Make your Mac Better

Hello People, After being used to Windows Laptops for so long years, I got to work on the MacBook(which I always wanted to buy /use🥳). Hence, It took time for me to adapt to Macbook. so thought of sharing the settings and installations which made me feel more convenient while getting used to Mac. Hope this might be useful to some extent for all of us ✌️

P.S The configurations are done on MAC os Bigsurr and the later versions

1) RESET TRACK PAD HARD CLICK

MacBook by default requires the user to force tap on the track pad for performing click operations. This might be difficult in some situations and Mac provides an option to change this using

system preferences=> Trackpad=>enable tap to click option this will ease the touchpad operations on a single click

2) DARK THEME

who wouldn't love a dark theme??🥳✌️, the theme can be updated on system preferences.

3) SCREENSHOT SHORTCUTS

configuring certain shortcut keys for each of the shortcut operations like capture Window/entire screen/portion and Copy/Save file operation was super helpful.

for ex: I have mapped CMD+1, CMD+2 so on.. for each of the screenshot operations which was a lot easier than saving the snapshot as a file each time and sharing/editing. The screenshot menu bar also can be used ad mentioned in the below video.

4) INSTALL CHROME SHORTCUTS

MAC comes with Safari as the default browser, and as a long-time Windows user, I can't refrain from installing chrome. Also, I needed certain tabs on chrome to be always running and to be opened at system reboot time itself for my project needs. Creating these pages as shortcuts and configuring open at login fulfilled this requirement.

P.S: There are some chromium-based apps also available for this communication channel handling (Ferdi etc..). This can reduce the number of apps or chrome tabs, interested people don't miss to explore this apps .

5) NOTIFICATION SETTINGS

checking and enabling the notifications for the required apps will prevent missing important notifications

6) INSTALL RECTANGLE

The rectangle is an open-source window manager to move and resize windows in macOS using keyboard, shortcuts, or snap areas. This will make our life easier if we use external monitors. For ex: applications can be moved across the screens in a single click. And this app has multiple other options for managing windows.

Link to download rectangle app

7) INSTALL ALT+TAB

If we want a similar experience of app switching in windows then this will be the best app. In MAC there are some limitations on windows switch:

• we can't see multiple windows of the same application on (CMD+TAB) click

• If multiple windows of the same application (for ex: multiple chrome windows)are open, and we want to switch to another window of the same app, we can use (CMD+`) hotkey click. but the Fullscreen window won't' be visible in this and we won't be able to switch to that full-screen window of the app

This limitation can be overcome by alt+tab app.

Link to download AltTab

8) ITERM AND OH-MY-ZSH SHORTCUT FOR OPENING THIS FOLDER IN ITERM

ITERM2 and ohMyZsh have multiple plugins and themes support which is more convenient to use the default terminal. As an example git plugin on ohmyssh provides multiple short aliases for commands as listed below.To install it, add git to the plugins array in your .zshrc file. Open .zshrc with your text editor:

plugins=(git)

After installing, we can set the shortcut for opening the current folder in the item for easier use.

9) COPYLESS2

This is an open-source clipboard history provider tool, this supports images and also serial paste operations as well.

Link to download CopyLess2

10) FLYCUT

This is an open-source clipboard history provider tool for text, provides easier navigation options for selecting text from clipboard history

Link to download FlyCut

11) HOMEBREW

The Missing Package Manager for macOS, which can be used for installing apps using terminal/iterm2

brew Install <appname> This command will fetch the package/app and completed the installation and configuration on MAC

Homebrew download link brew.sh

12) NOTION

Organized and shared note-taking app, has multiple integrated templates for storing notes/content

Notion download link

13) 1PASSWORD MANAGER

1Password is the easiest way to store and use strong passwords. This requires a license to purchase but since it's helping to Log in to sites and fill forms securely with a single click, it's worth purchasing, isn't it?

1passwordManager

14) REMINDER

There are numerous apps of available for reminders, any one of them can be utilized for setting reminders for important tasks I prefer and use The tickTick app which has features like scheduled reminders and organizable tasks and a To-Do List

Download TickTick

FINAL THOUGHTS

These are the settings configurations which helped reducing the struggles for me and provides the ability to use the Mac smartly.

Thanks for reading, please let me know in the comment section if I have missed any important settings/apps. ps: If you are a software developer and interested in the configurations required for setting up the dev environment don't miss out to read the next article here:

Make Your Mac Dev Ready