8 Mac Tips and Tricks You Might Not Know

There are tons of hidden features and shortcuts for Macs that Apple has built into macOS over the years, ranging from shortcuts to keyboard commands to other little hacks to make Mac usage just a bit simpler. In our latest YouTube video, we highlighted several of these tips and tricks, and some of them might just be new to you.

  • Transfer Files Fast - If you hold down "T" when your Mac is booting up, you can enter Target Disk Mode. In this mode, use a Thunderbolt 3 cable to transfer large files at fast speeds between two Macs.
  • Paste With Style Matching - When pasting something, if you use Option-Shift-Command-V instead of just Command-V, you can transform the pasted content into the style of the content that already exists in a document. If you have a block of text that's bold, for example, and then want to paste in text from the web and make it bolded too, you can use this keyboard shortcut.
  • Turn a Website Into a Dock App - You can add any website to your dock by dragging the URL bar over to the bottom section of the dock that houses open and recently used apps. Adding a website to the dock makes it quicker to open because you can click from that spot alongside all your apps.
  • Quick Print Shortcut - If you go to the Printers and Scanners section of System Preferences and drag the icon for your favorite printer to your desktop, you can then drag and drop files onto the printer icon to print them automatically.
  • Screen Sharing in Messages - In a Messages conversation with someone, click on the "Details" link and then click on the icon that looks like two screens together to initiate screen sharing with the person who you're talking to. This is super handy for troubleshooting problems for less tech savvy family members from afar, provided you can get them to click the screen sharing option.
  • Preview Files From the Dock - In the Downloads or Documents folder on the Dock, hover your mouse over a file and then press the space bar to see a preview. This also works for selected files in Finder.
  • See Where Files are Stored - If you have a Downloads or Documents folder on your dock, you can hold Command and click on a folder or file to display its location in Finder.
  • Move Files Quickly - To move files from one location to another using keyboard shortcuts, just use Command-C to copy the files you want to move and then Option-Command-V to move those files to a new spot.

Know of other useful Mac tips and tricks that we didn't cover here? Let us know in the comments and we might highlight them in a future video.

Popular Stories

Apple Logo Zoomed

Tim Cook Teases Plans for Apple's Upcoming 50th Anniversary

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:54 pm PST by
Apple turns 50 this year, and its CEO Tim Cook has promised to celebrate the milestone. The big day falls on April 1, 2026. "I've been unusually reflective lately about Apple because we have been working on what do we do to mark this moment," Cook told employees today, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "When you really stop and pause and think about the last 50 years, it makes your heart ...
wwdc sans text feature

Apple Rumored to Announce New Product on February 19

Thursday February 5, 2026 12:22 pm PST by
Apple plans to announce the iPhone 17e on Thursday, February 19, according to Macwelt, the German equivalent of Macworld. The report, citing industry sources, is available in English on Macworld. Apple announced the iPhone 16e on Wednesday, February 19 last year, so the iPhone 17e would be unveiled exactly one year later if this rumor is accurate. It is quite uncommon for Apple to unveil...
Finder Siri Feature

Why Apple's iOS 26.4 Siri Upgrade Will Be Bigger Than Originally Promised

Friday February 6, 2026 3:06 pm PST by
In the iOS 26.4 update that's coming this spring, Apple will introduce a new version of Siri that's going to overhaul how we interact with the personal assistant and what it's able to do. The iOS 26.4 version of Siri won't work like ChatGPT or Claude, but it will rely on large language models (LLMs) and has been updated from the ground up. Upgraded Architecture The next-generation...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
While the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate is now available ahead of a public release, the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
iphone 17 pro dark blue 1

iPhone 18 Pro Max Rumored to Deliver Next-Level Battery Life

Friday February 6, 2026 5:14 am PST by
The iPhone 18 Pro Max will feature a bigger battery for continued best-in-class battery life, according to a known Weibo leaker. Citing supply chain information, the Weibo user known as "Digital Chat Station" said that the iPhone 18 Pro Max will have a battery capacity of 5,100 to 5,200 mAh. Combined with the efficiency improvements of the A20 Pro chip, made with TSMC's 2nm process, the...

Top Rated Comments

OscarMV Avatar
74 months ago
More people should know that Command-Control-Space will summon the emoji picker and let you insert emoji at the cursor point.
Score: 34 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rochford Avatar
74 months ago
I posted this last year, may be useful here.

A few tips people may find useful, if you don't already know them. Hopefully we all know that Command + tab shows the open applications, and (while keeping your finger on command) using tab or left and right arrows to move between the applications. What's not so obvious is Apple added a number of other uses for this.
1 - while tabbing to an app you can quit the app by pressing Q, you can go through and quit every app if you want without going to the app. It's not a force quit, and you'll be asked if something needs saving. Similarly pressing H will hide a specific App.
2 - you can drop a file on the app icons to open with a specific app, if it can.
3 - The really handy one, which I use all the time, is when tabbing to a specific app press the up or down arrow key, at which point all the open windows in that app will be shown. If a window is in the dock it's a thumbnail at the bottom of the screen. Pick a window, and that window alone comes to the top. I usually have lots of windows open, so if I want to reference a window in another app, but going to the app brings all it's open windows to the top, this method only brings the one you want, not covering up the window you're working on.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
PBG4 Dude Avatar
74 months ago
I love hitting the spacebar to preview files. Keeps me from firing up an app more than half the time. Probably the biggest macOS feature I miss on my work PC. Keep hitting the spacbar on my Dell and wondering why nothing is happening.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
SteveW928 Avatar
74 months ago
The problem with 'Past With Matching Style' is that the shortcut isn't consistent or always available (and requires finger gymnastics). :(

I'm not sure who would want anything but this aside from special circumstances. Sucks that it is so difficult (by comparison to Command-V).
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andre65 Avatar
74 months ago
Printing can be faster.... Select a document and then hit command+p ...
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Taz Mangus Avatar
74 months ago
Toggle showing/hiding hidden files in finder, command-shift-. (command-key, shift-key, period-key).
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)