While we’ve already explored some handy keyboard shortcuts and ways to quickly take screenshots on your Mac, there are some handy secret Mac tricks that we have yet to explain that will help you use your Mac to its full potential and save you lots of time. This article will explore some of our favorite Mac tricks, including saving videos from YouTube, quick math shortcuts, dictionary tools and more. Let’s get started.
Saving Videos to YouTube
<
Have you ever seen a video on YouTube that you’d love to watch again and again but you aren’t sure if you’ll have access to the internet? Want to grab some videos from relatives’ accounts on YouTube and save them for posterity? With Mac it’s simple and easy to save YouTube videos without needing to download any special plugins or applications. To get started, make sure that you are using your Safari browser and then find the video you want to save on YouTube in your browswer window. Once you’ve chosen your selected video, simply press option+⌘+a to open an “activity window.” In this window you’ll see the YouTube video file (usually the biggest one – several MB). To download the file, just double-click on the file and the download starts immediately. What a simple and fantastic way to save YouTube videos forever!
Dictionary and Google tools
It’s happened to all of us – perhaps we’re in the midst of an interesting news article or even reading our child’s term paper and we come across a word that’s not familiar. Or, perhaps you are interested in learning more about a specific subject about which you are reading. Mac has an easy tool to help enrich your vocabulary as you read or to help you quickly learn facts about what it is that you are reading. In Safari, simply highlight the word in question and right click it to see a list of options. Choose “Look up in Dictionary” to be taken directly to a Mac dictionary tool where the word will be explained. For even more information, select the “Search with Google” option to be directed immediately to a Google search about your selected word.
Whether it’s learning new words or learning new facts that you’re after, these tools make it easy to gain new knowledge quickly while reading and browsing.
Math Shortcuts
Maybe you’re in the middle of typing an important document in Pages and need to make a quick calculation. There’s no need to close your document or whip out a calculator – simply use this easy shortcut and your Mac will perform simple operations for you. To find a certain calculation, just type it into your document (for example 1,892+203) and highlight the operation. Once the operation is highlighted in its entirely (“1,892+203″) in this case, press ⌘+Shift+8 and the answer will appear before your eyes! (The answer is 2,095 by the way!)
Enjoy these tricks that will help make life with your Mac even easier, and check back for some more Mac tips and tricks in another post soon.
