30 Mac / macOS Getting Started Tips! Do you know them all?

In this video I walkthrough everything I do when setting up a new Mac. In this macOS getting started guide, I show you some basic, intermediate, and advance Mac tips and tricks.

Get your own M1 Macbook and support the channel

This video walkthrough shows you some of the first things to do when setting up a new Mac, or reinstalling macOS. This tutorial was performed on an M1 Mac using macOS Big Sur, but should generally apply to all new Mac setups.

0:00 Introduction
1:33 Configure tracking speed for trackpad
2:11 Enable tap to click for trackpad
2:46 Enable three-finger drag on trackpad
3:41 Configure tracking speed for mouse
4:05 Enable right-click for mouse
4:33 Enable swipe between pages for Magic Mouse
5:15 Enable Apple Watch unlock
5:59 Enable Hot Corners
8:27 Enable keyboard navigation to move focus
9:52 Update your computer name
10:27 Add volume controls to menu bar
11:16 Remove Spotlight from menu bar
11:41 New Finder windows show Desktop
12:17 Configure Finder sidebar
13:01 Add 'Hard Disks' to the Desktop
13:19 Keep folders on top when sorting by name
14:08 Make searches use the current folder
15:05 Add User Library to sidebar
16:23 Enable Finder status bar
16:53 Disable floating thumbnail for screenshots
17:56 Disable screenshot shadow
20:18 Enable Stacks on Desktop
21:09 Customize Safari start page
21:58 Enable Safari status bar
22:32 Enable Develop menu in Safari
23:11 Install Yoink
24:33 Install Alfred
26:37 Disable 'Show recent applications in Dock'
27:27 Customize Dock apps to your liking
28:37 Resize Dock
28:58 Move the Dock 'Position on screen'
29:35 Enable 'Automatically hide and show the Dock'
29:56 Enable 'Automatically hide and show the menu bar'

Screenshot mod terminal commands as requested:
killall SystemUIServer

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
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FOLLOW:
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HASHTAGS:
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#Mac #macos #bigsur

[drivermobius]

As a first time Mac user, I'm so lost. 20 years of Windows, I'm 26 now and this is just a whole new world to me.

[Californification]

As a first time user to Mac this is so so helpful. I have to say that having the iPad for the last 10 years definitely made the transition from windows to Mac so much easier but this video helps immensely in setting up the Mac and answering a lot of questions I had. Thanks again.

[roug]

If I score well in my college exams, my parents will get me a macbook air. Pray for me😁

[preemnova]

As one who got the Air recently, I’m always looking for new tips and tricks for my mac as a beginner. Love this !! ^ ___ ^

[logaandm]

OMG, this video removed at least 70% of my frustrations with MacOS. Most of the things you showed should be the default!

Thank you.

[saurabhgupta]

Recently moved to Mac after 15 years on Windows and this video has been incredibly useful. Many tricks were new to me and some I had explored already but nice to have all in a video.

[cliftonparchment]

Thank you Jeff for this very informative video. As a 60 year old non techie, videos like this do come in handy. I will definitely be watching this a couple more times to get some of the pertinent features right. God bless 🙏🏽🙏🏽

[SatenderSingh_]

Some common keyboard shortcuts for a MacBook:

General Shortcuts:

Command + C: Copy
Command + V: Paste
Command + X: Cut
Command + A: Select All
Command + Z: Undo
Command + Shift + Z: Redo
Command + S: Save
Command + W: Close Window
Command + Q: Quit Application
Command + Space: Spotlight Search

Finder Shortcuts:

Command + N: "New Finder Window"
Command + Shift + N: Create a New Folder
Command + Delete: Move the selected item to the trash.
Command + Shift + G: "Go to Folder"
Command + Option + L: Open the Downloads Folder
Command + Option + D: Open Desktop Folder

Safari Shortcuts:

Command + T: Open a new tab
Command + Shift + T: Reopen the last closed tab
Command + L: Highlight URL in Address Bar
Command + W: Close Tab
Command + R: Reload the page
Command + +: Zoom In
Command +: Zoom Out

Mail Shortcuts:

Command + N: "New Email"
Command + Shift + D: Send Email
Command + Shift + F: Search for Mail
Command + 1: Go to Inbox
Command + 2: Go to Sent Mail
Command + 3: Go to Draughts

Here are some additional keyboard shortcuts for a MacBook in advanced mode:

General Shortcuts:

Command + Shift + N: Create a new folder
Command + Option + Esc: Force Quit an application
Command + Shift + Option + Esc: Force Quit the front-most application.
Command + Tab: Switch between open applications
Command + Shift + 3: Take a screenshot of the entire screen.
Command + Shift + 4: Take a screenshot of a selected area of the screen.
Command + Shift + 5: Open the screenshot and screen recording options.
Control + Command + Q: Lock screen
Control + Command + Power Button: Force Restart

Finder Shortcuts:

Command + D: Duplicate a file
Command + E: Eject a disc.
Command + F: Start a Spotlight search in Finder
Command + I: Get information on a selected item
Command + Option + I: Show Inspector Window
Command + Option + P: Hide or show the Preview pane
Command + Shift +. (period): Show or hide hidden files and folders
Command + Option + C: Copy the path to a selected item
Command + Option + V: Move a file to a new location and create an alias.

