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Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

thume.ca

51–60 of 232 posts

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#51
post #35
post #22

There are better tools than a hex editor or system monitor (why do you want to constantly be bothered how well your hardware is performing?). Unclutter - This gives you a nice non intrusive "memo zone" as well as manage your clipboard, so that copying password won't lose your user name into limbo. BetterTouchTools - Who'll live without this one? Just give "three fingers swipe down" mapped to cmd-w and your life will…

> BetterTouchTools - Who'll live without this one? Just give "three fingers swipe down" mapped to cmd-w and your life will be quite that much better. No more click at the upper corner tiny button to close a window which is an insanely dumb usability. I prefer using the keyboard as much as I can, and I use Cmd+W to close windows (yes, sometimes one may mistakenly hit Cmd+Q and close the entire application, but muscle…

IMO, applications that don't prompt for confirmation on potentially destructive Quit are broken.

By this definition, all Mac Web browsers are broken, but you can fix the accidental Command-Q problem on an app-by-app basis by remapping Quit to something harder to accidentally type like Command-Shift-Q using the Keyboard pane in System Preferences.

Personally, for applications like my primary browser where intentionally quitting is overwhelmingly the exception rather than the rule, I remap Quit to Control-Command-Option-Shift-Q and rely on the fact that pressing Q while any application is selected in the Command-Tab switcher triggers its Quit command.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#52
post #33

> You can select multiple images in Finder and drag them onto the Preview dock icon to open them in one window with a Sidebar where you can quickly flip between them with arrow keys. Instead of wasting time dragging and dropping, just press Cmd+Down Arrow to open the files (usually images are associated with Preview.app as the default application). Cmd+Down Arrow in the Finder opens (navigates one level down) whateve…

> Instead of wasting time dragging and dropping, just press Cmd+Down Arrow to open the files

I believe this does something different: it opens each photo in its own Preview window.

It’s basically the difference between passing multiple arguments to one “Open” invocation, and passing one argument apiece to multiple “Open” invocations.

If the images are in a folder, though, you can “Open With” the folder with Preview.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#53

> cmd+shift+4 pops up a crosshair to take a screenshot of a region. If you hit space at after invoking the crosshairs then you can take full window screenshots. This mode is nice for marketing material as it also captures the drop shadow and rounded corners rendered properly as a transparent png.

And hold ⌘ while doing that to select a "sub-window" such as an alert. Do note that doing this while in Dark mode will capture the blended color from your desktop picture, so it's not quite optimal for sticking on top of a macOS desktop template, but it's nice for making quick mockups.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#54

My favorite is this: You can drag the Spotlight search bar anywhere on your screen. But if you want to restore it to the default position long tap/click on the Spotlight icon in the menu bar and it will snap back.

If you have a Force Touch trackpad, it will also click to let you know you've aligned it back to where it was originally.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#55
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> BetterTouchTools - Who'll live without this one? Just give "three fingers swipe down" mapped to cmd-w and your life will be quite that much better. No more click at the upper corner tiny button to close a window which is an insanely dumb usability. I prefer using the keyboard as much as I can, and I use Cmd+W to close windows (yes, sometimes one may mistakenly hit Cmd+Q and close the entire application, but muscle…

IMO, applications that don't prompt for confirmation on potentially destructive Quit are broken. By this definition, all Mac Web browsers are broken, but you can fix the accidental Command-Q problem on an app-by-app basis by remapping Quit to something harder to accidentally type like Command-Shift-Q using the Keyboard pane in System Preferences. Personally, for applications like my primary browser where intentionall…

> By this definition, all Mac Web browsers are broken

Chrome has a “Confirm before Quitting” toggle-option hiding in its File menu, right above Quit. Kind of wish Safari had the same.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#56

I'll add another one, if you have a file dialog open, hit Command+Shift+G to open a dialog that let's you type in the path. Useful if you are going back and forth between terminal and some GUI app and some path is in your clipboard.

You can also use tab completion in said dialog.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#57
Surprised no one has mentioned QuickLook. In Finder, select a file (document, image, movie, etc.) and tap the space bar to bring up QuickLook. You’ll see a full preview of that document instantly. The preview window follows your focus, so you can use mouse arrow keys to navigate between files, etc and see an updated preview. Also works in Open dialogs, Mail attachments and elsewhere.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#58

> cmd+backtick is like cmd+tab but between windows of the same app. Well, I wish that were completely true, because cmd+backtick only cycles through the windows of the application, while cmd+tab lets you select the application you want. From Ubuntu (or maybe rather Ubuntu's default desktop environment?) I am used to cmd+backtick allowing me to select the window - I did find an application that does enable this behavi…

I think the Control Center’s “windows of active application” view is what you’re looking for. Hit Ctrl+Down. It’s keyboard-navigable!

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#59
post #19
post #2

My tips: 1. Forget Finder, it is just bad for any power user scenario, and IMO worst part of Mac OS. Use Forklift or other similar app for all GUI file management operations. 2. Never drag and drop (this applies to any OS). Early release can cause all kinds of issues. 3. Make sure that you have fast access to Activity Monitor, since some GUI applications do not show any reasonable progress indicators when they start…

1. This. The only thing I miss from Windows is Explorer. I just can't understand how macOS dev feels Finder would work like that for 20 years without much change. It resets the config and the window size for a folder at every random occasion, creates .DS_Store garbage all over, you cannot even cut files and just feels uneasy. I even enable "Quit Finder" menu and get it out of my app cycle list but it randomly resurre…

> It resets the config and the window size for a folder at every random occasion, creates .DS_Store garbage all over

I suspect you might be deleting the .DS_Store files, which would have a side effect of resetting your configuration.

Also, Finder doesn't do cut, you hold down ⌥ when pasting to move it rather than make a copy. And since it draws your desktop icons, it's supposed to stay running–that's why "Quit Finder" menu is hidden by default.

Re: Hard to discover tips and apps for macOS

#60
post #57

Surprised no one has mentioned QuickLook. In Finder, select a file (document, image, movie, etc.) and tap the space bar to bring up QuickLook. You’ll see a full preview of that document instantly. The preview window follows your focus, so you can use mouse arrow keys to navigate between files, etc and see an updated preview. Also works in Open dialogs, Mail attachments and elsewhere.

I briefly mention the spacebar shortcut in the article but it does indeed deserve more explanation. One of my favorite macOS file browsing features for sure, miss it all the time on Linux, especially the part where it follows your focus when you use the arrow keys. Great for looking through large folders of poorly-named PDFs for the right thing.
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