10 MacBook Trackpad Gestures That Will Save You Time
If you have a MacBook, you probably know very well how scrolling and right-clicking work on a trackpad, but you might not know how to bring up Quick Look, Action Center, or Exposè. Whether you’re new to macOS or just never bother to learn them, these gestures can make your life a little easier.
Open and close action center with a two-finger swipe
You may not use Action Center often, but it has become quite useful after updates to Sierra . Now that you can use Siri to save all types of life information, like movie timesheets, exercise schedules, and even Finder results, it’s nice to know that swiping down to Action Center is all it takes with two fingers. This is a bit tricky to master as you have to swipe in from the right edge of the trackpad for it to work properly.
Open Launchpad with three fingers and a thumb.
Launchpad is one of those macOS features that is often overlooked, but still useful at times. If you’ve even forgotten what it is, Launchpad is just a way to access all of your apps in a grid. If you don’t have an Applications folder in your dock, Launchpad is a convenient way to access all of your applications. Moving three fingers and thumb together is a little awkward, but once you’ve done that, you can easily open Launchpad. From there, you can customize Launchpad to make it more useful.
Show the desktop with three fingers and thumb in reverse
It’s actually a little awkward, but useful. Place your thumb and three fingers on the trackpad, then spread them in the opposite direction, as if admiring food , to open the desktop. If you keep files on your desktop while you work, this is the easiest way to access them. Since it hides all open windows, it’s also a great way to hide what you are doing in case someone surprises you.
Invoke mission control by swiping up with three fingers
Speaking of the often forgotten features, Mission Control is one of those that might slip away from your memory. If you swipe up with three fingers (four fingers on some MacBooks), you open Mission Control, which displays all of your open apps and all of your current desktop areas. This is an essential feature for working on a small laptop screen because it is the easiest way to find out what applications you have open. While in Mission Control, you can click and drag any app anywhere on your desktop from the menu at the top.
Show all open application windows by swiping down with three fingers
Need to quickly see all open windows in a particular application? Swipe down with three fingers (four fingers on select MacBooks). This brings up “Exposè”, which makes it very easy to select a window in an application.
Switch between desktops with three fingers
Using multiple desktop spaces is one of the key ways to stay sane when you’re working on a small screen, and this gesture to switch between them makes it easier to switch between them. Just fold three fingers together and swipe left or right to switch between different areas of the desktop (four fingers on some MacBook models). If you’ve never used the Spaces feature before, it’s time to get started. Basically, it creates a new blank desktop in each space, and then you can assign specific apps to specific spaces, which can keep your desktop nice and organized even if you don’t have that many pixels to work with.
Go back and forth in your web browser, calendar, or QuickTime with a two-finger swipe
One of the most useful trackpad gestures lives in your web browser. Place two fingers on the touchpad and swipe left or right to go back or forward a page. This works in a number of other applications as well. In the calendar, you can switch between days and months, and in QuickTime, you can use a two-finger swipe to scroll forward or backward in the video.
Search for word definitions, link preview in Safari, or quick preview with three fingers
Chances are, you’ve summoned it by accident before, but it’s really useful when you learn how to use it correctly. Tap a link in Safari with three fingers and you will get a preview of that website. Tap any word with three fingers and you get the definition of the word. Do the same with any text file or image and you will open Quick Look. This is probably my favorite little gesture in macOS, although it takes a while to get used to.
Pinch with your finger to enlarge preview and Safari
Everyone is used to pinching their fingers to zoom in and out on iPhone, but this gesture works on macOS too. Just use the same squeeze gesture as you did for enlarging a photo in iOS to enlarge an image in preview mode, or zoom in on a website in Safari. It also works in a number of third party applications, including most notably Adobe PhotoShop and the rest of the Creative Suite.
Rotate the preview image by rotating with two fingers
While this is a little awkward, you can use the trackpad to rotate the preview image. Just place two fingers on the trackpad and rotate them as if you were opening a soda bottle to rotate the image in the direction you want. Like Pinch to Zoom, this also works in most versions of PhotoShop and other Creative Suite applications.