MacOS Tips

Contents

• MacOS
• • Dock icons with spacing
  • Finder: Defining any file as a template
  • Open downloaded files (remove quarantine attribute)
  • Notes: Asterisk and minus signs at the beginning of a line
  • Configuring screenshot captures
  • Adding keyboard shortcuts to applications
  • Open TextEdit with an empty document
• Keyboard shortcuts
• • Keyboard shortcuts for special characters
  • • Find more special characters on the keyboard
  • General keyboard shortcuts for MacOS
• Other
• • Apple keyboard symbols with HTML entities
  • Useful Terminal commands

MacOS

Dock icons with spacing

In the Dock bar, the app icons are displayed directly next to each other. With many icons, this can easily become confusing. However, with the two Terminal commands

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{tile-type="spacer-tile";}'
killall Dock

a spacer can be added to the Dock bar and then positioned with the mouse. To remove the spacer, simply drag it from the Dock to the desktop, just like any other app icon. If you want more spaces, just execute the commands again.

Finder: Defining any file as a template

Any file can be defined as a template. When you double-click a file, a new file with the same content is automatically created and opened instead. This prevents the "template" from being accidentally changed during editing.

To do this, enable the "Stationery pad" setting in the file information (context menu "Get Info" or using the keyboard shortcut ⌘ Cmd+I).

Open downloaded files (remove quarantine attribute)

Files downloaded from the internet, via e-mail, or received outside of the App Store are assigned a quarantine attribute. This prevents them from being executed or opened. For programs, this can be circumvented by opening them via the context menu. This does not work for other files.

The quarantine attribute can be removed using the following Terminal command:

sudo xattr -d com.apple.quarantine FILE

"FILE" is the full path to the file, which can also be dragged and dropped from the Finder into the Terminal window.

To display the value of the quarantine attribute, replace the "-d" parameter with "-p":

sudo xattr -p com.apple.quarantine FILE

To display all extended attributes for one or more files, the "@" parameter can be appended to the ls command, for example: "ls -l@".

Notes: Asterisk and minus signs at the beginning of a line

If an asterisk or minus sign followed by a space is entered at the beginning of a line in Notes, a list entry is automatically generated. To be able to use these characters outside of a list, the input is entered twice in a row and then the format is changed to "Body" (body text). This can also be done with the keyboard shortcut ⇧ Shift+⌘ Cmd+B. For example, "* * " becomes a list entry with the text "* ". After the format change, it returns to normal text. This works the same way with the minus sign.

Configuring screenshot captures

The images created during a screenshot are saved as PNG files on the desktop with the name "Screenshot" followed by the date and time. Terminal commands can be used to change the save location and file format.

The settings are changed using the "defaults" command. The "write", "read" and "delete" attributes can be used to change, read, or delete settings, thereby restoring the default value. This is followed by a "domain", which is usually an Internet domain spelled backwards, and a program name, e.g., "com.apple.screencapture". The name of the setting is specified after that. If a new value is to be set with "write", this is added at the end.

The file name for screenshots is set with the command

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name "Screen Capture"

This turns names like "Screenshot 2025-03-23 at 14.01.33.png" into "Screen Capture 2025-03-23 at 14.01.33.png".

The command

defaults read com.apple.screencapture name

prints the text "Screen Capture".

With the command

defaults delete com.apple.screencapture name

the user-defined value is removed and the default name is used again.

The file type can be changed with "type":

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Supported file types are png (default), jpg, pdf, psd, gif, tga, tiff, bmp and heic.

The save location is specified using "location". The folder should exist. If it doesn't, the screenshot is saved to the desktop. For example:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop/screenshots

Adding keyboard shortcuts to applications

Most applications don't assign a hotkey (keyboard shortcut) for all menu items. Often, a keyboard shortcut is missing for one or another frequently used function. However, custom keyboard shortcuts can be assigned to all programs in the macOS System Preferences.

A good example is the "Notes" app, which has its own keyboard shortcuts for all formats except "Monostyled". This is a fixed-width font, particularly suitable for terminal commands and source code.

To create a keyboard shortcut for this menu item, open the system settings, select the "Keyboard" item and then the "Keyboard Shortcuts" button. In the window that appears, keyboard shortcuts can be assigned and changed for various predefined functions.

The "App Shortcuts" option allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to menu items for all programs or a specific program. You can add a new item using the "+" button.

In the dialog that appears, you first specify whether the shortcut should apply to all programs or a specific program. Here, we select the "Notes" app from the list.

The menu title is "Monostyled" for an English user interface or the corresponding menu title in the set language.

Finally, press the keyboard shortcut in the corresponding text field to enter the text. ⌘ Command + ⇧ Shift + M is recommended. After confirming the dialogs with "Done" and restarting Notes, the new shortcut will appear in the Format menu and can be used in the program.

Open TextEdit with an empty document

Each time you start TextEdit, a dialog box appears asking you which document you want to open. If you want TextEdit to always start with a blank document, simply enter a terminal command (TextEdit should be closed):

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit NSShowAppCentricOpenPanelInsteadOfUntitledFile -bool false

After acknowledging a security warning, TextEdit always starts with a blank document. To restore the original behavior, execute the above command with only slight modifications:

defaults write com.apple.TextEdit NSShowAppCentricOpenPanelInsteadOfUntitledFile -bool true

Keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts for special characters

The key layout may vary depending on the keyboard type and manufacturer. Some of these characters may also be found as separate keys on the keyboard.

Find more special characters on the keyboard

To find more special characters on the keyboard, open the System Preferences, select "Keyboard" and under "Text Input" click the "Edit" button.

In the window that appears on the left, select the desired keyboard layout. A graphical keyboard overview with the corresponding keys is then displayed on the right. These keys change when the ⇧ Shift, ⌥ Opt, or both keys simultaneously, are held down.

General keyboard shortcuts for MacOS

Other

Apple keyboard symbols with HTML entities

Useful Terminal Commands

df -h

Displays free disk space.

ifconfig -a

Displays the network card parameters.

networkquality

Displays the network speed for uploads and downloads. A specific interface can be specified with the "-I" option.

pbcopy

Copies the data from the standard input channel to the clipboard ("pasteboard"), e.g. "ls | pbcopy" to copy the output of ls.

pbpaste

Outputs the contents of the clipboard to the standard output channel, e.g. "pbpaste | wc -l

say "TEXT"

Outputs the TEXT as speech.

security find-generic-password -a "NETWORK" -w

Displays the Wi-Fi password for the specified NETWORK. Administrator credentials are required.

system_profiler

Outputs system information. Due to the volume of information, it should be redirected to a file.

system_profiler -detailLevel mini

Displays shorter system information without identifying/personal information.

system_profiler -listDataTypes

Displays a list of all available data types.

system_profiler TYPE

Displays only the system information for the specified data TYPE. Multiple data types can be specified, separated by spaces, e.g., "system_profiler SPSoftwareDataType SPNetworkDataType" for software and network information.