Are you familiar with using your Mac? If you are already trying to find ways to save time and enhance your productivity, you are halfway there to becoming a power user.
In this guide, you will learn simple tricks to use your Mac to the fullest and become a power user.
Hot Corners
The usefulness of Hot Corners is visible to Mac veterans. But if you are new to using a Mac computer, you may not have discovered this feature yet. You will find this option by going to the Desktop & Screen Saver pane in System Preferences. Next, click on the Screen Saver tab > choose Hot Corners at the bottom.
Drop-down menus will appear for the four corners of the screen, and you can choose from nine options, such as put display to sleep, start screensaver, lock screen, and other common actions.
By enabling Hot Corners, you can save time and enhance your workflow. For example, you can hover the mouse on one of the corners, and the assigned task will be accomplished.
Find the Cursor by Shaking
Have you lost your mouse cursor in a sea of windows or tabs? You will love this trick if you need to find it as quickly as possible. For this option, head to the Accessibility pane in System Preferences > Display > Cursor.
Select the shake mouse pointer to locate option, and then quickly move your finger or mouse over the trackpad to briefly enlarge your cursor. Then, you will be able to spot it quickly.
Copy Text from Pictures
Copying text from images manually to transcribe it into your word document or the email may take time. To save time, you must learn how to extract text from images.
It doesn’t take too many steps to convert a picture to text. Also, some apps analyze the letters in the image to quickly transfer and edit the text on your Mac.
The first option to copy text from images speedily is knowing the shortcut Command + C and Command + V. Also, you can use apps that recognize text via OCR. For instance, Prizmo is the ideal application that is a powerful scanner to convert image text into usable text in a few seconds.
Re-calibrate the Trackpad and Mouse Speed
Although you will not win any contest for having the fastest cursor speed, you will not need to drag your finger eight feet to get the cursor across the computer screen. Instead, you can make it easy for yourself by cutting down on motion.
You can increase scrolling speed on Mac by clicking Apple menu > System Settings > click Mouse > drag the slider next to Tracking speed to adjust how fast the pointer moves.
As for the trackpad speed, go to Apple menu > System Preferences and click Trackpad. Then, adjust the slider according to your preference.
Adjust the Display
Adjust the screen that you stare at. By making minor adjustments to the display, you can make a massive difference to your eyes and improve your workflow.
Besides the settings on the monitor, you can also take a look in System Preferences > Display and see the Zoom level you prefer.
You can use the farthest zoom setting on your Retina display if you enjoy multitasking. But this option is not ideal if you are trying to read or focus.
Use Spotlight
Are you familiar with Spotlight? By learning how to use Spotlight search, you can make navigating across your system more manageable. First, bring up Spotlight by pressing Command + Space. Then, type whatever you need to search.
Spotlight search will help you locate any file in your system. Also, the Siri functionality has been recently added to this program, so you can press the spacebar for a bit longer and then talk to your computer.
Preview Files
The in-built Preview application is a fantastic way to edit PDFs and JPEGs without needing a full-featured photo editor. However, if you want to look at something, it can be a struggle to double-click on the file and then wait for it to open.
If you want to preview a document or image without copying or editing it, Apple has a nifty way to do this by pressing the spacebar. First, you must click and highlight the file you wish to view and press the spacebar. The file or document will open in a read-only view. After that, you can press the spacebar to close it.
The spacebar preview function is not only about previewing files. For instance, if you choose a drive icon and press the spacebar, you will see the information on the amount of storage the drive has.
The Final Thoughts
Keeping these tricks up your sleeves will convert you into a power user, and you can make the most of your Mac computer.