Mac Tips

19th December 2008 · Last updated: 5th October 2016
 

  • View icons in Cover Flow mode to reveal interesting details. The TextEdit icon has a whole letter you can read!
  • Hold down SHIFT with folders or windows that unfold in an animated way. You can then view the animation in slow motion. Examples include:
    • Press F9 and SHIFT to watch how all your open windows are resized to thumbnails!
    • The same works for F10 and F11!
    • Click on the Documents folder on the Dock. Normally it zooms into view very quickly. Now watch how it slowly unfolds instead. Magic!
    • Try hiding and unhiding windows!
    • Try moving folders up or down in the sidebar in Finder.
    • Open Word 2008 and show the Toolbox. Click on the arrow in the top corner to get to the options and watch as the window flips over slowly.
  • Tired of the way Finder mixes folders and files in a list? Prefer the way Windows lists folders first then files? Simply add a space to the folder names. They look similar but now Finder moves them to the top.
  • From The Unofficial Apple Weblog: Terminal Tips: Enable "path view" in Finder. This lets you "see the directory path to the current folder you are browsing in the title bar". I didn't know about the tip listed in the comments to show the path bar at the bottom in Finder too. ('View, Show Path Bar'.)
  • Double-click on the expander icon in Finder to resize columns to fit the longest filename.
    Expander icon