Live data from Hacker News

macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

saurabhs.org

51–60 of 360 posts

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#51
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?

I empty the trash with command-shift-backspace. I use the dock icon to open it, but I think there’s an entry in the Go menu

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#52
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…

You should use Exposé for that. To swap between applications, use Cmd-Tab. To swap between open windows of the current application you can use Cmd-Backtick.

So, the easiest way to swap between windows:

Cmd-Tab, up arrow, arrow keys to the window you want, enter

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dock just annoys me. I’ve been a Mac user for almost 15 years and it has never seemed useful for me. I cmd+tab or use Alfred to switch apps. To switch between windows of one application it’s cmd+`. Note that you can also use cmd+tab and then while continuing to hold the chord use the pointer to select an application switch to.

> Note that you can also use cmd+tab and then while continuing to hold the chord use the pointer to select an application switch to. You also do things like (for example) start a drag, ⌘+tab to show running apps, then drop on an app icon without using the dock.

The command-tab switcher has a lot of hidden functionality:

I always only use cmd-tab to open the switcher, then I use arrow keys to pick an application, up/down arrows to view an application’s windows (arrow keys and enter to select a specific one)

You can also hit Q to quit an application from the switcher and probably more things I’m currently forgetting.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#54
post #20

Love that this is straight to the point. My tips: - Use Alfred. Game changer. It's an immediate improvement on spotlight search, you can run commands with three keystrokes (rather than opening a terminal, just command + space, then > ), it gives clipboard history and fast append (lets you press command + c twice fast to append to clipboard, and opt + command + c to search clipboard history), and lets you make 'workfl…

> There's still no good window manager for macOS. Rectangle is as close as it gets, but it's not good IMO because it only works on non full size windows. (the solution is just get ninja-like with three finger swipe, and endure using the mouse/trackpad more than you'd prefer) I don’t know your requirements for good, but I like Mizage’s Divvy. Works on Mac and Windows and can configure gTile similarly on Linux.

Divvy is great, still working, yet development seems abandoned.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#55
> On modal dialogs/sheets, press Command + the first letter of the button to press that button. ⌘. is the shortcut equivalent of the Escape key.

This was my favorite, but no longer works on Sequoia or whenever was the version that changed modal dialogs.

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#56

> Hold the Option key while expanding an outline view to recursively expand all children. I use this pretty frequently and it’s always a drag to find when an app doesn’t implement it. It feels so silly to be forced to manually open/close numerous items when most other apps I use can expand/collapse them all in one go.

GitHub uses this shortcut, too. (e.g. Option-click to collapse/expand all PR comments.)

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#57
post #20

Love that this is straight to the point. My tips: - Use Alfred. Game changer. It's an immediate improvement on spotlight search, you can run commands with three keystrokes (rather than opening a terminal, just command + space, then > ), it gives clipboard history and fast append (lets you press command + c twice fast to append to clipboard, and opt + command + c to search clipboard history), and lets you make 'workfl…

I've been using the Amethyst window manager for ~10 years. It's open-source and generally works well, though it occasionally requires a restart (the app, not the OS)

Re: macOS Tips and Tricks (2022)

#60
post #20

Love that this is straight to the point. My tips: - Use Alfred. Game changer. It's an immediate improvement on spotlight search, you can run commands with three keystrokes (rather than opening a terminal, just command + space, then > ), it gives clipboard history and fast append (lets you press command + c twice fast to append to clipboard, and opt + command + c to search clipboard history), and lets you make 'workfl…

I lived with Alfred for many-many years, but Raycast seems much better this days. Simpler yet richer and constantly developed, many plugins, it's simple to do your own and... it has window manager
Post reply on HN