Macs can make your work life much better, particularly when you learn the right ways to use them efficiently. Some macOS tips will help you get the value for money and accomplish your tasks much faster.
In this article, you will learn about exploring the macOS features, tweaking a few settings, and managing the resources to make the most out of the device.
Do a Little More with Spotlight
Spotlight isn’t just for launching apps and finding your files on the computer. You can use Spotlight for your general mathematical calculations, currency conversion, temperature conversions, and much more.
Press Command + Spacebar keys and then type anything you want in the Spotlight search bar. You can access quite a dozen of things right from the Spotlight without navigating to the browser window every time.
To use Spotlight more intuitively, you can even search using the search operators such as ‘kind’, ‘date’, and so on; moreover, use Boolean operators such as ‘and’, ‘not’, ‘or’, ‘and not’, and more.
Annotate or Edit a PDF Document
PDF files are used everywhere as they are secure and allow sharing of confidential data without posing any threat to data integrity. PDFs can be compressed without degrading the quality of the contents, can be protected with passwords, and cannot be edited by any other person.
You can edit a scanned pdf in macOS by opening them in the Preview app or using Adobe Acrobat on Windows. You can highlight the text, underline it, rotate pages, add and remove pages, add comments, or even add your signatures to the PDF file.
To annotate a PDF in Preview on macOS by clicking the Show Markup Toolbar button and using the tools as per your requirement. To select the text, click on the Text Selection toolbar, or click on Text to type something when you need to add your feedback.
Tweak Scale and Brightness Settings
If you feel that the default text setting isn’t for you, then consider changing it according to your working mode. All you need to do is open the System Preferences and click on Displays. In the window that appears, navigate to Resolution, and then select Scaled.
Choose an option on the Larger Text size to make the text more accessible and readable on the screen. You may also select to increase the text size if you don’t have a Retina display.
Moreover, if you want to set the brightness to change according to the ambient lighting, enable brightness automation by navigating to the System Preferences, clicking Displays, and then selecting the checkbox available with the Automatically Adjust Brightness option.
Manage RAM for Better Performance
The memory acts as a working space for your computer, so the more it is available, the better your computer performs. The programs you run on your computer demand RAM; hence, you might face difficulty if sufficient memory is not available.
When you run multiple high-end programs, your computer starts to perform sluggishly. So, to reduce RAM usage, either you can stop running multiple apps simultaneously or opt to upgrade it with a higher one.
To fix the memory-related issues, try to restart your computer as it clears all the memory allocated to running, optimizing your system performance. Also, check if you are using the updated version of your operating system, as the new version helps fix bugs that create problems.
Disable Startup Apps to Free Up Resources
Applications that activate automatically each time you boot your computer are the startup apps or login items. Though some of these apps are important for the smooth functioning of your computer, others are resource-intensive yet redundant.
You can disable the unnecessary programs, as they are consuming memory, storage, and other system resources, doing nothing on the computer. This will help release the system resources while optimizing the performance.
To disable the login items, navigate to the System Preferences, tap on Users & Groups, select a username, and click on the Login Items tab. Now, select the apps that you want to deactivate and click on the (-) sign.
Bypass or Reset Your Password if Forgotten
If you ever forgot your MacBook password, macOS provides an easy way to log in to the device and resume your work. Try to start the device in Recovery mode. You need to turn off the MacBook first.
To enter Recovery Mode, press the Command + R keys while pressing down the Power button. Hold the keys until you see the Apple logo along with the progress bar appearing on the screen.
From the Menu bar, click Utilities and then select Terminal. In the pop-up window, type ‘resetpassword’ (without spaces and quotes). Close the Terminal window, and you can see the Apple native Reset Password Tool. After providing the wrong password several times, your system will ask to reset it using the Apple ID.