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macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

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Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#301

Post by crazygringo »

crazygringo wrote: post #30
kbutler wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I autohide the dock when I get a new mac, and usually manage to forget it exists. Command-Tab to switch apps, Command-Space to open apps. Why would I want the Dock?

I suddenly realize the only thing I use the dock for is to right-click the trash to empty it. How do you empty the trash? It's never even occurred to me... how do you get to the trash except via the dock?

Replying to myself:

Good news: there's a command under the Finder menu (to the left of File) "Empty Trash..."

Bad news: there's no obvious easy way to view the contents of the Trash before emptying it, without clicking on it in the dock. It's not under "Go", you can't add it to the sidebar either with Settings or by dragging it, and various instructions to navigate to "~/.Trash" don't work in Sequoia.

Good news: But you can add it to the sidebar by opening the Trash and using File > Add to Sidebar. And it shows up with its nice custom trash icon.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#302

Post by crazygringo »

aheckler wrote: post #282
crazygringo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suddenly realize the only thing I use the dock for is to right-click the trash to empty it. How do you empty the trash? It's never even occurred to me... how do you get to the trash except via the dock?

IIRC Finder has an option to delete files from the Trash 30 days after they're put there. I just enable that option and forget about the Trash completely.

You clearly aren't regularly deleting tens of gigabytes of files at a time... ;)

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#303

Post by mFixman »

soulofmischief wrote: post #113
tannhaeuser wrote: post #108

All I want is an app that can fix the "broken window" focus management. Like when I click a window, Mac OS brings to top all windows of the respective app, and when an app (say, Finder) has no window open currently, bringing it to front also unaskedly manipulates the stacking order such that other app's windows become the top most one, completely destroying the visual context. Also, back in the days I used Expose a l…

I'll never get over the fact that I had to pay $8 just to have two windows split side-by-side without using the obtuse and intrusive fullscreen mode.

Back when I was forced to use a Mac I used BetterTouchTool for this. It's a fantastic tool in general, and the window management is sensible.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#304

Post by cosmic_cheese »

where-group-by wrote: post #263
pindab0ter wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

- 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"

Sorting folders seperately is definitely a personal preference thing. This behavior drives me nuts in Explorer and Linux file managers.

I’d support this being an option in the View menu or View Options palette, but I think I would lose my mind if this behavior were made default with no way to turn it off.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#305

Post by cosmic_cheese »

reddalo wrote: post #145
danielvaughn wrote: post #138

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 honestly think that Explorer on Windows 11 is way worse than Finder. But I'd love a FilePilot [1] for macOS... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43091466

I’ve never really understood the love for Explorer in any of its iterations. It was just alright at its best in the Win7 era and somewhere between mediocre and bad in other eras.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#306

Post by wiredfool »

cbm-vic-20 wrote: post #278
wiredfool wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I (personally) forked rectangle a few years back to give me thirds of a window, for a 32" display running in 4k@1x. I use (basically) left, middle, right, and top half/bottom half.

Rectangle supports thirds, "two-thirds", fourths, "three-fourths", and sixths (top/bottom * thirds).

Must have happened after I made my changes. Would have been roughly 2020, based on when I got the monitor.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#307

Post by cosmic_cheese »

crazygringo wrote: post #253
mingus88 wrote: post #107

Remember when Mac was intuitive? I dig these cheat sheets but wow, what a total shift in paradigm from when you had one mouse button and if a feature wasn’t discoverable then it wasn’t shipped

Apple has been using these non-discoverable keyboard modifiers since the very start. I remember using them with System 6 back around 1990. Their design philosophy has always been discoverability for regular features, and then these extra "hidden" features for power users. Nothing has changed.

Yep, a number of these tips are Classic Mac OS holdovers.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#308

Post by hanche »

kccqzy wrote: post #250
johncoltrane wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> launching a terminal at a location Right-click on directory > Services > New Terminal at Folder. > viewing or copying a files path Right-click on directory or file and press Option > Copy " " as path name. > navigating a deep file system Not sure what you mean. > column width in the column view Option + click & Drag. Or do you want them to adjust to files/folders name length? > searching for files What's wrong with…

In the column view, adjusting to the file/folder name length is easy. Just double click on the column divider.

With the Alt key, that adjusts the width of all columns.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#309

Post by kps »

samch wrote: post #277

One Windows shortcut that I use habitually is Ctrl + left or right arrow keys and optionally with shift in order to navigate by or select entire words at a time instead of single characters. I’ve looked into MacOS approaches to achieve the same functionality in the past, but I never seemed to find anything of use. I’m wondering if anybody here would be aware of a solution.

Option-Left/Right to move by word; Command-Left/Right to move to the beginning or end of the line.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#310

Post by y1n0 »

tacker2000 wrote: post #118
tannhaeuser wrote: post #108

All I want is an app that can fix the "broken window" focus management. Like when I click a window, Mac OS brings to top all windows of the respective app, and when an app (say, Finder) has no window open currently, bringing it to front also unaskedly manipulates the stacking order such that other app's windows become the top most one, completely destroying the visual context. Also, back in the days I used Expose a l…

Yea I also hate that. If i have two terminals on two screens then click on one, all the terminals are now in the foreground and blocking the IDE/whatever…

Maybe this is something that was changed on recent versions of macos but I can't reproduce this. I've tried terminal, iterm, browser windows, etc.
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