Mac

Awesome Mac

Apps

Preview

Improved marking

⌥ option + held left click will only mark text inside of the spanned rectangle.

Change scroll mode

⌘ command + 1 sets scroll mode to continuous
⌘ command + 2 sets scroll mode to one page
⌘ command + 3 sets scroll mode to two page

Open in Terminal/Editor: Reset set terminal/editor set using OpenIn{Terminal, Editor}

Ji4n1ng/OpenInTerminal

defaults remove wang.jianing.app.OpenInTerminal-Lite LiteDefaultTerminal
defaults remove wang.jianing.app.OpenInEditor-Lite LiteDefaultEditor

Fix broken "open with" database

Use when apps do not appear as an "open with" option or the wrong app opens the file.

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -v -all u,s,l

For more information and options see lsregister: a valuable undocumented command for LaunchServices by The Eclectic Light Company and the lsregister man page.

Customizing the Dock

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 32 && killall Dock

with the default size being 64. The Dock size can also be made immutable to cursor input:

defaults write com.apple.dock size-immutable -bool yes && killall Dock

Volume

⌥ option + shift + 🔈 / 🔊 to decrease/increase the volume by smaller increments.

General Tips and Tricks

The following three sections have been created with the following script.

curl -s <url> | pandoc -f html -t commonmark -o <output_file> && \
title=$(curl -s <url> | grep -ipo '(?<=<title>)(.*)(?=</title>)') && \
sed -i '1d' <output_file> && \
sed -i "1s/^/## ${title}\n\n/" <output_file> && \
sed -i -E 's/^#### /### /g' <output_file>

Advanced macOS Command-Line Tools

Source

macOS is fortunate to have access to the huge arsenal of standard Unix tools. There are also a good number of macOS-specific command-line utilities that provide unique macOS functionality. To view the full documentation for any of these commands, run man <command>.

`caffeinate` - set Mac sleep behavior

Running caffeinate with no flags or arguments prevents your Mac from going to sleep as long as the command continues to run. caffeinate -u -t <seconds> prevents sleep for the specified number of seconds. Adding the -d flag also prevents the display from going to sleep. Specifying an existing process with -w <pid> automatically exits the caffeinate command once the specified process exits. Passing a command with caffeinate <command> starts the given command in a new process and will prevent sleep until that process exits.

`textutil` - document file converter

textutil can convert files to and from Microsoft Word, plain text, rich text, and HTML formats.

textutil -convert html journal.doc converts journal.doc into journal.html.

The possible values for -convert are: txt, html, rtf, rtfd, doc, docx.

`mdfind` - search with Spotlight

mdfind <query> performs a keyword-based Spotlight search with the given query.

mdfind kMDItemAppStoreHasReceipt=1 finds all apps installed from the Mac App Store.

mdfind -name <name> searches for all files matching the given name.

The -onlyin <dir> flag restricts the search to the given directory.

`networkQuality` - measure Internet speed

Run networkQuality to run an Internet speed test from your Mac.

Add the -v flag to view more detailed information.

Use the -i flag to run the network test on a specific network

interface.

`screencapture` - take screenshots

screencapture -c takes a screenshot and copies it to the clipboard.

screencapture <file> takes a screenshot and saves it to the given

file.

Add the -T <seconds> flag to take the screenshot after the given delay

in seconds.

`pbcopy`, `pbpaste` - interact with system clipboard

<command> | pbcopy copies the output of the command to the clipboard.

pbpaste outputs the contents of the clipboard to stdout.

`taskpolicy` - control scheduling of processes

taskpolicy -b <command> starts executing the given command in the

background. On Apple silicon Macs, the process will only run on the

efficiency cores.

taskpolicy -b -p <pid> downgrades an existing process to run in the

background.

taskpolicy -B -p <pid> removes the specified process from running in

the background. On Apple silicon Macs, the process may now run on the

efficiency or performance cores. Note that this only works on processes

that have been downgraded to the background, and not processes that

started in the background.

taskpolicy -s <command> starts the given command in the suspended

state. This is useful to allow a debugger to attach to the process right

at the start of execution.

`say` - text-to-speech engine

say <message> announces the given message.

say -f input.txt -o output.aiff will create an audiobook from the

given text file.

`sips` - image manipulation

sips -z <height> <width> <image> resizes the specified image, ignoring

the previous aspect ratio.

sips -Z <size> <image> resizes the largest side of the specified

image, preserving the aspect ratio.

sips -r <degrees> <image> rotate the image by the specified degrees.

`open` - open files and applications

open -a <app> <file> opens the given file with the specified

application.

open . opens the current directory in a new Finder window.

