7 Mac OS Tips to Make the Most of Your Computer

So, you finally made the investment and got a Macbook. The clear screen and intuitive user experience are enough to immediately justify the choice to buy your computer, but are you using it to its full potential?

Even if you're not a person who uses their computer for anything too complex, Mac operating systems offer you a number of options to make your experience even better.

The thing is, there are so many features that it's hard to explore them all. We're going to go over some Mac OS tips today, showing you 7 of the features that you might not have utilized just yet.

Let's take a look.

1. Import Your Signature

Have you ever gotten a digital document that needed a legitimate signature? It's kind of a hassle to complete the process.

You have to download the document, print it out, sign it, scan it, then send it back out to whoever needs it. In 2020, that seems like it could be streamlined a little bit.

Fortunately, Mac has you covered. When you're using Preview, you can sign a piece of paper, snap a picture of it with your webcam, and the signature is isolated and can be dropped anywhere on the document you're viewing.

You can adjust the size of it to meet your needs, plant it, and avoid the need for a printer altogether.

2. Download Improved Players

This isn't technically a new feature of the Mac, but it's important to know that it's possible.

Even though the viewing quality of players is pretty good out of the box, you can download Flash player for Mac and experience a higher quality. Different players will also offer unique features for whatever you need to do with that video.

3. Dictation

People have been sleeping on the dictation feature for some time now. As Mac has evolved with dazzling new features, one of the fundamental ones has only gotten better.

The dictation feature allows you to speak to your computer and have everything you say jotted down onto a document. It happens in real-time, too.

You could have a long conversation with a friend transcribed as you're speaking. There are few mistakes made, and the only thing you might have to touch up is your preferred punctuation.

Further, on the note of language, you can construct your own dictionary that will go with you on whatever Apple product you're using. This is useful if you're a person in a profession that uses a lot of obscure terms.

A paleontologist, for example, might reference numerous scientific terms for bones and species that don't register in normal dictionaries. Those hiccups can really get in the way of the autocorrect features and become a nuisance.

Gradually building up your personal dictionary will incorporate the terms you use into the normal function of all your Apple products forever.

4. Seamless Device Transfers

One thing that most people aren't aware of is the fact that you can copy something on one of your Apple devices and paste it into another.

The only thing is that the two devices need to be connected by Bluetooth. For example, you see a beautiful picture on your phone that you think should be your Macbook background.

You copy that image on your phone, and you can select "paste to Macbook" if the two devices are linked. The process can also go the other way, where you send something from your computer to your phone.

5. Screenshot Heaven

In the old days, especially on PCs, the process of taking a screenshot was kind of awful. You had to press CTRL + PRTSC, then it copied to your clipboard which you then had to paste onto Paint or another application. Then, you would clip and adjust the image to your liking, then save it to your photos.

Now, thank god, you can simply press Command + Shift + 3 at the same time and your image will be sent right to your photo library.

In fact, most new Macbooks don't even have a PRTSC key. Probably to ward off flashbacks of the old process.

6. Touch ID

New Macbook Airs come with the touch ID feature. This is a simple way for you to log onto your computer, but there are also other features that come packed in with it.

You can use your fingerprint to access locked documents, make purchases, and access your personal or financial information when you're using a website to buy applications.

In other words, your fingerprint can give the computer access to autofill your payment information. You don't have to squint at your credit card information and type it in anymore, isn't that great?

7. Peruse Your System Preferences

Looking into the settings and preferences of a device can seem kinda boring. That's where all the action is in terms of unique personalized features, though.

Take about half an hour and comb through each of the setting options that you have on your new computer. You'll be surprised to find that you can customize your experience to a very high degree, and your time on the laptop will be better for it.

The sneaky features are the ones that you might not think of at first. Sometimes, you have to use your computer a good deal to even be at a point where you would need to use them.

For example, when your desktop or dock gets cluttered with apps, you can organize them more easily than you ever could before. Additionally, there are numerous ways to free up space by going into the terminal and purging some of the apps that are taking up too much ram.

Those are features that come in handy when your computer starts to slow down.

Need Some More Mac OS Tips to Work With?

Working with various Mac OS tips can take some time, but we're here to help you work through it. Understanding updates and improvements to the operating system can help you with your profession, your personal life, and your enjoyment of digital media.

Explore our site to learn more about how to tap into your computer's potential.