Philip Goguen
In the last couple of decades, Macs have become more popular than ever. If you are a new user switching from Windows to Mac, learning macOS may take time. This article can help you master your MacBook by learning a few basic things, so keep reading.
#1. Capture a Screenshot
With the new work-from-home culture, capturing the screen becomes an integral part of daily routine. If you too need to capture quite a lot of screenshots of your screen, knowing these shortcuts Will simplify your task.
In macOS, you can either capture the entire Mac screen or can take an image of the partial window. Press and hold down Command + Shift + 3 to take a shot of the entire Mac window, or press Command + Shift + 4 to grab just a part of the screen.
#2. Backup Your Mac
You shall never want to lose your valuable data, so backup is one of the potential ways to safeguard all the components stored on the hard drive. Apple’s Time Machine utility will allow you to backup data on external media.
Since most external drives are formatted to NTFS, you need to format it to FAT32, since Macs cannot write to NTFS formatted drives. You may use the native Disk Utility to format the NTFS drive to FAT32. On your Mac, you can also enable NTFS to write support in Terminal by using the steps mentioned in setapp.com.
#3. Rename Multiple Files at Once
If you are working on a large project and require saving multiple versions of a file on your computer, this tip can be of great help. Renaming all the versions one by one can be tedious, so you can use this easy way to rename all the files in a single go.
Select all the files that you wish to rename, right-click (or control-click) them, and select Rename, so the files you select will be named as ‘filename _01, filename _02, and so on. This is helpful even when you need to rename and save the holiday or birthday images.
#4. Add Your Signatures to PDF
Signing documents that have been shared with you over email can be a multi-step task. You need a paper print of the document, then you sign it and scan it to finally send it digitally to single or multiple recipients.
But that’s not the case anymore. Use the Preview app in macOS to digitally sign a document and bypass multiple steps of printing or scanning the document. In Preview, click the Pen icon and select Signature from the menu that appears.
Write your signature on a piece of paper, take an image by holding the paper to the webcam, and click Camera. Once the Camera captures the image, click Done. Next, click again on the Signature icon and then select the image of the signature to insert it into the document.
#5. Use Command + Option + Esc
If you are wondering how to terminate the frozen apps on your Mac computer in the absence of the Delete button, then here’s the answer. Press Command + Option + Esc to quit an unresponsive application.
Pressing this key combination brings up the Force Quit dialog box, which displays all the running apps and terminates them forcefully. It is essential if you are not able to do anything or move anywhere on your computer because of a frozen app.
#6. Start Your Mac Silently
Even if you are a new Mac user, you must have become familiar with the startup chimes by now. Yes, we are talking about the annoying sound that the Mac produces each time you turn it on. This tip will help you start your Mac computer silently in the classroom or library.
While you turn your Mac or MacBook on, press down the Mute key to start it silently. You can try this out each time you switch on your Apple computer. Once your computer starts, you can release the Mute key slowly.
#7. Record Your Mac Screen
If you are attending an online class or listening to a tutorial with one-time access restrictions, recording the screen will give you the flexibility to watch the video later. QuickTime on Mac allows you to record your Mac screen with audio.
Go to the Applications folder and open QuickTime player. Click on File and select New screen recording to record either the portion or the entire screen. You can save the recording at any location on your Mac or MacBook.
#8. Find Passwords for Programs or Websites
If you have a dozen online accounts like any other user, memorizing credentials for an individual account can be quite hard. Mac stores the username and account details for all the websites that you visit.
Open Finder, navigate to Applications, click Utilities, and then select Keychain Access. It stores all the logins and organizes them by name and type. Don’t worry about security as the information can only be accessed locally.
#9. Update Apps & OS Versions
If you want to enjoy most of the features on Mac, make sure that your system is running on macOS Mojave or a later version. Also, install updates on time as soon as they are available to avoid any performance issues. New updates include security patches vital for the smooth functioning of your Mac and MacBook.
Click on the Apple menu, select System Preferences, and then click on Software Update. Next, click on Update Now to install the latest update to the existing version or click the Upgrade now option to install the latest version with the new name. You can also browse the App Store for the latest updates.
#10. Run Windows on macOS
Nothing can be more exciting than using the two major operating systems on one system. For the uninitiated, Mac users can install Windows using the native Boot Camp Assistant. Go to Applications and then click Utilities to open Boot Camp and select Partition.
It will split the hard drive into two partitions while allowing you to select the ratio for each operating system. Storage space that you allocate to one operating system will not be accessible to another.
