5 hidden Mac features you should be using
MacOS has a ton of hidden features that can change the way you use your Mac computer. Whether you’re a Mac newbie or a Mac veteran, TheGhanaTech.com will be showing you the five great features that you should be using.
5 great features you should be using on your Mac
- Quick Look
Quick Look lets you quickly preview files without opening them in Finder. To use it, open a Finder window and locate the file you want to preview. Click the item once with your mouse to select it, then press the space bar once to see a preview of it in a pop-up window. You can also use Quick Look on folders to see information on the folder’s contents.
- Virtual Desktops (Spaces)
Spaces is like virtual desktops for Mac, and it can help you organize your open windows and applications into different desktop workspaces. You can create different spaces for different tasks and then switch between them quickly and easily. To do so, press F3 on your keyboard to open Mission Control, then move your mouse cursor to the top of the screen and click the plus (“+”) button to add a new desktop. From there, you can drag and drop app windows from Mission Control into the desktop thumbnails at the top of the screen and switch between them by clicking the thumbnails themselves.
- Full-Screen Mode
If you get distracted easily while working or gaming on your Mac, full-screen mode helps you focus on one task at a time. When you use it, a single app or window will take over your entire screen, and the desktop and other windows will be temporarily hidden. To enter full-screen mode, click the tiny green button in the upper-left corner of a window (near the red “close window” button). Or you can hover over the green button and select “Enter Full Screen.” It’s easy to miss if you don’t already know it’s there.
- Force Quit
Force Quit is a great hidden feature that lets you quickly quit an unresponsive application. You shouldn’t rely on it to quit apps that are working well, but sometimes if an app becomes completely unresponsive, you have no other choice. To use it, press Command+Option+Escape on your keyboard, select the unresponsive application in the list, then select “Force Quit.”
- Automator
Automator is a powerful tool that lets you automate repetitive tasks on your Mac. To use Automator, open the Automator app (open Launchpad and type “Automator” to find it) and choose from a variety of included actions, such as “Rename Finder Items” or “Copy Files and Folders.” You can then string together a series of actions to create a workflow. Once you’ve created a workflow, you can save it and run it whenever you want.
