macOS Tips & Tricks

A personal collection of macOS tips and terminal commands that I find useful. I’ll keep updating this as I discover more.

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Finder

Show/Hide Desktop Icons

Sometimes you need a clean desktop for presentations or screen recordings.

Hide desktop icons:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false
killall Finder

Show desktop icons:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool true
killall Finder

Set Default Sort Order in Finder

For a single folder:

1. Open the folder
2. Menu bar > View > Show View Options (or press ⌘ + J)
3. Set your preferred “Sort By” and “Arrange By” options

Set as default for all folders:

1. Press ⌘ + J to open View Options
2. Configure your preferred sort (e.g., by Name, Date, Size)
3. Click “Use as Defaults” at the bottom

Folders that already have custom settings will keep them. New folders will use the default.

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Terminal

Quickly cd to a Folder

When you have a Terminal window open, these are the fastest ways to navigate to a folder:

Method A: Drag the folder icon from Finder directly into the Terminal window. It will auto-fill the complete path. Just type cd (with a space after), then drag the folder in and press Enter.

Method B: Drag the folder directly onto the Terminal icon in the Dock. It will open a new Terminal window already in that directory.

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Related Articles

• What is a Terminal? - Terminal basics for beginners
• Claude Code for Beginners - Use AI in your terminal
• What is GitHub? - Version control from the terminal

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Sources

• Apple Terminal User Guide - Official macOS terminal documentation
• macOS User Guide - Apple’s official Mac documentation

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Last updated: February 2026

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