Miscellaneous stupid Mac tricks, cool Mac tricks, and stupid cool Mac tricks Thread

[kefkafloyd]

You get used to the notch. If you really hate how it looks many apps can turn it to 100% black. TopNotch is a free one.

As far as reducing the vertical size, you can't. The vertical resolution of the notched screens was actually increased; compared to previous machines the notchbooks actually have more vertical real estate even with the notched menu bar. I suppose if you were one of the types who liked hiding the main menu bar it's a problem, but I have a hunch those people are a minority on laptops.

 

[Carhole]

You get used to the notch. If you really hate how it looks many apps can turn it to 100% black. TopNotch is a free one.

As far as reducing the vertical size, you can't. The vertical resolution of the notched screens was actually increased; compared to previous machines the notchbooks actually have more vertical real estate even with the notched menu bar. I suppose if you were one of the types who liked hiding the main menu bar it's a problem, but I have a hunch those people are a minority on laptops.

Thanks, I’ll take a look. Ever use “full screen” functionality on your display? Sounds like no, because not anymore lol. Sorry, there isn’t a full screen to use. Apple will correct this likely two years out with the next chassis redesign since the problem has already been solved on modern Win11 rigs.

Love the M3 Air, not a keyhole, punched-out, or notched screen fan and never get used to them. I have gotten used to rounded corners on iPad pros for years now, but that giant black chunk of dead center derp irks me to no end and the menu bar inflation is amazingly stupid. The dark background trick works pretty well …just forget about full screen app usage on your primary display and throw those over to an external when the aneurysms kick in.

 

[kefkafloyd]

When I run apps in fullscreen (like games) the menu bar area turns black. The app doesn't intrude into it. It's basically treated like bezel with menus in it.

I was originally annoyed by the idea of the notch but because they increased the vertical resolution of the screens I ended up not caring because even with the notched bar I still got more vertical working space than when previous system in full screen mode or hiding the menu bar. So I was willing to let the compromise slide. I did use TopNotch for a while, it does what it says on the tin. Good luck.

 

[gabemaroz]

My only complaint about the notch is that the menu bar runs ever so slightly below it. Feels like it should be completely flush. Ultimately it was a brilliant compromise that actually results in more usable workspace since the area peripheral to the notch was previously just bezel.

I'm sure it will eventually be more of a pinhole during some future iteration.

 

[kefkafloyd]

I get why it extends slightly below the notch—you want to avoid a tangent. But I bet they could've slimmed it by a point or two while still avoiding the tangent.

 

[daGUY]

@Carhole if you really, truly hate the notch, there’s an app called Say No to Notch that lets you fully disable it. It pushes the menu bar below the notch (and even renders it at the original shorter height) and prevents your mouse cursor from moving above it. Basically, it treats the areas to the left and right of the notch as dead space as if it were part of the bezel, just like it physically was on older MacBooks without the notch.

That said, I think you’d get used to the notch over time. I agree it looks weird if I look at it directly, but when I’m actually using my computer, it just blends in to the periphery and I never notice it.

Also, you’re not “losing” any display area to the notch: the area below the notch is the same aspect ratio as it was on older MacBooks without it. Effectively, Apple made the displays on the new MacBooks taller and then moved the menu bar up into that additional space. That’s why when you’re in full screen, the menu bar appears to the left and right of the notch without pushing the app’s toolbar down out of the way; on older MacBooks without the notch, this area was physically part of the bezel.

 

[ant1pathy]

My only complaint about the notch is that the menu bar runs ever so slightly below it. Feels like it should be completely flush. Ultimately it was a brilliant compromise that actually results in more usable workspace since the area peripheral to the notch was previously just bezel.

I'm sure it will eventually be more of a pinhole during some future iteration.

Yeah, I never understood the mentality of "I'd rather have a big bezel eating up real estate instead of the free screen of the 'wings' to the left and right of the notch". You're not losing the notch space, you're gaining the pixels on either side.

 

[iljitsch]

I'd rather have a big intact screen and lose the crappy webcam instead.

 

[Carhole]

I'd rather have a big intact screen and lose the crappy webcam instead.

This

 

[DovePig]

May I kindly remind you that the infamous Notch discussion ran something like 20+ pages in a thread just over there?

