Desktop makeovers

Control notifications 1

System Preferences > Notifications (macOS 10.15, Catalina) or Notifications & Focus (macOS 12, Monterey) gives you lots of control over which apps can notify you and how they can do it, enabling you to get the updates you want without your Mac constantly telling you about unimportant things.

Get stacking 4

If, like us, your Mac Desktop is often where you dump stuff, ≈-clicking on it and selecting Use Stacks will make your Mac life a whole lot neater. This feature organises items into appropriate stacks, such as images and PDF documents. It makes things tidy and faster to find.

Change the Dock 2

≈-click on an empty bit of the Dock and you can change its size, its magnification level and its position on the screen. You can also decide whether it should hide away when it isn’t in use so that there’s more screen space for the app you’re currently using.

Do more Desktops 5

Use the Mission Control key on your Mac keyboard to create and switch between multiple virtual desktops. This is a great option for studying or working; you can have all the key apps in one desktop and pesky temptations, such as social media apps, in another.

Find Focus (Monterey) 3

Monterey’s Focus modes enable you to set different kinds of notification preferences for different times or tasks. For example, you might have one for work, one for personal time and another for lunchtime. It’s easy to create and edit modes in System Prefs > Notifications & Focus.

Add your iPad 6

From Catalina onwards, Sidecar enables you to use a compatible iPad as a second screen. Go to the Window menu and you should see a Move To section listing the available iPad(s). Cick on the iPad and the app will move to it. Both devices need to be on the same network with the same Apple ID.