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macOS setup

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mvllow edited this page Dec 1, 2024 · 41 revisions

Disponibile anche in Italiano

Last updated for macOS Sequoia

The reset

Whether you recently received a new Mac or are looking to rejuvenate the life of an old device, resetting your Mac will ensure a fresh start. With new Macs, this is important to remove a few preloaded apps such as Numbers and Pages, as well as cleaning up any unnecessary cache or other oddities that may slow your system down.

Starting with macOS Monterey, you can reset content and settings within the system settings. More information can be found on Apple's official support page.

The setup

I wrote a little shell script to do some of the heavy lifting for me whenever I reset (which is probably too often). The point of this guide, however, is to walk through each step to achieve everything manually. Find bliss in the process.

Install Command Line Tools

xcode-select --install

Alternatively, download the tools here from Apple.

System settings

  • General:
    • Language & Region:
      • Add preferred languages, e.g. Italiano
      • Set temperature to celsius
      • Set measurement system to metric
    • Date & Time → Enable "24-Hour Time"
  • Appearance:
    • Set appearance to auto
  • Control Center:
    • Set automatically hide and show the menu bar to always
  • Displays:
    • Night Shift → Set schedule to sunset to sunrise
  • Desktop & Dock:
    • Enable "Automatically hide and show the Dock"
    • Disable "Recent applications in Dock"
    • Disable "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use"
  • Privacy & Security:
    • Full Disk Access → Add Terminal.app
  • Keyboard:
    • Set key repeat rate to fast
    • Set delay until repeat to short
    • Disable "Adjust keyboard brightness in low light"
    • Keyboard Shortcuts:
      • Mission Control → Enable "Switch to Desktop 1" (and more desktops if possible)
      • Modifier Keys → Map caps lock key to escape
    • Edit input sources:
      • Disable "Correct spelling automatically"
      • Disable "Capitalize words automatically"
      • Disable "Add period with double-space"
      • Disable "Use smart quotes and dashes"
  • Mouse:
    • Set tracking speed to fast
  • Trackpad:
    • Set tracking speed to fast
    • Enable "Tap to click"

Hidden options

Note

It is recommended to run set -k in your current terminal session to avoid zsh: command not found: #.

Enable key repeat for all apps:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

Show only active items in the Dock:

# Remove all docked apps
defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array

# Show only active apps
defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool true

Screenshots:

# Set default save location
defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Downloads

# Disable shadow
defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool true

# Apply changes immediately
# killall Dock

Copy SF Mono to Font Book:

cp -r /System/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app/Contents/Resources/Fonts/. /Library/Fonts/

Change accent color:

# Enable hardware-based accent colours
defaults write -g NSColorSimulateHardwareAccent -bool YES

# Set enclosure colour
# 3—yellow 4—green 5—blue 6—pink 7—purple 8—orange
defaults write -g NSColorSimulatedHardwareEnclosureNumber -int 3

Application settings

  • Safari:
    • Search → Set search engine to DuckDuckGo
    • Advanced:
      • Check "Show features for web developers"

Manage software

Using Homebrew, we can keep a list of all our packages in a Brewfile, e.g. personal example.

# Upgrade sources
brew upgrade

# Install packages listed in brewfile
# Change the location of the brewfile if necessary
brew bundle --file="$HOME/.config/dots/Brewfile"

Next steps

If each day is spent preparing, no day is left for doing

Not everyone enjoys the process of setting everything from scratch. There are plenty of alternatives, such as Time Machine backups on macOS or writing a script that automates the process away. No matter the decision, preferring built-in apps and default settings when possible may prove beneficial.

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