A Mac computer is a versatile device, and one of its biggest productivity boosters is called Hot Corners. This convenient feature is somewhat hidden in System Preferences, but it’s easy to access and quick to configure when you know where to look.
It’s easier to navigate on a Mac when using hot corners, which eliminates the need to remember keyboard shortcuts and can even speed up drag and drop operations. The feature can be a bit confusing in some circumstances, but a few tips can make using Hot Corners easy once you’re familiar with them and your muscle memory has developed.
What are hot corners on a Mac?
On a Mac, the term hot corners it means that something special happens when you move the pointer to a corner of the screen. there are four hot corners and 10 possible actions for each corner along with the option to disable a corner. Opening Launch padcreating a quick noteputting the screen to sleep and more can be done simply by using a Mac mouse or MacBook trackpad to slide the pointer to a corner.
How to set up hot corners
Step 1: To allow hot cornersopen System preferences and type “Hot Corners” in the search box in the upper right corner or open the desktop and screensaver panel, select Screen saverand open hot corners options using the button in the lower right corner.
Yes hot corners are disabled, you’ll see four dashed menus wrapped around a small Mac screen and placed next to each corner. If any hot corners are already assigned, the currently selected actions will appear next to the corner that activates them.
Step 2: Choose one of MacOS’ hot corner menus to display a list of actions. Any corner can be set to open mission controlshowing all open applications; application windows, the windows of the current application; the notification center; or the Desk.
You can set up a Mac hot corner to control the screensaver, starting it without waiting several minutes for it to come on, or turning it off while you’re reading.
You may want to instantly put your screen to sleep or lock your Mac screen with a hot corner.
There are also two application launch options, one that opens Launch pad to see a list of all apps, and quick notewhich opens a small window for notes.
How to use macOS hot corners
You can activate any of the actions assigned to a hot corner moving the pointer to a corner. Don’t worry if this interferes with normal use, as getting close isn’t enough. You have to push all the way in the top left, top right, bottom left, or bottom right corners to activate the action.
Use macOS hot corners for easier drag and drop
You can use hot corners when dragging text, files, or images to another window. This saves a lot of time and effort if you often have multiple overlapping windows open. Instead of rearranging to place the source and destination next to each other, you can use hot corners. This does MacOS drag and drop much more powerful.
if a hot corner is set to Desk, mission controleither application windows, dragging to that corner shows those locations as a drop zone. It’s like being able to reach behind other windows to drop just about anywhere.
What if the hot corners on your Mac are not working?
Sometimes your Mac hot corners might not work as expected. In most cases, this is because one or more additional monitors are connected and configured as a extended screen.
In this mode, MacOS treats both screens like a single big screen and that means some hot corners it could be located on the secondary monitor. for example the left hot corners might behave normally, but when you move to the right corner or edge, the pointer appears on the extended second screen.
In other cases, the power management system must be restarted to fix the problem. Here’s how to solve both problems.
Step 1: Open the screens macOS’ dashboard System preferences and drag the position of the secondary screen so that it is not exactly aligned with the main screen.
If a corner of the main screen extends beyond the corner of the other screen, you will be able to use that hot corner on both the main and secondary screens.
The trade-off is that the physical location of the additional monitor might not match where MacOS thinks it is. That means that when you move the pointer to the other screen, it may appear to jump rather than transition smoothly.
Step 2: If multiple monitors aren’t causing the problem, you may need to reset the System Management Controller (SMC), which controls how your Mac manages power. As hot corners are related to the screen saver and sleep, the SMC may prevent the normal operation of this feature. On Apple Silicon Macs, simply plug it into power and restart the Mac to reset the SMC.
If you own an Intel MacBook, a special keyboard combination is required. Hold Control, Option, and Shift for seven seconds, then press and hold the power button to turn off the MacBook. Hold down all three keys and the power button for another seven seconds. Then wait a few more seconds and turn it back on.
For desktop Intel Mac computers, the SMC can be reset by unplugging the computer from power. After you unplug your Mac, wait 15 seconds, then plug it back in, wait five more seconds, and then turn it on.
Resetting the SMC should resolve any persistent issues with the Mac hot corners feature.
Mac OS hot corners They are great time savers. Navigating the Mac becomes much easier and drag and drop is supercharged when a hot corner is used Your screensaver won’t activate unexpectedly if the pointer moves to the off corner, and can quickly crash a Mac when zoomed out. It’s worth taking a few minutes to familiarize yourself and set up hot corners on your Mac to make everything a little easier.
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