`pmset` - configure power management

pmset -g prints all available power configuration information.

pmset -g assertions displays information about power-related

assertions made by other processes. This can be useful for finding a

process that is preventing your Mac from going to sleep.

pmset -g thermlog displays information about any processes that have

been throttled (useful when running benchmarks).

pmset displaysleepnow immediately puts the display to sleep without

putting the rest of the system to sleep.

pmset sleepnow immediately puts the entire system to sleep.

`networksetup` - configure network settings

networksetup -listnetworkserviceorder prints a list of available

network services.

networksetup -getinfo <networkservice> prints information about the

specified network service.

networksetup -getdnsservers <networkservice> prints the DNS servers

for the specified network service.

networksetup -setairportnetwork <device> <network> [password] joins

the specified Wi-Fi network. (In most cases, the \<device> argument

should be "en0".)

`qlmanage` - manage Quick Look

qlmanage -p <file> opens a Quick Look preview window of the given

file.

qlmanage -m prints status information about the Quick Look server

process.

qlmanage -r restarts the Quick Look server process.

qlmanage -r cache resets the Quick Look thumbnail cache.

`softwareupdate` - manage OS updates

softwareupdate --list prints out available software updates.

sudo softwareupdate -ia installs all available updates.

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version <version>

tries to download the full installer of the specified macOS version to

/Applications.

macOS Tips & Tricks

Source

Last updated for macOS Ventura

General

Native UI Conventions

Press ⇧⌘/ to search all of the current app's menu items. Then use the

Up/Down arrow keys to navigate the results and press Return to

execute that menu bar action.

Press ⌃F2 to move keyboard focus to the application's menu bar. Start

typing the first few letters of a menu title to jump to that menu.

Hold the Option key while expanding an outline view to recursively

expand all children. (The easiest place to test this is in Finder's

List view.)

On modal dialogs/sheets, press Command + the first letter of the

button to press that button. ⌘. is the shortcut equivalent of the

Escape key.

Hold Control and Option while clicking on a window to switch focus

to that window without raising it.

Hold Command while dragging a toolbar icon to move it to a new

position.

By default, clicking inside a scroll bar will scroll partially towards

the clicked location. Hold Option while clicking in the scroll bar

to jump directly to the clicked location.

Hold Option while dragging the scroller to slowly scroll.
In a scroll view, use the Up/Down keys to scroll in small increments.

Hold Option to scroll in larger increments, and hold Command to

scroll to the beginning or end.

Hold Option while pressing the Page Up/Page Down keys to also move

the cursor while scrolling.

In a text field that treats the Tab key as an input, press

Control-Tab and Control-Shift-Tab to move focus to the previous or

next control.

Press ⌃⌘D while holding the pointer over a word to view an inline

dictionary definition of the word.

Press ⌃F6 to move focus to a floating window.
To quickly find text, select some text and press ⌘E followed by ⌘G.
Press ⌃⌫ to delete only the accent mark from the previous character

(e.g. é will become e).

In Fonts windows, enter *X to scale the current font size, e.g.

*1.5.

When entering text, press ⌥⇧K (on U.S. keyboards) to insert an Apple

logo.

Hold Command while dragging a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) video player

to move it anywhere without having it snap to one of the screen

corners.

Screenshots

After pressing ⇧⌘4 and while drawing the screen capture area, hold

Option while resizing to resize from the center, and hold Shift

while resizing to adjust only one axis. After drawing the area, hold

the Space bar and drag to move the selected area.

After pressing ⇧⌘4, hold Control while taking the screenshot to copy

to the clipboard instead of saving to file.

After pressing ⇧⌘4, press the Space bar to select a window to

screenshot. Hold down Option while taking the screenshot to remove

the window's shadow.

Right click on the floating screenshot preview to access additional

actions.

Open/Save Dialogs

Drag a file or folder from Finder into an open/save dialog to jump

directly to that file.

In save dialogs, press ⌘= to switch between the compact and expanded

layout.

In save dialogs, press ⌘⌫ to activate the Delete button, ⌘D to

activate the Don't Save button, and ⌘. (or Esc) to activate the

Cancel button.

Press ~ to open a Go To File dialog prefilled with the home

directory. Press / to open it prefilled with the root directory.

Press ⌘R to reveal the selected item in Finder.

Mission Control / Window Management

When a window is inactive, use the Command key to interact with it

without making it active.

Hold Control when pressing the Mission Control function key to only

show the current app's windows.

Hold Command when pressing the Mission Control function key to show

the desktop.

Hold Option while double-clicking a window's corner to expand the

window to fill the screen.

Option-Click to switch windows while hiding the previous app.

Command-Option-Click to switch windows and hide all other apps.

In the Command-Tab app switcher, press the Up or Down arrow keys (or

the 1 key) on an app to view that app's windows.

In the Command-Tab app switcher, hold Option while switching to an

app to un-minimize all its windows.

