During a single business quarter of 2020, Apple sold $9 billion worth of Mac computers.
Much of the increase in sales was due to businesses and schools adjusting to COVID regulations and limitations.
If you or your child recently got a Mac and want to discover some of the best secrets, there are many hacks to learn.
Keep reading to discover a Mac hack that you have likely never heard abou
t and familiarize yourself with others!
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Tailor Your Menu Bar
The menu bar may seem like it could never be changed, but one of the first hacks you will learn is that you have many customization options.
Go into System Preferences and select “General.” To completely hide the menu, select “automatically hide and show the menu bar.” For customizing your bar all you need to do is press the “Command” key and drag your icons to your desired location.
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Customize Your Brightness
A Mac hack that many people are unaware of is how to control their screen brightness with more precision.
By pressing “Shift”- “Option” you can incrementally increase or decrease the brightness on your computer. This comes in handy if you are working in dark or light places and need to see details.
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Utilize Spotlight for Calculations & Currency Conversions
Spotlight is a really unique feature for Macs and it is easy to locate too!
Go to the upper right corner of your screen and select the magnifying glass icon. You can also open Spotlight by pressing “Command”- “Spacebar.” The Spotlight bar will pop up on your screen and you can type in your math equations to get an answer.
To convert currency, simply type what type of currency and amount you would like to convert (I.e. $100) and different options will appear. You will be able to view other types of currency such as Euros, Pounds, Yen, Canadian, and Swiss francs.
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Adjust Volume Settings
Have you ever been trying to listen to a meeting or video online only to be struggling to hear everyone?
This can get frustrating, especially when you try to turn up the volume and it then becomes too loud. If you want to have more control over your volume settings select “Shift”- “Option” to move your volume up or down incrementally. This will allow you more control and less strain.
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Quickly Sign Documents
Being able to electronically sign documents has become a necessity over the past year.
Still, so many people don’t know how to sign a document and choose a cursive font over their own. If your Mac has an iSight camera and OS X Yosemite software, you’ll have the ability to create a signature. Your digital signature can be used in documents and mail.
Open your PDF file that requires a signature and select the signature button in the top toolbar. Then select “Create a signature,” you will be prompted to use your mouse/trackpad to write your signature. Once you have it just the way you like, you can save it by recording your signature!
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Putting Up Restrictions
Whether you work on a work computer that needs to be protected or have children who use technology, it is good to know about restrictions.
Learning how to block website on Mac computers is simple and can save you a lot of time overseeing what websites your children are checking out. By going into your settings and selecting “system preferences” you can set up parental controls to limit abilities on the laptop.
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Broaden Keyboard Abilities
Have you ever been emailing back and forth with someone and they use emojis or other special characters in their text?
Most people copy and paste these characters from the internet or spend a bunch of time looking through Microsoft fonts. Instead of taking a long way, you can quickly find access to these features.
By pressing “Command”- “Control”- “Spacebar” you can get these characters in your email or document fast. Once you press these keys, a box will appear with several groups on the left. You can select Latin and currency/math characters, emojis, and even pictographs!
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Erase Your Files
A common Mac shortcut involves quickly deleting files to make space on your desktop by clearing away clutter.
Once you select a file that you would like to discard, press “Command”- “Delete” to move it instantly to the trash. Once your items go into the trash bin, you will need to press “Command”- “Shift”- “Delete” to clear away everything.
The good thing about sending items to the trash bin first is that you don’t have to worry about accidentally deleting something important. You can always recover files while they are still in the trash bin.
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Screenshots
One of the most used but often forgotten Mac hacks is taking screenshots on a laptop.
There are several ways to take a screenshot, depending on what you would like to accomplish. By pressing “Command”- “Shift”- “4” you can take a screenshot of the desired part of your screen.
To take a screenshot of your entire laptop display, press “Command”- “Shift”- “3.” This type of screenshot will save a screenshot file for each of your open windows.
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Move & Clear Your Dock
A Mac dock is typically located in the lower portion of a screen towards the center.
What happened to your dock when it disappears or moves though? To utilize these features, press “Command”- “Option”- “D.” These keys will allow you to move your dock to the desired location. Even onto other connected screens or make it disappear completely.
Simply press the keys again to make your dock reappear!
The Ultimate Mac Hack List
Sometimes one Mac hack can make your life easier and stress-free during the day.
This list of hidden Mac features will help you get more work done and save you time. There are many ways to do one task on a Mac, it’s just a matter of finding what works best for you. Don’t be afraid to try these hacks out to see if they can help you.
Be sure to check out our blog for more articles about Mac hack tips so that you can become more efficient!
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