10 Lesser-Known & Hidden Features Of MacBook You Should Try (2023)

Published 2022-06-12

Apple is popular for its high-end products, including iPhone, iPad, iMac, and MacBook. MacBooks are known for their seamless user experience. People use Mac for different purposes, and most don’t know the actual capabilities of their machine or the hidden features. In this blog, we will talk about secret MacBook features to enhance your productivity and let you explore your MacBook more. Excited? We have curated a list of the useful features for Mac users to boost productivity. Read on!

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Lesser-Known Macintosh Secret Features Everyone Should Know (2023 Edition)

Here are the top ten hidden MacBook features that can make your machine brighter than before.

1. Change The Folder Icons To Interesting Emojis

MacBook is often appreciated for its smooth user interface and performance. However, some users don’t like its blue folder icons. If you are one of them, let us tell you about a hidden feature of the MacBook which enables you to change these folder icons into cute emojis? To change folder icons to emojis, follow these steps:

1. Download the emoticon images you want on the internet. Get the one that has a checkered background and is PNG in format.

2. Double click on the image to open it for Preview.

3. From options from Menubar, choose Edit> Copy.

4. Go to the folder where you want to change the icon, right-click and select Get Info.

5. You will get a box with information about the folder; in the upper left corner, click on the blue folder icon and press the Command and V keys together.

This will paste the image, and your blue folder icon is changed to emojis.

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2. Hide Current Active App

Mac offers some interesting & helpful keyboard shortcuts that are not known by many. One of those includes CMD + H. With this; you can hide your current active app and view the main window without closing existing apps.

3. Hidden Files In Finder

You can sometimes encounter a situation where you have hidden a file somewhere in Finder but cannot locate it. The easiest way to reveal the hidden files in Finder is to press CMD + SHIFT +. (Period) on the keyboard. After using this shortcut, you can see all the files hidden in a greyed-out state.

Image credit: TechnClub

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4. Screenshot From Touch Bar

There are a lot of MacBook features that can make your everyday tasks hassle-free. For example, what to do, if you wish to take a quick screenshot while in an online class? Yeah, we know; you must be thinking that you can quickly grab a screenshot with the help of your MacBook’s Touch Bar. However, why use a Touch Bar when you can also use the shortcut CMD + SHIFT + 6 for taking instant screenshots.

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5. Emoji Keyboard

One of the lesser-known MacBook features, new sets of Emoji are added to macOS every year, and you can easily use them via Emoji Keyboard.

The shortcut is to press CTRL + CMD + SPACEBAR to launch the Emoji keyboard.

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6. Make It Easier To Drag And Drop On Mac

When you double-tap and leave your fingers on the trackpad of your MacBook, you can drag the window or other item until you short-tap again. You could even raise your finger and keep dragging from a different point on the trackpad if the “drag lock” is activated.

Note: To enable Drag functionality, go to Apple icon >System Preferences > Accessibility > select Mouse & Trackpad > finally, click on the Trackpad Options.

You might want to read: MacBook Trackpad Not Working? Here Are The Fixes!

7. Do More With Spotlight

Several users don’t know, but Spotlight is just not for finding files and launching the apps. The Spotlight offers one of the hidden features of the MacBook that you probably don’t know. It can save you a lot of time from executing operations, including opening the Safari browser to do some calculations & more.

For example, press CMD + SPACEBAR and type 480 USD in INR, it will instantly convert the currency and show you the accurate results. Similarly, you can use it to convert Celsius into Fahrenheit and more.

With Spotlight, you can also do searches on your MacBook by defining specific criteria. You can also get weather updates of any particular location and catch on football or cricket matches.

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8. Use Other Apple Devices As The Primary Camera

Few people know about this extraordinary MacBook feature. The functionality only works for Mojave or later and is known as Continuity Camera. You can use an iPhone, iPod, or iPad camera to click a picture or scan a document. It will appear on your MacBook immediately. The feature only supports Pages, Mail, Finder, Messages, and limited third-party apps.

To use this feature, follow these steps:

Note: Ensure you have signed in on both devices with the same Apple ID

Open any of the apps that support this feature.
Go to File>Insert from iPhone or iPad>Take Photo/Scan Documents.
Camera app will open on your iPhone or iPad. Click a photo> Tap Use Photo

For Documents: place the document in front of the camera, and your phone will capture the image.

You can check your photo/document is available on your Mac.

9. Do Your Signature Without Installing Any Third-Party App

Do you need to sign a document quickly? No problem! If you have a Mac laptop or a Magic Trackpad, you can sign PDFs by handwriting using your trackpad. Simply open the document in the Preview window, then look for the Signature symbol; you can activate it by clicking on the Markup logo next to the Search box. You may now sign with your finger!

10. Be Trendy By Creating A Meme

Internet memes are interesting visual or text-based jokes used by people of all ages to communicate their feelings or spread laughter. But did you know you can create them on your Mac without using a third-party tool?

Using the Preview, you can load an image, open the Markup toolbar, and then put text over the top. Change the typeface to Impact to create that meme look, then save or export the image in the right format.

Conclusion:

The MacBook is truly a versatile device in every sense. The machine provides users with everything they want with an impressive and easy-to-use UI. In this article, we’ve listed some of the useful hidden features of the MacBook, which are unknown by many. Try these tricks, shortcuts, and features, and let us know your favorite one in the comments section below!

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