Mac tips: 15 macOS Sequoia features to know in 2026

macOS Sequoia marked a turning point: with the arrival of Apple Intelligence on Apple Silicon Macs (M1 and newer), the system gained smart writing tools, automatic summarisation, and contextual actions built right into the OS. Yet in 2026, a fair share of Mac users still don't use them, for lack of information, not lack of interest.

This guide gathers the 15 most useful tips: keyboard shortcuts you'll use every day, Terminal commands for the curious, and the security settings that often go ignored.

Essential keyboard shortcuts#

Mastering a few shortcuts transforms the rhythm of daily work. Here are the must-haves, sorted by use case.

1. Spotlight: the central command (Cmd + Space)#

Cmd + Space opens Spotlight, macOS's universal search engine. In 2026, it integrates Apple Intelligence suggestions: you can type a question in natural language ("Marie's emails this week") and get a contextual answer.

Beyond file search, Spotlight also serves as an instant calculator, currency converter, and application launcher.

2. Mission Control and virtual desktops#

• Ctrl + Up arrow, opens Mission Control (view of all workspaces and windows)
• Ctrl + Left/Right arrow, switch between virtual desktops
• Ctrl + Number (1, 2, 3...), jump straight to a numbered desktop
• F3, direct Mission Control shortcut on some Apple keyboards

Practical tip: organise your spaces by context (one desktop for the browser, one for documents, one for communication). Mission Control lets you drag windows between spaces.

3. Exposé: find a window in the clutter#

Ctrl + F3 (or Cmd + F3 depending on your setup) displays every window of the active application side by side. Indispensable when you have 15 Finder tabs or 8 Word documents open.

4. Advanced screenshots#

• Cmd + Shift + 3, capture the whole screen
• Cmd + Shift + 4, manual selection of an area
• Cmd + Shift + 4 + Space, capture a specific window (with drop shadow)
• Cmd + Shift + 5, full panel with screen-recording options

Tip: hold Ctrl at the same time to copy to the clipboard rather than save the file.

Hidden Finder and desktop features#

5. Finder: show hidden files#

By default, macOS hides system files (those starting with a dot). To show them in Finder: Cmd + Shift + . (period). The same shortcut hides them again. Useful for accessing configuration files in your home folder.

6. Quick Look and instant preview#

Select any file in Finder and press Space: a preview opens instantly without launching the application. Works with PDFs, images, videos, Office documents, ZIP files, and even folders.

In 2026 with Sequoia, Quick Look brings in Apple Intelligence actions on images (describing content, extracting text).

7. Desktop: stack icons automatically#

Right-click on the desktop → Use Stacks. macOS automatically groups files on the desktop by type (images together, PDFs together, screenshots together). The desktop stays tidy even after weeks without manual tidying.

8. Tabs in Finder#

Just like a web browser, Finder supports tabs: Cmd + T to open a new tab, Cmd + W to close it. Handy for navigating between several folders without multiplying windows.

Optimising your Mac's performance#

9. Activity Monitor: identify what's hogging resources#

Activity Monitor (Applications → Utilities → Activity Monitor) is the Mac equivalent of Windows Task Manager. Look first at the CPU and Memory columns.

A process using 80–90% CPU constantly deserves investigation. Usual suspects: faulty browser plugins, Spotlight indexing in progress, or software not properly optimised for Apple Silicon.

10. Reset the NVRAM (non-volatile memory)#

The NVRAM stores low-level settings (startup volume, resolution, time zone). When the Mac is acting strangely at boot, resetting the NVRAM is often the first step.

On Intel Macs: restart, then hold Cmd + Option + P + R for 20 seconds until the second startup sound.

On Apple Silicon Macs: shut the Mac down completely (wait 30 seconds), then power it back on. The NVRAM resets automatically if needed, the Intel key combination is no longer necessary.

11. System cache cleanup#

Caches build up over time and can reach several gigabytes. To clear them manually: open Finder, press Cmd + Shift + G, then enter /Library/Caches. Select the contents of the folders and delete them (not the folders themselves).

macOS security and privacy#

12. Gatekeeper and app notarisation#

macOS blocks unsigned applications by default. If you see the message "the application cannot be opened because the developer is unknown", you can work around it occasionally with Ctrl + click → Open. But think first: that alert is there for a reason.

In 2026, Apple notarisation is mandatory for every app distributed outside the App Store. An app rejected by Gatekeeper on a recent Mac is a serious warning sign.

13. FileVault: disk encryption#

Enable FileVault in System Settings → Privacy & Security → FileVault. It fully encrypts the disk: if your Mac is stolen or lost, your data stays unreadable without the password.

On Apple Silicon, FileVault is hardware-accelerated, the performance impact is zero. There's no reason not to turn it on.

14. Advanced iCloud protection and security keys#

If you use iCloud, enable Advanced Data Protection (Settings → your Apple ID → iCloud → Advanced Data Protection). Your iCloud data is then end-to-end encrypted, even Apple itself can no longer access it. Be warned: if you lose your recovery codes, no one can help you recover the data.

For very sensitive accounts, macOS Sequoia supports hardware security keys (YubiKey) as a second factor for your Apple ID.

Terminal tips for advanced users#

The Terminal (Applications → Utilities → Terminal) gives access to features invisible from the graphical interface.

1. 1
   Find disk space used per folder, type: du -sh ~/Documents/*, This command shows the size of each subfolder in Documents. Handy for spotting folders that eat up space.
2. 2
   Flush the DNS cache, type: sudo dscacheutil -flushcache; sudo killall -HUP mDNSResponder, Fixes DNS resolution issues (sites that won't load despite an active connection).
3. 3
   Toggle dark mode from the Terminal, type: osascript -e 'tell app "System Events" to tell appearance preferences to set dark mode to not dark mode', Switches between light and dark mode instantly.
4. 4
   Show the processes using the most CPU, type: top -o cpu, Real-time view of processes, sorted by CPU usage. Press Q to quit.
5. 5
   Take a delayed screenshot from the command line, type: screencapture -T 5 ~/Desktop/capture.png, Triggers a capture 5 seconds after the command. Useful for capturing context menus or transient states.

In short#

macOS Sequoia in 2026 is a mature, powerful, secure system, provided you know its inner workings. Most of the tips above don't need any third-party software: it's all built in natively.

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