Taken on new employees who have never used a Mac? Making the switch from Windows isn’t always easy, but you don’t have to spend ages teaching the basic functionalities.
Instead of impacting your own productivity, you can boost theirs with these 10 handy tips.
Basic key and mouse functions
At first, the difference can seem huge. But with a helping hand, they’ll become second-nature.
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Ctrl + Alt + Delete
Exiting programmes can still be done, Macs just require the use of different keys. Press ‘Command’, ‘Option’ and ‘Esc’ together, and the Mac will come up with the ‘Force Quit Applications’ dialog box.
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Deleting text
Most will understand how to delete text with the familiar looking ‘backspace’ key. However, with a Mac, there is the option to ‘forward delete’, even without a delete button. Just press ‘fn’ and the backspace.
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Mouse scrolling
Apple reverses the left and right mouse button functions, along with the scroll direction – but users can change these in the ‘Mouse’ section of ‘System Preferences’. Choose the ‘Primary mouse button’ as left and uncheck the box next to ‘Scroll direction: Natural’.
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Horizontal scrolling
It can be made so that horizontal scrollbars are always accessible. Go again into ‘System Preferences’, then in ‘General’ opt for ‘Always’ under ‘Show scroll bars’. Users can also scroll downwards via the mouse but click ‘Shift’ along with ‘H’ to scroll horizontally.
Screenshots
Not having the usual ‘Print Scrn’ button puzzles many – however it’s easy to take a screenshot, and still via the keyboard.
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Capture the entire or part of a screen
For the whole screen, press the ‘Shift’, ‘Command’ and ‘3’ buttons together. To capture part of the screen, do the same, except replace ‘3’ with ‘4’. This will bring up a pointer, allowing for the selection of the area to snap.
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Screenshot a whole window or menu
To save the effort of dragging the pointer around an entire window or menu, press the ‘space button’ after the previous step. This transforms the pointer into a camera which snaps these simply by hovering over and clicking.
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Snapping with macOS Mojave or video recording
If you’ve upgraded to the advanced macOS Mojave, then ‘Shift’, ‘Command’ and ‘5’ can be used instead, making the process easier via the onscreen capture controls. Apple have detailed this, along with how to take video recordings of the screen.
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Locating screenshots
The Mac doesn’t ask where to save screenshots. Instead, they are automatically located on the desktop, with a file name of ‘Screenshot’ followed by the date and time taken. Users can then rename these and save to the appropriate place.
Extras
These functionalities fall into the ‘miscellaneous’ category but are still super handy.
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Annotating PDFs or images
When either a PDF or image is opened, it will do so in ‘Preview’, the default PDF viewer. Click ‘View’ at the top, then ‘Show Markup Toolbar’ – this allows for annotation features like highlighting, scribbling or adding text.
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Managing the Dock
Users might not use all the apps in the Dock – by right clicking on individual ones these can be closed. Plus, in ‘System Preferences’ under ‘Dock’, there’s the ability to change the size and hide them so it doesn’t take up space during other tasks.
With these tips, employees should find the Mac significantly easier to use, in turn boosting productivity. However, there may be some who just prefer Windows. This doesn’t mean you need to switch Macs for alternative machines. There’s the option to run Windows on a Mac also.
Whilst many Mac struggles can be solved, you might still have an issue: the high upfront cost. Thankfully, there is a solution: leasing. With Lease Loop, we’ll find you a leasing option that not only helps maintain a positive cash flow, but is fitting to your needs. Learn more by contacting our team today.