Safari Shortcuts:

Command + (comma): Open Safari Preferences
Command + Option + E: Empty cache
Command + Option + L: Show or hide the Downloads window
Command + Option + R: Reload a page without cache
Command + Option + T: Add or remove websites from the Favourites Bar
Command + Shift + B: Show or hide the Bookmarks sidebar
Command + Shift + H: Show or hide the History sidebar

Mail Shortcuts:

Command + Shift + N: Create a new note
Command + Option + L: Show or hide the folder list
Command + Option + M: Minimise a message window
Command + Option + N: Create a new mailbox
Command + Option + R: Reply to a message
Command + Shift + U: Mark a message as read or unread.
Command + Shift + J: Mark a message as junk or not junk.
Command + Shift + D: Delete a message

Advanced level 

Here are some even more advanced keyboard shortcuts for a MacBook:

General Shortcuts:

Control + Command + F: Enter or exit full-screen mode
Control + Option + Command + Eject: Turn off the display.
Control + Option + Command + Power Button: Force Shutdown
Command + Option + Shift + V: Move files to the trash without confirmation.
Command + Option + Control + Power Button: Quit all applications and restart.
Control + Command + Q: Log out of the current user account.
Control + Option + Command + Delete: Empty Trash

Finder Shortcuts:

Command + Option + T: Show or hide the toolbar
Command + Option + P: Hide or show the Path bar
Command + Option + D: Show or hide the Dock
Command + Option + S: Hide or show the sidebar
Command + Shift + D: Open the Desktop folder
Command + Shift + H: Open the Home folder
Command + Shift + I: Open the iCloud Drive folder.
Command + Shift + U: Open the Utilities folder
Command + Control + T: Add or remove tags from a selected item.
Command + Control + N: Create a new folder with tags.

Safari Shortcuts:

Command + Option + F: Enter or exit full-screen mode in Safari
Command + Option + P: Show or hide the Develop menu in Safari
Command + Shift + /: Show or hide the Safari User Guide.
Command + Shift + (period): toggle reader mode on or off.
Control + Command + F: Open the current webpage in full-screen mode.
Control + Command + R: Enter or exit Reader mode in Safari
Control + Option + Command + R: Reload the current page without cache or extensions.
Control + Option + Command + Delete: Clear all history in Safari

Mail Shortcuts:

Command + Shift + U: Go to the next unread message
Command + Shift + J: Move the selected message to the Junk mailbox.
Command + Shift + L: Apply a label to the selected message
Command + Option + U: Mark all messages in the current mailbox as read.
Command + Option + I: Mark all messages in the current mailbox as unread.
Command + Option + N: Create a new smart mailbox
Command + Option + P: Mark the selected message as flagged or unflagged.
Command + Control + E: Archive the selected message

[zeppelin]

Excellent tips!! I'm a lifelong Windows user who just pulled the trigger for an M1 MacBook Air.. To say that Macs are different from PCs is an understatement. I customized my MacOS extensively, but I wrote down at least 9 tips from this video that I'll be applying. And while we're at it, I'll share my favorite tips: 1) Karabiner - most excellent for remapping keys. 2) Magnet - allows you to customize how you interact with app windows. I used it to set up keyboard shortcuts to move a window to a certain part of the screen: left|right half or one of the quartiles, and so on.

[SimonHodgkiss]

Mac user for over 12 years - 1 thing I like was the 3 finger move windows! never knew that one! :)

[cesargalvez]

I just started with Mac and this helped me a lot, my best one was to hide the top menu bar, it super helpful

[lance]

I have a 12 pro. 2 Apple TVs 4k 2 home pod minis. a Apple Watch a iPad Pro 12.9 car play & finely added a MacBook Pro. M1. I appreciate this video a lot. im pretty tech savvy being a Veriozn rep of 9 years. I learned a lot. thank you.

[AfiaBruna]

Hi. I am really the new one using Mac, always was on Windows. Thank you for your tips! Found some of them useful for me and immediately applied for my Mac. Especially loved the Hot corners, just made the left bottom corner for hiding all windows on screen, it's very useful and it takes one second especially when someone unexpectedly interrupts me or when I sit somewhere outside. Thank you for your video-lesson!

[ayanaxx]

This is one of the best videos I have ever watched. Even though I'm 22 years old, I grew up without a computer or laptop at home so this is very useful to me as someone who has no knowledge when it comes to computers. This makes university a lot easier for me as uni itself is challenging enough. Thank you so much!

[dominic]

Love the quality, love the voice, love the tips!

[djdonjuliog]

This is one of the most informative tricks ever seen. Thanks

[nattygainz]

not gonna lie, when you talked about yoink i was baffled about the extra steps someone would take, instead of just ctrl x it

[mirzatajic]

Thanks for this tutorial. After using Windows my whole life I decided to change things up and switch to a Mac 2 years ago, I'm a little less lost now.

[rudrakkshjain]

Was waiting for this. Pretty good length of the vid too. Thanks.

[ashleighcota]

I’m getting a new Macbook this month! I’m hoping to learn something new from this helpful YouTube video