NOVEMBER 2009 HOW TO QUICKLY CHANGE THE SIZE OF THE DOCK
You do not have to go to Dock Preferences to change the size of the Dock. Just go to the Dock divider line, between applications and documents/folders and drag up or down on the divider line.
HOW TO OPEN A SAFARI TAB IN A NEW WINDOW
If you are browsing in tabs, there may be a reason to see one of the tabbed pages in its own window. Control/click on the tab and select “Move Tab to New Window.”
HOW TO ADD PHOTOS FROM THE WEB TO IPHOTO
Here is how to add photos from the Web to your iPhoto. When you find a picture you want on the web, Control/click on it and select “Add image to iPhoto Library.”
OCTOBER 2009 
HOW TO MAKE THE FINDER SIDEBAR WORK LIKE THE DOCK
You can customize the sidebar of the Finder window by adding other icons that make it even more powerful. For example, if you use Photoshop a lot, just open the window where your Photoshop application resides, drag the Photoshop icon right over to the sidebar, and the other icons in the sidebar will slide out of the way.
Now you can use this window kind of like you would the dock — to launch Photoshop, just click on its icon in the sidebar, plus like the dock, you can even drag-and-drop images you want to open right onto the sidebar’s Photoshop icon.
Now you can use this window kind of like you would the dock — to launch Photoshop, just click on its icon in the sidebar, plus like the dock, you can even drag-and-drop images you want to open right onto the sidebar’s Photoshop icon.
USING QUICK LOOK TO VIEW EMAIL ATTACHMENTS
First, click the “Quick Look” button in the email’s header. All attached images now appear in a convenient and attractive slideshow. The icons along the lower edge of the slideshow screen let you play the slideshow, step through the images one at a time, view them simultaneously in a photo grid, expand them to fill your screen, and add your favorites to your iPhoto library. You can also scroll through the images using your left-arrow and right-arrow keys.
USING QUICK LOOK TO VIEW EMAIL ATTACHMENTS
If you want to change the format of almost any graphic, drop it on the icon of Preview in the Dock. Pull down Preview’s File menu to “Save As” and you’ll see options to change the format to TIFF, JPEG, Photoshop, and several others. Various other options will appear below the Format: item, depending on which format you chose for your image.
SEPTEMBER 2009 LIMITING SEARCHES USING BOOLEAN
When typing in keywords in the search field of an open window you can add AND, OR and NOT to limit the search. Those have to be typed in all caps to work...
TRACE BACK FOLDER HIERARCHY
Here’s a cool trick. When in Finder, you can quick-view a file without opening it’s associated application by either clicking on the quick view icon in the toolbar of the finder window or by highlighting it and clicking the space bar. Great for text files, pdf, html, php, doc, xls, and so on.
But, did you know you can open the file in full screen (presentation mode) by holding down the Option key before clicking the quick view eye button? Oh yeah!
Other World Computing offers free installation videos for a variety of Macs. It’s worth taking a look if you find it easier to learn from a video than text.
While you’re on Other World Computing’s site, have a gander at its Upgrade Center page. Here you can select the model Mac you own and, by clicking through a couple of links, find any OWC upgrades available for that model. You certainly don’t have to purchase from OWC, but it’s nice to know just how far you can take your Mac.
But, did you know you can open the file in full screen (presentation mode) by holding down the Option key before clicking the quick view eye button? Oh yeah!
UPGRADING YOUR MAC
Other World Computing offers free installation videos for a variety of Macs. It’s worth taking a look if you find it easier to learn from a video than text.
While you’re on Other World Computing’s site, have a gander at its Upgrade Center page. Here you can select the model Mac you own and, by clicking through a couple of links, find any OWC upgrades available for that model. You certainly don’t have to purchase from OWC, but it’s nice to know just how far you can take your Mac.
AUGUST 2009 TRACE BACK FOLDER HIERARCHY
If you are in a folder and would like to trace back to a previous folder, Command/click and hold on the title and scroll down as far as you like and release.
TAB THRU CHECKBOXES AND RADIO BUTTONS IN BROWSERS
If can’t figure out why tabbing it was skipping checkboxes and radio buttons on Firefox and Safari, it is not the browser configuration. It is configured in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts and there is a little place to check that you want to Tab through all Controls and not just Text Boxes and Lists Only at the bottom.
PREVIEW: USE IT TO SORT
When you open multiple images in Preview, they appear in the Drawer. You can sort them manually by dragging them up and down the list, but there’s another way — if you Control/click on one of the images in the Drawer, a contextual menu will appear, and you can then sort by name, size, keyword, and more.
When you open multiple images in Preview, they appear in the Drawer. You can sort them manually by dragging them up and down the list, but there’s another way — if you Control/click on one of the images in the Drawer, a contextual menu will appear, and you can then sort by name, size, keyword, and more.
JULY 2009 ICHAT VIDEO
If you do not like to look at yourself when you have a video iChat, you can disable this feature by going to the Video menu and selecting "Hide Local Video".
