18 Mac Hacks That Will Make You A MacBook Pro

Did someone say EMOJI KEYBOARD?!

Alejandro Escamilla / BuzzFeed / Via unsplash.com

All tips work with OSX Mavericks (10.9). May vary with older OS versions.

1.

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Depending on the program you type in, the Emoji might only appear as a rectangle, but they will be visible on mobiles.

2.

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Sums is hard, yo.

3.

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If you can't see your screen in sunlight, or your eyes need a rest, try this. You'll need to go to Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Accessibility and ensure the "Invert colors" box is checked before this will work.

4.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

Fed up of dragging files to the trash? This will save precious seconds.

5.

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Works for any letter with special characters; I, O, U, etc. And now you owe me.

6.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

Select "New Screen Recording" in Quicktime, hit record, and either select an area of your screen, or the whole thing. When you're done, hit the stop icon in the taskbar and Quicktime will auto-output a video file for you.

7.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

Right click any highlighted text to quickly share it via Twitter, Facebook, email, or iMessage.

8.

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Pasting text from a word document or web page into an email can change the formatting of the text - use this trick to stop that happening.

9.

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Hover the cursor over any text and hit the keys above to get a definition, synonyms, and links for more info. Alternately, hover over the word and lightly tap three fingers on your trackpad.

10.

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Deletes the text the opposite way, which recent PC-to-Mac converts may be missing.

11.

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w.soundcloud.com

This is the startup tone, some people don't like it. If you'd prefer a silent start, or if your life depends on one, simply hold down the mute button.

12.

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Sign a piece of white paper, then open Preview and go to Preferences > Signatures. Hit 'Create Signature' and hold the paper up to your iSight camera. Once Preview has detected the signature, hit 'Accept'. Now you can sign forms without printing.

13.

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Mission Control lets you see everything you've got open, and quickly switch between windows. Great when you're feeling disorganised. Alternatively, swipe up with four fingers on your track pad.

14.

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If you've got half a dozen Finder windows open, you can gather them into a single, tabbed window without having to close any.

15.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

If you're on a Skype call or listening to some dope beats and don't want the volume noise interrupting, just hold Shift while you turn the sound up or down.

16.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

If you're trying to get shit done, you can select "Do Not Disturb" in the notification sidebar and you won't get pop up notifications until tomorrow.

17.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

Sometimes you need to quickly see your desktop. You can move all open windows out of the way at once by placing your thumb and three fingers on the trackpad, and slowly moving your fingers away from your thumb.

18.

Daniel Dalton / BuzzFeed

You might not have much use for Safari, but this is a handy feature for those who want to browse links shared by people you follow on Twitter. Open Safari, then click 'Show Sidebar' in the top left of the task bar, then 'Shared Links'.

Browse the most recent tweets, and click to quickly open the link in the browser window. A great way to use Safari as a dedicated Twitter reader, while you use your preferred browser for everything else.

For this to work, you'll need to add your Twitter account in System Preferences > Internet Accounts.

Got a favourite Mac tip that isn't listed? Add it below!

Source: Apple, Peggy Wang, Tech Radar.