Simple Tasks in Windows 11 vs macOS Sonoma

In this video we’re going to take a look at how simple tasks differ between Windows 11 and macOS Sonoma.

As you'll be able to see in the video, the core UX philosophy behind most of what we're going to discuss is actually very similar.

However, given the practical differences between the two user interfaces and keyboard layouts, it’s only natural that the steps you need to take in order to get things done are going to be a bit different themselves.

So, in case you’re thinking about switching from one to the other, it’s worth taking a moment to see how things compare.

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Chapters:

0:00 Similarities & Differences
0:58 Opening a File Manager
2:07 Copy/Cut & Paste
2:47 Deleting Files & Folders
3:10 Navigating Through Windows
3:43 Snapping Windows
4:45 Fullscreen Screenshots
5:49 Selection Screenshots
6:53 Renaming a Single File
7:11 Batch Renaming
7:59 Copying Paths
8:26 Jumping To a Location
8:47 Force Task Ending

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References:
Instructions for Alt+Tab in macOS:

[sickblueberry]

these stuffs are really interesting when you have exams tomorrow.

[AL]

Copy paste is one of the most basic things we do so I was surprised you didn't mention the clipboard history tool in Windows. You need to activate it in settings an than it holds the history of what you've copied (up to a limit with no way to change the number saved) and Windows key + V brings up a history what you'e copied and you can paste it again. They also have a sync option between devices through One Drive I believe but I don't use it.

[AdroSlice]

I think my takeaway from this is that macOS is actually a lot less polished than one would expect

[JhonathanSGL]

8:31 You can jump to a location in windows with the Win+R command

7:00 You can also change the file name if you just click on the file/foldername/program name

3:19 there's also a win+tab command to move between apps and virtual desktops and also a 3 fingers gesture with the trackpad to move between apps and a four fingers gersture to move between virtual desktops.

[ottergauze]

I never realised how inelegant macOS's keyboard shortcuts are.

[ChrisWachtman]

Command tab is NOT the same as Alt tab. 3:10

Alt tab cycles through the recent windows. It is convenient for common window switching tasks.

Command tab only cycles through apps. It seems to work the same until you need to switch between 2 windows of the same app. Then you need to use command tilde which only cycles through windows of the current app. Mac keyboard navigation becomes maddeningly unintuitive when you need to switch between 3 windows of 2 apps.

[HatsuneMikuFan]

There's something you might miss in the Full screenshot. If you press Win+PrtScr, it will also save a file in the screenshot folder. If you only want the screenshot be stored in the clipboard, press Ctrl+PrtScr

[MartinDerTolle]

2:08 May I suggest that you can just use drag & drop if you have both windows open like that? Windows will decide wether the file is moved or copied depending on the context. Alternatively you can hold shift while performing the drag & drop action to force moving the file or hold ctrl to make it copy the file. Idk if this works on macOS, but it probably does

[augustgray]

this kind of video is always fun to watch because invariably the macos version is missing huge details. like shift-command-5, which brings up a screenshot utility where all types are immediately available to the user. can even screen record and save to a specific location from there.

[DanielClear]

I get everything, but Shift+Cmd+4+Spacebar? That's the most impractical shortcut I've ever seen.

[logaandm]

If you want to rename multiple files you can put File Explorer into list view. Slow click twice on the file name and you can rename it. Don't hit ENTER, hit TAB and the focus will change to the next file in the list, where you can rename that one. Not automatic renaming, which is a fairly dangerous thing to do anyway.

Very nice video. I've really tried to learn MacOS and Linux over the last few years. Most UI things each OS does, just differently. I probably learned more about Windows after finding great features in MacOS only to find Windows did that already.

[FoxBlocksHere]

Oh wow! This will be very useful for anyone who wants to understand the other if they only use one! Thanks for making this!

[garamari]

I actually thought Mac would be more polished than Linux. That window snapping is just unacceptable.

[sbinnala]

For screenshots on macOS, there’s also Shift-Cmd-5, which brings up a GUI bar with a few different options, and also includes options for screen recording.

[superangrybrit]

Four keys shortcuts should be illegal. 🤢

[chikinrasshu]

On macOS you can press cmd+shift+5 and you get the same thing as snipping tool on windows, you can also record the screen or a portion of it, and you can change where the files are saved by default, (including to the clipboard).
Almost half the video was about taking screenshots, and made the mac look really bad by showing 4 or 5 key combos, when cmd+shift+5 does the same as win+shift+s (and more), but oh well...

[BrotherCheng]

4:30 For macOS window snapping you can hold down Option key to snap the window without making them full screen.

For taking screenshots in macOS it's much more intuitive to open Screenshot app (using Spotlight or Cmd-Shift-5) which includes controls for selection vs full screen, clipboard vs save to desktop vs etc, time delays, and other options. It's basically the macOS equivalent of clipping tool, except it can do videos too. The other shortcut keys are only if you want to do it quickly. Touch Bar also have very nice shortcut keys to handle taking screenshots.

In general I want to echo other comments that it seems like you primarily use Windows and therefore maybe didn't fully research the macOS side.

[markusTegelane]

Windows is way better at window management. I guess that's why it's called _Windows_

[imvents]

6:18 just right click the floating thumbnail and click "Save to clipboard". You don't need to use another shortcut for it to save to your clipboard. Right clicking the floating thumbnail also shows a lot more quick options that are really handy.

[mickioo]

In windows, you can click a file to select it, then click again to rename it. Usually my go to way to rename single files.
Certainly faster than hitting an f-key that may, or may not be on fn-lock, or looking through the context menu ^^