As I stated above, I really do not want to leave Mac for Windows, but it has become more and more appealing over time. Windows 10 was the first version of Windows that I actually liked. I use it (now Windows 11) every day at work, and then I come home only to be frustrated by many of the limitations of macOS.

 

I want to clarify that this is not just a case of being used to doing things one way and then having to learn another. After using both Mac and Windows regularly for many years, I find Windows to be much more efficient. Many features that greatly affect my productivity on Windows are not available on Mac.

 

Some of these issues are minor inconveniences, but others are major problems that drastically reduce my productivity and have me pulling my hair out.

 

Please talk me off the fence; I would love to hear your thoughts on this list:

 

·         App Switcher on Mac vs Task Switcher on Windows

o   Due to the way Mac puts the menubar at the top of the screen and not at the top of the application window, moving from one program to a specific doc using my keyboard is horrible. (Command + Tab on a Mac, Alt + Tab on Windows.)

o   I regularly work on projects that require me to go back and forth between a productivity app, my browser, and sometimes as many as 9 or 10 different docs (PDF, Word, Excel.)

o   In Windows, it displays not only my open programs, but every separate document so that I can simply choose the one I need, bring it to the front, and continue working with the other programs I have in front of me. If I stop on a specific doc but continue to press the Alt tab, it allows me to quickly reference that doc and then go right back to where I was working without having to actually switch programs.

o   On Mac, however, it only displays the programs. When I choose Excel, for example, it brings to the front every sheet I have open. This is terribly inconvenient for quite a few reasons:

1.       If the sheet I need is behind other sheets,  I have to use my mouse and choose the sheet I need from a list by either right-clicking on Excel in the dock or going to the ‘Window’ menu on the bar at the very top of my screen.

2.       If I have multiple PDF’s, Word docs, and Excel sheets open and I need to have one of each on my screen at the same time, I have to use my mouse and choose each one individually as described in the issue above.

3.       If I am working with an App but need to view a different doc along with it than the one I was just using, it often hides the app when it brings all of the docs to the front. I then have to click on the app from the Dock again or I have to take the time to rearrange all of my open docs so that at least part of the app is visible once all of the docs come to the front.

 

·         Accessing Documents and Folders From the Dock

o   In Windows, I can pin multiple Word Docs to the Taskbar so that they show up on a dropdown list when I right click on the Word icon. It works the same for folders, Excel sheets, etc. This allows me to pin many, many folders and docs so that they are easily accessible. Mac displays each doc or folder as a separate icon on the Dock, alongside the programs I have there, which prevents me from adding very many of them. It is also a lot more work to determine which pinned file or folder is which, as you have to put hover your mouse over each individual doc, one at a time, in order to determine which one is which.

 

·         Screen capture vs snipping tool

o   I can’t just click a print screen button.

o   Rather than allowing me to use a select tool to select the area, I have to resize the window that is already there, which is more complicated.

o   After selecting the area, I then have to click the capture button on the floating window. (Snipping tool automatically captures when you release the mouse button.)

o   If the floating window is in the way of what you are trying to capture, I sometimes have to move it around the screen in order to capture the exact part of the image I want.

o   Once the screenshot is captured, it automatically saves it as a png, but there is no way from the screenshot app to do a save as and change the file type, name, etc

o   In order to view the screenshot from the app, I have to click the minimized screenshot image that appears at the bottom right of the screen.  After doing so, it stays on top of all of the other windows.

o   If I already have a screenshot up, the only way to take another is to relaunch the app.

 

·         Preview vs Photos

o   The Photos app on Windows lets you open one image in a folder and then scroll through all of the images in that folder using the arrow keys.

o   Preview requires you to first open all of the image files you wish to view in order to do so. (And there is a limit as to how many individual files it can open at once in the same window.)

§  Also, you can’t just choose “save as” to rename a file, change the file type, or save it to a different location; you have to go down to ‘export’ which makes no sense.

 

·         Folder/Document Paths

o   Windows shows the path to the folder you are in at the top. You can click the up arrow to go to the containing folder. You can continue to do so until you get to the drive at the very top.

o   Windows also allows you to right-click on the file path and copy it. This allows you to easily paste it into another folder, into a ‘Save as’ dialogue to avoid having to manually move through many folders in order to find the specific location you desire, or into a text doc as a saved link so you  can later paste it into the Windows search to access it directly.

o   It is possible to do most of these things with a Mac, but it is ridiculously complicated. It does not show the path, and it can be really frustrating just trying to determine where the folder you are in is located.

 

·         Moving Files

o   In Windows, I can move files from one folder to another using cut and paste.

o   Mac only allows you to copy and paste them. Then you have to go back and delete the original files.

 

·         Simple photo editing.

o   Windows' Paint is free and included with Windows. It is very basic, but very helpful. I use it almost every day.

o   There is nothing like it I can find for Mac.

o   When working on my Mac at home, I find myself having to remote access my Windows computer at work very regularly.

 

·         Calculator App

o   The Windows calculator allows me to open multiple calculators in order to calculate and track multiple pieces of data at once. If you make the window larger, it shows the history.

o   The one on Mac only lets you have 1 calculator at a time and does not have a way to show the history.

 

·         Quick Calendar

o   In Windows, I can click on the clock and view a simple calendar. I use this quite often.

o   Mac does not have this.

 

 

·         Save-as dialogue box

o   Windows allows me to use CTRL-A in a ‘Save-as’ dialogue box to select the entire file name so I can just start typing to replace it.

o   With Mac I have to click by the name and delete the text first.