Sorry, but this is a "Miscellaneous stupid Mac tricks, cool Mac tricks, and stupid cool Mac tricks Thread" thread, not the "Perpetual Random Apple Rants Thread" or the "Notch thread".

Please, by all means share your tips and tricks, including how to deal with the notch in here, but this is a pinned thread. Pinned because it can be so useful for finding random tidbits about some much less known Mac OS features, and that means any OT banter should be IMHO better be kept to a minimum. Maybe – just maybe – we should keep it that way? Without that much OT discussion derailing its main and only reason and purpose it was pinned in the first place?

Cheers

ETA: I do really get the frustration some of you might feel about the notch – it's the same frustration I feel about some of the other dumb decisions Apple had made in the past or will make in the future. I just feel there are better places to rant about it than this one, as this thread would IMHO better be kept pristine with just simple user hacks or tricks that might be not that well known. And apologies for delving into it myself.

To get back on topic, one feature I both love and hate is the mouse scroll button on Dock icons. Scroll down on any supported app and it shows you a row of its recently opened files above the dock. Unless you have a Logitech mouse, with the fancy magnetic freewheeling scroll wheel, where it still does show you the row of file icons, but even if you have your mouse wheel freewheeling down in Safari and accidentally, just accidentally go beyond and the cursor touches the dock – imagine a freewheeling scroll through a long webpage, when you "only just" move your mouse cursor that it touches a dock icon outside the Safari window, all disappearing...

 

[cateye]

What they said.

 

[Carhole]

May I kindly remind you that the infamous Notch discussion ran something like 20+ pages in a thread just over there?

Please feel free to re-read my OP on the topic as reading comprehension can be tricky. And thanks, also feel free to take your unsolicited ‘moderation’ elsewhere. Cheers.

 

[DovePig]

I just tried to update a few very old Macs to Sonoma through the Open Core Legacy Patcher. Yes, quite aware of all the problems with that, but it was the only way.

The update always freaked out for some reason.

Turns out some system updates, when the automatic system update downloads are turned on, mess up with APFS snapshots, and Open Core Legacy Patcher just completely freaks out.

The solution as recommended on a Yt video (argh, I hate videos!) is to first turn off automatic updates in System Settings, then to try to update to Sequoia (or whatever was already downloaded) and immediately cancel that update'a download. Then process with OCLP as usual.

The problem seems to be with the already downloaded (or marked for download) update creating an undeleatable APFS snapshot that borks the OCLP itself. If the Sequoia update had been already downloaded, the only way seems to be to bork it the hard way by allowing it and doing a full reset by holding the power button, but cancelling the download til then works just fine. Thankfully, just cancelling the download and deleting the snapshot worked fine for me, although YMMV.

Thought I'd leave it here since some people might still want to use OCLP to upgrade their very old HW a bit, not that I'd recommend OCLP to everybody. The security issues are quite obvious when using it.

 

[KhaineBOT]

I only just found the out, but starting with macOS Sonoma, there is now a supported option to enable Touch ID for sudo:

Touch ID can be allowed for sudo with a configuration that persists across software updates using /etc/pam.d/sudo_local. See /etc/pam.d/sudo_local.template for details.

What's new for enterprise in macOS Sonoma - Apple Support

 

[imemi]

Another fun one in macOS is to hold Option and then click around the menu bar and menu extras – there’s all kinds of “hidden” information and features that’ll pop up. Like, option-click the Wifi icon and you’ll see all kinds of details about the network you’re currently connected to (IP address, security, channel, etc.). Really handy way to get at information you don’t regularly need.

Thank you for a very handy tip

 

[un]

If you happen to want to take off your apple watch band and find that it is stuck because the release button won't push in, you can get it to release by dabbing plenty of Isopropyl alcohol on the button area with a q-tip (cotton bud) while gently but firmly pushing on the release button. Eventually the button will start to move and the band will come out.

If it's a cellular watch be careful not to hold the side button - unless you want an impromptu conversation with emergency services, this still works even if the watch doesn't have service.

 

[Hap]

This may have been a thing before, not sure.

I setup AirPlay to push a YouTube video from Safari to one of my TVs, played like you would expect. Once the short video was over, it went back to the home screen, BUT - any time I hover over a YouTube thumbnail - it immediately starts playing on the TV instead of having to setup AirPlay again. As soon as I move my mouse off a video, it goes back to home screen. YMMV, but I actually like that.

