10 Tips and Tricks for Mac Beginners

 

Are you a Mac beginner? Are you looking for tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your Mac? Look no further! In this article, we’ll discuss 10 essential tips and tricks that every Mac beginner should know. From learning how to take screenshots to optimizing your system preferences, these tips will make it easier to use your Mac with confidence.

1. Spotlight Search

Using Spotlight Search on Mac or any other Apple device is an invaluable time saver, allowing users to quickly find specific files, photos, apps and so much more. Along with its capability of performing simple calculations and currency conversions, the Spotlight search feature is a powerful tool that can make navigating through information easier. With the right tips, users can quickly access information in no time. All one must do to access the feature is press Cmd + Space (⌘+Space) on the keyboard and type in whatever they are looking for – Spotlight will then search your entire library and find what you need in seconds.

By honing Spotlight search strategies, users can become even more efficient at finding whatever they are searching for. For instance, adding “where” as part of a search query can help users narrow down their results such as ‘where my documents are’ or ‘where movies are’ – this way you won’t need to manually navigate folders and you don’t have to remember where exactly everything is saved within your computer. Knowing how to make the most out of Spotlight Search can truly save users both time and energy – try it out for yourself!

2. Use Apps in Full-Screen Mode

When it comes to working on applications, full-screen mode can be an incredibly helpful tool. By using this feature, the entire screen can be devoted to the desktop application, blocking out distractions that could otherwise occur with a larger workspace. With one click of a button, which is typically located in the top left corner of the window, Mac users can make any app go full-screen.

When an app is running on full-screen mode, both the menu bar at the top and Dock at the bottom of your Mac will disappear from view. However, you don’t need to close out of the application in order to access them; simply move your pointer to their locations and these bars will reappear temporarily before going away again. This makes it incredibly easy for users to switch between tabs without having to resize their windows each time, as well as keep all their important apps accessible without taking up much space on their monitors.

3. Start Multitasking

Split View is an incredibly useful feature for users wanting to get the most out of their Mac systems. It allows you to view two apps side by side and effortlessly switch between them, making multitasking easier and more efficient. When using Split View, you can open the two apps that you want to use simultaneously without having to go back and forth. To activate Split View, hover your pointer over the Full-Screen button without clicking it or click and hold the button for a moment. Then drag one of the windows all the way to either edge of the display and you’ll see both windows resized automatically so they “split” onscreen in equal halves.

Using Split View can make a big difference in how quickly and easily you can manage different types of tasks. With this feature, you can have a web browser window open alongside another app such as a notes app or calendar so that you can keep track of all events, information, and resources that are relevant for that task. Additionally, if one app has an input field or tool unavailable in any other application, split view makes it easy to compare what data looks like in several applications at once. This makes it easier to perform quality research faster than ever before.

4. Use Multitouch Gestures

If you’re a iPhone or iPad user, you’re probably used to using traditional mouse gestures such as double-clicking to open an item in a file, or dragging and dropping it onto a nearby icon.

But what about the fantastic multitouch trackpads that are available on Macs (including the Magic Trackpad and the MacBook) and some other PCs?

If you’re comfortable with keyboard shortcuts, you can use multitouch gestures to do many of the same things as clicking and dragging. Here are three of the most common:

1. Use two fingers to adjust zoom on webpages or PDFs.

This works just like zooming in on a computer screen using your regular mouse cursor.

2. Slide two fingers up or down to scroll through a page or document. You can also use this gesture to zoom in on certain parts of a page while others remain fixed at their original size.

3. Pinch in or out with two fingers to zoom in or out – just like using a smartphone’s pinch gesture to enlarge or shrink text onscreen.

5. Use the Notification Center

The Mac’s Notification Center is a great tool for keeping everything in one place. Notifications from emails, texts, reminders and more will be stored here so they won’t get lost. To open the Notification Center, simply click on the date and time located in the top-right corner of your screen. Your notifications will appear at the top while widgets are listed below that, which can be edited by clicking the edit button right below them. When you’re done reviewing your notifications and/or using the widgets provided, you can close out of it by clicking anywhere on your screen or by clicking the time & date again.

