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macOS Big Sur is lastly right here. Version 11 of Apple’s working system for Mac incorporates a fully overhauled look that is designed to be each recent and acquainted, however it’s not simply the design that is new. Apple has additionally rethought and retooled many options of macOS to enhance the person expertise, so whether or not you are working on Intel or Apple Silicon, there’s lots that is new to discover.
In this text, we have picked out a few of our favourite additions and enhancements within the public launch of macOS Big Sur, together with some smaller adjustments that you just may not learn about.
8 Quick Start Tips Video
This video offers you a fast overview on the place to start out with macOS Big Sur proper after you get it put in:
If you have received extra time to dig in, we have additionally collected this extra complete checklist of ideas and methods for the most recent macOS launch.
50 Tips and Tricks for macOS Big Sur
1. Setup Assistant Accessibility
When you first arrange macOS, there is a new step within the setup wizard that gives you a chance to configure varied accessibility options earlier than you log in.
In earlier variations of macOS, the one accessibility possibility you can allow within the setup wizard was VoiceOver, so this could come as a welcome addition for customers who discover the accessibility options helpful.
A brand new menu bar merchandise for media that is at present enjoying is now out there. It’s just like the widget that you could add to the Notification Center.
To allow the Now Playing menu bar merchandise, go to System Preferences -> Dock & Menu Bar, click on Now Playing within the aspect column, then verify the field subsequent to Show in Menu Bar.
3. Play Sound on Startup Option
You can now select whether or not your Mac performs the standard startup chime or not with out having to mess with Terminal instructions. Go to System Preferences -> Sound, and verify the field subsequent to Play sound on startup.
4. Tab Search Field
In Safari, you’ll be able to search all of your open tabs utilizing a brand new Search Tabs enter area within the higher proper nook of the Tab Overview display.
The performance has truly been out there within the Tab Overview display in earlier variations of Safari, however the search area would solely seem when you began typing, so many customers most likely did not understand that it was even a factor. This larger visibility ought to make extra customers conscious of the characteristic.
5. Safari Start Page Customization
Safari in macOS 11 incorporates a customizable Start Page that means that you can personalize varied features of it.
With the Start Page open, click on the Settings icon within the bottom-right nook of the window, and you may see checkboxes to regulate the looks of Favorites, Frequently Visited, Privacy Report, Siri Suggestions, Reading List, iCloud Tabs, and the Background Image. You may even choose a wallpaper for the background, or select your personal picture by utilizing the massive + button.
6. Control Wallpaper Tinting in Windows
In macOS Big Sur, home windows are tinted based mostly on the colour of the desktop wallpaper by default, even when there’s one thing between the window and the wallpaper.
If that will get your goat, you’ll be able to disable the coloured tinting of home windows by going to System Preferences -> General and unchecking the field subsequent to Allow wallpaper tinting in home windows.
7. Safari Tab Website Previews
Another neat addition in Safari is web site previews for tabs. Instead of opening a tab to get a greater thought of what it is about, merely hover your cursor over the tab in query, and you may see a small preview of the web site seem.
8. Override Battery Health Management
In macOS Catalina 10.15.5, Apple launched battery well being administration, which limits the cost of your MacGuide’s battery to increase its lifespan in case your Mac is linked to an influence supply most of the time.
Previously it wasn’t clear if or when your Mac’s battery cost was being restricted, however in Big Sur yow will discover this info proper within the battery menu bar merchandise, and even drive a full cost whenever you want it utilizing the Charge to Full Now possibility.
9. Safari Privacy Report
Safari now has an built-in Privacy Report that gives an inventory of trackers on an internet site and the variety of trackers that have been blocked, stopping web sites from protecting tabs in your looking habits throughout the net.
From the Privacy Report toolbar possibility, you’ll be able to see what number of trackers have been blocked within the final 30 days. You can even view a rundown on what number of trackers have been blocked from profiling you on the Start Page.
10. Cycling Directions in Apple Maps
In Maps, routes with biking instructions might be deliberate in your Mac and despatched to your iPhone or iPad, with the instructions bearing in mind elevation, busy roads, stairs, and extra, plus there are alternatives for planning routes that incorporate electrical automobile charging stations.
11. Keyboard Shortcuts in Reminders
Reminders has some new keyboard shortcuts that make it simpler to navigate between lists and make adjustments like setting due dates.
12. Redesigned Wi-Fi Status Icon
The Wi-Fi connection standing icon has been redesigned to incorporate three segments like in iOS, somewhat than the standard 4.
