Although I don’t spend every day using a Mac being in the IT industry knowing how to use every operating system is a must and I have learned some tips over the years that I like to keep in my back pocket for my Mac clients. Here are some that I have found to be useful and that my clients are always happy to learn about if they do not already use them.
First up is the Split Screen. I love any trick that allows me to be more efficient when working on computers. Mac introduced the split screen back when El Captain was released. Split Screen allows ease of use to efficiently use apps side by side.
If you are working off from MacOS Mojave and previous versions of MacOS, hold left-click on an app's “green maximize button” then drag the app to the left or right-hand side of the display.
Split Screen has changed in MacOS Catalina. You can “left-click” and hold on the “green maximize button” and this will show a menu in which you can choose how you want that window positioned. What is great that if you have a dual monitor setup you can select that secondary monitor if you like.
Second up is using Mail to sign a document. If you must sign a PDF document, it is so easy to do on a MAC. You can use the built in Mail feature to do this. All you have to do is open up a new email and drop the PDF into that email. You can then hover over it and at the top right you will see a “mark-up option."
Select the “markup option” and you will then be given an array of mark up options which includes the “signature option”. There are two ways to add your signature, you can either sign a piece of paper and hold it up to the web cam, or you can use the track pad to sign.
My third favorite thing is the Preview feature to be able to mark up documents and the like.
You can navigate to the Preview in the Applications folder; Preview is often the default App when you open PDFs and images on your Mac. Once you have a PDF opened up in Preview you can make sure the markup bar is showing. You can do this by selecting “Shift+Command+A” This opens up the view menu where you can then select “Markup Tool Bar.”
Once you have the “Markup Tool Bar” opened you have many useful tools, one of my favorites is being able to add notes to the document. You can also add annotations, sign, highlight and draw.
Are you a Windows user? See our blog on tips and tricks for Windows here.