Today's Quick Tip: Toggling Dark Mode on Mac OS via Menu Bar and Keyboard Shortcut

How's it going, ladies and gents? This is Jeff Benjamin with 9 to 5 Mac, and today we're sharing a quick and easy way to toggle dark mode on Mac OS. Now, if you're like me, you love the look of dark mode on your Mac, but sometimes it can be a hassle to switch between light and dark modes. That's where Nightfall comes in – a free, open-source application that makes toggling dark mode a breeze.

Nightfall is available for download from GitHub, and as a special shout-out to Ryan Thompson, the developer of this handy little utility. Once you've downloaded Nightfall, you can add it to your Mac's menu bar by clicking on its icon. When you click the Nightfall icon, you'll need to enable some permissions to get started. One of the permissions that Nightfall requests is for screen recording permissions, which may seem a bit hairy at first, but don't worry – you don't actually have to give Nightfall permission to access your screen. This permission gives Nightfall the ability to use transitions between light and dark modes, making the transition look smoother than ever.

When you click on the Nightfall icon, notice how smoothly it transitions from light mode to dark mode or vice versa. It's really cool and similar to the effect you get when you enable dark mode in System Preferences. But what if you want more control over this transition? Well, that's where Nightfall's preferences come in. You can customize the delay seconds and also customize the duration of the transition. Just keep in mind that these options are only available if you have screen recording permission enabled.

One of the coolest features of Nightfall is its ability to assign a global keyboard shortcut. This means that you can toggle dark mode from anywhere on your Mac, not just from the menu bar. To do this, simply go to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts, and scroll all the way down until you see "Toggle dark mode" in the list of services. Just check the box next to it, and you're good to go! You can customize the keyboard shortcut if you like, too – just click on the little pencil icon next to the shortcut.

So, how does this work? Well, when you press your custom keyboard shortcut, Nightfall will toggle dark mode for you. It's that easy! To see this in action, simply open up a Finder window and press your custom keyboard shortcut. You should now be looking at a beautiful, dark interface – it's seamless!

As I mentioned earlier, Ryan Thompson is the developer of Nightfall, and we want to give him a special shout-out for creating such an amazing utility. If you like this tip and want more tips like it, please leave a thumbs up in the comment section below. And if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to share them with us on social media using the hashtag #9to5Mac.

Conclusion:

