{"id":6780,"date":"2018-08-01T13:02:27","date_gmt":"2018-08-01T18:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/?p=6341"},"modified":"2018-08-05T13:36:27","modified_gmt":"2018-08-05T18:36:27","slug":"13-essential-trackpad-tricks-for-mac-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/13-essential-trackpad-tricks-for-mac-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Your Fingers Do the Walking: 13 Essential Trackpad Tricks for Mac Users"},"content":{"rendered":"

A trackpad is not a mouse. In some ways, that\u2019s obvious\u2014you swipe your fingers on it, rather than dragging it around. Less obvious, however, are the many gestures that make using a trackpad on your Mac faster and more fun. These gestures aren\u2019t limited to laptop users, thanks to Apple\u2019s Magic Trackpad 2<\/a>, which brings gesturing goodness to any desktop Mac. Here\u2019s how to put your fingers to work.<\/p>\n

Four Fingers on the Trackpad<\/h3>\n

The four-fingers-down gestures are dramatic and an easy way to appreciate the power of trackpad gestures, so we\u2019ll start with them.<\/p>\n

Say you have a lot of windows open, and you want to move them all aside quickly so you can open a file on the Desktop. Place your thumb and three fingers together on your trackpad and then spread them outward. Your windows scurry to the edges of the screen. To bring the windows back, reverse the gesture, pinching your fingers in toward your palm.<\/p>\n

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If you haven\u2019t moved windows aside, pinching your thumb and three fingers together instead opens Launchpad, which shows icons for installed apps. Click an icon to open that app, or use the spreading four-fingered gesture to exit Launchpad.<\/p>\n

Three Fingers on the Trackpad<\/h3>\n

Move three fingers horizontally on your trackpad and either nothing will happen, or you\u2019ll switch to a different \u201cdesktop space.\u201d This state of affairs is most easily seen by making an app full-screen. For instance, open Safari and click the green full-screen button at the upper left of the window. Safari takes over the entire screen, including the menu bar (to put it back, hover the pointer at the very top of the screen to see and click the green button again).<\/p>\n

Now swipe left and right horizontally to switch in and out of the Safari space. As you make more apps full-screen, they\u2019ll each create their own space. (If you\u2019ve enabled Apple\u2019s Dashboard, you may see it at the far left.)<\/p>\n

What if you swipe vertically with three fingers? Swipe up to enter the All Windows view of Mission Control, which shows all open windows as thumbnails, plus desktop spaces in the top bar. Click any thumbnail to switch to it, or jump to any space by clicking it. You can also click the plus button at the upper right or drag any window into the top bar to create a new space. To move a space\u2019s apps back to the current space, hover over a space on the top bar and click the close\u00a0\"\"\u00a0button that appears. To exit All Windows view, swipe down with three fingers.<\/p>\n

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If you haven\u2019t invoked All Windows view, swiping down with three fingers instead invokes App Expos\u00e9 view, which displays thumbnails of all open windows in the current app. Click any one to switch to it. Swipe right or left with three fingers while in App Expos\u00e9 to switch between apps.<\/p>\n

Finally, on older MacBooks that don\u2019t have Force Touch-capable trackpads, tap with three fingers on words to look them up, on files to preview them with Quick Look, and more. With newer MacBooks, if you have \u201cForce Click and haptic feedback\u201d enabled in System Preferences > Trackpad > Point & Click, you can instead \u201cforce click\u201d with one finger for these features. That involves clicking on something and then pressing firmly without letting up.<\/p>\n

Two Fingers on the Trackpad<\/h3>\n

The two-fingered gestures are easy to get your head around:<\/p>\n