TAP Mac OS
With the release of OS X Yosemite, Apple brought an entirely new look to the system – easily its greatest design departure since the ‘Aqua’ interface was brought in a few years ago. However, the changes are not just cosmetic. In fact, there are a ton of new features included in the new system that promise to make using your Mac a faster and more pleasant experience.
Cool Tip: One of the helpful features that OS X Yosemite has is called Dark Mode. Learn about what it is and how to turn it on.- Tap to Click on Mac As the name suggests, Tap to Click is an optional trackpad functionality that registers a click whenever a user taps the Trackpad or the Magic-pad of a Mac with 1 finger.
- Enable Tap-To-Click - Windows 7 on Mac; Windows 7, 8.1, or 10 on Mac Computer; Change Behavior of Function Keys - Windows 7 on Mac; Access Board of Trustees Website; Switch Between Mac and Windows on Mac.
In my opinion though, this is not always the case. In fact, there are a couple of options that I used to rely on in Mavericks that helped me to be a lot more productive – and I wish I had them back.
Tap devices are most commonly used in two distinct application scenarios: The first one is VPN software (such as OpenVPN). In this scenario, the kernel sends its network packets to the tun or tap devices. The VPN software will then encrypt and forward them to the other side of the VPN tunnel where they get. On startup, the Mac OS X TUN/TAP kernel extension will allocate multiple TUN/TAP devices, up to the maximum number of each. When creating a TUN/TAP device, Mac OS X expects to be given a path to an unused device. If left blank, this package will attempt to find the first unused one.
The first one is being able to use my Macbook’s trackpad to drag any window or item by just double-tapping and holding. This has been replaced by the awful default three-finger tap and hold option.
The other useful feature that was lost in the move is the ability to use the keyboard to interact with the buttons and options shown in dialog boxes.
You can re-enable both of these of course (which is the whole point of this entry), but strangely enough, these options are not located in intuitive places. Instead, you’ll have to dig around in order to find them.
Let’s take a look at how this can be done.
1. Enable One-Finger Tap & Drag
Step 1: On your Mac, first open the Preferences panel. There, head to the Accessibility option as shown below.
Mac Os Double Tap To Drag
Step 2: On the left panel of the next window, scroll down and select the Mouse & Trackpad option. There, click on the Trackpad Options… button.
This will bring down an options panel.
Step 3: On this panel, you will notice an interesting option at the bottom named Enable dragging. Check it.
This option not only allows you to enable dragging on your Mac’s trackpad, but also lets you activate or deactivate drag lock (when enabled, this means that when you drag a window, you will have to perform one more click in order to deactivate the drag function).
And done! Now whenever you use your Mac’s trackpad, just double-tap on any ‘draggable’ area of a window to move it around.
2. Using the Keyboard to Select a Button On a Dialog Box
Step 1: Like in our previous tip, you’ll have to open the System Preferences once again to access this option. However, just like before, you will have to dig a bit deeper than expected in order to enable it.
First, start by selecting the Keyboard option.
Once you do, from the different tabs located above, click on Shortcuts.
Step 2: You will notice an option at the bottom of the window named Full Keyboard Access. As you can see, this is precisely the option you need in order to enable full keyboard navigation across the system.
Below, make sure to also select All Controls.
Top Mac Os Apps
Now, whenever you are shown a dialog box, you will be able to select other options via the Tab or Space keys on your keyboard, making navigation a lot faster.
It is still a mystery to me why Apple made these options so hard to find and enable for the common user. Not only are they extremely useful, but (at least in my humble opinion), they are far better than their OS X Yosemite default alternatives. Thankfully now you know how to re-enable them and can get your productivity back when you do. Enjoy!
Tap Mac Os Catalina
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