15 days ago Apple launched macOS Monterey for all users, and we have had time to enjoy the changes in the new version of the system. Although they are not huge, they are help to be more productive and modify various workflows on a day-to-day basis.
These are some of the features I use now that didn’t exist before, and that they are helping me a lot when I have needed them
Live text
Live Text is one of the features Apple has touted the most for iOS 15 and macOS Monterey. If it is already useful on the iPhone to recognize text, as we showed in the video in which a student steals notes from his classmate, thanks to Live Text on a MacBook Air M1, my productivity increase has been enormous when I have been able to use it to work.
Yes, it is nothing more than a classic OCR, but it is applied automatically to any image that we open with Preview. And that, when you work writing, transcribing or copying from images, it is very relevant to save time. And so it was with respect to the article in which we talked about how the creator of Windows 8 constantly praises Apple. We accessed filtered emails from Microsoft, shared with an image. To recognize all the text it was only necessary to download the image to the desktop, open it with Preview, et voilá. Here the proof of it:
Once I have the text recognized and selected, I can copy and paste it, translate it directly… It is a function that will help me a lot to spend less time writing what I see in photos, or in text in PDFs that do not come with the recognized text. If you are a student and they pass you captures of notes, it is also a mandatory function.
Low power mode
This is a legacy feature from iOS 15, and one that I have used quite a few days on my MacBook Air M1. Although its autonomy is very good, activating this function from System Preferences -> Battery scratches some more time away from the charger, without significantly impairing the perceived performance of the system. From about 7500 points in Geekbench 5 (multi core) I have gone to about 4000. Yes, it is a big drop. but writing and browsing you hardly realize it.
On Intel computers, for example, disable Turbo Boost, which, in addition to helping reduce power consumption, will also make your computer quieter. What we should ask Apple is to allow this function to be activated from the battery icon in the macOS menu bar, because right now it is deeply buried.
Reset without needing to format
Unlike what has happened for a long time in Windows 10, in macOS, to do a clean installation, you had to continue to resort to formatting with Disk Utility from an external installation or through recovery mode.
However, thanks to the “Delete content and settings“, present by clicking on the name of System Preferences in the menu bar, also inherited from iOS, now we can get a clean system with a few clicks, and without having to reinstall. A luxury for those who did not “format” just to avoid laziness which involved doing the whole process. I’ve already used it on a computer and it’s a fantastic feature.
Fast notes
It is another of the great novelties of the system. The macOS Notes application is at a very high level, especially if you use it on other devices in the ecosystem. However, sometimes, it was not the best to write something fast, because you had to open the application, which It covered you with large windows interface size, etc. For quick notes, that typical moment when they call you and give you an email address or something like that, I used the Unclutter notes.
Now with Sticky Notes, I have the possibility to write something quickly just by taking my cursor to one of the corners of the screen and clicking on it, being able to be the one that we choose of the four that we have. Hot Corners is one of the best features of macOS, and it is very good that after years without giving it functionality, Apple bet on it for this.
Use your Mac as an AirPlay receiver
AirPlay is the equivalent of the Google Cast technology of the Apple ecosystem. From macOS Monterey, Macs become receiving devices, as until now were the Apple TV, some televisions and some speakers.
Thus, instead of having to go to TV to watch a large video, I can see the iPhone videos in maximum quality on the monitor that I use with the MacBook Air M1, which is HDR and being 27 “already offers me a comfortable viewing size.
Shortcuts
One of the features I value the most about macOS is Automator automation. However, within the ecosystem, both developers and users are now focused on Shortcuts, the iOS application born from the purchase of Workflow.
In macOS Monterey, without saying goodbye to the power of Automator, now we can create new shortcuts and use the ones we already had in iOS. Some are not valid between platforms, but it helps me not to have to resort to my mobile for tasks that I can do directly on the computer. And they are not few in image editing, for example.