Press ⌘` to cycle between windows of the foreground application.
Press ⌃F4 to cycle between windows across all applications in the

current desktop space.

Drag a window to the top of the screen and push it against the top of

the screen to enter Mission Control with that window selected.

Press ⌥⌘W or hold Option while clicking the red close button, to

close all of the foreground application's open windows.

Press ⌥⌘M, or hold Option while clicking the yellow minimize button,

to minimize all of the foreground application's open windows.

Hold Option while clicking the green zoom button to fill the window

to the screen instead of entering full-screen mode.

When configuring Hot Corners in System Settings, hold any or all of

Control, Option, Command, or Shift to only activate the corner

while the selected keys are also held down.

On a trackpad, use two fingers to double-tap (tap, not click) on an

app's Dock icon to show all of the app's windows. Alternatively,

perform the App Exposé trackpad gesture over an app's Dock icon.

Hold Option while resizing a window to resize from the center of the

window.

Hold Shift while resizing a window to lock the aspect ratio.

Double-click a window's border to resize that edge to fill the screen.

Hold Option while double-clicking to expand both edges.

In Mission Control, perform a scroll up over a group of app windows to

reveal the individual windows. Press the Space bar while holding the

pointer over any window to magnify it.

In Mission Control, Option-click another desktop space to switch to

that space while staying in Mission Control.

In Mission Control, drag the application icon underneath the windows

to move all of an app's windows to another space.

In Mission Control app window mode, press Tab and Shift-Tab to

switch applications.

If a window was minimized in a different space, hold Command while

un-minimizing to restore it to the current space.

Hold Option while un-minimizing a window to un-minimize all windows

from that app.

If an app has windows in multiple spaces, click the app's Dock icon

repeatedly to cycle through the spaces with that app's windows.

If keyboard shortcuts are enabled for switching desktop spaces,

pressing a shortcut while clicking and holding a window will move the

window to that space.

In Stage Manager, hold Shift while clicking on a window to add that

window to the current stage instead of replacing it.

Function Keys

Hold down Shift and Option when changing the volume or brightness

to make smaller adjustments.

Hold down Option while changing the brightness to quickly open

Display settings, or while changing the volume to open Sound settings.

Hold down Shift while changing the volume to audibly preview the

volume level.

When connected to an external display, hold down Control while

changing the brightness to adjust the brightness of the non-active

display.

Press and hold down on the Mission Control function key to

automatically exit Mission Control after letting go of the key.

Hold Option while opening the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth menus to access

extra options.

Hold Command while dragging a menu bar icon to move it to a new

position.

Add new menu bar items by dragging icons from Control Center to the

menu bar.

Option-click the date/time in the menu bar to toggle Do Not Disturb.
Right-click a widget to change its size.
On a trackpad, swipe horizontally with two fingers over a notification

to dismiss that notification.

Finder

After copying a file, press ⌥⌘V to move the file instead of pasting a

copy of it.

Press ⌃⌘N with multiple files selected to create a new folder with

those items.

Press Tab and Shift-Tab to navigate through files alphabetically,

regardless of the current sort ordering (only in Icons and List view).

Hold Option while activating Quick Look to immediately launch into

full-screen view.

After opening Quick Look with multiple files selected, press ⌘⏎ to

display a grid view of all items. Use the arrow keys to navigate and

press Return to select an item to focus on.

Right-click on the "Open with" button to select a different app to use

to open the file.

In Columns view, hold Option while resizing a column to

simultaneously resize all columns.

In Columns view, double-click a column separator to auto-resize that

column. Hold Option while double-clicking on any separator to

auto-resize all columns.

In Columns view, click the empty space at the bottom of a folder to go

to the parent folder.

In Columns view, and when in a deeply nested file, press Shift-Tab

and Tab to navigate through the parent directories without losing

the path to the file.

Hold Option while dragging a file to make a new copy instead of

moving the original. Hold Command and Option to create an alias to

the file.

In List view, press ⌘+ and ⌘- to increase and decrease the row size.
In List view, press ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ to select the top-most and bottom-most

item.

In List view, use the Left and Right arrow keys to collapse and expand

directories. When a file is selected, press the Left arrow key to jump

to the parent folder.

Press ⌘I to show the inspector for the current file.

Press ⌥⌘I to show a floating inspector that updates with the selected

file.

Press ⌥⌘C to copy the full pathname of the currently selected file.
Press ⇧⌘. to toggle showing hidden files.
Press ⌥⌘⌫ to immediately delete a file without sending it to the

Trash.

Merge folders by holding Option while dragging one folder on top of

another folder.

Set a custom icon for a folder by copying the new icon, inspecting the

folder (⌘I), and pasting the icon by selecting the folder icon in the

upper-left of the inspector window and pressing ⌘V.

