6 Hidden Mac Features That Will Make Your Life Easier 

The main reason why people prefer Mac is its incomparable speed and resilience. Macs can be integrated with several other iOS devices to improve user experience. It is a more secure and quality computer.

Mac is built with a variety of features that help improve productivity. The features help with easy access to programs, shifting across devices, and searching files. Many users are not aware of unique Mac features that can make their work easier.

1. Create custom keyboard shortcuts

Your productivity on Mac is slowed when you decide to use a combination of keyboard and mouse. Customized shortcuts help you work faster, save time, and be more efficient.

• Open the Apple menu and click System Preferences
• Select Keyboard preference
• Click Shortcuts
• Select App Shortcuts
• Click +
• Choose the application/s to use for this shortcut
• Open Menu Title and type the name of your shortcut
• Click Keyboard Shortcut
• Press the exact key you will be using for the shortcut
• Click Add to finish

Google Chrome is a popular browser but it has its downsides. When using Chrome to surf, your Mac could feel unresponsive or slow. After opening Activity Monitor to look into the issue, you may have found many records for something known as Google Chrome Helper. Google relies on many extensions and applications to perform better and it requires constant cleaning.

2. Take a quick screenshot

• Press and hold the Shift + Command + 3 keys
• A thumbnail will appear at the edge of the screen. Click on it to save and edit the screenshot.

To take a portion of your screen:

• Press and hold Command + Shift + 4
• The cursor will turn into a crosshair
• Use it to drag and select the area you want to capture
• Once you release it, it will take a screenshot of the highlighted portion.

To take a screenshot of a window menu

• Open the menu
• Press and hold Shift + Command + 4 + Space bar
• The cursor will change to a camera
• Click the window to take a screenshot
• Click on the thumbnail that appears in the corner to edit.

3. Easily access files you recently opened

All recently accessed items appear listed in the Apple menu. You can quickly access them in different ways.

Press Shift + Command + F to view all recently accessed items and open the ones you want. The other option is to open the Apple menu. The last 10 recently accessed items will be displayed in a list. You can also open the App menu and then click Recent Items and open the Applications menu if you want to access apps or the Documents menu if you want to access documents.

4. See all of your open windows at once

If you love multitasking, you can view all your open windows on Mac at once. The windows will be minimized so that they can fit on your screen. Here are several ways to do it.

• Press and hold the Control + Down arrow
• Swipe your 3 fingers on the trackpad
• Go to Desktop and Dock settings
• Click Group windows by application to turn it on
• Press the Control + Down arrow to group the open windows by application

5. Quickly zoom in and out of images and documents

You may want to increase or reduce the size of an item displayed on Mac. Your computer has a magnification feature that helps you zoom in or out. There are several ways to do it.

• To zoom in, press and hold Command +(the plus key)
• To zoom out, press and hold Command – (Minus key)

Zooming in or out an entire screen is different.

• Open the Apple menu
• Click System Preferences
• Click Accessibility
• Select Zoom
• Click Use keyboard shortcuts to zoom.

You can now use the keyboard commands to zoom in or out.

6. Find your iPhone using your Mac

Sometimes you can misplace or lose your iPhone. To protect your sensitive data, you can use the Find My feature on your Mac to locate your device and delete its data.

• Open the Apple menu
• Click System Preferences
• Click on iCloud
• You will be prompted to enter your Apple ID plus your password
• You will be asked to set up your two-factor authentication
• Click not now to skip this step
• Click Do Not Upgrade
• Click Next
• Ignore the Use iCloud for Contacts option
• A pop-up “Allow My Device” window will appear
• Click Allow
• If a sign-in window appears, go ahead and sign in
• Click Find My Mac

Takeaway

Mac features are there to help you work faster and save time. Instead of following a lengthy procedure to get things done on your Mac, these tips can significantly increase your productivity.