Did you know you can open LaunchPad and hide your desktop using macOS trackpad gestures? Here’s everything you need to know about your MacBook’s built-in mouse.
One of the best parts of macOS is learning and executing all of Apple’s many internal shortcuts. These are hidden commands built into the company’s hardware that are total godsends when it comes to things like click consolidation (one command instead of three clicks) and workflow optimization. Some of these commands you may already know, but we’re willing to bet there’s at least one or two we can introduce to you!
That’s our goal at any rate, and we’ve gone ahead and created this roundup of several trackpad gestures you can use in macOS for all our readers. Even if you don’t use shortcuts all the time, one of these quick executables could come in handy down the line. Zoom in or out
When one needs a digitized magnifying glass, you don’t have to resort to manual macOS controls for adjusting your page zoom (clicking View > Zoom In or Zoom Out repeatedly). Instead, you can just execute zoom-in and zoom-out gestures using your trackpad.
To do so, simply pinch with two fingers anywhere on your trackpad. Spreading your fingers outward will zoom in, while pinching inward acts as a zoom out. Swipe between pages
Let’s say you have a PDF open with multiple pages you need to sift through. On top of scrolling through the document, or inputting whatever page number you’d like to jump to, you can also turn pages using your trackpad.
Just put two fingers together and swipe from left to right for a a page forward command, or right to left to go back one page.Open Notification Center
All of your macOS notifications are stored in a hidden menu called the Notification Center. It’s not all that hidden though, as Apple makes it pretty simple to pull up the column with one trackpad command.
Put two fingers together, position them to the right edge of your trackpad, and swipe left. How to open Launchpad
Whether you want to gain a quick overview of your installed Mac apps or just launch something quickly, this gesture is invaluable.