Drag selected text into a Finder window to quickly create and save a

text clipping. (Text clippings are text files that can't be edited and

don't require a filename to be saved.)

Press ⌥⌘O to open the selected file and automatically close the

Finder window.

Press ⌥⇧⌘V to paste an item while preserving the file permission

flags.

Hold Command while dragging an icon in Icon view to align it to a

grid.

Restart Finder by holding Option while right-clicking the Finder

dock icon and selecting Relaunch.

Drag a folder to the new tab button (only visible if multiple tabs are

already open) to open the folder in a new tab.

Press ⌃⌘↑ to open the parent folder in a new window.
If the toolbar is hidden (⌥⌘T), Finder will open folders in a new

window.

Dock

Press ⌥⌘D to hide and show the dock.
Press ⌃F3 to move keyboard focus to the Dock. Then use the Left and

Right arrow keys to select an app, or type the first few letters of an

app. Press Enter to open the selected app, or press the Up arrow key

to open the app's menu.

Hold Control and Shift while mousing over the Dock to temporarily

turn on magnification.

Quickly move the Dock to a different side of the screen by holding

Shift while dragging the resize handle.

Hold Option while resizing the Dock to resize in multiples of 16

points.

Hold Option and Command while clicking a running app's Dock icon

to hide all other applications.

Open a file in a specific application by dragging the file to the

application's Dock icon. If the application doesn't accept the file

type by default, force open the file by holding Option and Command

while dragging the file.

If a dock icon is bouncing repeatedly, stop the bouncing by mousing

over the icon.

Hold Control and Command when right-clicking a Dock icon to only

see the default system menu options.

Hold Option and Command when clicking on a folder in the Dock to

open the folder in a new Finder window.

To open multiple items from a stack, hold Option while selecting an

item to open it in the background while keeping the stack open.

After opening a stack, hover the cursor over an item and press the

Space bar to preview the item with quick look.

Right-click the Launchpad dock icon to open an app from an inline

menu.

In Launchpad, hold Option to enter "jiggle mode" to re-arrange and

delete apps.

Add shortcuts to System Settings to the Dock by navigating to

/System/Library/PreferencePanes and dragging preference panes to the

Dock.

To add AirDrop to the Dock, navigate to

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Applications in

Finder and drag the AirDrop icon to the Dock.

Spotlight

Press ⌘B to search the web for the current query.
Press ⌘C to copy the full path to the selected file, or to copy the

result of the current calculation.

Press ⌘D to show a dictionary preview for the current query.
Press ⌘L to jump to the dictionary section in the results (if

present).

Press ⌘⏎ or ⌘R to reveal the selected file in Finder.
Use the name: filter to only search in the filename.
Add kind:folder to only search for folder names.
Hold Command to show the path to the currently selected file.

Safari

To fully reload a tab, i.e., bypass the cache, press ⌥ + ⌘ + R
Tab groups organize tabs spatially. Use ⌥ + ⌘ + {↑, ↓, ←, →} to navigate tabs

in 2D space.

When a video is playing, right click the speaker icon in the address

bar or tab to enter Picture-in-Picture (PiP) mode.

Hold Option while closing a tab to close all other tabs except the

current tab.

Click and hold the back button to see recent browsing history. Hold

Option to see page URLs instead of page titles.

Drag selected text onto the Safari dock icon to quickly search the web

for that text.

Press ⇧⌘T to re-open the most recently closed tab or window.
Click and hold on the new tab icon in the toolbar to view recently

closed tabs.

Press the Space bar at the beginning of the address bar to change the

search engine and to see recent web searches.

Add kind:bookmark to Spotlight searches to search Safari bookmarks

and browsing history.

Shift-click a link to add it to Reading List.
Click and hold a bookmark in the bookmarks bar to edit its display

title.

Option-click the reload icon or press ⌥⌘R to force a fresh reload of

the current webpage.

Right-click the reader icon in the address bar to automatically turn

on Reader Mode for all pages on the current website.

After performing a web search and opening a result in the same tab,

press ⌥⌘S to go back to the search results page.

Press ⇧⌘I to create a new email message with the contents of the

current page.

Hold Option over the History > Clear History menu item to only

clear browsing history while preserving website data.

Mail

Command-click multiple mailboxes in the left sidebar to

simultaneously view all messages from the selected mailboxes.

Select part of a message's text before replying or forwarding to only

include the selected text in the new message.

Select an attachment in a message before forwarding to only include

the attachment in the forwarded message.

Drag a file to the Mail dock icon to compose a new message with the

file already attached.

Press ⌥⇧⌘N to create a new tab.
Press the Space bar at the end of a message to go to the next message.

Hold Shift while pressing the Space bar at the top of a message to

go to the previous message.

Start typing the first few characters of the sender, subject, or body

to jump to that message in the messages list.

