Show hidden files (dotfiles) inside any finder window or file open dialog: Cmd + Shift + . Discovered after ~10 years
This is one of the most useful ones here that I didn't already know, thank you
Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
241–250 of 540 posts
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#242Emacs key bindings work in all standard text boxes and views. For example ctrl-A to go to the beginning of the line and ctrl-E to go to the end.
Also, damn you Microsoft for using non-standard views in your macOS apps.
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#243Mouse keys -- as an anti-feature. (press option 5 times) My daughter enabled it while I wasn't at the computer and then thought my keyboard had died. Even took it in to get repaired, and got a new keyboard. There is no permanent indicator that it's enabled, and it persists after reboots (once logged in)... when I figured out my brand new keyboard still had several broken keys I started looking for S/W level issues. H…
What happened? What does mouse keys do?
See [1]
In short, it makes the keys on a numerical keypad allow you to control the mouse (move up/down/left/right and click)
[1] https://etc.usf.edu/techease/4all/input-devices/what-are-mou...
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#244Option click on the upper right corner hamburger menu toggles Do Not Disturb mode without having to open the whole right panel notifications section. Helpful for presentations and screen sharing.
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#245Best feature I found was discovering that software development is much easier on Linux (using Ubuntu). Never looked back, am a happy convert.
Good for you
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#246This has been around for a long time but most people don’t know about it: Dragging and dropping files from the finder into an file selector window (ie. Open File in most programs) will navigate to that file and select it. As others mentioned this works in terminal as well to give you a path, but actually this generally works in any text box (unless it specifically handles paths being drag ‘n dropped). This also works…
Dragging and dropping files from the finder into an file selector window
You can also drag a file or folder's icon from a Finder window title bar.
When it doesn't work, that's a good indication of a program that's using Electron, Carbon, some old framework, or poorly maintained.
Adobe and Audacity are both guilty of this.
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#247Preview can modify images. There's a button with a pencil icon that toggles a toolbar for simple image editing, such as adding lines, shapes, or texts.
I've been using the Markup in Preview since they went system-wide in macOS Mojave. (Today I learned that Markup debuted as an extension in Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite. [0])
This comment and its children sent me on a spelunking mission and the treasures I found. Markup has a Loupe tool and Speech Bubbles.!
Such features are many, various, and somewhat obscure, akin to Easter Eggs. (Both undiscoverable and handy to know.)
[0] https://tidbits.com/2018/11/19/macos-hidden-treasures-the-ma...
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#248Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#249Using the Touch Bar to adjust volume, brightness, etc. doesn’t have to be a two-step process... no need to tap, lift and re-position your finger to the slider that appears. Instead, just touch-and-hold the icon of the thing you want to adjust, and slide from there.
Nice touch (sry, pun was unintended).
Re: Ask HN: What feature did you find after years of using macOS?
#250Wait until you find out you can change which directory screenshots save to. I have a dedicated "screenshots" directory in my home directory. And then a stack in the Dock for it similar to the one for the Downloads folder.
Any idea if there is a way to remove the preview that shows up in the bottom right corner? OSX doesn't write the screenshot until after that disappears which is annoying
The preview thing is really handy as you can directly drag and drop it into a document or chat window or whatever.
After you’ve done that it won’t be saved, which is great as you can quickly snap and use a screenshot without having to switch to the Finder - and the desktop doesn’t get cluttered with hundreds of images.