 

[cpk0]

Some new-to-me shortcuts:
Globe+C: Control Center
Globe+N: Notifications
Globe+A: Keyboard navigation in the Dock
Globe+D : Dictation
Globe+Q: Quick note
Globe+Control+C: Center window
Globe+Control+F: Fill window
Control+Shift+Globe+Left, Right, Up and Down: tile windows in various positions

 

[DovePig]

Some new-to-me shortcuts:
Globe+C: Control Center
Globe+N: Notifications
Globe+A: Keyboard navigation in the Dock
Globe+D : Dictation
Globe+Q: Quick note
Globe+Control+C: Center window
Globe+Control+F: Fill window
Control+Shift+Globe+Left, Right, Up and Down: tile windows in various positions

There are one or two more, see my previous post

Fn-M for main menu keyboard navigation, Fn-F to switch the active window fullscreen and back, Fn-H to show desktop and back.

The basic window tiling is simpler, requires just Ctrl+Fn+arrows (though adding Shift might add a different function, it was detailed in the last Sequoia article, as Sequoia added tiling).

Though the Centre window and Fill window is certainly appreciated! Beats using the mouse, and remembers the former positions. It's an easy two‑finger ibe‑hand gesture as well – at least with CAPS set as the Fn/Globe key, which is my recommended default in keyboard settings. Nobody needs CAPS, but FN on one's left pinky is much more usable, especially on full‑length keybaords with FN above DEL.

 

[Carhole]

I stumbled across a bug where Apple Intelligence & Siri will globally reset your verbal Siri invocation to only include, “Hey Siri” in settings, and this will percolate across every. Single. Thing. Signed into your iCloud account, so figured this thread would be a good place for the tip:

The bug is triggered when you toggle chosen language from anything other than English, US AFAICT because folks with any other English dialect aren’t capable of stopping themselves from saying, “Hey” before “Siri”. The invoke Siri option to choose “Siri or Hey Siri” will simply disappear from every. Single. Device. Signed into you account.

Solution is just choose US English as your language for now (Siri’s voice selection doesn’t seem to matter) if you really liked the simplification of just telling Siri a command—I’d gotten hooked on this streamlining feature very quickly with the AI rollout and it was maddening to solve:

Unfortunately, you’ll need to then re-select “Siri or Hey Siri” in the ‘Talk to Siri’ options across the pile of things you’re hoarding. It’ll break all when language is changed on just one device but not reset that preference on your iCloud hoard, so there ya go. Hope it helps you out.

 

[MrElbbiw]

I utterly love the fact that Time Machine works with 'diff -r'.

 

[Son of a Beach]

When creating a new signature in the Preview app on macOS, there is an 'iPhone' option. Selecting this option automatically brings up a signing screen your iPhone, after which the signature gets saved to the Preview app on macOS. A remarkably simple and intuitive process.

 

[SportivoA]

As someone with pre-globe first and third party keyboards who keeps multiple keyboard layouts enabled, I was disappointed to learn that the "phantom" layout switches after updating to this OS was the incorrect assumption that a modifier key tap doesn't break anything (like Windows does 99% of the time with tap-Alt or tap-Win). Now MacOS tap-Fn swaps to the next keyboard layout... At least I know where it's coming from, now.

 

[Honeybog]

Two new-to-me OSX shortcuts that are probably ancient:

fn+control+f2: set the menu bar to active, allowing it (and the submenus to be navigated with arrow keys).
fn+control+f3: set the dock to active, allowing it to be navigated with the arrow keys.

 

[SportivoA]

Not sure when CMD-Shift-5 advanced screenshots happened (I've been doing CMD-Shift-4 for select-a-region), but it's been nice for "screenshot that whole window" mode. Also how you set screen video captures, but I haven't needed that, like, ever.

 

[jaberg]

Not sure when CMD-Shift-5 advanced screenshots happened

Mojave.

 

[SportivoA]

Mojave.

Numbers, please. Names mean barely anything to me basically the whole progression that they got them.