Press ⌥⌘↑ and ⌥⌘↓ to jump to the top-most or bottom-most message in

the messages list.

Save an extra copy of an important message by dragging it to the

Finder.

If a message bounces, use Message > Send Again on the bounced

message to re-send it to a different address.

To add a message to multiple folders, hold Command while dragging the

message to each folder.

Press ⇧⌘C to assign a color to a message.
Drag a message into the Notes or Reminders app to add a link to the

message.

Press ⌘R and ⇧⌘R while replying to a message to switch between reply

and reply-all.

Press ⌥⌫ to delete a message without automatically opening the next

message.

Command-click on the currently selected message to unselect it.
If a message has already been replied to, click on the reply icon in

the message list to open the reply in a new window.

When creating a new mailbox, add a forward slash to create a nested

mailbox.

After performing a search, select a mailbox from the left sidebar to

filter the search to that mailbox.

Hold Shift while launching Mail to reset the index.

Preview

Press ` to bring up a magnifier, and then press + and - to resize

it.

In a PDF document, re-order the pages in the document by re-ordering

the pages in the sidebar.

Merge two PDF documents by dragging pages from one document's sidebar

to the other document's sidebar.

In the save dialog for an image, hold Option while opening the

Format menu to access an extended list of formats.

Hold Option and the Space bar to activate the pan tool.
Hold Option while in text selection mode to switch to rectangular

text selection.

Calendar

Hold Shift while dragging an event to set a more precise time

instead of snapping to 15-minute intervals.

Click and hold the Accept button in a calendar invite to change

which calendar the event is accepted to.

Hold Option while pressing the Accept button in a calendar invite

to accept all events.

Hold Command while clicking any calendar's checkbox in the left

sidebar to show or hide all calendars.

Hold Command and Option while clicking a calendar's checkbox to

only show that calendar.

Add kind:event to Spotlight searches to search calendar events.
Resize the mini-calendar in the bottom-left to preview more months.
With an event selected, press ⌃⌥↑ and ⌃⌥↓ to adjust the time of the

event. This also works with multiple events selected.

In Week view, press ⌥⌘← and ⌥⌘→ to shift the view by a single day.

Messages

Press ⌘R to directly reply to the latest message in the

conversation.

Press ⇧⌘R to reply to the latest thread in the conversation.

Press ⌘T to bring up the tapback selector for the latest message. Use

the 1-6 number keys to select a reaction.

Press ⌘E to edit the latest sent message.
Press ⌥↑ and ⌥↓ in the message input field to cycle through previously

sent messages.

Press ⌘1-9 to jump to a pinned conversation.
Right-click on a message and select Show Times to view exact

timestamps for each message.

Right-click the Messages icon in the Dock to quickly view and jump to

unread conversations.

Photos

Drag an item to the "My Albums" header section to quickly create an

album with that item.

After adding an item to an album, use ⌃⌘A to add other items to that

same album.

When editing an image, hold down the M key to compare the

modifications to the original.

Hold Option while launching Photos to choose a different photo

library to open.

Drag a photo from the Photos app into a Finder window to quickly

export the photo, or into the Mail or Messages app to attach the

photo.

When editing an image, double-click an adjustment slider to reset it.
When editing an image, hold Option while holding the pointer over an

adjustment slider to extend the adjustment range.

Hold Option while clicking the rotate button to reverse the rotation

direction.

TextEdit

In rich text mode, press Option-Tab to insert an outlined list.
Press Option-Escape to autocomplete the current word.
Press ⌃⌥⌘P in the find text field (⌘F) to access advanced search

operators.

Hold Option while selecting text to make vertical text selections.
The select line dialog (⌘L) supports the following formats:

1-3 selects lines 1-3 in the document

+2 selects the 2^nd line below the cursor

-2 selects the 2^nd line above the cursor

+2-4 selects 3 lines, starting from 2 lines below the cursor

-2-4 selects 3 lines, starting from 2 lines above the cursor

Terminal

Press ⇧⌘A to select the output from the previous command.
Press ⌘L to clear the output from the previous command.
Press ⌃⌘V to paste and format text that is properly escaped for the

shell.

Press ⌃T while a command is executing to view runtime statistics about

the execution so far.

Press ⌘{↑,↓} to select the previous/next commands. Then press ⇧⌘A to

select the output of the currently selected command.

Press ⇧⌘I to set a title for the current window and tab.
Drag a file or folder into a Terminal window to insert its full path.

Alternatively, copy a file or folder in Finder and paste it in

Terminal to insert its path.

Calculator

Press ⌘T to open a new window that keeps a running history of

calculations.

Press ⌘R to enable Reverse Polish notation (RPN) mode.
Press p to insert pi.
Right-click the number display and select "Large Type" to view the

current result in a large overlay window.

