Are you using a Mac with a small screen? If you are a photographer, graphic designer, or sound/movie editor, you may have to constantly resize and rearrange apps to increase the screen real estate.
Even if you use a 16-inch MacBook instead of a 13-inch model, you may need to maximize the screen real estate if you use many apps simultaneously.
The most obvious way to increase screen real estate is to get an external monitor and connect it to your Mac. However, if you don’t want to spend more money, here are your other options.
Hide the Dock
Every user thinks they need to use the Dock all the time, but you don’t. Realistically, it is the web browser that you use 90% of the time, and at other times, you might use apps like Final Cut Pro, Word, Photos, Preview, etc.
So remove it and maximize the screen real estate. You can also change the Dock’s size.
You can control the Dock’s visibility from the Apple menu > System Preferences > click the Dock icon. Then, you can choose the Automatically Hide and Show the Dock option so that the Dock goes away when you are not using it.
So when this option is selected, the Dock will automatically disappear when not in use. You can move the mouse cursor to make the Dock reappear when needed.
You can also use the keyboard shortcut Command + Option + D to hide or show the Dock.
Remove icons From Desktop
You can temporarily remove icons from the desktop so that the screen real estate is maximized and there are no distractions. If you wonder how to remove icons from desktop, use Terminal.
Launch Terminal from Applications > Utilities > type defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop false > press enter > restart Finder by typing killall Finder and then hit enter again.
The icons will be hidden, and you can focus on your tasks.
Hide the Menu Bar
The menu bar occupies the screen’s top section. But practically, how often do you use it? Since you don’t need to keep it around. You can save 1.5cm from your screen by disabling this from the settings.
Click on the Dock & Menu Bar icon to hide the menu bar. When you’re halfway down the new window, you will see the option to Hide and Show the Menu Bar Automatically. The menu bar will vanish and again show up when you move the mouse cursor to the screen’s top.
Change The Screen Resolution
Mac’s screen resolution is huge and does not need to be so unless your eyesight is poor.
Go to the Displays Settings > change to Scaled > choose More Space. With this change, the letters will become smaller and let you fit more on your screen. This tip enables coders to see more of the code on one screen.
Click the Apple menu on your Mac > click System Settings > click Displays in the sidebar > choose the display on the right > click the pop-up menu next to Resolution > select Scaled > choose the resolution you want to use.
Activate the Full Screen Mode for an Application
You need to increase the screen real estate for a single application. For this, you can enable the full screen mode for that application. This will automatically hide the Dock and menu bar without switching on the options for hiding them.
The Dock and menu bar will get temporarily hidden, but you can access them the same way as when you are hiding them. For example, you can move the trackpad or mouse cursor to the bottom or top of the screen.
You can enter the app’s full screen mode by activating the application and clicking the green circle with the two arrows pointing away from each other. It will be in the upper-left corner of the application’s window. You can even press the Control + Command + F to exit and enter the full screen mode.
When you are in the full screen mode of the application, you can move the mouse cursor to the bottom or the top of the screen to display the Dock or menu bar over the application.
Some applications will show you the minimize, close and maximize buttons when the menu bar slides down over an application in full screen mode. You can even click the green maximize button to exit the full screen mode.
The Bottom Line
So here’s your guide to maximizing your MacBook screen real estate. By following these tricks, you can increase the screen space and remove distractions. It will also help you to edit pictures and videos better as you can see all the details on a big screen. Furthermore, with these, you don’t have to spend extra on getting an external monitor. But if you have an iPad, you can enable the Sidecar feature.
