

List of hidden OS X features, tips and tricks - jason_tko
http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/400/please-share-your-hidden-os-x-features-or-tips-and-tricks

======
dylanpyle
Didn't see this one on the list - while Command+Tabbing, if you hold down
Option while letting go of Command at the end, you'll open a new window in the
specified application if it currently doesn't have any open.

It might sound confusing, but it's quite useful if you've closed all the
windows of a given app but still have it running.

~~~
coob
The option key is involved in most of these hidden tips. If something doesn't
work quite like you want it to, try doing it with option held down. 6 times
out of 10 it probably will.

~~~
davvolun
"6 times out of 10" That's such a weird number to have chosen, I know I'm
being pedantic here, but why not 3 out of 5?

------
aatish
I have one: press shift and alt while changing volume or brightness and you
can change it in fine-grained steps. Not super useful, but kind of neat.

~~~
bajsejohannes
I love that little feature. The bad thing about it is that it doesn't work
where I want it the most: The darkest backlight level is still the same. (It
lets you set it to 1/4, but it's still the same as 1)

------
JeffJenkins
I was just playing around with option+menu bar items and discovered that
notifications can be disabled by option-clicking the notification center icon
on the far right in Mountain Lion.

Then if you click to open notification center there is text which says that
notifications will turn back on tomorrow and a toggle to turn them back on now

~~~
bjustin
The switch for this is always there, reachable by scrolling up past the top
of the notifications panel.

------
miles
Here are the comments from the last time this appeared on HN a few years ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2436198](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2436198)

------
sgt
Not a hidden feature - but what confuses some of my family members is that if
they install an app in OS X, they click on a downloaded dmg (or it auto-
opens), and they get this Finder window opening, without "Applications"
visible.

Initially they just ran the application like this, as if it was installed.

However, I've explained that it needs to be moved to "Applications". This is
difficult, seeing that if one clicks on Finder again, it doesn't bring up a
new window.

I tell them to do File->New Finder Window, but I wish there was a more elegant
solution to this.

~~~
visagi
The applications folder is in the dock by default.

~~~
sgt
I tried - dragging something using only a trackpad (many people just use a
laptop) seems to be quite challenging for the computer challenged people.

------
m-r-a-m
Here's a good time killer (I think I got all of the domains in there):

[https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=hidden%20features%20of...](https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=hidden%20features%20of%20%28site%3Astackexchange.com%20||%20site%3Astackoverflow.com%20||%20site%3Asuperuser.com%20||%20site%3Aaskubuntu.com%20||%20site%3Aserverfault.com%29)

------
digitalboss
If you have an external display hooked up to a MacBook, using the Macbook
keyboard’s brightness keys will change the laptop display. The external
keyboard will change the external display (if attached). Ctrl + brightness key
inverts the behavior for both external and internal.

[http://finerthings.in/mac/tips-for-changing-brightness-on-
ma...](http://finerthings.in/mac/tips-for-changing-brightness-on-macbook-
external-displays/)

------
illbert
I recommend looking at BetterTouchTool
[http://www.bettertouchtool.net](http://www.bettertouchtool.net) (free) and
Alfred [http://www.alfredapp.com](http://www.alfredapp.com) (free without the
Powerpack). I start all programs with Alfred and use BTT taps/movements on my
trackpad to arrange/resize windows. I used to fire up applications with
spotlight but alfred feels much quicker + I can create lots of custom web
search queries which I use all the time.

Loving this thread and the one from around two and a half years ago. I'm
probably missing out on a few things as I'm still running 10.6.8.

------
mh-
when you pipe something to pbcopy, it doesn't strip any trailing newline:

    
    
        echo hi | pbcopy
    

pasting this would get you hi<cr>. so if you want to put the output of a
command in the clipboard, you can do something like (where `find .` is your
command):

    
    
        echo -n $(find .) | pbcopy
    

that will take advantage of the fact that subshells discard a trailing newline
(at least in bash, zsh. probably others..)

