People who use their Touch Bar regularly, what do you use it most for?

[beermode]

to hit Return without going back to the mouse or trackpad. I hate how MacOS doesn't let you hit Return/Enter on a highlited button like Windows. The Touchbar is worth it to me just for this alone.

 

[starzebra]

configure control strip in system preferences > keyboard settings

thank you! I'm coming from a 2014 15" inch MacBook Pro (I like to call it "the Mac truck") and the Touch Bar just confounds me...I don't know what to do with it, and I keep hitting it accidentally when I type!

 

[Keukasmallie]

Volume control and camera, but I could live quite nicely without it.

 

[ImSoSad]

i work in music and find it extremely helpful seeing the waveform when playing an audio file in quick look with the spacebar

sometimes my audio files will only have snippets of sound a minute into the file, so getting an instant visual snapshot of where the sound is and then scrubbing to it with my finger is a lifesaver.

 

[LFC2020]

Volume, brightness, and the occasional ???‍♂️???

 

[ipponrg]

I use it for volume sliding, brightness sliding, and the ESC button

 

[Konigi]

You can count me amongst the skeptics when it was released. When it was time to buy a new MacBook, I was willing to get one without one even it meant lower price, but with the MacBook Pro it wasn't possible. So I gave it a try. And I'm satisfied, and don't want to go back. It's an app-specific list of shortcuts, so it enhances the options of the keyboard.

Most people have addressed its utility and there is one that I particularly like with Firefox: Home button (which leads to my most visited websites), refresh, and new tab.

I use it every day on iOffice apps, Notes, iMessage, Spotify, etc.

I'd still say however that it remains undervelopped. Even Apple has not implemented it on some of their own apps, such as News.

 

[gkasot]

Music & brightness controls, emojis on apple’s apps. But Microsoft Word & Excel is where the Touch Bar really shines... Instead of having to go through 2-3 drop menus, common tasks are showing up to save a step or two

 

[tsivonen]

Yep, these are the same for me.

I transitioned from a late 2013 15” to a late 2018 15”... I assumed the Touch Bar was a gimmic.... I usually use it for the basics... volume, screen brightness, touch log in, multiple windows... but I’ve begun to use it for screen capture and app specific shortcuts, which have proven to be very helpful.

Coachingguy

 

[Mr. Awesome]

For everyone here, HapticKey (Link: GitHub repo) is a great way to get some tactile feedback for the Touch Bar.
Or you can go straight to the downloads page. (Link: GitHub repo releases page)

Basically, it uses the Taptic Engine in the trackpad to provide feedback every time you tap a Touch Bar button. (It works much better than you would think.)

 

[Christopher Kim]

Basically, it uses the Taptic Engine in the trackpad to provide feedback every time you tap a Touch Bar button. (It works much better than you would think.)

So do you only feel the haptics if you still have your other hand on the trackpad when you touch the touchbar?

 

[Mr. Awesome]

So do you only feel the haptics if you still have your other hand on the trackpad when you touch the touchbar?

Nope, it’s strong enough at the default setting that you can feel it fairly well when you hit the Touch Bar.

You can turn up the intensity of the vibration, though, and that makes it easier to notice.

The vibration does feel stronger when using your Mac on a desk, but it also works on your lap.

 

[RalfTheDog]

There's people who LOVE the Touch Bar and others who are not as impressed. I would like to use this feature more often, but was hoping to get some ideas as to HOW I could implement it into my daily life.

For those who love it and use it regularly, how do you use it and how did you integrate it into your work flow?

The mute button when an ad with audio starts playing.
[automerge]1590716654[/automerge]

This post is titled “People who use their Touch Bar regularly, what do you use it for?”. It’s pretty clear that this post is asking a question of those who use their Touch Bar regularly. If you’re not one of those people, the OP doesn’t want to hear from you about how much you hate the Touch Bar. There are plenty of posts on that subject. It’s common sense, folks! ?

If you don't use your touch bar, what to you not use your touch bar for?

 

[Mdv2]

I use it to play and pause music, volume control and pause VM in VMware Fusion.

Is it possible to keep the media controls permanently visible? I really find it annoying to be browsing the internet and having to first click on spotify to get the media keys (or the <)

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I use it a lot when I'm typing in iMessage. I'll be writing something to someone, and my pinky will rest just for a split second and trigger the ESC key, causing a whole new message to be created and partially addressed to someone in my contact list.

 

[Chicagoblah]

I use it mostly for accidental taps

 

[llllllllll]

If you don't use your touch bar, what to you not use your touch bar for?

I just started not using it for just about everything, and am so glad I made this decision!

Removed every single thing from it in preferences -
now all that's left is a sleek matte black bar, not screaming for attention, just sitting there, doing nothing.

It's beautiful.

 

[bananas]

ESC and volume/brightness control.

 

[hailey bee]

to hit Return without going back to the mouse or trackpad. I hate how MacOS doesn't let you hit Return/Enter on a highlited button like Windows. The Touchbar is worth it to me just for this alone.

Did you confiture Return key to activate something on Touch Bar, so it activates highlighted button? Or are you reaching to the Touch Bar for action?

If I'm not missing something, Spacebar activates highlighted button. If you are not pressing Return, you are moving three to five rows away from the Spacebar that is already under your thumb.

 

[1rottenapple]

This post is titled “People who use their Touch Bar regularly, what do you use it for?”. It’s pretty clear that this post is asking a question of those who use their Touch Bar regularly. If you’re not one of those people, the OP doesn’t want to hear from you about how much you hate the Touch Bar. There are plenty of posts on that subject. It’s common sense, folks! ?

You know you are right! My past wasn’t helpful to the OP.

 

[llllllllll]

I used to use the Touch Bar for one-touch sleep, but I've found that using a Hot Corner is more convinient

..with a hot corner you can only set the mac's display to sleep though, right?

 

[MacBookGamer]

I used it to skip YouTube ads. I also used it to get angry when it'd crash and not change my volume.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

I use it to put it to sleep, control brightness, sound, play/stop, safari tabs, in Sketch and Final Cut Pro

There are some good controls on Twitter and on Parallels too

 

[Untapped Potential]

I actually like having the Touch Bar, especially after starting to use Better Touch Tool for it. For example, in MS Teams, I've created some shortcuts for the mute/unmute button, and other shortcuts. Also using it for certain apps that require an insert key or other function keys.

I mainly use it for brightness, mute and volume. But I also enjoy using it for Mail shortcuts, but I wish Outlook would update and allow customization of it.

Which preset do you use in better touch tool?

 

[jzuena]

It was already mentioned earlier, but I use Pock to display the dock in the touchbar. I run full-screen RDPs into a Windows server at work and Pock lets me quickly switch back to another app on the Mac desktop without having to bump my mouse pointer at the bottom of the screen to bring up the dock, then selecting a new app.