This is not precisely a brand new trick or characteristic, however we thought it was a worthwhile tip so customers do not have the impression that their Wi-Fi connection sign is not as sturdy because it was once.
13. Guides in Apple Maps
You can now use Guides in Apple Maps to discover locations. Guides present suggestions for the perfect locations to go to in a metropolis, providing up ideas on locations to eat, store, and discover.
Some of Apple’s companions for these Guides embody Lonely Planet, the Washington Post, AllTrails, The Infatuation, and extra. You can save Guides with the Add to My Guides button, and they robotically replace when new locations are added, so that you all the time have the most recent suggestions.
14. Relocated New Tab Button in Safari
In Safari, the button to create a brand new tab has been relocated from the best of the tab bar to the primary toolbar above.
This means that you can transfer it the place you want utilizing the Customize Toolbar… possibility (right-click the toolbar), similar to you’ll be able to rearrange the remainder of the toolbar buttons.
15. Pin Messages within the Messages App
Just like in iOS 14, now you can pin messages within the Messages app in macOS 11 to make it simpler to refer again to conversations with folks that you just’re frequently involved with.
Up to 9 of your most essential conversations might be pinned to the highest of the Messages app, with pinned conversations depicted as round icons. Simply drag a chat thread to the highest of the sidebar, or swipe proper on the thread and click on the yellow Pin button.
16. Enhance Voice Memo Recordings
The new Enhance Recording possibility within the Voice Memos app makes an attempt to enhance the standard of your recording. It does this by utilizing machine studying to take away probably undesirable sounds corresponding to background noise and echoes. Think of it because the audio equal of the Photos app’s magic wand button that enhances the standard of the chosen picture.
Just click on the Enhance button within the top-right of the window whenever you’re enhancing a recording’s waveform. The end result will not all the time be all that dramatic and might not even be significantly fascinating for what you are recording, however it’s price a attempt and you’ll be able to simply take away the enhancement for those who do not prefer it.
17. Safari Built-In Translation
Safari now has a built-in internet translator that interprets seven languages with only a click on, so you’ll be able to learn a complete webpage in one other language with out having to have an extension put in.
When you load up a web page in a language you do not perceive, verify for the interpretation icon on the proper finish of the deal with bar. Built-in translation works for English, Spanish, Chinese, French, German, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese.
18. Prefer Tabs When Opening Documents
This possibility enables you to drive a brand new doc to open in a tab as an alternative of a brand new window. It is not precisely new, however it has moved, so it is price highlighting.
“Prefer tabs when opening documents” has been relocated in System Preferences from the Dock pane to the General pane. It’s additionally now merely referred to as Prefer tabs and the choices have been rephrased to Never, In full display, and Always.
19. Battery Usage History
In the brand new Battery part that replaces “Energy Saver” in System Preferences, a brand new Usage History characteristic supplies particulars in your Mac’s battery life over the course of the final 24 hours or the final 10 days, damaged down into Battery Level and Screen On Usage so you’ll be able to see how your battery is performing.
Along with the Usage History part, there are Battery and Power Adapter sections that exchange the performance that was beforehand out there by Energy Saver. You can select when to show the show off, allow or disable energy nap, and extra, with the settings break up for battery utilization and utilization when linked to energy. The Schedule characteristic can be current.
20. Assign Reminders to People
In the Reminders app, now you can assign reminders to particular folks in group reminder lists.
Click a reminder and then click on the Assign To button, or right-click the reminder and choose the identical possibility from the contextual dropdown menu.
21. Speak Typing Feedback
In System Preferences, the “Speech” part within the Accessibility pane has been renamed Spoken Content, and it features a new characteristic referred to as Speak typing suggestions which, when enabled, will communicate again to you what you are typing, as you kind it.
In macOS 11, Apple has moved the setting that allows you to disguise the menu bar. Previously this might be discovered within the “General” pane of System Preferences. It’s now situated within the Dock & Menu Bar part.
To set the menu bar to cover and present whenever you transfer the cursor to the highest of the display, verify the field subsequent to Automatically disguise and present the menu bar.
23. Customize Control Center
In System Preferences, the Dock & Menu Bar pane enables you to select what seems within the Control Center. You can activate/off particular person controls corresponding to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirDrop, Do Not Disturb, Keyboard Brightness, and extra.
You’ll additionally discover further non-compulsory Control Center modules out there together with Accessibility Shortcuts, Battery, and Fast User Switching.
