…two years of enforced grumbling. [Use was enforced, not the grumbling.]

Very happy to be back. But there were a few things I liked about Windows…

  1. Clipboard history. [Windows] + [V]
    Miss this. There are plugins for macOS, but a built-into-the-OS solution would be much better.
  2. Right-click to open a folder with Adobe Bridge (better than dragging to app icon in macOS). 
    Easy to solve using Automator. Here’s a handy explainer on how to add a right-click option to a folder to open it with an app in macOS.
    Easier done than said but here’s the current steps:

    • Open Automator
    • File -> New
    • Choose ‘Quick Action’
    • Set ‘Workflow receives current’ to ‘files or folders’
    • Set ‘In’ to Finder.app
    • Search Variables for ‘Open Finder Items’ and drag to Workflow area
    • In the ‘Open Finder Items’ choose ‘Open with’ to Bridge
    • Save with a name like ‘Open in Bridge’
    • This will now appear in the Quick Actions fly out when you right-click in the Finder
  3. Hardware: non-Apple mice.
    Apple has a blind spot with their mice. The Apple Magic Mouse isn’t very magic.
  4. Tab to rename the next file in a File Explorer window
    But I’ve since found a new hack for macOS – right-click to batch rename. Not a direct equivalent but very handy and arguably much more powerful.
  5. Microsoft Apps that aren’t hobbled on Windows
    The macOS version of Outlook doesn’t copy-paste meetings anymore. Pft.

Of the stuff that makes me happy to be back on macOS

  • Quicklook (particularly with video files)
  • There is no need to change the keyboard layout or remember “ALT Codes” to type accents
  • Navigate windows grouped by app
  • Apps that don’t quit when you close the last open doc it’s running.
  • Quick launching Apps (clever disk/memory caching)
  • Double-click to unzip an archive
  • Drag and drop from Finder into an Open File dialogue box (Windows moves the file)

Last updated on 16th July 2024