Use the Convert menu to perform various unit conversions.
In Programmer view (⌘3), click the individual binary bits to toggle

between 0 and 1.

QuickTime Player

Grab a single frame from a video by pausing on the desired frame

(using the Left and Right arrow keys to navigate individual frames)

and pressing ⌘C.

Photo Booth

Hold Option while taking a picture to skip the countdown.
Hold Shift while taking a picture to disable the screen flash.
When choosing one of the distortion effects (on the third page), click

and drag the cursor on the image preview to change the effects origin.

iOS Tips & Tricks

Source

General

Touch and hold the back button on a navigation bar to view the entire

navigation history.

Tap the status bar at the top of the screen to scroll to the top of

the current page.

Touch and hold the scroll bar to drag it to a new scroll position.
In a list with selectable items (e.g. Mail, Messages, Notes), tap with

2 fingers to select an item, and then keep dragging with 2 fingers to

select more items.

Touch and hold items in Control Center to access more options.
In the print dialog, pinch outward from the print preview at the

bottom to create a PDF of the printed content.

Double tap on a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) video to change its size.
Touch and hold on the flashlight icon in Control Center to change the

flashlight brightness level.

Touch and hold on a time input wheel to bring up a number pad to enter

an exact time.

Tap and hold on a screenshot preview to directly bring up the share

sheet.

Keyboard

Touch and hold the Space bar to move the cursor. While still holding

the Space bar, tap the keyboard area with another finger to create a

text selection.

Touch and hold the emoji icon to switch to a one-side keyboard for

one-handed typing.

Pinch in with three fingers to copy the selected text. Pinch in twice

to cut.

Pinch out with three fingers to paste.
Tap with three fingers to bring up the text toolbar.
Swift left and right with three fingers to undo and redo.
Touch and hold the 123 key to automatically go back after selecting a

character.

Swipe to a number after pressing the 123 key to automatically select a

single number.

Double tap on text to select a word. Triple tap to select a sentence.
To temporarily enable caps lock, use one finger to hold the shift key

while using the other finger to type letters.

Tap on the original text box to exit emoji keyboard search mode.
Long press on a letter key to insert an accented variant.

Long press on the 0 key to insert a degrees symbol.

Home Screen

If an app within a folder has a notification, long press on the folder

to quickly open the app with the notification.

Instead of dragging an app icon across multiple home page screens, use

one finger to select the app icon and use another finger to swipe

across home screen pages.

Move multiple app icons simultaneously by tapping on the other icons

to create a drag group.

Safari

Touch and hold the new tab button to see recently closed tabs.
In the tab viewer screen, swipe up to get a search control, and press

down on the Cancel button to close all tabs matching the search text.

In the tab viewer screen, long press on any tab to change how the tabs

are arranged/sorted.

Tap on a link with two fingers to open it in the background.
To take a screenshot of the entire webpage, take a screenshot like

normal and then switch to the Full Page tab at the top of the

screenshot preview.

Touch and hold the bookmarks button in the bottom bar to add the

current webpage to the Reading List.

Touch and hold the tabs button in the bottom bar (the double square

icon) to switch between tab groups and access tab management actions.

When the address bar is at the bottom (Settings > Safari > Tabs >

Tab Bar), swipe horizontally across the address bar to move between

tabs. Swipe up on the address bar to view all tabs.

Touch and hold on the reader icon in the address bar to toggle reader

mode.

Camera

Touch and hold the shutter button to quickly start taking a video

(without having to first switch to video mode).

Drag the shutter button to the left to take a burst of images.
Touch and hold on part of the picture preview to lock auto-focus.
Enable Settings > Camera > Mirror Front Camera to have the

front-facing camera preview the same orientation as the picture will

be taken.

Clock

Timers can be configured to stop playing the current audio source

(YouTube, Spotify, etc.) when the timer expires.

Mail

Touch and hold the Compose mail icon to view drafts.
Touch and hold an email and select More > Notify Me to get

notifications for that specific email thread.

Touch and hold on the Trash icon when viewing a message to archive the

message instead of deleting it.

Messages

When sending a message using iMessage, long press on the send button

to add an animation.

Swipe to the left in a conversation to see exact timestamps.

Notes

Tap on the timestamp at the top of a note to toggle between Created At

and Edited At.

In a bulleted or numbered list, swipe left or right on a list element

to indent or unindent.

Calculator

Delete the last digit by swiping horizontally.

Apple Maps

To zoom with one finger, double tap and keep pressing after the second

tap, and then move the finger up and down to zoom in and out.

Siri

Say "Learn to pronounce [name of contact]" to teach Siri to

correctly pronounce a particular name.

Say "Remind me about this" to create a reminder that is linked to

whatever is currently on the screen.