Your favourite Control Center menu gadgets might be pinned to the highest of the menu bar for fast entry.
Simply click-hold a menu merchandise within the Control Center and drag it to the menu bar along with your cursor.
25. Access Notification Options
Notifications at the moment are grouped by app and have further interactive options, so you are able to do issues like play a brand new podcast or reply to an e-mail with out having to open up the related app. Simply click on the Options button to get a dropdown menu of further interactivity.
26. Numbered Grid Voice Control
In System Preferences, the Voice Control part within the Accessibility pane now lists the Numbered Grid possibility within the Overlay dropdown.
When chosen, this feature segments the whole display into numbered zones, permitting you to work together with components of the display that do not have a management, or that Voice Control would not acknowledge as clickable.
To click on the merchandise behind a grid quantity, say “Click” and the quantity. Or say “Zoom” and the quantity to zoom in on that space of the grid, then robotically disguise the grid. You can even use grid numbers to tug a specific merchandise from one space of the grid to a different: “Drag 3 to 14.”
27. Customize Notification Center Widgets
Widgets have been redesigned in macOS Big Sur and are just like the widgets launched in iOS 14. Open the widget gallery and you’ll be able to customise them in three sizes utilizing the (S)mall, (M)edium and (L)arge buttons.
Then simply drag them from the library so as to add them to the Notification Center.
28. Photos Picker in Messages
There’s a brand new Photos picker within the Messages app that is accompanied by Memoji stickers (which might be created on the Mac for the primary time with the Memoji editor), an #photos seek for discovering trending photos and GIFs, and Message results, which have been out there on iOS for a number of years.
29. Look Around in Maps
macOS 11 provides Look Around to the Maps app, so you’ll be able to discover cities in an in depth, street-level view, just like Google Maps.
Just click on the Look Around icon (it is a pair of binoculars) and transfer the binoculars across the map to alter location.
30. Use Quick Styles in Notes
Apple has added Quick Styles to the textual content model menu in Notes, so now you do not have to open a Font window or dig into dropdown menus to go daring, italic, underline, or strikethrough.
By default, the battery share now not seems subsequent to the Battery icon within the menu bar. Fortunately, you’ll be able to reinstate it.
Go to System Preferences > Dock & Menu Bar, scroll down within the sidebar, then click on Battery below Other Control Center Modules and tick the Show Percentage checkbox.
32. Show Individual Note With Light Background
If you are utilizing Dark Mode, particular person notes within the Notes app might be set to have a lightweight background for higher legibility.
Just right-click contained in the be aware and choose Show Note with Light Background from the contextual dropdown menu.
33. Delete Old SDKs and Xcode Caches
You can now delete Xcode caches and older SDK variations within the storage administration part of About this Mac (Apple menu -> About This Mac).
Click the Storage tab, then click on the Manage… button and choose Developer within the aspect column, and you can choose which caches and unused SDKs to delete.
34. Set Profile Picture in Messages
Like iOS 14, now you can customise your profile image within the Messages app.
Simply choose Messages -> Preferences and click on your profile shot. You can select your personal picture or choose a Memoji, and that is how message recipients will see you in the event that they’re additionally utilizing iMessage.
35. Use Folders for Voice Memos
You can now arrange your voice memo recordings within the Voice Memos app utilizing folders.
Just click on the New Folder icon within the bottom-right nook of the sidebar, give your new folder a reputation, then click on Save. You can drag and drop recordings into folders, and even choose particular folders as Favorites to make them simpler to entry.
36. Edit Videos
The Photos app has inherited the video enhancing choices that first debuted in iPadOS 14, so now you’ll be able to go into enhancing mode and not solely trim your video clips, but additionally add filters, crop, make coloration changes, change saturation and publicity depth, change highlights, shadows, and extra.
37. Accent and Highlight Colors
In Big Sur, Apple has made a delicate however important change to the macOS interface with the addition of recent Accent coloration and Highlight coloration choices. In System Preferences, the General pane offers you varied Accent coloration radio buttons and Highlight colours that collectively change the looks of interface buttons, choice highlighting, and sidebar glyphs throughout the system.
But if you choose the brand new multicolored radio button (first within the row of Accent coloration radio buttons) and the Accent Color possibility within the Highlight coloration dropdown menu, this may apply the accent and highlighting colours that builders personally selected to characterize their very own third-party interfaces, making every app really feel that bit totally different.
