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yyy

macrumors regular
Feb 10, 2007
192
17
A very simple (and slightly obvious) tip: I've just found out that selecting a file (or files) in Finder and pressing cmd+backspace sends it to the trash. I don't know why I haven't tried it years ago.

Another one for people with OCD: Long pressing the Spotlight icon in the menubar resets the Spotlight panel's position.

Another one for Catalina users: Long pressing the green "full screen" button on the top-left corner lets you choose whether to dock the window to the left or the right.
 

Mick-Mac

macrumors 6502a
Oct 24, 2011
504
1,150
Another one for Catalina users: Long pressing the green "full screen" button on the top-left corner lets you choose whether to dock the window to the left or the right.

The worst thing Apple ever did was changing the default action of the green traffic light to be full screen mode instead of the old maximize action.
 
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sideshowuniqueuser

macrumors 68030
Mar 20, 2016
2,809
2,816
I posted this last year, may be useful here.

A few tips people may find useful, if you don't already know them. Hopefully we all know that Command + tab shows the open applications, and (while keeping your finger on command) using tab or left and right arrows to move between the applications. What's not so obvious is Apple added a number of other uses for this.
1 - while tabbing to an app you can quit the app by pressing Q, you can go through and quit every app if you want without going to the app. It's not a force quit, and you'll be asked if something needs saving. Similarly pressing H will hide a specific App.
2 - you can drop a file on the app icons to open with a specific app, if it can.
3 - The really handy one, which I use all the time, is when tabbing to a specific app press the up or down arrow key, at which point all the open windows in that app will be shown. If a window is in the dock it's a thumbnail at the bottom of the screen. Pick a window, and that window alone comes to the top. I usually have lots of windows open, so if I want to reference a window in another app, but going to the app brings all it's open windows to the top, this method only brings the one you want, not covering up the window you're working on.
Nice, thank you!
 

Shirasaki

macrumors P6
May 16, 2015
15,533
10,789
The worst thing Apple ever did was changing the default action of the green traffic light to be full screen mode instead of the old maximize action.
One of the reason I buy Magnet (macOS app) to achieve Aero Snap effect instead of fully maximised Windows. Actually, This design is the same concept as iOS app window management: maximise every active window, and avoid floating windows as much as possible.
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On second thought, it would be nice to have some tips that can destroy macOS software update mechanism. We users running critical apps don’t want macOS upgrade every year, or at all.
 

OscarMV

macrumors newbie
May 7, 2018
8
44
The worst thing Apple ever did was changing the default action of the green traffic light to be full screen mode instead of the old maximize action.

Option-clicking on the green button will get the old zoom behavior.

I believe double clicking on the window title bar will also do that, although that may be just me having a bunch of old non-exposed settings turned on (I do miss the Dock being on the corner instead of centered across the screen bottom).
 
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zorinlynx

macrumors G3
May 31, 2007
8,144
17,475
Florida, USA
I wish paste with style matching were the default when copying and pasting from Terminal. There is no situation that will ever exist where I'm going to want the terminal's color, font and font size preserved with copying and pasting to another location.

It's like the MacOS developers forgot plain text is a thing.
 

An-apple-a-day

macrumors member
Mar 31, 2010
96
119
The worst thing Apple ever did was changing the default action of the green traffic light to be full screen mode instead of the old maximize action.

Slightly off topic, but does anybody remember the Mac's traffic signal window controls being changed to vertically oriented for some period at some point a long time ago? Now, to be honest, I'm not sure whether that was a crazy nightmare or if it really happened. If was reality, I'd say that might be a better candidate for "the worst thing Apple ever did". Maybe it was changed for just a single prominent app like iTunes or something. But still....

[Of course, there is no shortage of candidates for that dubious honor. Someone should start a new "The Worst Thing Apple Ever Did" thread.]

A very simple (and slightly obvious) tip: I've just found out that selecting a file (or files) in Finder and pressing cmd+backspace sends it to the trash. I don't know why I haven't tried it years ago.

Another one for people with OCD: Long pressing the Spotlight icon in the menubar resets the Spotlight panel's position.

Another one for Catalina users: Long pressing the green "full screen" button on the top-left corner lets you choose whether to dock the window to the left or the right.

Regarding that first one, umm, yes, that's been as well known as the copy and paste shortcuts -- since 35+ years ago. But you have redeemed yourself by providing that second one. I probably have a mild case of OCD.
 