Say "[Name of contact] is my {husband,wife,boss}" to be able to

refer to them by that moniker. Alternatively, assign the contact a

nickname in the Contacts app to refer to them to Siri with that

nickname.

Say "Split a check [number] ways" to have Siri help split a bill and

calculate tip.

Ask "What flights are overhead?" to get flight numbers and altitudes

of overhead planes.

App Store

Turn off Settings > App Store > In-App Ratings & Reviews to stop

getting nagged about app reviews.

Phone

Tap the green dial button to re-dial the previous number.
To end a call without making it look like you hung up, switch to

Airplane Mode which will show the call as failed.

Dial *3001#12345#* to access advanced cellular data diagnostic info.
Touch and hold 0 to input a + to enter a country code.
Long press on the Mute button to put the call on hold.

Settings

Touch and hold the "Download and Install" button on the software

update screen to view an additional option to install the software

update later that night.

TODO

Currently just pasted from github.com/schaafjs/mac

Warning

Currently just pasted from schaafjs/mac.

Needs to be cleaned up someday. 😉

Reindex Spotlight

sudo mdutil -Ea

sudo mdutil -ai off

sudo mdutil -ai on

Manual installs (not on homebrew)

http://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/download.php

Setup

TODO: Screenshots of all heavily used apps with the settings or document changed settings manually.

Dump packages

brew bundle dump -f --all --describe

Manual

TODO: After everything is set up, some programs have to be added to autostart, some hidden, some not hidden.

Can most likely not be automated.

E-Mail

Mailbox.org reference guide: https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/e-mail-article/setup-with-mail-app-for-macos-x

ENV vars

homebrew_no_env_hints

Find out how to properly configure first.

Tinkering

http://www.bresink.com/osx/0TinkerTool/download-de.php

https://web.archive.org/web/20150621044359/http://secrets.blacktree.com/

https://pawelgrzybek.com/change-macos-user-preferences-via-command-line/

Automation with

https://github.com/geerlingguy/ansible-collection-mac

Inspiration: https://github.com/geerlingguy/mac-dev-playbook

Privacy

TODO: Integrate the script generated by privacy.sexy as currently found in ./privacy-script.sh into the rest of the workflow.

Disable homebrew analytics and VS Code telemetry (or switch to VS Codium?).

Hardening

https://github.com/drduh/macOS-Security-and-Privacy-Guide

https://www.bejarano.io/hardening-macos/

https://www.kuketz-blog.de/hardening-macos-absichern-und-privatsphaere-verbessern/

Backups

Set up automatic backups using borgmatic (https://www.borgbackup.org/) through Vorta (https://vorta.borgbase.com/) to both BorgBase (https://borgbase.com/) and a Hetzner StorageBox (https://community.hetzner.com/tutorials/install-and-configure-borgbackup/de).

Monitor backups using healthchecks.io

SSH

TODO: After installing Secretive.app, add the following block to the beginning of the config file in .ssh/ (should be automated/added to the dotfiles by default).

# Assumes user account `julius` path to executable has to be changed otherwise

Host *

IdentityAgent /Users/julius/Library/Containers/com.maxgoedjen.Secretive.SecretAgent/Data/socket.ssh

Z shell

P10k

Custom Fonts

TODO: Meslo Font Family as already installed for P10k
TODO: JetBrains Mono: somehow wget and ideally also install the whole thing by unzipping, cd'ing into ttf/ and installing the whole font family.

Install both ligature (JetBrains Mono) and non-ligature version (JetBrains Mono NL)

TODO: Dock

TODO: Autohide Dock, put windows behind dock icons and change windows animation to linear

Change animation time for Dock

Can either be an integer or a float, determining the time to fully showing the dock in seconds.

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.25;killall Dock

Trigger system screensaver manually

open -b com.apple.ScreenSaver.Engine

Change dock icon size & lock dock icon size (becomes unchangable through draging on it)

defaults write com.apple.dock tilesize -int 58; killall Dock

defaults write com.apple.dock size-immutable -bool yes && killall Dock

customization

https://github.com/lysyi3m/macos-terminal-themes

Changing settings using `defaults write`

TODO: Speech2Text

https://github.com/sveinbjornt/hear wraps the native mac OS API's for this.

Extend by allowing different languages and and attempting to convert to compatible format for text detection if not given as one.

See man page: https://sveinbjorn.org/files/manpages/hear.1.html

TODO: Window management

command + n: new windows

command + w: close windows (sometimes closes application)

command + q: quit application (and close all open windows)

Improved syntax highlighting in nano

https://github.com/scopatz/nanorc

Use install script but pin to git commit hash to ensure integrity and no takeover or simply copy the install script or check into this repo via submodule (if possible).

fzf

Install via homebrew and setup keybindings as outlined here: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf#using-homebrew

QuickLook Extensions

https://github.com/chamburr/glance#installation

brew install --cask qlcolorcode qlstephen qlmarkdown quicklook-json qlprettypatch quicklook-csv qlimagesize webpquicklook quicklookase qlvideo

https://github.com/sindresorhus/quick-look-plugins

It's important to remove the quarantine attributed from the installed quicklook extensions, they will not work otherwise!

