63 great new ways to improve your Mac

Essential tips and tricks for OS X, iTunes, Photos & much more!

It’s said we only use a tiny percentage of our brain’s full potential. The same, sadly, is true of our Macs. These wonderful machines, even the oldest of which far outstrips the computing power of the kit that put Armstrong and Aldrin on the moon, spend their days drifting about the web, processing your words and totting up columns on a spreadsheet. In almost every instance there’s a better way of achieving each task, too – whether it’s employing some handy keyboard shortcuts, finding a workaround for a repetitive, tedious task, or employing some of the great innovations in Apple’s latest hardware and software. In the former case, we’re thinking specifically of Force Touch, which crops up in the latest MacBook and – for desktops – Magic Trackpad 2.

We’ve pooled our writers’ expertise, and their years of living and working with Macs, to bring you 13 pages packed with the tips and fiddles they use every day, whether at home or the office, to get more done in less time. We’ll also show you how to fix some of the most common niggles and irritants in an otherwise first-class pairing of hardware, software and online services.

Some of what follows requires El Capitan, but not much, so even if you’re running an older edition of OS X on an ageing Mac there’s something here for everyone.