------
morsch
Neat. I didn't know Apple still did this. Mac OS 7 and 8 hat _tons_ of useful
hidden features and modifiers. Having a keyboard key modify basic actions is
such a benevolent way to increase productivity for power users without harming
newbies. It's also fairly easy to add.

I don't understand why Linux desktops apps don't do this more often. Or maybe
they do and I just don't know where to look.

------
pkamb
Leopard-style (spatial) Exposé in Snow Leopard (grid):

[http://superuser.com/questions/118424/old-leopard-expose-
on-...](http://superuser.com/questions/118424/old-leopard-expose-on-snow-
leopard-for-mac)

------
scrrr
Sometimes Stackexchange sites will close a thread, because it's "not a
question". Sometime's they won't. Nitpicking, but this is not a question.
(Still great answers, though.)

~~~
kryten
At the end of the day though, if it provides some value to the world, does it
matter?

I think there is a section of stack overflow moderators who shoot down
questions purely due to ego.

Someone obviously trying to solicit an answer for their CS homework, close!
Intoxicated monkey whacking the keyboard: close!.

This: keep it, please!

In fact I'm surprised it's still there.

~~~
JeremyBanks
This isn't Stack Overflow. Stack Overflow _needs_ to be strict to handle the
thousands of questions that pour in every day. Many other Stack Exchange sites
are under less pressure and could decide on different policies. However, most
sites' communities have also rejected such questions because they do not fit
the Stack Exchange model. The software and policies are not optimized the
handle this them a site filled with them would be terrible.

The Apple Stack Exchange community decided that list-style questions are
acceptable in very limited quantities. (They tend to be broad, which help
avoid the need for too many of them.)

------
salgernon
Select-all, cmd-c copy (in a document or terminal)

Select a word or symbol of interest, and cmd-e to get it in the find buffer.

$ pbpaste | fgrep -i `pbpaste -pboard find`

I have this aliased to pbg, so will typically pipe the output to awk or some
such.

------
cynwoody
My favorite has to be ⌘+Space. It brings up Spotlight Search. I use it instead
of the Dock to launch applications. It quickly adapts to your preferences. For
instance, after a few tries, it will learn that you want Digital Color Meter
when you type 'dig'. So, you just type "⌘+Space dig Return", and the app
starts.

It's also useful to look up words quickly in Dictionary and to evaluate simple
arithmetic expressions.

That's all in addition to its normal use: searching your machine

------
obeattie
You realise how long you've been using a Mac when you know every single one of
these, bar one (Opt+Clicking Menu Bar Extras)

------
gdubs
A personal favorite is setting a hyper-fast key repeat via terminal:

    
    
      defaults write NSGlobalDomain KeyRepeat -int 0

~~~
interpol_p
This is amazing. Thank you so much.

------
johnmw
Again, not really a hidden feature but one I was very happy to find: moving
files via Finder using Cmd-C to 'cut' and Cmd+Opt-V to 'paste'. (I come from a
Windows background and cutting and pasting using the keyboard is deep in my
DNA).

~~~
brown9-2
The Opt key in "Cmd+Opt-V to 'paste'" is unnecessary.

~~~
joeschmoe
Without the option key, Cmd-C/Cmd-V just copies and pastes. Cmd-C/Cmd+Opt-V
cuts and pastes.

~~~
surapaneni
Thank you. No more two finder windows.

------
smackfu
Personally, I'm not a big fan of how Apple likes to hide useful features all
over the place in OS X hidden behind completely non-discoverable modifier key
+ mouse click options or double modifier key + another key.

------
dsego
don't know about hidden, but really useful is a three finger tap on a word to
open a small dictionary popup.

~~~
interpol_p
This was one of the feature that made me get my first Mac back in 2002. You
could easily tell apps that didn't use OS standard controls (e.g., Firefox)
because they didn't support the dictionary lookup.

At the time it was ctrl+cmd+D while hovering over a word with the mouse cursor
(you can still trigger it this way now).

------
nodata
Anyone know how to filter a list of files in a Finder window by a string?

