This App Brings Some of My Favorite Windows Features to the Mac.
As someone who regularly switches between Mac and PC, I simply can’t live without the PowerToys app for Windows . It adds small, missing features that I really love on the Mac, such as an alternative to Spotlight search, automatic dark mode, screen-wake functionality, on-screen OCR (which lets you extract text from images), and much more.
But the opposite is also true. When I work on macOS, I start to miss the little features and commands I’ve been accustomed to on Windows for decades (I started using Windows in high school, but didn’t discover macOS until college).
It’s the little things, like the inability to cut and paste files in Finder. And why do I accidentally open the Music app every time I press play? And that’s just the beginning.
Introducing Supercharge , a utility from prolific indie developer Sindre Sorhus. Think of it not as a standalone app, but as a universal tool for your menu bar—a collection of micro-utilities designed to address specific usability gaps left by Apple, many of which have already been addressed by Microsoft. The app offers an unlimited free trial (with an update reminder every 12 hours), or you can purchase it for $18. It’s also available as part of a Setapp subscription .
The best Supercharge settings you should enable.
The Supercharge app works in two ways. First, it provides a settings menu that you can set and forget about. Second, it adds a menu bar for quick access to small features on the go.
As for the settings, I find them much more interesting. After installing the app, open the menu and go to “Preferences.” Go to the “Settings” tab and take a moment to customize your Mac’s behavior.
Make Finder work more like Windows Explorer.
Supercharge is making its way into Finder, fixing legacy bugs that have irritated Windows users for years. The first thing I did was enable “Cut and Paste.” Now you can finally use Cmd+X to cut a file and Cmd+V to move it, eliminating the awkward default combination of Cmd+C followed by Cmd+Option+V.
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In addition to moving files, the app lets you enable the Option+N keyboard shortcut to instantly create a new text file in the current folder—another familiar Windows feature I’ve used for decades. Additional settings include switching between opening and renaming files using the Enter key, as well as the ability to show hidden files by default.
Mission Control Center Functions
Apple’s Mission Control interface provides a general overview of all your windows, but it’s hardly interactive. Supercharge changes this by adding window management buttons directly to the overlay. You can now add separate Close, Minimize, and Exit buttons for each window in Mission Control, helping you quickly and visually clear cluttered app windows.
Dock improvements
Supercharge also brings much-needed flexibility to the Dock, making it more like the taskbar in Windows or Linux. Enable “Hide on Click,” and you can minimize or hide an app by simply clicking its icon. However, my favorite feature is the ability to open folders directly in Finder from the Dock. You can also configure Supercharge to add dividers to the Dock and close apps with the middle mouse button.
Fixing a bug in the Apple Music app
Perhaps the most useful new feature in the entire suite is the ability to prevent Apple Music from automatically launching. This feature prevents the app from opening when you press the “Play” button on your keyboard or Bluetooth headphones. If you’re a dedicated Spotify user or simply don’t like your headphones accidentally activating Apple Music, this feature alone is worth installing Supercharge.
Other useful features
The Supercharge app includes a number of other usability improvements. The “Notification Clear” feature lets you assign a global hotkey to instantly clear all notifications from the Notification Center, acting as an emergency button to restore focus. To prevent accidental closures, you can also enable a feature to prevent accidental app quits by double-tapping or pressing Shift + Cmd + Q.
Add these features to the Supercharge app menu bar.
The second component is the menu bar app. This allows you to add small missing features that would normally require downloading separate apps. There are over two dozen options available. Go to Settings > General > Show Menu Items to see the full list.
Here you can add options for quickly capturing and copying any text from an image (or translating it). Options include hiding all windows, showing the desktop, closing all applications except the current one, clearing all notifications, and much more. There’s also a simple “Keep Awake” feature that will keep your Mac awake even when the screen is off.
There’s also a built-in simple default browser switcher, although I prefer to use the dedicated Sindre app for switching default browsers .