The Speed of the Mouse
If you are a power user on a Mac, you probably rely heavily on keyboard shortcuts. Hitting Command+Space to open Spotlight is undeniably faster than dragging your mouse to the top right corner of the screen to click the magnifying glass icon.
However, there is a specific set of actions where taking your hand off the mouse to perform a keyboard shortcut is actually slower. If you are deep in a design application or browsing the web, your hand is already firmly resting on the mouse or trackpad. To quickly show your desktop to grab a file, you would normally have to take your right hand off the mouse, perform a multi-finger trackpad gesture (which requires precision), or hit a keyboard combination.
macOS contains a hidden feature called Hot Corners that turns the four physical corners of your computer screen into massive, invisible buttons. By simply throwing your cursor into a corner, you can instantly trigger system-level actions faster than any keyboard shortcut.
How to Enable Hot Corners
This feature has been buried in the Mac operating system for over a decade, and Apple moves its location in the System Settings almost every major update. Here is where to find it in macOS Sonoma and later.
- Open System Settings.
- Scroll down the left sidebar and click on Desktop & Dock.
- Scroll all the way down to the very bottom of the right-hand panel.
- Click the button labeled Hot Corners…
A small diagram of your computer screen will appear, featuring a dropdown menu in each of the four corners.
Choosing Your Actions
Click on any of the four dropdown menus. You will see a list of actions you can assign to that specific corner. The most powerful options include:
1. Desktop (The Clutter Clearer)
If you assign “Desktop” to the bottom-right corner, you can simply flick your wrist to send your mouse into that corner. Instantly, every single open application window will fly off the screen, revealing your bare desktop. You can then click and drag a file from your desktop, and when you flick your mouse back into the corner, all your windows instantly fly back to exactly where they were.
2. Quick Note (The Instant Brain Dump)
Assigning “Quick Note” to the bottom-left corner is incredibly useful for meetings. If someone mentions a phone number or an action item on a Zoom call, you flick your mouse to the corner, and a small, floating Apple Note instantly slides out from the side of the screen. You type the number, flick the mouse away, and the note vanishes, saving automatically.
3. Put Display to Sleep (The Security Move)
If you work in a busy open-plan office, locking your screen when you walk away is crucial for security. Assign “Put Display to Sleep” to the top-right corner. When you stand up to get coffee, just throw your mouse to the top right. The screen instantly goes black and locks, requiring a password or Touch ID to wake up.
The Accidental Trigger Problem (And How to Fix It)
The main reason people disable Hot Corners after trying them is that they accidentally trigger them. You might be aiming for the Apple Menu in the top-left corner, overshoot by a millimeter, and accidentally trigger Launchpad, disrupting your workflow.
macOS has a brilliant, hidden modifier key feature to prevent this.
When you are in the Hot Corners setup menu, hold down the Command, Option, or Shift key before you click the dropdown menu.
If you hold the Command key while selecting “Desktop,” the menu will change to read “⌘ Desktop.”
Now, simply throwing your mouse into the corner does absolutely nothing. The Hot Corner is disabled. It will only activate if you physically hold down the Command key on your keyboard while simultaneously throwing your mouse into the corner. This guarantees you will never accidentally trigger a Hot Corner again, while retaining the incredible speed of the feature.
Conclusion
Hot Corners exploit the physical boundaries of your monitor. Because the cursor cannot go past the edge of the screen, you do not need precision to hit a Hot Corner; you just flick your wrist blindly in that general direction. By configuring these four invisible buttons, you can navigate macOS with unparalleled speed.