Tip tap gestures are the best.
Tip tap left single finger = copy
Tip tap right single finger = paste
Tip tap left two fingers = close tab or archive (per app)
Tip tap right two fingers = new tab or reply all (per app)
Tip tap three fingers = move one space left
Tip tap four fingers = move one space right
Four finger swipe left and right = maximise window left or right
Four fingers swipe up = maximise full screen
Four finger swipe down = minimise window
Don’t forget click & force touch in corners, Great for opening specific apps (top left = mail/outlook, top right = safari).
Touch Bar mods, great.
Text snippets that are linked to keyboard shortcuts and or trackpad gestures.
Third party mouse stuff is excellent.
BTT is the first app I install on any new Mac, love that it is now in SetApp.
I extensively use the two-finger tap, two and three-finger tip-taps on my Magic Mouse to replicate similar functionality or semantics throughout apps.
In mail for instance:
two-finger tap: archive
tiptap middle (2 fingers fix): delete
tiptap left (1 finger fix): reply
tiptap right (1 finger fix): forward
This becomes the baseline for all apps, two-finger tap approves, validates, archives whenever I am, while tiptap middle (2 fingers fix) refuses, deletes, trashes wherever I am.
This has proved incredibly useful with Word. I use the tracking changes mode extensively (I’m a fiction writer) when going through novels with my editor. (Some chapters see two to five distinct passes and I write 800-page long books - that’s a LOT of changes and comments.) I have bound the tracking changes commands to specific keyboard shortcuts which are then fired through BTT gestures:
tiptap left (1 finger fix): add new comment or reply to comment
tiptap right (1 finger fix): delete comment
Also a very simple one I have is command-clic bound to a single tap in Safari. Allows to open links in new tabs with a simple tap of the mouse (the way middle-click works on Windows browsers).
Dimiss Notifications
I have an AppleScript widget that only shows the icons if one or more notifications are on the screen. If I click the button that appears an AppleScript dismisses all the notifications at the same time. As someone who uses Alert-style notifications for work, this script is super handy for when I wake my MBP up and there is a list of notifications down the right side of the screen.
WiFi Network
This is a simple AppleScript widget that just displays the name of the wifi network. This is probably unhelpful for most people, but my MacBook Pro is very often at a coffee shop, and if I am having connectivity issues it is usually because the computer has connected to the wrong Wi-Fi network. Just being able to look at the Touch Bar and seeing where I am connected to is a nice peace of mind.
Things: Next Todo
I think I got this from the GoldenChaos package, but I really like it. It is an AppleScript widget to show me the first ToDo on my Today list. Another thing I like being able to look down and see.
Zoom specific
With the sudden popularity of zoom, I didn’t want to have to worry about a bunch of keyboard shortcuts. So I simply mapped keyboard commands for muting and unmuting audio, switching the view, raising my hand etc. These only show up when Zoom is the active app.
Things specific
I have keys show up to instantly apply tags to any of my tasks, so I don’t have to remember the keyboard shortcuts. These only show up when Things is the active app.
If anyone’s interested in any of the above, let me know and I’ll post!
This is the function that got me to install BTT and buy it automatically. I’m pretty sure I cribbed this from Brett Terpstra, though I can’t for the life of me find a link to back that up.
Sam - oh my god, thank you!!! I can’t believe I didn’t know about this already.
After setting this up myself, I remembered that I never use the red or orange buttons either, so I just mapped red to “Maximize Window Left”, Orange to “Maximize Window Right” and Function Key-Green Button to “Restore Old Window Size.”
I love the “Show Menu Bar in Context Menu” action, but unfortunately (I’m guessing because of some other handy background utility I’ve got running) the menu only responds to arrow keys about half the time I invoke it and I end up having to reach for the trackpad anyway.
I’ve also got modifier clicks set up along the bottom and left edge of the trackpad to mirror the placement of the corresponding keys on the keyboard.
A three-finger tap sends mouse-down only, so I can grab and drag a file icon or other object without actually having to hold the mouse button or keep my thumb on the trackpad.
Update - I found I do use the Red button more than I thought, so I added the FN key to the trigger. Now the Red and Yellow buttons work as normal, but if I hold down the FN keys, they window snap to the left or right.
I think it’s the “TipSwipe Left Finger Down (2 Fingers Fixed)” in the Three Finger Gestures category. You place three fingers on the trackpad and swipe the left most finger down while keeping the other two fixed.
Yup, its the one @evanfuchs said … TipSwipe Left Finger Down.
I usually pause for a second between dropping three fingers on the trackpad and swiping the one finger down. TBH, I don’t know if it really helps or if its superstition, but it makes me feel better.
Most of my automation is around having the right music playing at the right time of day to help me work. I rely on calendar events to trigger Automator and AppleScript to run Spotify playlist. But they only seem to work nine times out of ten, and pity if you want to change anything (permissions) so I am moving them to BTT.
To help control my music I use
scroll wheel (over menu bar) for volume
scroll wheel click over menubar for next track
Shift plus right click will pause it for five minutes (Long enough to make a quick call and not forget to resume it)
With Siri on my phone (these took some work, as they are not operating on Spotify on the phone, but triggering BTT on Mac.)
I can tell Siri “I like this track”, which will trigger an app called Listen to move it to a certain playlist and give it a heart
I can tell Siri “next song”
I can tell Siri to turn it up or turn it down, or turn it “way up“ or way down
