macOS 27 Golden Gate updates fewer apps than past versions of macOS did, but three of them gained something worth knowing about.
Finder column sizing and file names
The Finder has two interesting new features, one of which also appears on iPhone and iPad:
- Autosize and reset columns: In column view, right-click or Control-click in any column, choose Show View Options, and check “Resize columns to fit filenames.” The columns autosize to the width of the longest names in each one. Uncheck that box to go back to regular sizing. You can also right-click or Control-click the double-bar handle at the bottom of a column divider to show a menu with Right Size This Column, Right Size All Columns Individually, and Right Size All Columns Equally, where “right size” is Apple’s term for sizing determined by filename length.
- Auto name files and folders: This new Apple Intelligence feature attempts to help you name items. Select a file or folder and press Return to select the name. Hover over it with your pointer and one or more suggested names appear in a pop-up menu. Click one of these to use it as the new name.
If you dislike this feature, you can turn it off: Go to Finder > Settings > General and uncheck “Suggest file names.”
macOS 27 also suggests names for new, untitled documents you create in most apps once they have a bit of content. The suggested names appear in the title bar and in the Save dialog when you save the file for the first time. I’ve found these suggestions to be wildly inaccurate, but your experience may be different.
The naming may also happen automatically when you use AirDrop to transfer files from another Apple device, such as the contents of a screenshot when you AirDrop it from an iPhone to a Mac. In this case, you’re not prompted to approve the name.
Calendar text entry and styled notes
The big change in Calendar is that you can now add and edit events just by giving a textual description. For example, you can click the plus button to create a new event, type “Lunch with Peter at noon on Thursday at Moxies” and Calendar figures out how to translate that into the event you’re expecting. You can later double-click the description and edit it.
I found this feature to be rather hit-or-miss. For example, if I added “and remind me two hours ahead,” that didn’t change the alert time. And if I omitted the time but rather said, “breakfast,” “lunch,” or “dinner,” Calendar unfailingly scheduled the event at 10 a.m.
Another small change in Calendar is support for styled text in notes, which some calendar apps (such as Google Calendar) support. That is, if you’ve used styling such as bold or italics on a note you created somewhere else, that styling appears in Calendar, too.
If you click Edit, Calendar shows you the raw HTML source of the note, which you can adjust as you like.
Although Calendar doesn’t let you directly enter styled text in a note, you can manually enter HTML when you create a note. If you then close the popover or Info pane and reopen it, you see the styled text. And—bonus!—this works even for events on iCloud calendars! In other words, it’s a global feature; it’s just that Apple oddly hasn’t bothered yet to add styling controls to that field.
Notes
Notes has four significant new features:
- Drawing: As in Freeform, drawing tools are available in Notes: click the Add Drawing button on the toolbar.
- Copy as Markdown: You can also use Edit > Copy as Markdown to copy styled text from a note with Markdown tags, ready to paste elsewhere.
Oddly, there is no corresponding Paste as Markdown command.
- Section links: If you use section headings in your note, you can insert links elsewhere in your note that jump to them. Choose Edit > Add Link (⌘-K), choose the section heading from the Link to Section pop-up menu, and click OK.
- Divider lines: Finally, you can now add horizontal divider lines in your notes by choosing Edit > Insert Divider Line (⌘-L).