In OS 10.5, you can utilize them as follows:
Here’s why you’ll want to use them in Mail: When you put something in a Smart Folder, it does not actually move the email to that folder — it merely groups the items you want to see. You can change the rules at any time to tweak the settings of what you want to see. Here’s how:
Every day we get 2-3 messages “from eBay” telling us that something we bought/sold is in dispute. Recently it was a message “from PayPal” allegedly about a PayPal account being debited $1,000 for a new computer from Dell.
You are no doubt receiving these spam messages too. Help out eBay and PayPal by forwarding the email to them. Just use spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com as the forwarding address.
SMART FOLDERS
In OS 10.5, you can utilize them as follows:
- As an all-encompassing Folder in Mail
- As a Saved Search in the Finder
- In Mail, click the “+” button at the bottom on the left-hand column.
- Select “New Smart Mailbox”
- Name your Mailbox and set your preferences using the modifiable fields.
- In the Finder, select “New Smart Folder” from the File menu (or hit Option/Command/N).
- This will open a window for you to search for the desired files in the Search Panel.
- Tweak the settings by clicking the choices of “Contents” or “File Name” and/or applying rules (click the “+” button next to Save to see these).
TURN IN SPAM MESSAGES TO EBAY & PAYPAL
Every day we get 2-3 messages “from eBay” telling us that something we bought/sold is in dispute. Recently it was a message “from PayPal” allegedly about a PayPal account being debited $1,000 for a new computer from Dell.
You are no doubt receiving these spam messages too. Help out eBay and PayPal by forwarding the email to them. Just use spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com as the forwarding address.
JUNE 2009 MINIMIZING ALL WINDOWS AT ONCE
If you press “Option” and click on the Minimize Button (the little yellow gumdrop on the upper-left side of a window), all the windows that were open with that application will jump out of the way down into the dock? The reverse is also true.
HOW TO RESTORE FROM TIME MACHINE
If you are using Time Machine, good for you. But when you loose a file or an application, you need to know how to “Restore.” Go to the Applications folder and select “Time Machine.” (Or, go to your menu bar and click on the Time Machine icon and click on "Enter Time Machine")
When it opens, go to the lines at the right of the screen and click on a date on which the lost file or application was there for sure. Select the files to restore and click “Restore.” You are now back in business.
PHOTOSHOP TRICK TO BLEND ART INTO A PHOTO
You can add a colorful background to artwork that has a white background, without creating a selection or layer mask to hide the background. Instead, place the colorful background at the top of your layers stack and change its blend mode to “Darken.” Wherever the two layers intersect, only the darkest colors will remain.
This is a great trick for merging a logo or drawing into a photo — such as adding a tattoo, or “painting” a sign on a wall.
You can add a colorful background to artwork that has a white background, without creating a selection or layer mask to hide the background. Instead, place the colorful background at the top of your layers stack and change its blend mode to “Darken.” Wherever the two layers intersect, only the darkest colors will remain.
This is a great trick for merging a logo or drawing into a photo — such as adding a tattoo, or “painting” a sign on a wall.
MAY 2009 DESKTOP PRINTING
Want the ability to print a document right from your desktop (without opening the application first)? Go under the Apple menu, under System Preferences, and choose Print & Fax. When the preference pane appears, click on the Printer Setup button, and when the Printer Info dialog appears, press Command/L to show the Printer List dialog. Your printer will appear in this dialog. Click on it, then go up under the Printers menu (in the menu bar) and choose Create Desktop Printer. A standard Open/Save dialog will appear asking you where you want to save it (I save mine on the desktop). Click Save and an icon for your printer will appear on the desktop. To print a document, just drag-and-drop it on this icon. Some documents, such as TextEdit files and PDFs, will go straight to the printer. Other files will launch their default application and open the Print dialog.
DETERMINE IF A CONTACT IS IN MULTIPLE GROUPS IN ADDRESS BOOK
If you have a large amount of contacts in your Address Book and you're constantly trying to figure out if that contact is in multiple groups--the feature is built-in. Simply select the vCard of the contact you wish to check. Press and hold the (Alt /Option) key. This will highlight the groups containing that vCard.
CREATE TEXT CLIPPINGS
Create a text clipping by highlighting the text you would like to use. Click and drag the highlighted text to the desktop. The resulting file will automatically copy to the Clipboard when double-clicked, making it ready to paste into documents.
MOVE MENU BAR ICONS
Most applications that install icons in the Mac OS X menu bar allow you to move or delete those icons by using a simple key and drag command. Hold down the (Alt/Option) key and click and drag the icon you would like to move. If you want to delete the icon, move it off the menu bar and let go of the mouse button.
CHANGE THE DEFAULT PROGRAM TO OPEN FILES
You can change the default program that is used to open a particular file type. For example, if you would like to use Pages to open all DOC files instead of Microsoft Word, or all JPEG files with Photoshop instead of Preview.
1. Choose a file representing the file type you would like to change.
2. Use the command (Command + I) to "Get Info" on the file. (You may also right-click, Get Info, or highlight the file and in the
Finder menu bar select File > Get Info.)