38. Get Precipitation Weather Forecast
Apple’s acquisition of Dark Sky has introduced minute-by-minute hourly rain forecasting to the Weather widget.
Just click on the time within the menu bar to disclose the Notification Center, click on Edit Widgets, then drag the medium or giant Weather widget from the widget gallery to the Notification Center.
39. APFS Time Machine Backups
With macOS Catalina and earlier variations of the working system, Time Machine was solely suitable with HFS+ disks. In macOS Big Sur, nevertheless, now you can make Time Machine backups to an APFS disk.
To put together an exterior disk to be used as an encrypted Time Machine drive, merely choose it in Disk Utility, click on Erase, and select APFS within the format choices.
40. Add Captions to Photos and Videos
iOS 14 means that you can add captions to pictures and movies, and these sync throughout all gadgets if iCloud Photo Library is enabled, so the “Description” area in Photos has been renamed to Captions for continuity.
41. Import Passwords and Settings From Chrome
Safari now enables you to import passwords and settings from Google’s Chrome browser, together with your historical past and bookmarks.
You can discover the brand new setting in Safari’s menu bar, below File -> Import From -> Google Chrome….
42. Safari Extensions
The Mac App Store now has a Safari Extensions part in its Categories, so it is simpler than ever to seek out Safari extensions.
When you put in a brand new extension, Safari will ask you which ones web sites it could entry, guaranteeing your looking habits to stay non-public. Apple has additionally launched help for its NetExtensions API that makes it simpler for builders to carry extensions designed for different browsers to Safari.
43. Messages Inline Replies
Inline replies is a Messages characteristic that is designed to make it simpler to arrange chats that contain a number of folks and/or a number of topics. If you are in a chat with a number of folks and there are conversations occurring that cowl a number of matters, you can also make it clear who you need to reply to by utilizing an inline reply.
Simply long-click the message that you just need to reply to and select the Reply possibility. Inline replies will present up threaded below the unique reply, and for those who faucet on one, you’ll be able to see the whole dialog separate from the primary chat dialog.
44. Maps: Save Locations as Favorites
In Maps, now you can create a number of favourite places for straightforward entry from the sidebar.
Just choose a location on the map, click on the round ellipsis button within the top-right nook of the situation card, then choose Add to Favorites.
45. Check Privacy ‘Nutrition Labels’ for Apps
You’ll quickly be capable to verify “nutrition labels” for third-party apps within the Mac App Store.
A brand new part on each app’s web page referred to as App Privacy contains info from builders on what information is collected and whether or not that information is used to trace you throughout different apps and web sites, permitting you to make extra knowledgeable choices in regards to the apps you obtain.
Apple continues to be gathering this info from builders, however beginning in early December, builders shall be required to submit it earlier than they will have a brand new app or an replace accredited.
46. Top Hits in Notes Search
When you search notes within the Notes app utilizing the Search area, Top Hits seem on the prime of your search outcomes and floor probably the most related outcomes, making it simpler to seek out what you want.
47. Podcasts “Listen Now” Feature
The Podcasts app now has a Listen Now part just like iOS 14, making it simpler to seek out what to play subsequent. You can use it to renew the following episode in your queue from Up Next, uncover the most recent episodes in reveals you observe, and browse hand-picked episode suggestions.
48. Indoor Maps
The Maps app options extra detailed indoor maps than ever, taking in main airports and procuring facilities around the globe.
Indoor maps present full layouts of every mall or airport location with icons for eating places, elevators, loos, retailers, and different notable landmarks. Different flooring are clearly marked, making it straightforward to navigate by unknown areas. You can use it to find eating places, restrooms, or retailer on the mall earlier than you step out your entrance door.
49. New Wallpapers
Big Sur brings 40 new wallpapers to macOS, a few of which can look acquainted. That’s as a result of a lot of them take cues from wallpapers that Apple launched in iOS 14.2.
True to the Big Sur theme, you may discover extra photos of mountains and rock formations in System Preferences -> Desktop & Screen Saver, in addition to illustrated landscapes with totally different lighting situations for dynamic desktops.
50. Headphones Icon on Connect
In macOS 11, whenever you try to pair your AirPods or different Apple headphones to your Mac, you may get a notification, and an figuring out icon will exchange the generic quantity icon within the menu bar, so that you all the time know whenever you’re linked. You’ll additionally see a battery share on your Apple headphones within the dropdown menu.
Got any of your personal favourite ideas or characteristic adjustments that we’ve not talked about right here? Let us know within the feedback beneath.
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