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jinnj

macrumors 6502a
Dec 9, 2011
551
499
The problem with 'Past With Matching Style' is that the shortcut isn't consistent or always available (and requires finger gymnastics). :(

I'm not sure who would want anything but this aside from special circumstances. Sucks that it is so difficult (by comparison to Command-V).
What app has overridden the CMD-OPT-SHIFT-V? Whenever an OS X app is created that is the default. Also "special circumstances", I used this every day but maybe it's because I don't want my emails to look like a ransom letter. I know some people don't give a crap but if I saw any of my vendors send me an email with styles all over the place (Outlook users!), I would question it immediately!
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Slightly off topic, but does anybody remember the Mac's traffic signal window controls being changed to vertically oriented for some period at some point a long time ago? Now, to be honest, I'm not sure whether that was a crazy nightmare or if it really happened. If was reality, I'd say that might be a better candidate for "the worst thing Apple ever did". Maybe it was changed for just a single prominent app like iTunes or something. But still....

[Of course, there is no shortage of candidates for that dubious honor. Someone should start a new "The Worst Thing Apple Ever Did" thread.]
I've never seen it and I have been using it since beta. Maybe someone wrote a Window Manager? Or it was screenshots of the Pre-Tiger era when Aqua was still the cool thing but so much was changing in the UI.
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I always add a keyboard shortcut so Command-Shift-V is Paste and Match Style to make it an easier keyboard combination to use. Works in most apps. Frustratingly, not Microsoft Word, where I need it the most.
Ugh! Figures it is MS Office that does not use the CMD-SHIFT-V! I can immediately tell when someone is using Outlook because their emails are just a chain of random notes.
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Toggle showing/hiding hidden files in finder, command-shift-. (command-key, shift-key, period-key).
Mind BLOWN!!! Seriously!!
 
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mrgraff

macrumors 65816
Apr 18, 2010
1,088
837
Albuquerque
Pretty sure that “move” implies that the original will he moved, not copied. You’re using two terms that mean very different things accompanied by common copy and paste commands that reveal your words as inaccurate as they wouldn’t even be true in a text document. Lord.
You're absolutely right that "copy" and "move" are two different things. Unfortunately, the tip had to be described that way because in Windows, you can move a file or folder using CTRL+X followed by CTRL+V. In MacOS you have to copy the file first in order to move it: ⌘+C followed by ⌥+⌘+V
 
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jinnj

macrumors 6502a
Dec 9, 2011
551
499
The worst thing Apple ever did was changing the default action of the green traffic light to be full screen mode instead of the old maximize action.
Originally people hated the fact that it didn't always full screen (the green icon). What I want is full-windowed screen! for that I use Spectacle!

I wish paste with style matching were the default when copying and pasting from Terminal. There is no situation that will ever exist where I'm going to want the terminal's color, font and font size preserved with copying and pasting to another location.

It's like the MacOS developers forgot plain text is a thing.

On a Mac when you copy a piece of text it's available in multiple formats and it is the app you are pasting into that decides. The key combination is just a shortcut to the TYPE. You can even get the text as a PDF! And while copying from a Terminal with formatting is not a thing for you others do use/need it.
 
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LeadingHeat

macrumors 65816
Oct 3, 2015
1,044
2,608
Screen Sharing in Messages - In a Messages conversation with someone, click on the "Details" link and then click on the icon that looks like two screens together to initiate screen sharing with the person who you're talking to. This is super handy for troubleshooting problems for less tech savvy family members from afar, provided you can get them to click the screen sharing option.
Haha this part made me chuckle. I’m literally on the phone with my dad right now walking him through how to set up Apple Pay.
You can request to view their screen though, so all they have to do is click accept on the notification that pops up on their end. That way they don’t have to go searching for the screen share button and complain “it’s not there, I swear! I don’t see anything!”
 

Darth-Kylie

macrumors member
Feb 11, 2009
65
142
I wish paste with style matching were the default when copying and pasting from Terminal. There is no situation that will ever exist where I'm going to want the terminal's color, font and font size preserved with copying and pasting to another location.

It's like the MacOS developers forgot plain text is a thing.

Swap them in System Preferences. Assign Cmd-V to the match style command and the more complex shortcut(s) normally used for that to regular Paste.
 
