8 Productivity Tips for Mac Users

Many professionals choose Macs over any other computers because of their speed and efficiency.

On the other hand, plenty of Mac users are not aware of certain tricks and tips that can improve Mac’s efficiency even more. Surely, some functions may take time to learn or memorize, but it will only make your life easier in the future.

Therefore in this article, we are about to share a list of 8 simple and quick tips that will help make your work on a Mac more productive and save you a lot of time long-term.

Tip #1: Use a Countdown Timer App

People tend to be excited about certain things or events when they can visually see how much time is left until something is over or about to start. Therefore, using a countdown timer mac computers have will actually make you more productive.

For example, if you are waiting for a big online conference that will happen after three months, marking the date on a printed calendar will not have such an effect as a visual countdown clock would on your Mac.

Tip #2: Choose the Best Group Communication Tools

As in the year 2020, we’re living in irregular times of a worldwide pandemic, a lot of businesses started using group communication tools like Slack. One of the main arguments for using a group communication tool instead of email is that the tools have more functionality.

For example, in Slack, you can discuss certain topics by creating threads, rather than getting lost in one hundred emails with the same person but about different topics. Also, you can create separate channels to discuss different projects.

Tip #3: Ensure You Have Enough Free Disk Space

Having enough free disk space on a Mac is important if you want your computer to perform well and not lag when you are finishing up a project with a close deadline. For your Mac to work smoothly, you should strive to have at least 15% of free disk space.

To check how much free disk space you currently have, you can click on the Apple icon that is located at the top left of your screen, choose the About This Mac option, and go to the Storage tab. After viewing the data, you can also click the Manage button to free up some disk space.

For example, one of the storage management options can automatically remove tv shows and movies that you have already watched via Apple TV.

Tip #4: Clean up Your Desktop

If you have a cluttered desktop, it can make you unproductive because of a couple of reasons. First of all, it isn’t easy to find needed files fast, especially if they are not appropriately named. And it could even cause you to make mistakes when sending files to your customers.

Secondly, your Mac is using additional resources to display every thumbnail on your screen. Thus the more items you have on your desktop, the slower your computer will become.

To quickly sort out the files on your desktop, you can use Stacks that will organize files by their type. This option can be found by clicking View at the top menu and choosing Use Stacks.

Tip #5: Use Replacements

If you often use certain bits of text, you can create replacements that will save you a bunch of time on it. For example, you can create a replacement for your invoice details.

To activate this feature, click the Apple icon at the top of the screen, go to System Preferences, choose Keyboard, and then click the Text option. Here, you can create as many replacements as you want.

Tip #6: Use Spotlight Search

Instead of looking for a specific app or any other file and wasting your precious time, you can use the Spotlight Search instead. Just typing in whatever you need to find and hitting Enter will open your chosen item.

To launch the Spotlight Search, you can either use the keyboard combination Command + Space or just click the magnifying glass icon at the upper right corner of your screen.

Tip #7: Save Your Searches

To save even more time and be productive, you can save your searches on a Mac. This way, you will not have to type in the same search repetitively.

To save searches on your computer, go to the Finder, perform a search like you would regularly do, including the filtering options. When you are done, click save and give the search a name. Now, you will be able to access it by using the sidebar.

Tip #8: Learn Trackpad Gestures & Keyboard Shortcuts

Even if you might feel too lazy to learn the trackpad gestures and the keyboard combinations at first and think that it will only waste your time, you should reconsider.

Learning shortcuts will save you a significant amount of time in the long-term and make your work on the computer easier and more intuitive. After you have learned all those shortcuts, you will not be able to imagine how you used to live without them.