It’s easy to customise how you’d like to see your notifications too; you have control over what apps are allowed to show notifications – allowing only ones that matter most. You also have control over which types of alerts an app can send – whether it’s banners or alerts – and if it sends any sound with its notifications or not. This way, you won’t be distracted all day but will only seeing what matters most when a notification arrives at your Notification Center.

6. Use the Control Center

The Control Center on Mac is a handy feature that allows users to access controls from one place. It’s very similar to the iPhone’s Control Center, in that it allows you to quickly toggle Bluetooth and Wi-Fi with just a few clicks. To open the Control Center, simply click on the icon located in the top-right corner of your screen. From there, you’ll have immediate access to all your important controls.

One great aspect of the Control Center is that you can customize it just for yourself. If you have certain settings that you use more often than others, such as adjusting sound output or connecting to a VPN connection, these can be added to your customization so they will always be right at your fingertips. That way, you can quickly and easily manage any preferences without having to search through multiple menus and different windows.

7. Where to Find Apps

Apple’s dock is the perfect place to store all the apps you use frequently. But when there are apps you need that aren’t present in the Dock, it can be a little bit confusing as to where they were installed. Fortunately, all your apps will be stored in a place called Launchpad – even if you didn’t install them from the App Store. There are several ways to access Launchpad on your Mac: you can press F4 on the built-in keyboard, or go through Spotlight and type out “Launchpad”. Once inside, all your installed applications appear in an organized view with thumbnails and labels indicating what each one does. You can rearrange them by dragging or reorganizing them into various folders according to your preference, thus making sure that all of your necessary apps stay accessible and convenient at all times.

8. Closing applications on a Mac

Using your Mac to its full potential doesn’t always seem easy, but quitting apps is simpler than it appears. To quit an app on your Mac, start by clicking the Close button located in the top-left corner of the app’s window. This will only close the window and might not completely shut down the app, so for a guaranteed exit make sure that you also choose Quit from the menu bar items for your Application (or press Cmd + Q as a shortcut if you already know standard Mac shortcuts). You can check to make sure that the app has been completely closed with Activity Monitor on your computer’s System Preferences. Monitoring there will show you current memory usage and allow you to make sure all programs are closed. So even if closing an application appears daunting at first, it really isn’t!

9. Force Quit an Apps

When you find yourself in a frustrating position where an app you are using isn’t functioning properly, it can be difficult to get back on track. Fortunately, there is a way to close the application without having to shut down the entire computer or worse – lose your work. You can use what’s known as a “force quit” to exit an unresponsive application.

Using this function typically requires two steps: first opening the Force Quit window and then selecting the program you want to close. The Force Quit window can be opened through two methods; first, by clicking on the Apple logo in the top-left corner of your screen and selecting Force Quit from the drop-down menu. Alternatively, you could hold down Option + Cmd + Esc (⌥+⌘+ Esc) keys at the same time, which will take you directly to the force quit window. Once there, locate and select the failing app and click Force Quit to shut it down. This should allow you to start fresh with a clean slate or perhaps troubleshoot whatever issue was occurring with that particular application.

10. Quickly Swap Between Apps

Swapping between apps on your Mac is faster and easier than ever before. With a simple keyboard shortcut, you can quickly switch between multiple applications no matter how many are running at once. To do this, press and hold the Cmd key and then press the Tab key in order to cycle through open applications on your desktop. By repeatedly pressing Tab, you can bring up the app you want to use. When it appears as the currently highlighted application, simply release both keys to open it up and begin using it.

This simple feature not only allows users to quickly cycle between open apps without having to minimize or close others, but it also helps keep desktops clutter-free by removing the need for several windows and small icons all around your screen. This way, both beginners and power users alike can take full advantage of this convenient tool when they need more than one program while working on diverse tasks.