Tips & tricks

Tab groups: a cleanup for chronic tab hoarders

Tabs can be grouped under a colored label and the group collapsed. Research for a project takes one click instead of twelve open tabs.

Ctrl+F: don't read the page, search it

Ctrl+F

Looking for a specific piece of information on a long page? Ctrl+F and a few letters get you there in two seconds.

Search tabs, history, and bookmarks with @

Type @tabs, @history, or @bookmarks into Chrome's address bar — and you're searching only open tabs, history, or bookmarks.

Switch tabs from the keyboard: Ctrl+Tab and the numbers

Ctrl+Tab

Ctrl+Tab moves through tabs in order, Ctrl+1 through 8 jumps to a specific position, and Ctrl+9 jumps to the last tab.

Closed a tab by mistake? Ctrl+Shift+T brings it back

Ctrl+Shift+T

Reopens the last closed tab — and pressing it again brings back the ones before it. Works for whole closed windows too.

Ctrl+L: straight to the address bar, no mouse needed

Ctrl+L

Jumping to the address bar is the foundation of fast browsing — start typing an address or a search right away.

Night light: warmer colors after sunset

Blue light in the evening delays falling asleep. Windows can automatically warm up the screen after sunset.

Win+I: straight into Settings

Win+I

Open Windows Settings with a shortcut — and the search box inside gets you to a specific option faster than clicking through menus.

Focus sessions: built-in Pomodoro in Windows

The Clock app in Windows 11 has Focus sessions — a timer, task linking, and an overview of how much focused work you got done today.

Win+period: emoji, symbols, and special characters

Win+.

A panel of emoji, kaomoji, and symbols — including em dashes, arrows, and math symbols. With search.

Switch keyboard languages instantly without touching the mouse

Ctrl+Space

Ctrl+Space switches between two keyboard layouts. A must for developers and anyone writing in more than one language.

Half- and quarter-screen window layouts

Newer macOS versions support window snapping — drag a window to the edge, or hold Option over the green button for instant layouts.

Look up a word with three fingers: the built-in dictionary

Ctrl+Cmd+D

Tap a word with three fingers (or Ctrl+Cmd+D) and up pops a definition, translation, and Wikipedia entry — without leaving the text.

AirDrop: a file on the next device in two seconds

Don't email files between Apple devices. AirDrop is faster, doesn't compress anything, and has no size limits.

Safari Reader: an article without the ads and clutter

Cmd+Shift+R

Reader view strips an article down to nothing but text and images. Read without blinking banners — with your own font size.

Hide the Dock and reclaim a slice of your screen

Cmd+Option+D

Cmd+Option+D hides the Dock. On a laptop that gets you a noticeable strip of extra screen — the Dock slides out only when you want it.

Copy text right out of images and photos

macOS can select text in a photo or screenshot just like regular text. Grab a phone number off a photo of a business card in two clicks.

Split View: two apps side by side, full screen

Hold down the green button on a window and pick a half of the screen. Perfect for writing with reference material alongside.

Emoji and special characters with one key

Ctrl+Cmd+Space

The 🌐 (fn) key or Ctrl+Cmd+Space opens a panel of emoji and special characters — with built-in search.

Space bar: preview a file without opening an app

Space

Select a file in Finder and press Space. PDFs, photos, video, and spreadsheets appear instantly — no waiting for an app to launch.

Frozen app? Force quit without restarting

Cmd+Option+Esc

Cmd+Option+Esc is macOS's version of Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Quit a frozen app in three seconds.

Spotlight: launch apps without touching the mouse

Cmd+Space

Cmd+Space opens Spotlight — the fastest way to launch anything on a Mac. You can practically stop using the Dock.

Spotlight as a calculator and unit converter

Cmd+Space

No need to open a calculator or google an exchange rate. Spotlight calculates and converts currencies and units right in the search field.