It's special what you can do with a Mac. In this article we provide some small tips and tricks to expand the experience with your Mac computer.
Learn more about wireless connections such as Bluetooth and Airdrop, QuickTime player, new Mac security features and how to restore your Mac in case of problems.
Read through the tips and there may be one you don't know yet!
14 useful Mac OS tips
Change the location of a window
You can move a window on your Mac to the left or right of the screen. This way you can automatically position a number of windows next to each other.
Open a window, click and hold the green button to open the context menu for window positioning.
Sidecar screen sharing
If you have an iPad with a Apple pencil then you can control your Mac or annotate PDF documents on your Mac.
Press the CMD button and spacebar on your Mac, in the Spotlight window search for: Sidecar, open Sidecar and connect to your iPad (make sure the iPad is turned on and logged in with the same Apple ID & wireless network).
Once you're connected, you can basically control your Mac from your iPad. Personally, I find it useful to quickly sign documents on my Mac with a Apple pencil.
Send airdrop files
Airdrop is a useful feature to transfer files from an iPad, iPhone to your Mac or vice versa. If you want to use Airdrop, WiFi and Bluetooth must be activated on both devices, the receiver and the sender.
The devices that both have Airdrop must also be in close proximity to each other, at a maximum distance of 10 meters.
Open Finder, click on Airdrop in the left menu. If you have opened Airdrop, all nearby devices will appear in the Airdrop window. Select a file and drag it onto the device in the Airdrop window. The file is now sent to this device.
To use Airdrop from an iPhone or iPad, select file on your iPhone or iPad and the share icon. Select Airdrop from the context menu. Then select the device that appears in the list and the file or photo will be sent.
Pair Bluetooth devices
Of course, you can also connect devices that support Bluetooth to your Mac in Mac OS X. To connect a device, the Bluetooth device you want to connect must first be in connection mode (pairing mode). To get the device into pairing mode, you must follow the manufacturer's instructions, this varies per device.
Open the Bluetooth settings from the Mac menu.
A new device you want to pair should now appear in the list of found Bluetooth devices.
Click on the device to establish a Bluetooth connection with it. Once you've paired a device with your Mac, you don't need to do it again, the device will connect automatically next time.
To remove a device from Bluetooth connections, select it from the list and click the X icon. The Bluetooth device is now no longer connected via Bluetooth to your Mac.
View files quickly
The tool shows files quickly (that's what I called it because I don't know how Apple it calls..) can display files without opening them. You select a file, a photo or a document and click the space button on your keyboard.
A new window will now appear with an enlarged view of the file. You can then open the file in the appropriate editor. This way you don't have to open the editor to view the contents of a document or enlarged version of a photo, which saves time!
Quickly view files with highlighting
Following on from quickly viewing files, you can also quickly edit files since Mac OS Mojave. If you select an image file and then press the space bar you will get an enlarged view. In the enlarged view you will see a marker at the top. Clicking on the marker will give you a new set of options for editing the image.
These options let you mark up and adjust images without opening a photo editor on your Mac.
Gatekeeper security settings
The first time you open an application, gatekeeper (that is Apple's built-in security tool) or the application comes from a well-known developer. If this application is unknown to Apple you must grant permission via Gatekeeper.
Also read Clean up and speed up Mac.
Open it in the top left corner Apple menu. Select System Preferences from the menu. Click on Security and Privacy.
In the tab: General click on the Open Yet button, which is located at the bottom.
I don't have a good picture of this because I kind of like this software won't start on my Mac. Some people do and that's why this information is available.
Approve authorization with Apple Watch
If your Mac and Apple watch Both have the latest updates so you can use yours Apple Watch to approve things that normally require you to enter your Mac administrator password.
If you have Mac and Apple Watch both are linked to the same thing Apple ID then you can by double clicking on the right side of the Apple Watch approve for authorization.
This is useful but don't forget your administrator password...
Quicktime
When playing a video with Quicktime, move the mouse over the window to display the buttons such as pause, forward, stop, etc.
To temporarily shrink the Quicktime window, click the icon on the right, which will make the window smaller and leave it hanging above all other windows in picture-in-picture mode.
Media synchronization
The Music, TV and Podcasts applications replace iTunes. If you purchase media such as music, movies etc then these files will be synced over iCloud, i.e. if you purchased movies and music will be available on all Apple devices to which the same Apple ID is linked. Handy, so you don't miss anything.
Read only system
In Mac OS Catalina the system is a read-only system. This ensures that it is impossible to overwrite system files and thus damage the operating system. The read-only system keeps your data separate from all other data on your Mac, making it very safe!
Apple ID information in one place
If you click on the left in the menu Apple logo, then select System Preferences from the menu and you will enter the Mac settings. Now click on it at the top right Apple ID menu.
You now have it all Apple ID settings in one place. In this overview you can see which applications on your Mac use iCloud, how much iCloud storage you have left and which devices you have ever linked to your Mac. Apple ID.
Manage devices
When you physically connect devices to your Mac, these devices will appear in Finder on the left side. In the Finder window you can manage devices, such as checking for updates, an iCloud back-up making, restoring backups, etc. and restoring, for example, an iPhone or iPad.
Restore Mac via Recovery Mode
If there are problems with your Mac due to an update or another problem, you can easily repair your Mac. Press restart your Mac after hearing the startup tone or just after seeing it Apple logo on the CMD + R button on your keyboard. Press and hold these buttons to restore your Mac in recovery mode.
You can reinstall Mac OS this way or Restore Time Machine backups to solve problems.
I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!