Mac Support
macOS Hidden Features Every Power User Should Know
OSandMac
20 January 2026
We spend a lot of time helping people get more from their Macs. One thing we see consistently is that even experienced users barely scratch the surface of what macOS offers. Apple has a habit of shipping genuinely powerful features and then burying them three menus deep or documenting them in a single sentence in a support article. This guide surfaces the features that, once you know they exist, genuinely change how you work.
Shortcuts: Automator's Successor
If you have used macOS for a while, you probably remember Automator, the app that could chain together actions into workflows. Shortcuts is its modern successor, and it has matured significantly. You can assign a keyboard shortcut to any automation, pin it to the menu bar for one-click access, or surface it as a right-click Quick Action in Finder.
Three shortcuts we build for clients regularly: an image-processing workflow that resizes and converts selected images then saves them to a designated folder; a meeting-summary shortcut that takes rough notes, summarises them, and drops the result into Apple Notes; and a presentation-mode shortcut that enables Do Not Disturb, turns off display sleep, and adjusts screen resolution for a projector, then reverses all three when run again. Each takes about five minutes to build.
Terminal Tweaks Worth Knowing
The Terminal's defaults write Command lets you modify hidden macOS preferences that Apple chose not to surface in System Settings. A few we consider genuinely useful: you can force Finder to permanently show hidden files, which is invaluable for working with development configurations. There is a command that changes the default screenshot format from PNG to WebP, producing significantly smaller files with nearly identical quality. You can set the Dock's auto-hide delay to zero, eliminating the brief pause before it appears. And you can restore traditional key-repeat behaviour for anyone frustrated by the character accent picker appearing when holding a key down.
Stage Manager Done Right
Stage Manager arrived in macOS Ventura, and many people tried it once, found it distracting, and turned it off. That is a shame, because its best feature is persistent workspace groups. You can create a writing workspace with your text editor, a research browser window, and Notes arranged together, then a design workspace with Figma and Finder. Switching between them is as simple as clicking the strip at the left edge of the screen.
The real power shows up with an external display. Each display gets its own independent Stage Manager, creating a multi-layered workspace system that works alongside Mission Control rather than replacing it. There is also an option to hide the side strip entirely, giving you a cleaner look while still allowing hover-to-access.
Spotlight Beyond Search
Most people know Spotlight as the launcher you summon with Command and Space. Far fewer realise it understands natural language and does far more than find files. You can type "emails from John last week," and it searches Mail without opening the app. Mathematical calculations return results instantly. Unit and currency conversions use live exchange rates. Typing a flight number pulls up live tracking data. Typing a word provides a dictionary definition.
Spotlight also works as a quick launcher for System Settings panels. Typing "Bluetooth" or "Display" navigates straight there, which is often faster than clicking through the reorganised settings interface.
Keyboard Shortcuts That Speed Up Daily Work
Command, Shift, and 5 opens the full screenshot toolbar with options for full screen, window, selection, or video recording. For text navigation, holding Option while pressing the left or right arrow moves the cursor word by word. With the arrow keys, jump to the start or end of the line. These work in every text field across the system.
Command, Control, and Space opens the emoji and symbol picker, which includes special characters and mathematical symbols. In any file open or save dialogue, pressing Space while a file is selected triggers Quick Look, letting you preview a document without leaving the dialogue. And Command, Option, and Escape open Force Quit, your escape hatch when an app stops responding.
Quick Actions and Services
Right-clicking a file in Finder shows a Quick Actions section that most users scroll past. The built-in options let you annotate images and PDFs, rotate images, combine multiple images into a single PDF, and trim video files, all without opening a separate app. Any Shortcuts you create can be added here as well.
The Services menu, accessible via the app name in the menu bar, provides cross-app functionality such as looking up selected text in a dictionary, opening URLs found in a selection, and sending content to specific apps. Under System Settings, then Keyboard, then Keyboard Shortcuts, you can customise exactly which services appear.
These features are a fraction of what macOS can do once you move beyond the basics. Apple's operating system rewards curiosity. If you would like personalised training or help optimising your Mac workflow, our support team offers sessions tailored to how you actually work. Get in touch to learn more.