~~~
gurkendoktor
It's not quite what you are asking for since it's recursive, but there is a
setting in the Finder's preferences, Advanced, that lets you choose how the
Finder's Spotlight field works. I always change it to search in the current
directory only.

------
josteink
Installing a OS free of patent-lawsuits and bad digital karma on your
otherwise good hardware:

[http://blog.kylebarlow.com/2013/05/installing-
ubuntu-1304-ra...](http://blog.kylebarlow.com/2013/05/installing-
ubuntu-1304-raring-ringtail.html)

~~~
flyinRyan
I don't believe in karma and don't think Ubuntu can ignore the game of
patents. They've been able to so far because they are irrelevant in the
desktop space.

Personally, I'm not willing to hobble my computing experience due to some
hopeless ideology.

~~~
bornhuetter
> some hopeless ideology

The fact that someone would say, on a forum called Hacker News, that the free
software movement is a hopeless ideology is astonishing.

> irrelevant in the desktop space

Hardly. Ubuntu is about as popular now as Macs were a few years ago, or at
least in the same league.

> hobble my computing experience

Ubuntu has many productivity advantages over both OSX and Windows. It's not
necessarily the best for everyone, but the have taken a lot of good ideas from
both Windows (eg. Maximise works properly, aero snap) and OS X (Expose), and
added their own (HUD). If you consider Ubuntu to be hobbling your experience,
then other people could consider using OSX as hobbling theirs.

~~~
flyinRyan
>The fact that someone would say, on a forum called Hacker News, that the free
software movement is a hopeless ideology is astonishing.

Patent free is what I'm calling hopeless. Nice try though, I guess.

>Hardly. Ubuntu is about as popular now as Macs were a few years ago, or at
least in the same league.

Uh, no. Unless by "years" you mean "decades".

>Ubuntu has many productivity advantages over both OSX and Windows.

I've used Windows for years. I've used OS X for a few years now. I've used
Unix for years and I've used Ubuntu off and on since it was started. Ubuntu
had some advantages over windows for me but day-to-day OS X is simpler in
every possible way. Except the "do tons of tweaking of every pixel on my
desktop" way.

~~~
bornhuetter
> Patent free is what I'm calling hopeless.

The ideology behind Ubuntu is the free software movement. I'm not sure that
"Patent free" even is an ideology.

> Uh, no. Unless by "years" you mean "decades".

About 10? That's years, not decades. Even 5 years ago they were well under 5%
weren't they?

I'm glad to hear that OSX suits you, that's fine. What I object to is you
calling Ubuntu a hobbled experience. Personally I find that both Unity and OSX
have DEs that really get in my way without a lot of tweaking, but both can be
made to give a reasonable experience.

I wouldn't have said anything, and just chalked it up as someone making an
opinionated comment that I disagree with if it weren't for the ridiculous line
about Ubuntu's ideology being hopeless.

~~~
m-r-a-m
> What I object to is you calling Ubuntu a hobbled experience.

I might be wrong, but I think he's talking about a future in which Canonical
is forced to remove features from Ubuntu due to patents. Whereas Apple would
just pay the licensing fees.

I don't see this happening because software patents don't exist in most of the
world. The worst thing that could happen is they wouldn't be able to sell
phones in the U.S. and other patent-crazy territories.

~~~
josteink
> Whereas Apple would just pay the licensing fees.

More like Apple would be the one firing the lawsuits.

I find it troublesome to see so many otherwise talented hackers chop off their
own feet by supporting the top company fuelling the patent-war and undermining
the software-industry as a whole.

~~~
mwfunk
You are truly a delight.

------
rayj
How about the PRISM and hardware tracking built into iPhones?

edit: let the down votes commence, I've got some karma to burn.

~~~
nicholassmith
I'm not sure how that's actually relevant to the conversation on the subject?
Plus you may as well post the same comment when _any_ mobile phone is
mentioned, be it an iPhone, an Android or a standard dumbphone.

