If you’re lucky enough to own a MacBook you’ll know what high-performing machines these are. Whether you’re at the office or working from home you’ll need a reliable machine to go about your day-to-day. If you’re looking to boost your productivity levels, these four MacBook hacks may well come in handy.
- Apple Sidecar
Apple Sidecar allows you to use your iPad as another display monitor. If you own both devices and you’re working from home, this hack is super handy. The Apple Sidecar runs the same tech as Continuity. The tech uses Bluetooth to make the connection and then uses Wi-Fi to transfer the data. The virtual display tech uses an encrypted stream to send a second display to the iPad. You don’t need a special app, just connect to your iPad like any other external display. With a second monitor, you’ve got all the space you need to spread out!
- Sign Your Docs Digitally
It’s easy to digitally sign documents using your Mac, first open up Preview, take a look at the menu bar and select ‘Tools’, and then ‘Annotate’. From here you can select ‘Signature’, and then ‘Manage Signatures’. Next, you’ll see a pop-up and from here you can select ‘Create Signature’. You can write your digital signature on the trackpad. When you need to sign a doc, open preview, find your signature, and put it in the right place. Next time you need to sign a document from home, there’s no need to stress. It’s a super easy process when you’ve got a MacBook.
- Make Handy Keyboard Shortcuts
Using a MacBook you can create a keyboard shortcut for just about anything you like. First, open up system preferences, next select ‘Keyboard’, and ‘App Shortcuts’. From here click on the + symbol, and you can add your shortcut here. It’s easy to pick the app you’d like to apply the shortcut to, (you can find it in the list). Bear in mind, you’ll have to know the name of the menu command. Once you’ve created a key combination, hit ‘Add’. Simple hacks like this can save you time and boost productivity.
- Check Your Mac Activity
Is your Mac running a little slow? Perhaps the fans are starting up when you’re not doing much on your laptop? To identify the issue, try looking at the ‘Activity Monitor’. First, you can go to the Utilities folder, where you can check your processes, and which resources they are using. In the columns, you’ll see CPUS usage and RAM. If you spot something that’s taking up space, unnecessarily, you can select and quit the process.
Macs are top quality machines, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have issues from time to time. The good news is there are plenty of quick fixes that you can troubleshoot yourself. Whether it’s charger issues or random restarting, there are plenty of hacks you can try before you call in the experts!
