macOS Sonoma brings some welcome features and also some unexpected settings that may confuse on first use. Overall, I’ve been happily using the new OS for the last two weeks and so far it’s working well for me.

However, I’m aware of a couple of bugs related using Gallery View in the Finder and I’m told that users of Ecamm Live are holding off awaiting bug fixes as well. Always, before pushing forward with a major upgrade, it’s valuable to ensure that third-party applications are compatible in all the ways you need.

Clicking the Desktop

Since the first release of Mac OS X, the Desktop has been inherently linked to the Finder. That is, clicking the Desktop has been a quick way of activating the Finder, where you can make a new Finder window to search, browse, and access your files.

One reason behind this linkage is that the Desktop is effectively a full-screen Finder window in Icon View with no toolbars.

macOS Sonoma adds a new system setting where clicking the Desktop reveals it. That is, it invokes Mission Control’s Show Desktop function that pushes all windows off the screen. This can be incredibly disconcerting if you’re not expecting it.

Besides accessing icons on the Desktop, showing the Desktop in macOS Sonoma can be helpful to reveal and give access to widgets you’ve put on the Desktop. That’s because the new OS now permits dragging widgets out of Notification Center.

However, Mission Control — which I mentioned in Take Control of Windows — is still available, and on an Apple keyboard, the F3 key is assigned to it. Just press Command+ to show the Desktop.

So, if you want to turn off this Desktop–click setting, go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock, look under the Desktop & Stage Manager section, and change Click wallpaper to reveal desktop from Always to Only in Stage Manager. (More on Stage Manager in a future post.)

Cursor Color

A welcome advancement, I smiled when I first noticed that my text cursor matches the Accent Color set in System Settings > Appearance. In my case, it’s orange.

Back & Forward in Settings

With the launch of System Settings in macOS Ventura, I noticed on clients’ computers that the app provided only a Back button, making navigation among a variety of setting panes inconvenient. Sonoma brings a Forward button to the party so the navigation matches that of the Finder, Safari, and other browser-type experiences.

Now, as you explore System Settings and try to find the options that got moved around so confusingly, it’s easy to jump back or forward to a pane you visited before. The same keyboard shortcuts (Command+[ and Command+]) work here and you can long-press on a button for a list of recent panes in that direction.

Extended Delay Send in Mail

I knew that macOS Sonoma dropped support for Mail plugins and therefore I’d lose access to SmallCubed’s MailSuite, which I used to set a 1-minute delay when sending emails. Sonoma, like Ventura before it as well as iOS 16 and later, offers the ability to Delay Send by 10, 20, or 30 seconds (see Mail > Settings > Composing), but not longer. However, I didn’t know how I would replace this functionality.

At first, I searched for someone else’s utility that might extend Mail, but nothing promising struck me. Then, I wondered if I could automate it myself with help from Send Later, another new feature of Mail since macOS Ventura.

Initially, I figured I would build an AppleScript and trigger it via the system-wide Scripts menu. This didn’t work, but I found I could use Automator to plant an AppleScript in Mail’s Services menu. This way, I could assign a keyboard shortcut to the service and have it only work in Mail.

Second, I found that I couldn’t attach a shortcut to the Send Later command in Mail because it’s only in the toolbar, not the menu bar. I sent feedback to Apple about this and, when I updated to Sonoma 14.2.1 the following week, I found my desired shortcut assignment possible. A win!

After some experimentation with keyboard navigation of the Send Later panel in an email compose window, and help from ChatGPT to build the AppleScript, I designed a process to call up Send Later and add two minutes to the scheduled time. The only limitation is that desired delay won’t work if the current time is 58 or 59 minutes after the hour.

Since the default keyboard shortcut for sending a message, Shift+Command+D, is embedded in my muscle memory, I decided to make this the shortcut for my new automation. Therefore, the last step for me was to change the shortcut for the default Send command (and by extension, the Send Again command, which appears when selecting any message in the Mail Viewer except in a Drafts mailbox).

If you want to set this up for yourself, you can download the AppleScript I built. Let me know if you need help installing it.

There’s lots more to explore in macOS Sonoma. What surprises have you uncovered since upgrading? Were they welcome or frustrating?