Cool Things to Do With Macbook Air (Little-Known Tricks and Tips)

Are you making the most of your Macbook Air?

Mac is famous for its sleek, minimalist designs and practicality. But if you’ve not delved in deep enough, you might not know the cool (less well known) things your Macbook Air can do.

Read on for little known tips and tricks for the cool things to do with Macbook Air.

Start the Conversation

Even before macOS Sierra came in 2016, Mac’s dictation abilities were impressive. But that’s blown right out of the water with the arrival of Siri.

Either click on the Siri button on your menu bar or dock or hold command + space for a few seconds. This will summon the Siri we all know and love from our iPhones. If you’re running with a newer Mac, like 2018’s MacBook Pro, you only need to say “Hey Siri”.

There is more function to it than those simple questions you might ask, like what the weather will be today. Siri on macOS Mojave and Catalina can toggle functions on and off.

For example, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or launch an app for you. Siri can even pull up specific files you have stored, based on what you say about the file. All you need to do is ask!

Rename Groups of Files in Finder

Renaming file groups in batches is easy on Mac, but there are a lot of advanced options if you need them. To start, highlight the files you want to rename then command + click them. Click “Rename x items”, x being the number of files you have highlighted.

A pop up will appear with a few different options. You can choose to replace the files’ current name, added text to the end of the name, or other factors like date and time.

You can use a name base as well. At the bottom of the window will be a preview. This lets you see how the renamed files will look when done. This should make it much easier to keep your files organized.

View All Special Characters

Click the magnifying glass at the top right of the screen. You want to search for a program called “Character View”.

Click it open and you’ll have access to all the Mac OS special characters. Once you find the one you want, double click on it. This will insert the character into the current field of text you’re working on.

Silence Mode

Even total Mac newbies know the iconic chime every time it boots up. This can be a huge inconvenience at times if you’re somewhere that needs silence. This might be a class, or in a library.

To save yourself from the embarrassment that only holding in a cough can top, hold down the mute key when you boot up.

The volume keys are of great use, but there is an issue with them. They make noise when you press them! This thwarts any stealthy attempts to silence your Mac immediately.

You can mute these keys though, which not a lot of people realize. All you need to do is hold down shift while you press them.

Find Forgotten Passwords

Your Mac will store most of your passwords deep in its keychain. This goes for most of the programs on your Mac and any websites you visit. Here they remain encrypted and only the user they relate to can access them.

This is a handy feature if you ever forget a password. You can recover them from your Mac, providing it isn’t your user account password you forgot!

Open a new “Finder” window and go to “Applications”. In this folder, there will be another called “Utilities”. Open the program in there called “Keychain”.

This will show you every login that’s stored on your Mac. You can sort through by name or type. Or you search for what you’re looking for with the search tool at the top right-hand corner.

When you want to view the password for any of these logins, you’ll need to give your system username and login. It’s the same as when you’re making security changes or installing a new program on your Mac.

Master The Menu Bar

You might not realize it, but the Mac menu bar is one of the best Mac features. It’s condensed and easy to tap on the go. And it displays a lot of important info in real-time.

By with each new app icon added, things can get a little messy. With this clutter comes a hit to usability. The good news is, you can edit the menu bar and rearrange icons to suit your needs.

To move an icon, hold down command + click and drag the icon across the bar. It’s that easy. The only icon you can’t move around is the Notification Center one.

If you have icons you don’t think need to be there, you can fix this too. Hold down command + click and drag the icon out of the menu bar. This little tip will save you so much stress down the line when that menu bar fills up.

Take a Screenshot That’s Any Size

Windows users, or anyone moving to Mac from Windows, will know screenshots are a real pain. You can press “Print Screen” to get the whole of your display. Or you need to use the “Snipping Tool” to drag and grab the bit you want.

There are also some keyboards that won’t have the print screen function. And opening a whole separate add is a huge waste of time. Luckily, Mac has made this process far more streamlined.

To take a shot of your whole screen, you press shift + command + 3 all at once. This screenshot will go to your desktop. If you want to do a part of the screen, you press shift + command + 4.

To get a shot of an individual window, you press down shift + command + 4. Then press space and bring up the window you want to get a shot from.

Cool Things to do with Macbook Air Made Easy

So there you have it! Now you know these cool things to do with Macbook Air, you’ll be sure to make the most out of yours.

Macs don’t only look sleek and pretty, they have form and function too. They make a lot of processes like screenshots and batch renaming super simple. And voice commands can speed up your day.

If you found this article useful, check out our other blog posts today!