Watch 5 great new features in macOS Mojave

Posted:
in macOS edited June 2018
Apple announced macOS Mojave at WWDC on Monday, including some pretty big new features and changes. After using the developer beta over the last few days, here's AppleInsider's top five features Apple included in its next milestone release.



Stacks

My personal favorite addition to macOS Mojave, Stacks brings the file organization option from the Dock to the desktop, by instantly organizing files into different stacks. It can be enabled by clicking on Use Stacks within the View tab in the menu bar.

macOS Mojave Stacks


The way Stacks groups files can be changed by right-clicking the desktop, such as to organize by Date Last Opened. You can also change how the files within each stack are sorted.

When adding new files to the desktop, they'll automatically get tossed into the corresponding stack. Folders, on the other hand, go below the stacks.

Clicking on a stack expands to show all of the files it contains. Files in these open stacks can also be easily dragged and dropped into apps, like Mail.

Quick Look

Macs have had this feature for a long time, usually triggered by hitting the spacebar when selecting a file. This time, Apple has added some really handy new features to make it more useful.

macOS Mojave Quick Look


You can now instantly rotate images, screenshots, and videos within Quick Look, with another press of the space bar saving any changes.

Quick Look on images, screenshots and PDFs now includes Markup, which defaults to the Pen tool. The best part is that you can share your image then click cancel to go back to the original file, which makes it perfect for working with templates.

Previously, you'd have to make a duplicate first, or undo all of the changes to get back to the original.

Quick Look's markup also includes a new crop tool, which works similarly to Photoshop's crop tool. Using Quick Look on a video file will now bring up a new Trim icon, allowing you to cut down the video in a similar way to iOS.

Finder Features

The Cover Flow view in Finder has been replaced with Gallery view, which shows a large preview on top with small thumbnails on the bottom, which you can scroll through. The large preview area supports video playback, complete with a UI bar including volume controls.

The Preview sidebar on the right side now shows full metadata, information that you would previously access by summoning the Get Info page. There are also some new quick actions on the bottom of the Preview sidebar.

macOS Mojave Finder


All file types have the option of adding a password, which compresses all selected files into a password-protected ZIP file. You could archive that file, or share that file across the web, and whoever wants to opens it will need the password before being able to read its contents..

For images, you can rotate the picture, access markup, and instantly create a PDF out of all of the selected images. Video files can also be rotated, with additional access to trimming options also available.

During the keynote, Apple highlighted a quick action that would instantly add a watermark to every selected image in one click, but that doesn't seem to be available at this time.

Surprisingly, audio files also have a trim button, but again this feature is not working.

There are a few new Organization options when right clicking within the Finder. You can clean up your files and group them by name or kind or whatever you'd like.Once a group is created, you can also sort the files within each group by size or anything else.

Screenshots

The new Screenshots Utility can be brought up by pressing Command-Shift-5, with it able to be moved around the screen. You have 3 screenshot options: Capture Entire Screen, Capture selected window, or capture selected portion.

macOS Mojave Screenshots


You also have options to record the entire screen, or a portion of it. To do this previously, you would have to open QuickTime, click File in the menu bar, and click New Screen Recording.

Even better, the new way through the HUD will automatically save the Recording when you hit the stop button in the menu bar. With Quicktime, the recording would pop up, and you'd have to save it manually.

Whenever you capture or record the screen, a thumbnail will pop up in the lower right hand corner of the screen, which can be clicked before it disappears to mark it up and share it without entering any other application. You can also drag the popup directly into an app to share it, like the Messages or Mail app.

If you accidentally took a screenshot, just click on the thumbnail and hit the trash icon to delete it. Previously, you'd have to find the screenshot within all of your files and delete it manually.

The interface also has some new options to allow you to change where images save before you capture your screen. For example, selecting Mail will instantly open a new email message with the screenshot already attached, ready for you to select the recipient.

There are also timer options, and the ability to show or hide the cursor.

iOS apps on macOS

Lastly, Apple is making it easier to port iOS apps over to macOS. It's currently very difficult to do because the underlying frameworks are different, but in Mojave, Apple has adapted some key iOS frameworks and inserted them into macOS.

macOS Mojave iOS


In Mojave, Apple has already ported over stock iOS apps like News, Stocks, Voice Memos, and the Home app. We've tried them out, and they all work great.