LaTeX

MacTeX¹ is already installed using brew.

Installing nonfree fonts

First, Terminal must be restarted in order for the commands added by MacTeX to be usable.

Running exec zsh is not sufficient!

cd ~/Downloads

wget http://www.tug.org/fonts/getnonfreefonts/install-getnonfreefonts

sudo texlua install-getnonfreefonts

sudo getnonfreefonts --sys -a

Don't echo automatic homebrew cleanup messages to shell.

echo "export HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS=true" >> ~/.zshrc

Fix `minted` not picking up installed Pygments installation

ln -s /path/to/pygmentize /usr/local/bin/pygmentize

````

# Housekeeping and maintenance

## Git Cleanup commands

1. Iterate through all folders in `Developer/`.

2. If folder is a git repository, run commands.

Commands:

```shell

# Expire all the unreachable content and pack the repo in the most

# compact way.

git gc --aggressive --prune=now



# also clear the reflog as well

git reflog expire --expire=now --all

Vacuum Apple Mail database

https://gist.github.com/ttscoff/3728277

Currently best version seems to be in the comments: https://gist.github.com/ttscoff/3728277?permalink_comment_id=4383848#gistcomment-4383848

Quit Apple Mail
Get before size of index
Vacuum index
Get after size of index
Echo before and after sizes + diff to shell

Brew update, upgrade & cleanup

Mac App Store Updates

Commands and keyboard shortcuts

Symbols

Tilde

⌥ option + n yields ~.

Pipe

⌥ option + 7 yields |.

Brackets

⌥ option + 5 yields [.
⌥ option + 6 yields ].
⌥ option + 8 yields {.
⌥ option + 9 yields }.

Cut and Paste

⌘ command + C to copy,

⌘ command + ⌥ option + v to paste while cutting from the original location.

Screenshot to clipboard

Screenshot of whole screen: ⇧ shift, ⌘ command, ⌃ control, 3
Screenshot of selection: ⇧ shift, ⌘ command, ⌃ control, 4
Open Screenshot.app: ⇧ shift , ⌘ command, 5

Recenter Spotlight search window

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/225746

Find mounted volumes

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/70520

MacTeX on the website of the TeX Users Group: https://www.tug.org/mactex/. ↩

Mac

Awesome Mac

Apps

Preview

Improved marking

Change scroll mode

Open in Terminal/Editor: Reset set terminal/editor set using OpenIn{Terminal, Editor}

Fix broken "open with" database

Customizing the Dock

Volume

General Tips and Tricks

Advanced macOS Command-Line Tools

caffeinate - set Mac sleep behavior

textutil - document file converter

mdfind - search with Spotlight

networkQuality - measure Internet speed

screencapture - take screenshots

pbcopy, pbpaste - interact with system clipboard

taskpolicy - control scheduling of processes

say - text-to-speech engine

sips - image manipulation

open - open files and applications

pmset - configure power management

networksetup - configure network settings

qlmanage - manage Quick Look

softwareupdate - manage OS updates

macOS Tips & Tricks

General

Native UI Conventions

Screenshots

Open/Save Dialogs

Mission Control / Window Management

Function Keys

Menu Bar / Notification Center

Finder

Dock

Spotlight

Safari

Mail

Preview

Calendar

Messages

Photos

TextEdit

Terminal

Calculator

QuickTime Player

Photo Booth

iOS Tips & Tricks

General

Keyboard

Home Screen

Safari

Camera

Clock

Mail

Messages

Notes

Calculator

Apple Maps

Siri

App Store

Phone

Settings

TODO

Reindex Spotlight

Manual installs (not on homebrew)

Setup

Dump packages

Manual

E-Mail

ENV vars

Tinkering

Automation with

Privacy

Hardening

Backups

SSH

Z shell

P10k

`caffeinate` - set Mac sleep behavior

`textutil` - document file converter

`mdfind` - search with Spotlight

`networkQuality` - measure Internet speed

`screencapture` - take screenshots

`pbcopy`, `pbpaste` - interact with system clipboard

`taskpolicy` - control scheduling of processes

`say` - text-to-speech engine

`sips` - image manipulation

`open` - open files and applications

`pmset` - configure power management

`networksetup` - configure network settings

`qlmanage` - manage Quick Look

`softwareupdate` - manage OS updates

Changing settings using `defaults write`

Fix `minted` not picking up installed Pygments installation