Top 10 tips and timesavers for Mac: how to send large files and more

Your Mac is capable of truly awesome things, it can do way more for you than you think!  Not sure what we’re talking about? Try some tricks from the following list. You are sure to find some useful tips and timesavers for Mac. We have put together this list for you to take your Mac user experience to another level.

1. Create a Printer Pool

If you are in a hurry and need to print some documents, but someone has already started to print a large batch, use this trick. It will work only if you have access to more than one printer. Go to System Preferences and choose Printers & Scanners. Here you can create a Printer Pool by selecting multiple printers. Now you are able to pick a Printer Pool instead of just one printer, and if one printer isn’t available, your document will be automatically sent to the one that is. How great is that?  

2. How to run Windows

If you need to run Windows for any reason: to play some games or run special software, we know how to do it the easy way. Use virtualization apps: VMware Fusion, Parallels Desktop or VirtualBox. An alternative suggestion is to partition your hard disk and install Windows on one of those partitions. To run Windows, go to the Utilities folder and start the Boot Camp Assistant.

3. Special symbols and Emoji

Do you know that there are some special characters and emojis you can use when typing on your Mac?

To find them, go to the Edit menu of any app and find Special Characters at the bottom. There you will get access to a huge range of different symbols. To add any symbol, just drag it into your text. Note that not every app supports Special Characters.

4. Sign documents in Mail

Now you don't have to print out a PDF document if you need to sign it. You can do everything right in Mail! Just follow these steps:

1. Attach your PDF to an email.
2. Hover over the attachment and find at the top right a little button.
3. Click this button, and you’ll get access to a range of Markup options, including one for signing documents.
4. By the way, you can add your signature in two ways: by holding a signed piece of paper up to the webcam or by drawing on your trackpad.
5. You can use the iPad stylus if you have one.

5. Easily share anything you want with anybody

With the share button that you can find in the upper right corner (it looks like an arrow going up out of a box) you can share anything you find interesting with your friends. Do you know that Mac keeps track of how and with whom you usually share? It is a very useful feature. So, if you often share links with a colleague, next time it will be easy to pick those options.

6. Talk with your computer

If you need to summon the same Siri that you've already grown to like on your iPhone, just press and hold the Command and Space buttons or click the icon on your Dock or Menu Bar. Siri is very powerful on Mac: it can turn on or off system functions like WiFi or Bluetooth, or find specific files based on your descriptions.

Siri can also launch or close apps, as well as store the results of your queries inside the Notifications area.

7. Send and receive text messages

Do you know that you can receive text messages (SMS) right into your Mac or other iOS devices? You will actually be able to reply to them from your Mac.

Here is how to make it work. Turn on the Text Message Forwarding option under Settings -> Messages on your iPhone. Note that your iPhone needs to be running iOS 8.1 and you should be signed into your iMessage account with your phone number linked to it both on your iPhone and on your Mac or other iOS devices.

8. Your iPhone is a Personal Hotspot

Your iPhone could be a personal hotspot for your Mac. Your iPhone is able to share its 3G or 4G mobile network connection with other devices. There are three ways to establish a connection: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB.

Go to the iPhone's Settings menu and find the Personal Hotspot option, turn it on. If you need to connect over the Wi-Fi, go to the Mac's Wi-Fi options and find the Wi-Fi network created by your iPhone, select it, and enter the password shown on the iPhone.

If you want to connect using USB, plug your iPhone into your Mac and choose your iPhone from the Network section in System Preferences. For connection via Bluetooth just activate Bluetooth on both devices and pair them, then choose your iPhone in System Preferences -> Network.

9. Send large files

Email isn't really good for sending large files. The problem is that many email providers will let you add attachments with a specific size limit (like a few megabytes). So you won’t be able to send big files over your email.

Try FileWhopper if you face a large file transfer problem.  With this service you can transfer big files with no size limit and at any time!

10. Store your stuff on iCloud Drive

On a Mac, you can place any file you want on the iCloud Drive by dragging it to the iCloud icon on the Finder sidebar. Your files will sync to other Macs signed in with your Apple ID if you've enabled iCloud Drive on them, and they will also be available on icloud.com. Apps that use iCloud usually open files from their special folder, but they should also allow you to go through your entire iCloud Drive to open other  stored files.

Want to get more tips and tricks for your Mac? Check out our article collection for Mac users.