These frameworks will be available to third-party app developers in 2019, so we can expect a future where we can use our favorite iOS apps on our Macs, assuming developer cooperate.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 29
    darkpawdarkpaw Posts: 212member
    "Capture selected window ... is new in macOS Mojave". Nah, it's been in macOS for years. Cmd + Shift + 4, then press Space.
    coolfactorMplsPmaciekskontakt[Deleted User]
  • Reply 2 of 29
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    darkpaw said:
    "Capture selected window ... is new in macOS Mojave". Nah, it's been in macOS for years. Cmd + Shift + 4, then press Space.
    That text isn't in the article.
    macgui
  • Reply 3 of 29
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 4 of 29
    laytechlaytech Posts: 335member
    It seems a bit cumbersome to bring up such a useful feature. Can you choose to keep it in the menu bar (at the top) by selecting an option in preferences? That feature would be terrific, so to be able to grab a screen shot at any time you can just choose it from the menu bar like you can with SnagIT.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 29
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    It may suck for you but time marches on. Your 2011 iMac doesn’t have the hardware to support the newer frameworks and features, and providing legacy support just causes bloat. The line has to be drawn somewhere and Apple has drawn that line. A friend of mine has a 9 year old HP laptop. When he checked if he could install Windows 10 it the answer was no. Finally, your 2011 iMac will continue to work just fine for years to come if you are now on High Sierra.
    macxpressStrangeDaysMisterKitwatto_cobra[Deleted User]jony0
  • Reply 6 of 29
    coolfactorcoolfactor Posts: 2,239member
    darkpaw said:
    "Capture selected window ... is new in macOS Mojave". Nah, it's been in macOS for years. Cmd + Shift + 4, then press Space.
    That text isn't in the article.

    He said this in the video, and I was going to comment on the same thing. Keyboard voodoo, but it's been a very handy feature!

    He also talked about the watermarking workflow not being available yet, but that's a feature built using Automator, not a feature that's coming to Mojave. It was only used as an example of a custom workflow.
  • Reply 7 of 29
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    darkpaw said:
    "Capture selected window ... is new in macOS Mojave". Nah, it's been in macOS for years. Cmd + Shift + 4, then press Space.
    That text isn't in the article.

    He said this in the video, and I was going to comment on the same thing. Keyboard voodoo, but it's been a very handy feature!
    Gotcha. I stand corrected, I only read the text. :)

    I also just showed this feature to someone in my office yesterday, and it blew his mind. He was like, "Oh my god, how long has that been there? You literally just made my life so much easier." (Which is funny since he doesn't know how to use Spaces, Mission Control, stacks all of his dozens of windows in the same Space, still uses a 15 year old trackball with no gestures, etc.)
    edited June 2018 watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 29
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    There's more than the CPU that goes into making sure a Mac will run the latest version of macOS. Sure, the CPU probably is good enough and if you have 8+GB of RAM thats a bonus, but if the GPU in your iMac doesn't support the new graphics technologies in macOS Mojave then all of the above doesn't matter. It's also a 7.5yr old Mac. What do you expect? It will eventually not run the latest version of macOS. 

    And, its not like your Mac isn't going to function anymore just because its not running the latest version of macOS. If its still doing what you want it to do, then use it until it dies. If you bought it new, or even fairly new you've more than gotten your money out of it already. 
    edited June 2018 watto_cobra[Deleted User]
  • Reply 9 of 29
    Would someone please explain to me the deal with “Quick View?”  Why is Apple obsessed with trying to do things in a file without actually “opening” it?  Is it really that hard to doubleclick on a file, do your edits, and close it?  

    Im asking genuinely.  Apple makes such a big deal out of it and it doesn’t really look like it saves any effort to me.  
    [Deleted User]
  • Reply 10 of 29
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    lkrupp said:
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    It may suck for you but time marches on. Your 2011 iMac doesn’t have the hardware to support the newer frameworks and features, and providing legacy support just causes bloat. The line has to be drawn somewhere and Apple has drawn that line. A friend of mine has a 9 year old HP laptop. When he checked if he could install Windows 10 it the answer was no. Finally, your 2011 iMac will continue to work just fine for years to come if you are now on High Sierra.
    Yep, I’m in the same boat with a loaded 2011 and it’s been a fine machine. But sometimes the new sexy requires...new sexy. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 29
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,247member
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    7 year old machine. You can still run a very modern operating system on it. 
    williamlondon
  • Reply 12 of 29
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,247member
    Would someone please explain to me the deal with “Quick View?”  Why is Apple obsessed with trying to do things in a file without actually “opening” it?  Is it really that hard to doubleclick on a file, do your edits, and close it?  

    Im asking genuinely.  Apple makes such a big deal out of it and it doesn’t really look like it saves any effort to me.  
    Batch editing. It’s a generic action on one or multiple files as opposed to opening the file in an app. It makes more sense the ‘new way’. Actually, ‘preview’ as an app doesn’t make sense at all - these belong integrated in the finder. Non-generic apps are for specialized actions, like composing music.
    tnet-primarytnet-primary
  • Reply 13 of 29
    jkichlinejkichline Posts: 1,369member
    Apple highlighted a quick action that would instantly add a watermark to every selected image in one click, but that doesn't seem to be available at this time.”

