Pavel Jelic Whether you're new to the Apple world or have been using macOS for several years, you're sure to be constantly discovering new tips and tricks that you didn't know about in the past. The macOS operating system offers literally countless of these different tricks and it is practically impossible for you to know about absolutely all of them. Let's take a look together in this article at 5 of these unusual tricks in macOS that you might not have known about - you might be surprised.
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Quick screen lock
Do you need to quickly jump away from your Mac or MacBook for a few minutes? Have you been choosing a gift for Christmas when the person for whom the gift is meant for bursts into your room? If you answered yes to at least one of the questions, then it might be useful for you to know how you can quickly lock your macOS device. If you find yourself in such a situation, you can press a hotkey anywhere in the system Control + Command + Q, which will immediately turn off and lock the screen. You can then wake up your Mac or MacBook simply by moving the cursor or tapping a keyboard key.
Change folder icons
In case you are simply bored with the blue appearance of folders that are found practically everywhere in the system, then I have good news for you. Even within macOS, it is quite easy to change the icons of folders and possibly also files. Changing folder icons can be useful both for greater clarity and for more "color" of the entire system. If you want to change the folder icon, first find it picture whether ICNS file, which you open in Preview. Then press Command + A to mark the entire image, and then Command + C for copying it. Find now folder, that you want to change the icon for and tap it right click (two fingers). Then select an option from the menu Information and in the new window, click on the top left current icon, i.e. a blue folder, which will display a blue border around the folder. Now all you have to do is press Command + V to insert an image as a folder icon. If you don't like the look, just press Command + Z to restore the original icon.
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Create text shortcuts
Are you one of those users who repeatedly type the same sentence, phrase, or contact several times a day? You will definitely agree with me when I say that constantly typing an email, phone number or whatever can get really annoying over time. But what if I tell you that you can write an e-mail, a number or anything else on a Mac using a single character or a certain abbreviation? You can do so by setting so-called text shortcuts. You can set these in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Text, where then at the bottom left click on the + icon. The cursor will then move to the field written text, where write a certain placeholder abbreviation or symbol. To the side field Replace with text then enter the text, to be displayed after you write a placeholder abbreviation or sign from the Typed text field. For example, if you want your email to auto-compose as you type because of so do Written text insert @ and to Replace with text pal your e-mail, in my case pavel.jelic@letemsvetemapplem.eu. Now, whenever you write in the back, the text will change to your email.
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Inserting emoji easily and quickly
The latest MacBook Pros already have a Touch Bar, with which you can easily and quickly insert emoji anywhere on the system. This is of course convenient, as emoji can often express feelings and emotions much better than written text alone. But how to insert emoji if you have a MacBook Air, or an older MacBook or Mac without a Touch Bar? It's no science either - just move your cursor to where you want to insert the emoji, then press the hotkey Control + Command + Spacebar. After pressing this keyboard shortcut, a small window will appear in which you can easily search for and insert emoji. The emoji you start using most often will automatically appear in the Frequently Used section.
Quick actions in the Touch Bar
While in the previous paragraph we dealt with a tip that can be used by users without Touch Bar, in this paragraph it is dedicated only to users with Touch Bar. Touch Bar users are generally divided into two groups - in the first group you will find individuals who have fallen in love with it and in the second group, on the contrary, those who hate it. If you belong to this second group and use the Touch Bar as much as possible, I have one more good tip for you that you can use in certain situations – these are quick actions in the Touch Bar. To set them up, go to System Preferences -> Extensions, where in the left menu, get off Dolu and click open Touch Bar. After that, that's enough tick certain quick actions that you have available in the system. With a button Customize Control Strip…, located at the bottom right, you can then the Quick Actions button drag to the Touch Bar. When you tap this button in the Touch Bar, your Quick Actions will expand and you can start using them.
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Just a minor fix - the first time you lock, FIX the image - or move it down to the emoji.
Thanks, fixed.