5 overlooked Mac features that save me time every day

After using Macs for years, I’ve come across several macOS features that most people overlook or quickly dismiss. But these incredibly useful Mac features have become an integral part of my daily workflow. They help me manage files, navigate my Mac more efficiently, breeze through repetitive text and more.

Even if you have been using macOS for years, chances are you are not using all of its features. And these should become part of your Mac repertoire.

5 time-saving macOS features every Mac owner should know

I spend most of my working day on a Mac, yet I still often come across macOS features that I never knew about or never used properly. Most of them are not revolutionary, nor will they completely transform how you use your Mac. But they typically remove small points of friction from tasks I perform repeatedly throughout the day. Over time, those small time savings add up.

Some of them are buried inside System Settings or hidden behind a shortcut that’s hard to remember. And some seem useful when I first discover them, but eventually I realize that they create more problems than they remove. But some prove so handy that I use them day in and day out.

Here are five often-overlooked macOS features I can’t live without.

1. Modifier Keys make Hot Corners far more useful

Hot Corners is not exactly a hidden macOS feature. It has existed for years, and if you have used a Mac for a long time, you probably know that moving the pointer into a corner can trigger certain actions. This includes showing the desktop, opening Mission Control or locking the screen.

I used Hot Corners in the past but eventually stopped because I kept accidentally triggering them. Instead of saving time, the feature interrupted my workflow.

Then I learned that I could combine Hot Corners with modifier keys.

Add a modifier key to make Hot Corners more useful

When selecting an action for a Hot Corner, I can hold Command, Option, Control or Shift and macOS will add that modifier key to the action. This ensures that the Hot Corner only activates when I hold the assigned key and move the pointer into that corner.

So now, I have set the bottom-left corner of the display to Show Desktop. But it only triggers when I have the Option modifier key pressed. This small change ensures I can continue using Hot Corners without fear of accidentally triggering it, which can be annoying.

Hot Corners might be familiar, but the feature’s support for modifier keys is far less obvious. And I find that using modifier keys with Hot Corners makes all the difference in the world when it comes to usability.

2. Drag files into Open and Save dialogs

Navigating to the right folder inside an Open or Save dialog is always frustrating, especially if, like me, you have the content buried several levels deep.

A simple trick in macOS takes care of this problem. If the folder is already open in Finder, I can drag it directly into the Open or Save dialog. The window will immediately jump to that location, saving me from navigating through the same folder structure again.

At this point, this feature has almost become muscle memory for me. I upload tons of images and videos daily to WordPress and other publishing tools. Instead of navigating to the right folder, I just drag the folder into the Open or Save dialog.

The same trick works with files. Dragging a file from Finder into an Open dialog takes me to its location and selects it. This is helpful when I can see the File in Finder but don’t want to locate it again through an app’s file picker.

Again, this is one of those macOS features that I use several times a day — and one that removes a lot of friction from my workflow.

3. Text replacement

I frequently type my name, email address, phone number or home address into emails, PDFS, online forms, etc. Instead of entering this information manually every time, I use macOS’ built-in text replacement feature.

With text replacement, I can assign a short combination of characters to a longer piece of text. So, for example, when I type “; rp,” it automatically becomes “Rajesh Pandey.” That way, I don’t need to type my full name every time.

I also use text replacement for quick messages that I frequently send to my wife. So, “left for work” is assigned to “lfw” and “hme” is assigned to “leaving for home.” The messages are not long, but text replacement saves me from typing them out every time.

If you’re not using text replacement on your Mac, you’re typing too much

The Mac’s text replacement feature has become even more useful since I started using AI tools regularly. I often reuse the same prompts for repetitive tasks. Rather than storing such prompts in a note and copying them whenever required, I assign them to a short abbreviation, which then automatically expands to the full prompt.

Text replacement is a small macOS feature. But it’s one of those features that, once you set it up, there is no going back. What makes the feature even better is that any text replacement shortcuts you set up are synced and available on your iPhone or iPad as well.

You can find text replacements on your Mac by going to System Settings > Keyboard > Text Input.

4. Finder Quick Actions

I work with plenty of images, screenshots and PDFs every day. Normally, making even a minor change to these files would require opening them in Preview or another app. But with Finder Quick Actions, I can perform many of these tasks without opening a separate app.

I right-click (or Control-click) a file in Finder and select Quick Actions from the context menu. Depending on the file type, I can choose from a variety of actions.

For images, I frequently use Quick Actions to convert PNGs to JPGs, remove their backgrounds, or turn them into PDFs. This proves particularly useful when I need to convert an iPhone’s HEIC image into a more widely supported JPEG or reduce an image’s size before uploading it.

Finder Quick Actions are a powerful Mac productivity tool

I also frequently use Finder Quick Actions to select multiple documents or images and combine them into a single PDF. Plus, it’s also great for quickly annotating a screenshot or adding a signature without going through the trouble of opening Preview first.

None of these tasks are complex. But I have to do them daily, and that’s where Quick Actions come in handy. They save me a lot of time and effort.

What makes Finder Quick Actions even better is that you can trigger Shortcuts with them. I have a shortcut that resizes the selected images, converts them to JPGs, and saves new copies for uploading to WordPress.

How to use Finder Quick Actions

To use Finder Quick Actions, select one or more files in Finder. Then, Control-click the selection and choose Quick Actions. From there, select the action you want to perform.

If an action is missing, click Customize to enable it. You can also access Quick Actions from Finder’s Preview pane by selecting View > Show Preview.

You can even add a shortcut to the Quick Actions menu. For that, click Shortcut Details and enable Use as Quick Action. Then, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Extensions > Finder and turn on the shortcut. It will now appear in the Quick Actions menu when you Control-click a compatible file.

There’s some initial setup required with Finder Quick Actions. That’s why it took me a while to get used to them. But after that, they became an integral part of my daily workflow.

5. Handy keyboard shortcuts that save me time

Keyboard shortcuts are one of the main reasons I can work quickly and efficiently on my Mac. Besides the common ones like Cmd+C and Cmd+V for quickly copying and pasting, there are a few shortcuts that I use every day.

Cmd-` is one of my most-used shortcuts. It lets me switch between different windows of the same app quickly. I find this especially useful when I am drowning in a sea of open Chrome tabs and windows or have multiple Finder windows open. (It’s similar but different from the Cmd+Tab shortcut, which switches between open apps.)

Another useful shortcut is Ctrl-Cmd-D. Selecting a word and pressing this keyboard shortcut displays its definition in a pop-up window. I can quickly check the meaning of a word without leaving the document or opening a new browser tab.

Two other shortcuts that I frequently use together are Option-Cmd-C and Shift-Cmd-G. The former copies the complete pathname of a selected file or folder in Finder. It comes in useful when I need to reference a local file in an AI prompt or enter its location in Terminal.

As for Shift-Cmd-G, it opens Finder’s Go to Folder dialog box. There, I can type or paste a pathname and jump directly to that location. It also works inside Open and Save dialog boxes, making it easier to reach a deeply nested folder.

I often use Option-Command-C and Shift-Command-G together. I copy a folder’s pathname from one Finder window, open the Go to Folder dialog elsewhere, and paste the path to reach the same location instantly.

More underutilized Mac features

None of these overlooked Mac features will dramatically change how you use your computer. But together, they remove several small and unnecessary steps from everyday tasks. Once they become part of your workflow, you will find it difficult to return to doing the same things manually.

Want more Mac tips for power users? Here you go: