Mac maintenance
How to Move From a PC to a Mac (a Real Migration Plan)
Switching from Windows to macOS in 2026? A practical migration plan covering files, apps, shortcuts, file systems, and the things that always trip people up.
You ordered the M4 MacBook Pro, it’s sitting in the box, and you have a Dell XPS with twelve years of files on it. You also have muscle memory for Ctrl+C, a license for Office that may or may not transfer, an external drive formatted NTFS, and a sinking suspicion that “it just works” doesn’t apply to migration day.
It works fine. But the people who say “I switched in an hour” mostly had three browser tabs and a OneDrive account. A real migration — the kind where you actually move your photo archive, your local-only Outlook PST, and a 4 TB external drive of project files — takes a planned afternoon. Here’s how to do it without losing anything.
Spend an hour mapping what’s actually on the PC
Before you copy anything, take inventory. Open File Explorer and list:
- Documents — what’s in there, how big is it, what’s still relevant
- Pictures and Videos — total size, where the originals live (camera, phone, iCloud, Google Photos)
- Downloads — most of this is junk; don’t migrate it
- Desktop — usually a graveyard of one-off files
- Anything on a non-C drive — secondary drives, NAS shares, external disks
- AppData — hidden folder containing browser profiles, app config, save games, mail archives
Write down totals. If it’s 40 GB, you can use a single USB stick. If it’s 600 GB, you’re in cloud or external-drive territory.
Then list every app you actively use. Not “have installed” — actively use. Most people open the same eight or nine programs every week. The other 60 are noise.
File-system reality check: NTFS, exFAT, APFS
Macs read NTFS but cannot write to it natively. Your existing Windows external drive will mount on the Mac as read-only. You have three paths:
- Copy off, reformat to exFAT, copy back — works on any size drive, both OSes can read/write, no software needed. exFAT lacks journaling so it’s not ideal for primary storage but fine as a transfer drive.
- Copy off, reformat to APFS, use Mac-only — best performance and reliability if the drive is becoming Mac-only.
- Install NTFS-write software on the Mac (Mounty, Tuxera, Paragon) — works but adds a kernel extension you have to maintain. Avoid unless you genuinely need cross-platform NTFS.
If you have one big drive of files, exFAT during migration and then deciding format afterward is the safest plan.
The actual file transfer
A few options, ordered from best to worst.
SMB share over Wi-Fi. Turn on file sharing in Windows (Settings → Network → Advanced sharing settings), connect from the Mac via Finder → Go → Connect to Server → smb://your-pc-name. Drag folders. Stable, no extra hardware. Slow on Wi-Fi — plan an overnight transfer if you’re moving hundreds of GB.
External SSD or HDD over USB. Format exFAT on the PC, copy everything across, plug into the Mac, copy off. Fastest for large transfers. A USB 3.2 SSD will move 100 GB in around 4 minutes; a USB hard drive in 25–30.
Cloud sync. OneDrive, Dropbox, or Google Drive on both sides. Convenient if everything is already in the cloud. Painfully slow if you’re starting from scratch with hundreds of GB on residential broadband.
Direct cable. Apple’s Migration Assistant supports Windows-to-Mac via the Windows Migration Assistant utility. Honest opinion: it’s flaky compared to the macOS-to-macOS version. Use it for documents and contacts if you want; don’t trust it with anything irreplaceable without a separate backup.
App-by-app translations
You don’t reinstall everything 1:1. Some apps exist on both sides, some have direct Mac equivalents, some need a different approach.
Microsoft Office — same product on Mac. Word, Excel, PowerPoint all run natively, files are interchangeable. Your Microsoft 365 license covers both platforms.
Outlook — runs on Mac, but a local PST file from Windows Outlook doesn’t import cleanly. Either set up your account fresh on the Mac (mail re-syncs from the server) or export PST → import to a cloud mailbox first.
Adobe Creative Cloud — same license, just sign in on the Mac and reinstall apps. Settings sync via Creative Cloud account. Brushes and presets need manual export/import.
Browsers — Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Brave all sync via account. Sign in on the Mac and bookmarks/passwords/extensions appear. Safari is the Mac equivalent if you want to ditch a browser dependency.
Notepad/Notepad++ — TextEdit handles the basics; for serious text editing use VS Code, Sublime Text, or BBEdit.
Paint/Paint.NET — Preview handles the simplest cases; Pixelmator Pro or Acorn for actual image editing.
Windows Media Player / VLC — VLC is on Mac and is what most people use. IINA is a Mac-native alternative with a nicer UI.
Outlook calendar — works in Apple Calendar via the same Microsoft 365 account.
Steam, Epic, GOG — Steam runs on Mac, library is the same, but only Mac-compatible titles are playable. Epic and GOG have limited Mac selections. Consider GeForce Now for Windows-only games via browser.
Keyboard, shortcut, and trackpad muscle memory
This part takes a week to get used to and then never bothers you again.
- Cmd, not Ctrl. Cmd+C, Cmd+V, Cmd+S. Ctrl is reserved mostly for terminal and accessibility shortcuts on Mac.
- Cmd+Tab switches apps. Within an app, Cmd+` switches windows.
- Cmd+Space opens Spotlight (or Raycast/Alfred if you install one). Replaces the Windows key for app launching.
- Right-click is two-finger tap on trackpad, or Ctrl-click. Set up the trackpad’s “Secondary click” option in System Settings → Trackpad.
- Mission Control — three-finger swipe up shows all open windows. Three-finger swipe left/right between desktops.
- Forward delete — Fn+Delete. The Backspace key on Windows is just “Delete” on Mac.
- Home/End — Cmd+Left and Cmd+Right go to start/end of line. Cmd+Up and Cmd+Down go to start/end of document.
Print these on a sticky note for the first week. By day five you won’t need it.
Gotchas that always catch switchers
A few things that don’t show up in any “switching to Mac” list until you hit them.
Maximize button doesn’t maximize. The green button on the window’s top-left is “Enter Full Screen,” which gives you a separate Space. To resize a window to fit the screen, hold Option and click the green button — that gives you Windows-style maximize.
There’s no Cut for files in Finder. You can copy a file (Cmd+C) and then move it (Cmd+Option+V at the destination). It feels weird at first.
The menu bar is at the top of the screen, not the window. Always. Whichever app is frontmost is what’s in the menu bar.
Closing the last window doesn’t quit the app. Cmd+Q quits. The red X just closes the window. This is a feature, but it surprises people.
Aliases vs. shortcuts. macOS aliases are smarter than Windows shortcuts — they follow the file even if you move it.
File names are case-insensitive by default. APFS supports case-sensitive volumes, but the default boot volume isn’t. Photo.JPG and photo.jpg are the same file.
A two-week onboarding plan
Don’t try to fully recreate your PC environment in one day. Spread it out:
- Days 1–2: transfer files, install Tier 1 apps (browser, password manager, mail), get the basics working.
- Days 3–5: rebuild Tier 2 — apps for actual work tasks. Adjust trackpad and keyboard settings as friction emerges.
- Days 6–10: install Tier 3 — the niche utilities. Most you’ll discover you don’t actually need.
- Day 14: check the storage. You’ll be surprised how much smaller a clean Mac install is than the Windows machine you came from. A 60 GB OS-and-apps footprint is normal.
After two weeks the Cmd-key reflex is automatic, the trackpad gestures are second nature, and the Windows-shaped hole in your workflow has filled in.
The single biggest mistake switchers make is bringing too much. The Dell had eight years of accumulated weight. The Mac doesn’t need it. Start light, add only what you reach for.