3. Under the drill-down option for "Open with:" select the application you would like to have as the default.
4. Click the "Change All..." button and each file type will open with the newly assigned default application.
APRIL 2009 GET INFO INSPECTOR
You can always get information about a file, document, folder etc. by clicking on it and then pressing the ⌘-I keys. But if you want to get info on more than one item at once, you quickly fill up your screen with alot of windows. In order to get one info window, press ⌘-Option-I and the Info Inspector shows the combined size of the files. If you then just click on each of the items, you will get the info on that item alone. Very cool!
FINDER TOOLBAR: SHORTCUT TO FAVORITE ITEMS
Have certain files, folders, or even programs you want access quickly from any Finder window? Drag their icons onto the Finder’s toolbar at the top of the window. Drag an icon to a space in the toolbar—say, to the right of the buttons—and wait a second; the cursor will show a plus-sign (+) icon, and then the item will be added to that space. Command-drag an icon to remove it from the toolbar. Control-click on the toolbar and select Customize Toolbar from the contextual menu for even more options.
Choose View -> Show Path Bar to reveal this bar at the bottom of your Finder windows. It shows you exactly where the selected file is in your computer’s folder hierarchy, no matter which view you’re using. You can drag files or folders into other folders shown in the path bar, so this is a good way to move files up to a higher level in your hierarchy. You can also go to any folder by double-clicking on it in the path bar.
FINDER PATH BAR
Choose View -> Show Path Bar to reveal this bar at the bottom of your Finder windows. It shows you exactly where the selected file is in your computer’s folder hierarchy, no matter which view you’re using. You can drag files or folders into other folders shown in the path bar, so this is a good way to move files up to a higher level in your hierarchy. You can also go to any folder by double-clicking on it in the path bar.
MARCH 2009 REMOVE UNWANTED MAIL RECIPIENTS
In using Mail, when you start to type an address, Mail offers various possibilities based on your address book and on any previous emails you may have received. To access and eliminate those previous email recipients, you will need to do the following:
To access this list, open Mail, select Window from the menu and bar choose the Previous Recipients option. Here you can sort by name email address or date last used. Try the search box to locate particular entries. To remove unwanted recipients, select them with your mouse and choose "Remove From List". If the unwanted recipient is a contact in Address Book — indicated by an icon — you will also need to either remove them from Address Book or correct their details to avoid being offered the address again in future.
Open the PDF in Preview, and while holding down the Option key, draw a box around the text you want. Copy, then Paste. Note that if the PDF is in columnar form, the resulting paste will also be narrower.
When you’re working in the editing pane in iPhoto ‘08, you can always compare how your work has changed the picture from the original by pressing the Shift key. When the Shift key is down, iPhoto displays the picture as it was before you began making changes.
To access this list, open Mail, select Window from the menu and bar choose the Previous Recipients option. Here you can sort by name email address or date last used. Try the search box to locate particular entries. To remove unwanted recipients, select them with your mouse and choose "Remove From List". If the unwanted recipient is a contact in Address Book — indicated by an icon — you will also need to either remove them from Address Book or correct their details to avoid being offered the address again in future.
TO SELECT TEXT IN A PDF
Open the PDF in Preview, and while holding down the Option key, draw a box around the text you want. Copy, then Paste. Note that if the PDF is in columnar form, the resulting paste will also be narrower.
VIEW BEFORE AND AFTER EFFECTS IN IPHOTO
When you’re working in the editing pane in iPhoto ‘08, you can always compare how your work has changed the picture from the original by pressing the Shift key. When the Shift key is down, iPhoto displays the picture as it was before you began making changes.
JANUARY 2009 TURN YOUR MIGHTY MOUSE INTO A 2-BUTTON MOUSE
The Mighty mouse that comes with all Macs can be programed to be a two Plus button Mouse by going to System Preferences>Keyboard & Mouse>Mouse. At that window you can click on the Primary Button on the either side and change it to a "Secondary Button" which will allow the mouse to be a two button mouse. The right-click used by PC-ers since time began is now available to us. The right click essentially does the same as the Control-click on a Mac in that it brings up a contextual menu with actions you can take. It is a great shortcut and you should have it enabled on your mouse.
FORGOT A PASSWORD?
If you can’t remember a password for a website (or anything else for that matter), all your passwords are saved in the Keychain Access utility, but the cool thing is you can do a Spotlight search from right within Keychain to quickly find the password you’re looking for.
Start by looking inside your Applications folder for the Utilities folder, and inside of that double-click on Keychain Access. When it opens you’ll see a search field in the upper-right corner. Type the name of the site you’re looking for, and it will appear. Double-click on the result and an info dialog will appear, and to see your password, turn on the show Password checkbox.
Start by looking inside your Applications folder for the Utilities folder, and inside of that double-click on Keychain Access. When it opens you’ll see a search field in the upper-right corner. Type the name of the site you’re looking for, and it will appear. Double-click on the result and an info dialog will appear, and to see your password, turn on the show Password checkbox.
STRAINING TO SEE PHONE NUMBERS IN ADDRESS BOOK?
Did you know that you can have the phone number of a contact in address book appear enormous and much easier to read when dialing their number? It is simple: just right click (or Control-Click) on the contact's phone number and one of the options (second one from the top of the list) is Large Type. Try it and see what a difference it makes!
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