Live data from Hacker News

macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

saurabhs.org

291–300 of 360 posts

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want a Finder that actually works. It’s pretty incredible just how bad Finder is. It’s by far the worst piece of software I’m forced to use on a daily basis.

I recommend Alfred to replace Finder, Divvy for window management, iTerm2 for terminal, and homebrew to manage CLI utils. This combination has served me well for many years.

And Linux Mint Cinnamon to replace MacOS ... how bout that?

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want a Finder that actually works. It’s pretty incredible just how bad Finder is. It’s by far the worst piece of software I’m forced to use on a daily basis.

i mean ... is it possible to move a file? the context menu doesn't seem to have a corresponding entry. currently have a weird situation where a bunch of folders are arranged horizontally and go beyond the right border of the window. but there is no horizontal scroll bar indicating that. the windows xp/nt/2000 file explorer is the pinnacle of file exploring experience. basically every linux file explorer just more or…

[deleted]

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just want a Finder that actually works. It’s pretty incredible just how bad Finder is. It’s by far the worst piece of software I’m forced to use on a daily basis.

What exactly is so bad about Finder? I've never had any issues with it.

It never seems to receive focus when I'm expecting it to

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#294
post #3
post #2

For a mouse-first OS, there sure is a heavy dep on keyboard modifiers. Day to day it doesn't bother me so much, and I even like some of them, but so much functionality is hidden with no mouse-based option. Opt-Shift-V? :/ Windows does this much, much better. I can't think of a feature where you need to use the Windows key to modify the options presented in the GUI (though the Windows key has some unique shortcuts). I…

Many of these features Windows has no analogue for. Consider: > By default, clicking inside a scroll bar will scroll partially towards the clicked location. Hold Option while clicking in the scroll bar to jump directly to the clicked location. There is no way to present this option in the GUI without cluttering up the scroll bar, so neither Windows nor macOS do so. But at least this feature is available for power use…

> Many of these features Windows has no analogue for.

Holding Shift and clicking scrollbar does jump directly to the clicked location on Windows.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#295
post #5

Does anyone have any advice for making the most of the Dock? I find it pretty unhelpful coming from an older Windows / Linux background: I just want easy access to the windows that are open on my current workspace on my current monitor, and it seems ill-suited to that. I usually have it on auto-hide because it takes up space without providing much value. I'm aware that I can do the three finger swipe to look at all o…

I basically use it to see which programs are open. Also when you get into macOS window hell, it can be helpful to see at a glance if anything on the dock isn't open (programs opened which are not in the dock will appear on the other side of the | )

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, the easiest way to swap between windows: Cmd-Tab, up arrow, arrow keys to the window you want, enter

which is a lot of steps compared to just clicking the relevant window in a taskbar :(

I never use the taskbar on any system because it’s slower than shortcuts like this.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Awkward sorting by name (mixing folders and files), unless you change the default - Does not snap files to a grid by default on icon view, leaving some folders looking like a mess - Not possible to figure out what's the exact path of the open folder - I just want a full path in the header/title bar. Or let me copy the full path without having to open "get info"

> I just want a full path in the header/title bar Apart from the Path bar in the bottom, there is also an old school title bar method: defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool true killall Finder ("false" for reversing it.) It doesn’t work for great for tabs, though, because tabs are short and paths are long. > Or let me copy the full path … There are some alternative fun and old methods: * If yo…

Thanks for the tips. The defaults command worked well for my needs.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Awkward sorting by name (mixing folders and files), unless you change the default - Does not snap files to a grid by default on icon view, leaving some folders looking like a mess - Not possible to figure out what's the exact path of the open folder - I just want a full path in the header/title bar. Or let me copy the full path without having to open "get info"

Sounds like you want "Show Path Bar" (in the View menu), though it lives at the bottom of the window not in the header. The sorting by name criticism is a weird one to me though. You want it to not sort by name when you tell it to sort by name, and instead sort by file vs folder and then within those two groups sort by name?

I should have paid more attention to the menu bar. Show Path Bar helps with my needs.

For sorting I want it to sort like File Explorer or Dophin. So folders on top (sorted by name), then files (sorted by name). It works if I change Settings > Advanced > Keep folders on top.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#299
post #5

Does anyone have any advice for making the most of the Dock? I find it pretty unhelpful coming from an older Windows / Linux background: I just want easy access to the windows that are open on my current workspace on my current monitor, and it seems ill-suited to that. I usually have it on auto-hide because it takes up space without providing much value. I'm aware that I can do the three finger swipe to look at all o…

I'm a fan of learning the defaults and using them (verse having an environment that takes time to setup).

As others have said, CMD+Space is sufficient, just hide the dock.

Post reply on HN