Hot corners: reveal the desktop or lock your screen with one flick

The fastest gesture on a Mac is flicking your cursor into a corner of the screen — no clicking, no shortcut to memorize, just a movement that takes a fraction of a second. Your cursor practically lands in the corner by itself, since you don't need to aim precisely — just send it in the general direction and the edge of the screen stops it for you. Hot corners let you assign each of the four corners its own action, from showing the desktop to instantly locking your screen.

A typical scenario

You're working on a spreadsheet with sensitive numbers in an open-plan office and need to step away from your desk for a moment. Without hot corners, that means reaching for a keyboard shortcut or clicking through the Apple menu to Lock Screen — and in the rush, it's easy to forget entirely.

With a hot corner set up, flicking the mouse into the corner locks the screen instantly, even if you're rushing away from your desk. The same principle works in reverse too — another corner can reveal the desktop when you need to quickly drag a file out of an open window straight onto it.

How to do it

1. Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock.
2. Scroll all the way down and click Hot Corners….
3. For each of the four corners of the screen, choose an action from the menu: Lock Screen, Show Desktop, Mission Control, Start Screen Saver, Put Display to Sleep, and more.
4. To avoid triggering the action by accident just by passing through the corner, hold Cmd as you move into the corner — set the action to require the held key.
5. Confirm with OK and test it right away — move your mouse into the chosen corner and see if the action fires the way you expected.
6. Split up the corners based on how often you need each action: the farthest corner (say, bottom-left) for locking, which you want to trigger only deliberately, and a closer corner for an action you use routinely during the day.

The best tools

• Built-in Hot Corners — nothing to install, works instantly once set up.
• The screen lock shortcut (Cmd+Ctrl+Q) — a fast alternative for when your hands are on the keyboard, not the mouse.
• Touch ID or Apple Watch unlock — combined with quick corner-locking, it makes for a secure yet convenient work habit.
• BetterTouchTool — a third-party tool for advanced mouse and trackpad gestures, if four corners aren't enough for you.
• A password-protected screensaver — combined with a hot corner set to trigger the screensaver, you get a similar effect to locking, just with a small delay added.

What you get out of it

• Time: a corner action is faster than any keyboard shortcut or menu click — you save a few seconds each time, but you might use it ten times a day.
• Security: sensitive data on screen stays hidden even during a brief step away from your desk.
• Convenience: access to the desktop or a window overview without manually minimizing every window.
• Less reliance on the keyboard: whenever your hand is already on the mouse or trackpad, you don't need to switch to a keyboard shortcut and hunt for the right combination.

Pro tip

If you share a computer with family or work in a space with people around, set a corner to Lock Screen and get used to flicking to it every time you step away from your desk — after a few days it becomes an automatic reflex you don't even have to think about.