5 of Our Favorite macOS Sierra Hidden Features

When Apple took the wraps off its rechristened desktop operating system, macOS Sierra, at the company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference earlier this June, perhaps some of the greatest, milestone advancements shown off were a) the OS’ new and advanced Siri integration; b) Apple Pay integration on the web; and c) an all-new universal clipboard feature — further integrating Apple’s new mobile operating system, iOS 10, with its desktop counterpart, thereby offering users a more seamless way to transfer data and content from their iDevice to their Mac.

As with any major software release, however, the true breadth of features available in macOS Sierra are much more far-reaching than simply the cornerstone advancements that Apple markets so rigorously. As a matter of fact, though macOS Sierra could easily be considered a minor upgrade over OS X El Capitan, the former actually boasts a myriad of new goodies baked right in — whether you’re able to find and employ them all on your own, or not..

Here’s a list of our top 5 favorite hidden features in macOS Sierra!

1. Conversation-specific Read Receipts in Messages

While the concept of sending Read Receipts to your chat recipients is not new to the Mac platform, macOS Sierra ushers in the ability to determine — conversation by conversation — which threads will issue iMessage read receipts. Click on the Details link, located at the top right of the window, during any given chat session, and a window containing information about your chat partner will then appear. From there, you’ll be able to find a checkbox for “Send Read Receipts.” Simply check this option to activate, and repeat the steps for each chat as you see fit.

2. Coordinated Alerts Between Your Devices

Imagine that you’re sitting at your desk, iPhone and iPad just chilling next to your Mac. Under normal circumstances, for example, an iMessage might come in, then you’d be blasted with a trifecta of notification alerts on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac — since, you know, all three of them are linked up to your Apple ID, right? Well, in macOS Sierra (in conjunction with iOS 10), your three devices will now work more synergistically to deliver that iMessage notification only to the device you’re currently using.

3. New Keyboard Typing Shortcuts

One of my personal favorite features of iOS are the keyboard shortcuts. These may seem insignificant to some people, but when you’re typing up a couple dozen, dissertation length text messages and emails every day, you’ll definitely come around to appreciate such sought after tricks as the double-space period insertion, auto-capitalization, and automatic text correction. Fortunately, these same great iOS keyboard tricks have come to the Mac in macOS Sierra. To tweak your keyboard and typing settings, simply navigate to System Preferences > Keyboard > and finally, Text. You’ll then be presented with two new options, including “Capitalize Words Automatically,” and “Add Period With Double Space.”

4. Safari Extensions In the Mac App Store

So you really like FireFox because of the browser’s extensive customization potential, yes? Well, did you know that Apple’s Safari browser in macOS Sierra now boasts the ability to implement some pretty cool new 3rd party extensions, too? Just head over to the Mac App Store and type “Safari Extensions” in the search box.. (NOTE: the options right now are limited, however Apple’s macOS developers are working tirelessly to rollout additional extensions as we speak — so just give it some time, you know, everything in its proper time!).

5. Tabs, Tabs, Tabs

When I’m working on my Mac, sometimes I have as many as 5 or 6 different windows open at any given moment. And while I use a 32-inch Samsung HDTV as my monitor, I can only imagine that things get a bit more hectic and cluttered on smaller screens — even Apple’s 27-inch iMac, believe it or not. Fortunately, macOS Sierra has officially ushered in the era of tabbed apps — even tabbed, 3rd party apps, are joining in the fun, too! Any app that allows you to have multiple windows open at any given time — such as Safari, Pages, and Mail, among many others — now supports the tabbing of those windows into a single, consolidated window view — so you can get more done, with more extra space to roam freely about your desktop.

What’s your favorite macOS Sierra hidden feature? Let us know in the comments!