And that's it for today's quick tip! We hope you found Nightfall as useful as we did, and that it helps make toggling dark mode a breeze on your Mac. If you have any other questions or tips, be sure to leave them in the comments below. Thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time on 9 to 5 Mac!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enin this week's quick tip we share a quick and easy way to toggle dark mode at Mac OS via the menu bar or via a handy keyboard shortcut check it out right now thanks for watching nine-to-five Mac be sure to thumbs up click the subscribe button and then enable notifications with the Bell icon so you won't miss any upcoming videos how's it going ladies and gents this is jeff benjamin with 9 to 5 Mac it is Tuesday so we have a new tip for you guys today's tip is all about dark mode on Mac quests so you can see I have this application called nightfall this is a free open-source application you can download it from the link in the description on github shout out to Ryan Thompson for developing this handy little utility so you can see it's running in the mini bar you have an icon for it that is nightfall when you click nightfall you're gonna have to enable the permissions kind of jump through a few hoops there initially one of the permissions that the app requests is for screen recording permissions I know that sounds a little hairy you don't actually have to give the app permission to access screen recording it doesn't actually record your screen by the way but this permission gives the utility the ability to use transitions so transitioning between dark mode and light mode and light mode to dark mode instead of being this abrupt jump between the two so you can see when I click the minibar icon notice how that smooth transition moves from light mode to dark mode and vice versa it's really cool and similar to the effect you get when you enable dark mode in System Preferences now if you go into nightfalls preferences you'll find the ability to customize the transition so you can customize the delay seconds and also customize the duration of the transition and again you can only use that if you have that screen recording permission enabled so if I uncheck that here's what the e transition looks like there is none it's just an abrupt jump between light and dark modes let me give you the quickest way to get between light and dark modes so some people will like this others won't I personally prefer to have the transition there but the cool thing is it's up to you you can customize it you can add a longer the a longer duration for the transition if you choose to do so as well so some other options you'll find startup upon login of course you want to have that enabled if you like this utility check for updates and here at the bottom of something very important the ability to assign a global keyboard shortcut and that's what we're going to do right now so in System Preferences under keyboard you want to go to shortcuts select services scroll all the way to the bottom and there you go toggle dark mode so you see that service not enabled yet we just check the little checkbox but you can see it's using control option command + T and of course you can customize that shortcut if you choose to do so so we have it enabled so this service is accessible from any application in fact if you go up to the menu bar select services you're gonna see there tako dark mode so there we go so now we're just going to use that keyboard shortcut first of all let me open up a Finder window so we can see it in action and now hold ctrl option command to press the T key and there you go transitioning between dark mode and light mode but the handy keyboard shortcut so that is what nightfall allows you to do not only access dark mode from the menu bar with one click but also access it via a keyboard shortcut special shout-out again - Ryan Thompson for developing this cool application it's called nightfall you can download it from github and you'll find a link down below in the description so what do you guys think do you think this will be a handy utility do you like it do you not like it let me know down below in the comment section if you appreciate these tips if you want more tips please leave a thumbs up to let me know this is Jeff Benjamin with nine-to-five Mackin this week's quick tip we share a quick and easy way to toggle dark mode at Mac OS via the menu bar or via a handy keyboard shortcut check it out right now thanks for watching nine-to-five Mac be sure to thumbs up click the subscribe button and then enable notifications with the Bell icon so you won't miss any upcoming videos how's it going ladies and gents this is jeff benjamin with 9 to 5 Mac it is Tuesday so we have a new tip for you guys today's tip is all about dark mode on Mac quests so you can see I have this application called nightfall this is a free open-source application you can download it from the link in the description on github shout out to Ryan Thompson for developing this handy little utility so you can see it's running in the mini bar you have an icon for it that is nightfall when you click nightfall you're gonna have to enable the permissions kind of jump through a few hoops there initially one of the permissions that the app requests is for screen recording permissions I know that sounds a little hairy you don't actually have to give the app permission to access screen recording it doesn't actually record your screen by the way but this permission gives the utility the ability to use transitions so transitioning between dark mode and light mode and light mode to dark mode instead of being this abrupt jump between the two so you can see when I click the minibar icon notice how that smooth transition moves from light mode to dark mode and vice versa it's really cool and similar to the effect you get when you enable dark mode in System Preferences now if you go into nightfalls preferences you'll find the ability to customize the transition so you can customize the delay seconds and also customize the duration of the transition and again you can only use that if you have that screen recording permission enabled so if I uncheck that here's what the e transition looks like there is none it's just an abrupt jump between light and dark modes let me give you the quickest way to get between light and dark modes so some people will like this others won't I personally prefer to have the transition there but the cool thing is it's up to you you can customize it you can add a longer the a longer duration for the transition if you choose to do so as well so some other options you'll find startup upon login of course you want to have that enabled if you like this utility check for updates and here at the bottom of something very important the ability to assign a global keyboard shortcut and that's what we're going to do right now so in System Preferences under keyboard you want to go to shortcuts select services scroll all the way to the bottom and there you go toggle dark mode so you see that service not enabled yet we just check the little checkbox but you can see it's using control option command + T and of course you can customize that shortcut if you choose to do so so we have it enabled so this service is accessible from any application in fact if you go up to the menu bar select services you're gonna see there tako dark mode so there we go so now we're just going to use that keyboard shortcut first of all let me open up a Finder window so we can see it in action and now hold ctrl option command to press the T key and there you go transitioning between dark mode and light mode but the handy keyboard shortcut so that is what nightfall allows you to do not only access dark mode from the menu bar with one click but also access it via a keyboard shortcut special shout-out again - Ryan Thompson for developing this cool application it's called nightfall you can download it from github and you'll find a link down below in the description so what do you guys think do you think this will be a handy utility do you like it do you not like it let me know down below in the comment section if you appreciate these tips if you want more tips please leave a thumbs up to let me know this is Jeff Benjamin with nine-to-five Mack\n"