Backup your Mac with Time Machine
Apple’s built-in backup solution for macOS is Time Machine. You can connect an external hard drive over Thunderbolt or USB for a wired or wireless connection over a network. Time Machine backs up data every hour, and old data is deleted as the backup drive gets full. It is important to learn how to use Time Machine on a new Mac to avoid losing data and important files.
Sign documents digitally
Have you ever needed to sign anything online? If so, the macOS feature of signing documents digitally will change your life. You never have to go through the harrowing process of printing the file, signing it, and scanning it to get a digitized signature.
You can sign documents or PDFs on a Mac with nothing more than a webcam, pen, and paper. You can sign a paper and hold it next to the webcam. The digital version of your signature will be saved, and you can drag and drop it onto PDFs and documents whenever you need it.
Alternatively, you can open Preview on your Mac > open the Preferences menu and choose Signatures > click on Create Signature and hold your signature up to the webcam. Ensure to line it up so that it appears you’ve signed the digital line on your screen and then choose to Accept to save it on your Mac for future use.
Read: 10 Tips To Improve Your Mac performance Quickly
Let your Mac do the typing for you
If your work entails typing for six hours or more, learning the trick of making your Mac type for you will save you a lot of time. On macOS, Dictation works surprisingly well, and you can use it to let your device do the work for you. Even when you need to type a lecture, you can use this feature. All you need to do is press the fn or function key twice and start speaking. You have to press the fn key one more time to convert speech to text.
Setup multiple desktops
Switching between multiple documents and over fifteen browser tabs can send anyone’s head into a spin. macOS has created an incredible feature to let users access numerous desktops at the same time. By using this feature, you can set up multiple work environments and move between them with great ease. So, you can have your essay open on desktop 1, your Internet browser on desktop 2, and an important PDF on desktop 3.
For enabling multiple desktops, you have to set one of your hot corners to Application Windows. You can do this by clicking on System Preferences > choosing Desktop & Screen Saver > clicking Hot Corners and activating the Application Window hot corner. A series of squares will appear on top of the screen where the second square says Desktop 1. By dragging your mouse to the right side of the row, you will notice a plus sign. Click the plus sign and create a new desktop. You can go on clicking this sign until you are satisfied with the number of desktops.
Disable notifications with one click
There are times when you hope to work without any distractions. If you keep getting notifications, it might be distracting for you and bring down your productivity. Luckily, macOS has got you covered, and you can easily hold ⌥ and press the Notification Center icon found in the menu bar. Then you can choose to switch off or disable your notifications with one click.
Once you have disabled the notifications, you will see that the icon of the Notification Center is not grey anymore, but it is black. It means that you will not see any notifications until you enable them again. So, you don’t have to interrupt your work or lose your concentration because of notifications anymore.
Quickly summarize long pieces of text
One of the most amazing features of macOS is summarizing long pieces of text without hassle. It only takes a few seconds for your system to summarize big chunks of text. You can enable this feature by clicking on the application name in the status bar > clicking Services > clicking Services Preferences… > scrolling down and choosing Summarize.
When you need to summarize, you have to select the text first and right-click on your selection. Then you need to click on Summarize. Within seconds, a small summary of the text will appear, and you can choose either sparse or dense according to your preferences.
So, these are a few of the macOS features every user must know to make the most of their device. These features can improve your productivity and accentuate the overall Mac experience.
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