10 Little-known Mac Features That Will Transform Your Desktop

Get more out of your Mac.

- By Roman Loyola

The Mac operating system that we use today was introduced 21 years ago. Whether you've been using the Mac longer than that or just bought your first M1 MacBook, macOS is a vast operating system and there are tons of tucked-away features that you can take advantage of to help you get stuff done.

Here are ten macOS tips and features that you may not know or have forgotten about that can help you get more out of your Mac. Some of these are old, some just arrived in the past year, but all of them are incredibly handy to have in your arsenal.

1. REARRANGE MENU BAR ICONS

The menu bar is a good way to quickly access frequently-used settings and other functions. To get the most out of it, you can rearrange the icon order to your preferred locations. To move an icon, hold the Command button, and then click and drag the icon to where you want.

A few menu bar items can't be moved, such as the date and time, Siri, and Control Center. All of the icons to the left of those immovable icons can be rearranged.

2. CUSTOMIZE (AND LOCATE) YOUR CURSOR

If you've been using the Mac for as long as I have, that white-and-black pointer cursor is a familiar sight. You can actually give it a little personality with some customizations in the Accessibility settings.

In the Display section of Accessibility, there are settings for Pointer, which modify the Mac's cursor. You can make the cursor bigger, and you can change (fave.co/3m1GflE) its outline and fill colors. Have a little fun and make your Mac a little more personal.

And here's a bonus tip: Inside the Pointer tab you'll find a checkbox for Shake mouse pointer to locate. Turn it on and you'll be able to wiggle your mouse back and forth quickly to briefly enlarge your cursor. This is great if you often find yourself unable to spot the cursor.