HOW TO Unlock hidden macOS behaviors

1 Hide other apps

Want to focus on one app? Rather than move it to a new desktop in Mission Control, Ctrl–click its Dock icon, hold Opt, and choose Hide Others (or Opt–click its Dock icon). Other apps disappear; switch to one and its windows will reappear.

2 Quit and remember

Quitting an app usually causes it to forget its windows, unless you hold Opt and choose [app name] > Quit and Keep Windows. To make this the default, turn off ‘Close windows…’ in System Preferences’ General pane.

3 Close other tabs

Ended up with a lot of Safari tabs open? You can close them one at a time by pressing Cmd+W, press Opt+Cmd+W, however, and all tabs but the current one will close. For tabs in multiple windows, use Window > Merge All Windows first.

4 Smarter folders

In Finder, choose File > New Smart Folder. Set a criterion, then hold Opt and the + button changes to an ellipsis (‘…’); click it to add a group of criteria; the Smart Folder can be set to match against all, none or any of the rules in this group.

5 Move files in a step

Dragging files to move them is, well, a drag — and on a trackpad, it’s easy to let go early. Use Cmd+C to copy items to the Clipboard, go to the destination and use Opt+Cmd+V to move them and not need to delete the originals manually.

6 Cumulative file sizes

With multiple files selected, File > Get Info gives you one window for each item. Hold Opt and the command becomes Show Inspector, which opens one window that updates with your selection (Cmd–click to adjust items).

7 Browse old backups

Need to browse an old Time Machine drive? First, if Time Machine’s menu bar icon isn’t visible, turn it on in the feature’s pane in System Prefs. Next, click that icon, hold Opt, choose Browse Other Backup Disks, and pick one.

8 Mute other tabs

If you end up with multiple Safari tabs playing audio at the same time, hold Opt and click the speaker icon on the one you want to hear — probably the one you’re looking at. There’s also a command for this in the Window menu.

9 Mute notifications

Rather than taking two clicks to turn on Do Not Disturb (Notification Center’s icon, then a switch), when you want peace, simply hold opt and click Notification Center’s menu bar icon; it’s dimmed when notifications are muted.

10 Instantly delete files

To remove a file immediately, without emptying everything else from the Trash — open Finder’s File menu, hold Opt and ‘Move to Trash’ becomes Delete Immediately. Prefer keyboard shortcuts? Select the file and press Opt+Cmd+Del.

11 Resize to fill desktop

Rather than use a window’s green button or corners to make it bigger, hold Opt and double–click a corner to fill the desktop. Hold Opt when resizing a window to do so in two directions at once — to make it wider, say, in one action.

12 Bypass dialogs

The ellipsis (‘…’) after a menu item means it’ll display a dialog. If the ellipsis disappears when you hold Opt, the dialog’s defaults are applied. In cases like the Log Out command, this triggers the default (highlighted) button’s action.