8 Tips for New Mac Users

If you’re new to macOS, here’s a list of must-have tips and tricks.

If you’re new to Mac, or have recently done so, you’ve come to the right place. We have compiled a series of tips for beginners in macOS which are really interesting and which will help you, not only to know your Mac better, but also to save a lot of time.

macOS is a very different system from Windows And while both are used with a mouse or trackpad, many features are unique to each system. Apple has a very personal style of doing things and in macOS we have hidden many interesting secrets that are worth knowing from minute one.

How to Right Click on Your Mac

One of the first things you’ll notice as soon as you start using your Mac is that does not have a right button enabled as we can have in Windows. This is something that we can configure according to our needs from System Preferences > Trackpad, but we can do it in two different ways:

• The first option is hold down the Control key on your keyboard, then click usually on any element.
• The second is tap the trackpad with two fingers at the same time. It will work like right click on any application.

Control the corners

The Mac has a feature called Active coins that allow us to have direct access to certain functions by simply holding the cursor in one of the corners. By default, the lower right corner allows us to access a quick note, but we can modify them to our liking by following these steps:

• Come into System Preferences > Desktop & Screen Saver.
• Enter the section screen saver.
• Press at the bottom right on active corners.
• Choose at every corner the function you want to activate.

How to Take Screenshots on Mac

macOS includes a full-featured screenshot manager which allows us to take image and video captures of a tab, the whole screen or just the section we want.

The best option is to press the key combination Command + Shift + 5, you will see a box on the screen and below it a small toolbar with the various screenshot options. Although if you want to take a screenshot of the whole screen, you can directly press Command + Shift + 3.

Customize Widgets

In macOS we have widgets like those of iOS or iPadOS that appear swipe with two fingers from the right side of the touchpad or tap the clock from the top bar to the right. And these widgets are fully customizable.

You just have to activate the widgets as we told you and touch the dot edit widgets. All available widgets will appear and you just have to press the “+” button that appears above each one.

Improve Touch ID

Touch ID is available on most Macs and is really helpful in identifying us and autofilling passwords. can improve Touch ID by adding options and registering up to three different fingerprints. Follow these steps:

Come into System Preferences > Touch ID and from there you can enable or disable what you want to use Touch ID for and add three fingerprints to unlock your Mac.

Customize the menu bar

The menu bar will accompany you at all times in the upper part of the Mac and you can configure it according to your needs. Each user has their own tastes and the menu bar is very customizable. Come into System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar and tweak all the options to your liking.

Unlock your Mac with Apple Watch

A great feature for users who have Apple Watch, as it by simply wearing it, we can unlock our Mac. The steps to configure it are as follows:

• Come into System Preferences.
• click on security and privacy.
• Make sure you are in the tab General.
• Click the icon with the lock located at the bottom left and identify yourself.
• click on Use Apple Watch to unlock apps and Mac.

Keyboard combinations to know

In addition to all this, there is a series of keyboard shortcuts and combinations you need to know and it will save you a lot of time. Here is a list of the most useful:

• Command + Tab: To quickly switch between your open applications.
• Command + Q: Close the window you are currently using.
• Command + F3: Minimize all windows to go directly to the desktop.
• Command + C: Will copy any selected text or file.
• Command + V: will paste a text or a file that you have copied.
• Command + Z: will undo anything you have done recently.
• Command + Option + Esc: This will open the Force Quit window, where you can automatically close any applications that are causing you problems.
• Control + Command + Q: This will immediately lock your Mac screen.

How to Connect Two or More External Displays to Apple Silicon MacsHopefully with these tips now get to know your Mac better and you can get more out of it. Macs are amazing devices and capable of doing anything you want.