If you just got a new Mac, or maybe you’ve had one for a while but want to boost your productivity in daily simple tasks, this video is for you.
Today, I’m sharing five easy setup tricks I always do on my new Macs. This time, it’s not a new Apple computer, I just reset my MacBook Air with M2 chip to give it some speed boost. I also installed the latest macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 update, so if you use an older version of macOS, some things might look bit different for you.
Let’s jump in!
Enable Tap to click for Trackpad
The first advice is relevant for Mac users who do not use mouse, but rely on a trackpad, either a built-in one into your MacBook, or an external one – the Apple Magic Trackpad.
To improve your clicking experience, I suggest to enable “tap to click” option, which is disabled by default. You know how sometimes you have to press down hard on the trackpad to click? This trick lets you just lightly tap it instead – this way it’s more comfortable, especially when browsing the web a lot or doing some stuff that requires a bunch of clicking. It just feels more natural, like tapping on your phone screen, and reduces finger strain over time.
Here’s how to do it: Click the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of your screen, then choose System Settings. On the left sidebar, scroll down and click Trackpad. Under the Point & Click tab, enable the option that says “Tap to click.” That’s it! Now let’s try it out – tap anywhere on the trackpad, and see how easy it is!
Super quick, and now clicking your trackpad feels effortless.
Tailor the macOS dock to your needs
The Dock is that bar at the bottom of your screen with all the app icons. By default, it’s full of stuff you might never open, but Apple still promotes it: like Apple TV or the new Apple Games app. Removing those apps from your macOS Dock makes it look cleaner and helps you to reach the apps you actually use way faster.
Here’s how to do it: Right-click (or hold the Control button and click) on any app icon in the Dock that you don’t want to be there. Then, hover the cursor over Options, then click “Remove from Dock.” And voilat, it’s gone! Also, you can just click and hold to drag it out of the macOS dock – that’d remove the app from dock too. And since this way the apps are not deleted, of course you can always get it back later if you change your mind by searching for it in Spotlight or Finder.
Besides, you can add to your Dock any apps you’ve installed yourself. I just installed a Google Chrome browser, so let’s see how to add it to my dock. To do it, launch the app, then right click the app icon in the dock, hover Options, and then click Keep in dock. That’s it, from now on Google Chrome will remain in the dock even after I quit the app or reboot my Mac.
Set ⌘+Space to switch input languages
My next tip is to set the Command + Space keyboard shortcut to switch the input language. If you’re like me and need to type in more than one language, this shortcut makes switching between input languages super easy. Otherwise, if you use only English, feel free to skip this step.
Here’s how to set it up: Go back to System Settings via the Apple top menu. Scroll the sidebar to bottom and Click Keyboard on the left, then press the Keyboard Shortcuts button. Look for the Input Sources tab on the left side, then the first action in the list would be Select the previous input source, which is set to Control+ Space key combination by default. Now double-click the default shortcut, then hold the command button and press the Space button once.
Now, as you can see, a message appeared saying that this Shortcut used by another action – that’s because it’s still mapped to the Spotlight search. So what we want here is to switch to the Spotlight tab on the left, double-click the default ⌘command + space shortcut, and then hold the control button AND hit space. This way we just freed the ⌘command + space combo use it for input language switching.
If you did everything right, you should see the new keyboard shortcut applied. And of course try yourself by holding command button and hitting space – you should see the input language change in the upper right corner of your screen.
For me, it’s way more natural and efficient to switch languages this way while typing, as I can hit ⌘command button with my left thumb, and Space with my right thumb.
In fact, Cmd+Space was the default shortcut for switching languages up to macOS 10.5 Leopard, released in 2007. In the next versions of macOS, Apple introduced Spotlight, and reassigned Cmd+Space to this new feature, which is a helpful one, but for me not as frequently used as switching the input language.
And if you need more than 2 languages, you can add all the languages you need in the input sources settings, and easily cycle between those by holding ⌘command and hitting the space button multiple times.
Make sure your Downloads folder is in the Dock, making it easy to access your downloads
The Downloads folder is available in the dock by default, but a lot of macOS users eventually accidentally drag it out of the dock, which is pretty easy, and then never get it back. So if it’s there for you, skip this step. Otherwise, let’s set it up!
Your Downloads folder is where all the files you grab from the internet go, like photos or documents. Adding it to your Dock lets you quickly drag-n-drop or open the file you recently downloaded without opening Finder every time. It’s a huge time-saver for everyday stuff.
Here’s how to do it: Open Finder app. In the sidebar, find Downloads (it’s usually under Favorites category). Drag the Downloads folder down to the right side of your Dock, near the Trash can icon – that’s the only place it can stay. Once it’s there, right-click, hover over “Display as,” and choose Stack. Then, under “View content as,” pick Fan. And for “Sort by,” I like the Date Added option to see the newly added stuff first.
Now , let’s check if it works – click, and your recently downloaded files fan out. Grab the one you need to drag to a folder, or just open by clicking. Also, you can quickly access your all downloads by pressing the Open in finder shortcut.
Set visibility for items in your Finder sidebar
Finder is like your file explorer, and the sidebar shows quick links to folders like Documents or Pictures. But sometimes it’s cluttered or missing what you use most. Customizing it hides the junk and shows only what’s useful, making finding the files you need faster and less overwhelming.
To customize your Finder sidebar: Open Finder app, then from the menu bar at the top, click Finder > Settings. Now, go to the Sidebar tab. Here, you can uncheck boxes for things like Shared or Trash. Also, you can remove Recent Tags if you don’t use that, or even iCloud if you use other services like Google Drive.
Here we go! Now your sidebar is personalized with just the shortcuts you need, no clutter.
There you have it – five simple tricks to make your Mac setup easier and more efficient. Try them out on your Mac right now; they’ll make a big difference in your daily routine.