8 Mac Tips and Tricks You Might Not Know

There are tons of hidden features and shortcuts for Macs that Apple has built into macOS over the years, ranging from shortcuts to keyboard commands to other little hacks to make Mac usage just a bit simpler. In our latest YouTube video, we highlighted several of these tips and tricks, and some of them might just be new to you.

  • Transfer Files Fast - If you hold down "T" when your Mac is booting up, you can enter Target Disk Mode. In this mode, use a Thunderbolt 3 cable to transfer large files at fast speeds between two Macs.
  • Paste With Style Matching - When pasting something, if you use Option-Shift-Command-V instead of just Command-V, you can transform the pasted content into the style of the content that already exists in a document. If you have a block of text that's bold, for example, and then want to paste in text from the web and make it bolded too, you can use this keyboard shortcut.
  • Turn a Website Into a Dock App - You can add any website to your dock by dragging the URL bar over to the bottom section of the dock that houses open and recently used apps. Adding a website to the dock makes it quicker to open because you can click from that spot alongside all your apps.
  • Quick Print Shortcut - If you go to the Printers and Scanners section of System Preferences and drag the icon for your favorite printer to your desktop, you can then drag and drop files onto the printer icon to print them automatically.
  • Screen Sharing in Messages - In a Messages conversation with someone, click on the "Details" link and then click on the icon that looks like two screens together to initiate screen sharing with the person who you're talking to. This is super handy for troubleshooting problems for less tech savvy family members from afar, provided you can get them to click the screen sharing option.
  • Preview Files From the Dock - In the Downloads or Documents folder on the Dock, hover your mouse over a file and then press the space bar to see a preview. This also works for selected files in Finder.
  • See Where Files are Stored - If you have a Downloads or Documents folder on your dock, you can hold Command and click on a folder or file to display its location in Finder.
  • Move Files Quickly - To move files from one location to another using keyboard shortcuts, just use Command-C to copy the files you want to move and then Option-Command-V to move those files to a new spot.

Know of other useful Mac tips and tricks that we didn't cover here? Let us know in the comments and we might highlight them in a future video.

Top Rated Comments

OscarMV Avatar
43 months ago
More people should know that Command-Control-Space will summon the emoji picker and let you insert emoji at the cursor point.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rochford Avatar
43 months ago
I posted this last year, may be useful here.

A few tips people may find useful, if you don't already know them. Hopefully we all know that Command + tab shows the open applications, and (while keeping your finger on command) using tab or left and right arrows to move between the applications. What's not so obvious is Apple added a number of other uses for this.
1 - while tabbing to an app you can quit the app by pressing Q, you can go through and quit every app if you want without going to the app. It's not a force quit, and you'll be asked if something needs saving. Similarly pressing H will hide a specific App.
2 - you can drop a file on the app icons to open with a specific app, if it can.
3 - The really handy one, which I use all the time, is when tabbing to a specific app press the up or down arrow key, at which point all the open windows in that app will be shown. If a window is in the dock it's a thumbnail at the bottom of the screen. Pick a window, and that window alone comes to the top. I usually have lots of windows open, so if I want to reference a window in another app, but going to the app brings all it's open windows to the top, this method only brings the one you want, not covering up the window you're working on.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PBG4 Dude Avatar
43 months ago
I love hitting the spacebar to preview files. Keeps me from firing up an app more than half the time. Probably the biggest macOS feature I miss on my work PC. Keep hitting the spacbar on my Dell and wondering why nothing is happening.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SteveW928 Avatar
43 months ago
The problem with 'Past With Matching Style' is that the shortcut isn't consistent or always available (and requires finger gymnastics). :(

I'm not sure who would want anything but this aside from special circumstances. Sucks that it is so difficult (by comparison to Command-V).
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andre65 Avatar
43 months ago
Printing can be faster.... Select a document and then hit command+p ...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Taz Mangus Avatar
43 months ago
Toggle showing/hiding hidden files in finder, command-shift-. (command-key, shift-key, period-key).
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iOS 17 and iPhones Feature

iOS 17: 10 New Features That Just Launched

Sunday September 17, 2023 12:35 pm PDT by
In June, Apple announced iOS 17 with a wide range of new features and changes for the iPhone. Following over three months of beta testing, the free software update will be released this Monday, September 18 for the iPhone XS and newer. Below, we have recapped 10 key features coming to the iPhone with iOS 17, with additional features coming later this year. The update should be released to...
iPhone 15 Pro Lineup Feature

iPhone 15 Models Feature New Setting to Strictly Prevent Charging Beyond 80%

Tuesday September 19, 2023 2:04 pm PDT by
All of the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models feature a new battery health setting that prevents the devices from charging beyond 80% at all times when enabled, as confirmed by The Verge's Allison Johnson during a Q&A session today. The new setting is separate from the pre-existing Optimized Battery Charging feature on iPhones, which intelligently delays charging past 80% until a more...
maxresdefault

Apple Releases iOS 17 With StandBy, Live Voicemail, Improved Autocorrect, FaceTime Video Messages and Tons More

Monday September 18, 2023 10:05 am PDT by
Apple today released iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, the latest operating system updates that are designed for the iPhone and iPad. As with all of Apple's software updates, iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 are available for free. iOS 17 is compatible with the iPhone XR/iPhone XS and later, while iPadOS 17 runs on the iPad mini 5 and later, the iPad 6 and later, iPad Air 3 and later, the second-generation 12.9-inch...
flighty standby

Best Apps With New iOS 17 and watchOS 10 Features

Monday September 18, 2023 3:02 pm PDT by
With the release of a new operating system, there are multiple features and design elements for developers to adopt. Now that iOS 17 is out, many major apps are getting interesting updates today, which we've rounded up below. watchOS 10 also has a new design language, so there are a range of Apple Watch updates to check out too. Flighty (Free, Premium Subscription) Popular flight tracking...