 

[Jonathon]

Not sure when CMD-Shift-5 advanced screenshots happened (I've been doing CMD-Shift-4 for select-a-region), but it's been nice for "screenshot that whole window" mode. Also how you set screen video captures, but I haven't needed that, like, ever.

If you're trying to screenshot whole windows, you've always been able to do Cmd+Shift+4 then press the spacebar to switch from selecting a region to selecting a window.

Cmd+Shift+5 is nice for other reasons, though (it can do screen recording, and timers, and set the location where screenshots are saved, and a few other fun things).

(Mojave was 10.14.)

 

[SportivoA]

If you're trying to screenshot whole windows, you've always been able to do Cmd+Shift+4 then press the spacebar to switch from selecting a region to selecting a window.

Now there's a trick!

I just learned my screenshots flow in the early times and never looked at the additional features. Spent a darn long time on 10.14.

 

[effgee]

If you're trying to screenshot whole windows, you've always been able to do Cmd+Shift+4 then press the spacebar to switch from selecting a region to selecting a window. ...

... and if you hold down the option key while mouse-clicking to capture an entire window with ⌘-⇧-4, it'll create the screenshot without the humongous drop shadow surrounding it!

 

[JimCampbell]

fn+control+f2: set the menu bar to active, allowing it (and the submenus to be navigated with arrow keys).
fn+control+f3: set the dock to active, allowing it to be navigated with the arrow keys.

CTRL-F2 only (no need for FN) does that just fine on my keyboard (the Apple TouchID one). Once you've arrowed over to your chosen menu and dropped it down, you don't have to arrow down to a menu item — just typing the first one or two letters will also get you there.

EDIT: I didn't know about the dock one, though!

 

[JimCampbell]

CTRL-F2 only (no need for FN) does that just fine on my keyboard (the Apple TouchID one).

Belatedly, I've just realised that this depends on how you have your F-keys set in System Settings — I have mine set to act as F-keys rather than activate whatever control item is also printed on them. If you have the toggle the other way round then, yes, you definitely need to add the FN modifier to get the described result. Sorry… holiday mush-for-brains!

 

[Dashiell]

Anybody know a trick to mute volume by application?

 

[DovePig]

Anybody know a trick to mute volume by application?

For all applications? Not without a paid app that installs its own driver or similar, as far as I know (though the app is pretty nice).

Though some apps support a volume property in AppleScript, so you could just script them separately, e.g.:

# decrease volume in Music by 10
tell application "Music" 
    set vol to sound volume
    set vol to vol - 10
    if vol is less than 0 then
        set vol to 0
    end if
    set the sound volume to vol
end tell

 

[CommanderJameson]

I think my AppleScript, which was supposed to enumerate the commands each application has, may have gone slightly wrong:

 

[cateye]

I think my AppleScript, which was supposed to enumerate the commands each application has, may have gone slightly wrong:

"Memory Pressure: Puce"

 

[CommanderJameson]

Green, if you can believe that.

 

[DovePig]

I think my AppleScript, which was supposed to enumerate the commands each application has, may have gone slightly wrong:

View attachment 99009

Clearly, not enough apps!

Just did a quick count, ~400 here (to be fair, some might be obsolete 32-bit). Makes me wonder how Dock handles opened apps icons overflowing?

I'll have to try that one day, though better with some lightweight custom script "apps" instead of full ones...

 

[Hap]

To my regret, this inspired me to open my Applications folder, type Command-A and Command-O.

This is on my M1 Ultra Studio with 64GB RAM. Still waiting for the 280 applications to finish launching. To Apple's credit - they are STILL Launching. Even on a 2160 vertical screen the dock icons are barely visible.

Edit: it finished and it's surprisingly still usable. A little bit of lag, but checkout the dock.

Spoiler: Image

 

[DovePig]

To my regret, this inspired me to open my Applications folder, type Command-A and Command-O.

This is on my M1 Ultra Studio with 64GB RAM. Still waiting for the 280 applications to finish launching. To Apple's credit - they are STILL Launching. Even on a 2160 vertical screen the dock icons are barely visible.

Edit: it finished and it's surprisingly still usable. A little bit of lag, but checkout the dock.

Spoiler: Image

View attachment 99033

Curious. So the Dock just gets smaller and smaller or what? Is there ever a cut‑off or whatever? Please continue launching, we want to know