In the US, the average person spends six and a half hours on the internet every day. This means it’s important that your experience is frustration-free.
After all, imagine spending six and a half hours on something that wasn’t in the least bit relaxing!
Macbooks are known to be great laptops. They’re smooth and easy to adapt to for Apple newcomers, which makes them popular.
As well as that, they have a lot of hidden gems you can pick up that make using them a dream. Regardless of what your computer is used for — browsing, streaming, work — there’s a feature that will make life easier.
With these Macbook tips and tricks, your experience with these laptops will become even easier.
1. Shake Your Cursor
Are you one of those people that has a ton of windows up at any given time, with twenty tabs per browser?
Often it’s easy to lose your mouse on the screen. One of the more simple mac tips and tricks is to shake the cursor, by moving the mouse quickly or dragging your finger rapidly back and forth across the trackpad.
The mouse will briefly pop to the forefront of the screen and dramatically enlarge so you can see exactly where it is.
2. Screenshot Just One Section of the Screen
Most computers are easy to screenshot on, but if you only want a portion of the screen, you then have to import it into photo-editing software and crop it. No longer!
On a Mac, pressing Shift + Command + 4 (instead of Shift + Command + 3 for a general screenshot) will allow you to highlight a certain portion of the screen.
Once done, you’ll hear the noise of the camera and this will be the only part of the screen saved in the screenshot.
What a time saver!
3. Connect Your iPhone to Sync Calls, Texts, and More
If you own an iPhone, you can connect it to your laptop by syncing up your iCloud. This means that calls, contacts, texts, and many other apps can be synced between the two devices. You choose which!
Communication is important, so this can be a huge help. Some apps won’t sync up if they’re not affiliated with Apple, but you can still have the same apps across both devices, such as games, Skype, and Discord.
If you’re looking for even more communication apps to use on your Mac, you can find alternatives to those here: https://setapp.com/how-to/alternatives-to-discord-for-mac.
4. Use Voice Control to Streamline Your Experience
By holding down Command + Space, a notification will appear in the top right corner of your screen asking how your computer can help. You just activated voice control!
Voice control can be very handy on a Mac since you can use it for commands and to dictate text. It’s one of the top tips for Apple users that prioritize saving time.
5. Sign a PDF Right on Your Computer
Gone are the days when signing a contract meant printing it off, signing it, and scanning it back in.
By choosing ‘markup’ on a PDF you’ve been sent by e-mail, you can sign it right there on your computer. Simply drag your mouse or pull your finger across the trackpad to mimic your signature.
It’s one of the top Macbook tips for those who receive a lot of documents through e-mail, since it doesn’t require an extra device and more time!
6. Use Split View
One of the more recent additions to Mac software is split view.
Want to work on one window and play Netflix in the other? Or want to type a document on one side of the screen and have your references on the other?
You can now do that without your windows overlapping.
7. Customize Your Menu Bar to How You Want It
The menu bar at the bottom of your screen will start out with default apps, but apps from the app store and even the internet can be added and removed from it. It can also be dragged to any place on the screen.
Simply drag an app onto it and then right-click and choose to ‘keep in dock’.
If you want to get rid of them, you can also choose ‘remove from dock’ to do that.
8. Rename Multiple Files at Once
One of the top Apple computer tips and tricks for those with a bunch of files is the bulk-renaming feature.
If you’ve uploaded a lot of pictures from a digital camera or your phone, or even just been sent some and the files are nonsense, you can rename them all at once and have them numbered.
9. Look up a Word Immediately
Finally, one of the top Macbook computer tips that will change your browsing experience is to look up words immediately.
On any app or browser, highlight a word and choose Command + Control + D. Your Macbook will bring up the dictionary and show you the definition for that word.
If you do a lot of reading on your Mac, or even browsing, this quick tip might just be invaluable.
With These Macbook Tips and Tricks, You’ve Mastered Your Computer
Macbooks have a whole bunch of amazing features and tricks that can be found if you take the time to explore. Ultimately, the Macbook tips and tricks that will be most useful to you depend on exactly what you’re using your computer for.
However, these tips should be universally useful and improve the experience for all beginners!
For more handy technology tips and guides, check out the rest of our blog.
