Then, drag your favorite apps to the Dock from the Applications folder. You can also reposition the Dock, resize its icons, and set them to magnify to various degrees on hover. Of course, instead of fiddling with the Dock, you could replace it with a third-party app like uBar or DockShelf. Play around with the built-in settings for installed apps to add more personal touches to your Mac. For example, if you have the Slack desktop app installed, you can brighten up the Slack sidebar with a new theme.
Select one of the themes available in the sidebar and click on Default at the bottom of the sidebar to set your choice as the default theme. You'll need to restart Terminal for the new color profile to show up. If you're a dark mode enthusiast, how about enabling Dark Mode in your favorite Mac apps? You don't have to limit your personalization efforts to visual changes. How about adding a few audio tweaks too? As you can see above, with a little thought, time, and effort, you can make your Mac desktop truly yours.
Once you do that, it'll be even more of a pleasure to look at and work with. After you've made all those visual tweaks, why not add a few functional ones to streamline your Mac experience and make everyday tasks easier?
For a start, you can remap your Mac's function keys to trigger useful apps and functions. And if you want to do more cool stuff, check out these Mac dashboard widgets that you might actually use :. Just bought an Android TV device? After entering the wrong user password a few times, you might be asked if you want to reset it with your Apple ID. Or you can click the question mark icon in the password text field, followed by the arrive icon, to call up the same process.
Enter your Apple ID email address and password. A pop-up alert will let you know that a new keychain that stores your passwords will be created. Click OK. Follow the rest of the prompts to create a new password for your user account. Spotlight is one of the more underrated Mac features -- when you know how to use it, it's a useful tool for getting around your computer faster, and without using a mouse. For example, you can use Spotlight as a calculator and to convert currency.
Read more: 12 Mac search tips from a Spotlight addict. If you're emailed a PDF to sign, you don't have to go through the tedious process of printing it out, signing it and scanning it back in -- your Mac allows you to sign documents directly on your device in the Preview or Mail app.
You can do this a number of different ways in different apps and programs, including saving a scanned copy of your signature on a piece of white paper and adding it in as an image in a given document. However, if you are working in the Mail app here's what to do:. Click Trackpad to sign your name with your mouse on the trackpad, or click Camera sign your name on white paper and take a photo of it with your computer's webcam.
You can also save a signature to reuse. Emoji aren't only for texts on your phone. A box with emoji will appear, and you can add any to the page you're working on. Preferences appear as a grid of icons; the icons shown may vary depending on your Mac and the apps you have installed. Click an icon to open a preference pane and display the options. Each preference pane contains options you can set.
To save juice, you can make the computer go to sleep quickly after a period of inactivity, or tell the screen to dim slightly when running on battery power. Open System Preferences and go to Energy Saver to toy with these settings and make your battery last longer. Services like maps and weather need to access your location to help you navigate and prepare you for a rainy day. In this menu, open Privacy and choose Location Services to see a list of apps.
By default, your instant messages stick around on macOS forever, which is handy if you have a poor memory, but wastes disk space and could compromise your security. To have Apple automatically trim your message history, open the Messages app, click Messages on the bar at the top of the screen, and select Preferences. Under the General tab, open the Keep messages drop-down menu to limit the size of your archive.
You can save the past 30 days of messages, or keep your conversations for a year. If you leave your computer running while you work, notifications can be distracting. You can also disable alerts during those times when the display is off or being mirrored to another screen. Even if you share a computer with others, you might not want them installing software on it. With the App Store open, go to the bar at the top of the screen and choose App Store followed by Preferences.
Under the Password Settings heading, set the two drop-down menus to Always Require and Require Password , respectively. Now nobody will be able to install new apps without entering your password.
David Nield is a tech journalist from the UK who has been writing about gadgets and apps since way before the iPhone and Twitter were invented. When he's not busy doing that, he usually takes breaks from all things tech with long walks in the countryside.
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