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Morgenrot

macrumors newbie
Feb 29, 2020
13
29
My personal favorite: the proxy icon; it’s the little icon to the left of the document title. I drag and drop it into e-mails I am writing to attach the corresponding document, or upload it to web sites (if a file dialog is shown, dropping the icon into the file window reveals and highlights the file within its enclosing folder, and the “choose” button can then directly be clicked or activated be the Enter key to upload the file). Right-clicking (or CTRL-clicking) the proxy icon reveals the directory hierarchy where the file resides in a pop-up list of the nested folders, and moving the cursor to any of the enclosing folder names in the list opens the respective folder in a Finder window, with the file highlighted. Together with Spotlight (Cmd-Space) to find files, navigating the file system by found files and enclosed folders, rather than browsing the folder hierarchy, is incredibly fast. This way I don’t need to remember where e.g. a specific folder containing all the files for a project are; instead, I search for a file by any set of specific (key)words used in the project, open the file, right-click on the proxy icon to reveal the enclosing folder, and then release the mouse button on the folder title in the list that pops up, opening it in Finder. Best, ever!

One thing to remember is that the proxy icon will be grayed out if there are unsaved changes, e.g. in Word, which means the file (and the changes) have to be saved before the icon turns back to its normal color and usefulness.
 

jchap

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2009
578
1,046
3 - The really handy one, which I use all the time, is when tabbing to a specific app press the up or down arrow key, at which point all the open windows in that app will be shown.

Almost 14 years of using OS X/macOS, and I didn't know that ;)
Great tip!

Interestingly, this is much like how the Witch app by Many Tricks works, although that app builds on that functionality.
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My personal favorite: the proxy icon; it’s the little icon to the left of the document title.

That's a great one as well! So handy when you want to find out what folder a certain open file is located in. One of the advantages of macOS's object-oriented UI. Good mention! :apple: :)
 
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RMo

macrumors 65816
Aug 7, 2007
1,252
280
Iowa, USA
  • Move Files Quickly - To move files from one location to another using keyboard shortcuts, just use Command-C to copy the files you want to move and then Option-Command-V to move those files to a new spot

I always use the modifer keys when dragging here (you pretty much need to use the mouse anyway, so I don't consider the above shortcuts to save me time, though is more likely an excuse for the fact that I never remember what modifier key the second one requires). If you don't like the default action, when dragging, Cmd will force a copy, and Opt will force a move. Cmd+Opt will make an alias. And you don't need to remember what these modifiers are because the cursor will change as you press modifier keys to show you (no overlay = move, green "plus" overlay = copy; arrow overlay = alias), so you can keep trying until you find the right one. :)
 

jchap

macrumors 6502a
Sep 25, 2009
578
1,046

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
Another one for Catalina users: Long pressing the green "full screen" button on the top-left corner lets you choose whether to dock the window to the left or the right.

Point the cursor over the green button, wait about 1 second and it will do the same as a long press. Press the option-key while the menu is displayed and the menu will change from:
Enter Full Screen​
Tile Window to Left of Screen​
Tile Window to Right of Screen​

To:
Zoom​
Move Window to Left Side of Screen​
Move Window to Right Side of Screen​
Well at least this is the way it works in Catalina.
 

yurc

macrumors 6502a
Aug 12, 2016
833
1,011
inside your DSDT
I love hitting the spacebar to preview files. Keeps me from firing up an app more than half the time. Probably the biggest macOS feature I miss on my work PC. Keep hitting the spacbar on my Dell and wondering why nothing is happening.

You can install something like Quicklook plugin etc on MS Store. Once installed, is like native, not bad.
It also support previewing common Adobe files such as psd, ai pdf.
 

dlondon

macrumors 6502
Sep 6, 2013
409
325
The problem with 'Past With Matching Style' is that the shortcut isn't consistent or always available (and requires finger gymnastics). :(

I'm not sure who would want anything but this aside from special circumstances. Sucks that it is so difficult (by comparison to Command-V).

I wish the paste matching style was default (if it works) as I think it's more likely that you're copying the text and not the original style.

Love the phrase "finger gymnastics" btw ?
 

An-apple-a-day

macrumors member
Mar 31, 2010
96
119
I've never seen it and I have been using it since beta. Maybe someone wrote a Window Manager? Or it was screenshots of the Pre-Tiger era when Aqua was still the cool thing but so much was changing in the UI.

OMG, it wasn’t some drug-induced nightmare after all. It was iTunes 10 !!

 
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