Have you recently purchased a Macbook and are wondering if there are any Mac tricks available? Click here for five handy Mac tricks!

Have you ever done a redundant, time-consuming task on your Mac and wondered why Apple didn’t include a better way to get the job done? The reality is this: They probably did. You just don’t know about the little Mac tricks, tools, and shortcuts since they aren’t laid out in front of you.

Macs come packed with countless convenient features that increase your productivity and save your time. But a select few people ever learn more than the bare minimum they need to get by. Taking a few minutes out of your day now to learn about some shortcuts could pay dividends later on.

Here are five Mac tips and tricks you’ve always wished your computer could do — without knowing that it already can.

1. Rename a Batch of Files

Let’s say that after a wonderful vacation abroad, you come home and upload the pictures to your computer. You’d be lucky if the filenames consist of anything more than a series of numbers. That’s not a great way to organize and memorialize the event.

So, what are you going to do, rename hundreds of files one by one? Well, no. Because on a Mac, you don’t have to.

To rename multiple files simultaneously, first locate every relevant file in Finder. Select all the photos and documents by shift-clicking. This is the most time-consuming part of the process, so take a moment to make sure every file is highlighted before going on to the next step.

If everything looks good, right-click and choose the Rename Items option on the drop-down menu. A small pop-up will ask you to add text for the new file name.

We used a vacation for our example, so let’s use something like “Rome vacation”. Your Mac will automatically rename every selected file with “Rome vacation,” followed by a number.

2. Attach a Digital Signature

Even though we’re well into the digital age, job and medical documents often require signatures. When you get an email you need to sign, they may ask that you print out the document, attach your signature, and scan the signed file so you can send it back to them.

That’s plain inconvenient assuming you have a printer with scanning functionality in the first place.

Here’s a Mac trick everyone should know: You can create and attach digital signatures, no printing or scanning necessary.

To do so, you’ll need to use the Apple Mail app. Start composing your email, then drag the file as an attachment. Click the button in the top-right and you’ll discover a series of PDF editing options.

At the top, click the signature icon to create and add a signature. You can use a stylus, a mouse, or take a picture of a physical signature with your webcam, and your Mac will automatically digitize it.

Best of all, once you add your signature, your Mac will save it for future documents.

3. Use Two Apps Without Fuss

It’s not unusual to need two apps at the same time. Maybe you’re writing a college essay in Pages while using a Safari webpage as a reference. You can make this happen without the use of fancy tricks, but it requires a good deal of resizing and finagling.

Mac has a feature known as Split View, which will optimize these windows side-by-side without your input. If you’ve ever used two apps simultaneously, this feature is a must-have.

On macOS Catalina, activating Split View is simple. Hold left-click on the green button in a window and you’ll be given the choice between Tile Window to Left or Tile Window to Right. Choose one side and repeat this process for the other window or app and set it to the opposite side.

Once you’re done with Split View, you can press escape to put things back to normal.

To activate Split View on an older version of macOS, you’ll hold the green button and drag the window to the left or right. It’ll snap into place accordingly.

4. Troubleshoot Performance Issues

macOS and Windows often have similar features but execute them differently. For example, how to take screenshot on a Mac differs from PCs — but they both get the job done.

The same is true of process-tracking tools. On Windows, this is known as the Task Manager. The Mac equivalent is the Activity Monitor, and you should get to know this program well whenever your device starts to act up.

You can launch the Activity Monitor through Spotlight or by finding it in the Utilities folder. Here you’ll see a list of all the processes running on your Mac, as well as a breakdown of their resource consumption.

Experiencing stuttering or slowdowns? Search for programs maxing out your resource consumption and Force-Quit them through the menu.

5. Remote View Another Mac

Are you the family IT guy? Then you know describing troubleshooting advice over the phone isn’t always the easiest way to help. Thankfully, Macs have a built-in remote viewing and control feature so you can fix your family member’s computer yourself.

Simply launch Screen Sharing through Spotlight and enter the Apple ID of the computer you’re trying to connect to. They’ll receive a pop-up asking for permission to access. It’s that easy.

On Windows, you have to rely on third-party remote software to access the same functionality.

Save Time With Mac Tricks

Imagine having to individually rename files or stay on the phone with your friend for hours because he can’t follow your technical help over the phone. Now stop imagining that, because you have plenty of new Mac tricks that can save your time and sanity.

The next time you find yourself wishing your Mac could do something, take a moment to see if it already can. It could help you avoid a serious headache.

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