    It was made clear that this was an Automater macro that was added to the action bar so you would need to do that yourself.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 29
    ameldrum1ameldrum1 Posts: 255member
    lkrupp said:
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    It may suck for you but time marches on. Your 2011 iMac doesn’t have the hardware to support the newer frameworks and features, and providing legacy support just causes bloat. The line has to be drawn somewhere and Apple has drawn that line. A friend of mine has a 9 year old HP laptop. When he checked if he could install Windows 10 it the answer was no. Finally, your 2011 iMac will continue to work just fine for years to come if you are now on High Sierra.
    Yep, I’m in the same boat with a loaded 2011 and it’s been a fine machine. But sometimes the new sexy requires...new sexy. 
    But... your 2011 iMac supports Target Display Mode. Which makes it basically priceless.

    I would not trade my 2 connected 2011 27” iMacs for an iMac Pro.
  • Reply 15 of 29
    Since Apple is releasing a new Screenshots utility, does this mean that  "Grab" is going away?

    Also, will the current screenshot keyboard shortcuts (e.g. entire screen = Shift-Command (⌘)-3... selected portion = Shift-Command-4... selected window = Shift-Command-4-spacebar... selected window without shadow = Shift-Command-4-spacebar-option) continue to work?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 16 of 29
    bonobobbonobob Posts: 382member
    lkrupp said:
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    It may suck for you but time marches on. Your 2011 iMac doesn’t have the hardware to support the newer frameworks and features, and providing legacy support just causes bloat. The line has to be drawn somewhere and Apple has drawn that line. A friend of mine has a 9 year old HP laptop. When he checked if he could install Windows 10 it the answer was no. Finally, your 2011 iMac will continue to work just fine for years to come if you are now on High Sierra.
    It may work for years to come, but it will only get security updates for another two.  That's the point at which I would consider the machine no longer viable as a networked device.
    watto_cobra[Deleted User]
  • Reply 17 of 29
    bonobob said:
    lkrupp said:
    My 2011 iMac won't be able to run Mojave despite being a very capable machine. This sucks! 
    It may suck for you but time marches on. Your 2011 iMac doesn’t have the hardware to support the newer frameworks and features, and providing legacy support just causes bloat. The line has to be drawn somewhere and Apple has drawn that line. A friend of mine has a 9 year old HP laptop. When he checked if he could install Windows 10 it the answer was no. Finally, your 2011 iMac will continue to work just fine for years to come if you are now on High Sierra.
    It may work for years to come, but it will only get security updates for another two.  That's the point at which I would consider the machine no longer viable as a networked device.
    While I get your concern about an operating system no longer receiving updates, Apple does issue security updates for older operating systems.

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201222
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 18 of 29
    payecopayeco Posts: 580member
    jkichline said:
    “Apple highlighted a quick action that would instantly add a watermark to every selected image in one click, but that doesn't seem to be available at this time.”

    It was made clear that this was an Automater macro that was added to the action bar so you would need to do that yourself.
    Seriously. That’s the second blatant error I noticed in this video.

    Are we sure this guy in the video actually uses a Mac? Is he a recent PC convert? How the hell could you not know Cmd+Shift+4 and then pressing the space bar to capture the highlighted window. It’s been there since at least Panther 15 years ago, which was the first version of Mac OS X that I used.
  • Reply 19 of 29
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,844member
    payeco said:
    jkichline said:
    “Apple highlighted a quick action that would instantly add a watermark to every selected image in one click, but that doesn't seem to be available at this time.”

    It was made clear that this was an Automater macro that was added to the action bar so you would need to do that yourself.
    Seriously. That’s the second blatant error I noticed in this video.

    Are we sure this guy in the video actually uses a Mac? Is he a recent PC convert? How the hell could you not know Cmd+Shift+4 and then pressing the space bar to capture the highlighted window. It’s been there since at least Panther 15 years ago, which was the first version of Mac OS X that I used.
    Recent PC convert. 
  • Reply 20 of 29
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,299member
    payeco said:
    jkichline said:
    “Apple highlighted a quick action that would instantly add a watermark to every selected image in one click, but that doesn't seem to be available at this time.”

    It was made clear that this was an Automater macro that was added to the action bar so you would need to do that yourself.
    Seriously. That’s the second blatant error I noticed in this video.

    Are we sure this guy in the video actually uses a Mac? Is he a recent PC convert? How the hell could you not know Cmd+Shift+4 and then pressing the space bar to capture the highlighted window. It’s been there since at least Panther 15 years ago, which was the first version of Mac OS X that I used.
    Make that 3 blatant errors, given feature 5 is only a sneakpeak and not technacally in macOS till next year. 
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