We’ve covered the usefulness of the Option (⌥) modifier key in macOS plenty of times in the past, but we’d like to remind you about its usefulness in the wake of the new Touch Bar-enabled MacBook Pro. By using the Option key while pressing one of the Touch Bar’s Control Strip shortcuts, users can access System Preferences with ease.
Of course, this same functionality is available on non-Touch Bar Macs, but with the versatility of the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, we figured it was worth mentioning again. Have a look at our brief hands-on video to see it in action.
If you press the volume button in the Touch Bar’s Control Strip while holding the Option key, the Sound panel of System Preferences will be opened. The Display Section of System Preferences will be opened if you do the same with the Brightness button in the Touch Bar, and so on. As mentioned, shortcuts work the same with static function keys, but you have a lot more options on the new MacBook Pro since the Touch Bar is user customizable.
In fact, every applicable button in the Touch Bar will open to its matching System Preferences panel by using the Option modifier key along with it.
Video walkthrough
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This is a handy tip for those times when you need to configure System Preferences for a particular item and wish to navigate there quickly. For more handy macOS tips, be sure to check out our macOS playlist on YouTube, and read our getting started tips for new Mac users.
And if you’d like to learn more about the things that you can do with the MacBook Pro’s Touch Bar, check out the following posts:
- 15 Touch Bar Tips for MacBook Pro
- How to customize the Touch Bar with BetterTouchTool
- How to play Pac Man on Touch Bar
- TouchSwitcher brings fast app switching to the Touch Bar
- Rocket: Launch Dock apps from the Touch Bar
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