good to go.
To scroll up and down, place two fingers lightly on the tracking pad and go up and down. If you want to go to the previous page on the internet, you can slide two fingers to the side.
Scroll settings can be changed to your liking within system preferences.
10. View All Windows
If you are someone that has more than 5 tabs open at a time and several apps running, the ability to view your open windows can be helpful.
To view all of your open windows and apps on the Mac, you can place three fingers on the tracking pad and swipe down. This will also show you windows opened on other desktop screens.
Become More Efficient with These Mac Tricks
There are dozens of ways to get a task done on a Macintosh computer.
Using the Mac tricks mentioned above can make you look like a pro user even though you are just getting started. Knowing these tips and tricks will make you more efficient and adaptable to technology.
Be sure to check out our blog for more articles on technology trends and navigating computers!