McTips Tips and Tricks
Here are some great tips and tricks collected by Mr Chris Mason to help you master your Mac.
Putting the Mac to sleep
If you only want to put your MacBook in its case for a short period of time (a few minutes to a few hours) you can put it to sleep. The simplest way to do this is to close the display (or you could choose “Sleep” from the Apple menu at the top left of the screen). Before you move the mac its important to watch the sleep indicator light (see diagram)
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This LED will be hard on when you first close the cover. Wait till the LED starts flashing before moving the machine (around ten seconds) . This gives the Mac enough time to stop the hard drive spinning so you can safely move the machine.
If you are unlikey to use your mac for a couple of days or longer its best to shut down the computer. Choose “Shut Down” from the Apple menu or press the power button then choose the “Shut Down” button in the popup menu.
The MacBook Manual
Each MacBook contains a full manual under the Finder's HELP menu. The MacBook Pro Manual (a printed copy of the manual was provided with your Mac) is available as a downloadable PDF file at the Mac (US) site. This gives you easy access to the manual (and makes it much easier to read). The web address (URL) is
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/MacBook_Pro_13inch_Mid2009.pdf
The Application Menu
The application menu is the menu immediately to the right of the apple menu at the top left of the screen. It shows the current active application.
Resizing windows
To resize a window firstly you can use the red, yellow and green buttons at the top left of the document window. A single click of the red button closes the window, a click to the yellow button minimises it to the right end of the dock, and a click to the green button resizes the window bigger or smaller.
Note the series of angled lines in the bottom right of every document Window.
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| Press and drag this corner to resize the window |
Using the FINDER
FINDER is the program which helps you organise your files, folders, and desktop. To go to the Finder at any time you can :
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Single click on any finder window that you see OR
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Single click on any area of the desktop OR
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Single click on any finder icon in the dock. The application menu should say “Finder”
Your Home Folder is the folder with the house icon and your user name in the finder. By default when you first open the Finder your home folder is displayed. Your home folder displays a number of special folders. Do not change the names of these folders or throw them away unless you are very clear on what you are doing. The Library folder is an operating system folder. It’s best to leave this folder alone.
In the FINDER window (Go to dock, Finder window) you have four view options. This is the group at the top of the Finder Window
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| From left to right are Icon view, List View, Column view and Cover flow view. |
You can open more than one FINDER window at any time. (This can be useful if you are copying or moving files from one folder to another). First sure you are in the finder window is active. Click on a blank space in the desktop. Finder should now be active (The word “FINDER” should be in the Application Menu). Click File>New Finder Window to open a new window.
Creating New Folders
To create a new folder open a Finder window, navigate to the directory you want to create the new folder in, then choose File, New Folder. Then go to the new Untitled folder will be at the bottom of that directory. It should already be selected and the name ”Untitled Folder” should be highlighted in Blue. Click on the name and enter the new name.
The Quick Look Button
In the FINDER is another handy button called the Quick look/slideshow button.
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This handy button is a “Quick View” tool. You will find it in the top centre of the finder window just below your user name. To use this button select a file (any word processing document or an image or even a pdf.) Now press the Quick look button. A small window opens in the centre of the desktop. An image of the document appears immediately in front of you but no application opens. You can even scroll through a multipage document. Once you have the Quick view window open you can click on any other document or image to view the contents of that file.
You can also open a Quick view window by selecting the files you want to view and pressing the spacebar or pressing Command + y OR selecting one or more files , go to the file menu and choose “Quick Look filename”.
Close the Quick look window by clicking the small X in the top left of the window OR pressing the spacebar OR go to the file menu and choose “Close Quick Look”
Using the Dock
The dock is the strip of icons across the bottom of the screen. Hover your cursor over an icon to see a label, which tells you the name of the application. Single click the icon to open the application or file. A tiny blue light underneath an application icon indicates that the application is open.
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| Note the dividing line in the Dock. |
In the image above it appears as a white dotted line between the System Preferences icon and the Applications Folder. All icons to the left of the line are Applications. To the right of the line are the Applications and Documents folders, the Downloads stack and trash bin.
This line can be difficult to see. You can see it more clearly if you don’t have any document windows open. There is also a visual clue from the cursor. The shape of the cursor changes when it is moved over the line (a small horizontal line with arrow heads above and below the line).
Adding and removing items
In the Dock you can add or remove a folder or a document or web page location to the right of the dividing line by dragging it.
You can re-arrange any of the icons to the left of the dividing line in the Dock. To rearrange an icon, drag the icon to the new location. The icons in location should move over to allow space for your relocated icon. To add an application first open a finder window, single click the applications folder in the sidebar, then drag an application down into the Dock (or you can just double click on an application in the finder to automatically place it in the dock).
To remove any icon from the Dock press it with the mouse, then drag it upwards and let go. It will disappear. You can also right click or hold down the control key and click an icon and choose “Remove from Dock” from the menu. (note that this only deletes the icon, not the application. The application can still be accessed in the applications folder in the dock or in the finder window.)
Hiding the dock
The Dock can be hidden if you want all the space on the desktop to work on a document. The dock is still there but is “hidden” below the bottom of the desktop. Go to the Apple menu, mouse over Dock and choose “Turn Hiding On.” To reveal the dock, position the mouse in the deep bottom of the screen.
Dock displays
You have a number of display options for displaying the contents of the Downloads Folder in the Dock. The first is the fan display. Here the 7 most recent downloads are shown as a stack of icons. Click the arrowed button at the top to open a finder window, which shows the rest of the Downloads Folder contents. The second display option is the grid. A window opens which displays each file as an icon with the filename below it. Scroll down to see the rest of the files in the folder. The third option is the list option. A tiny icon and each file name is shown in a list. Scroll down to see the rest of the files in the folder. This is probably the best option if you have a lot of files in the Downloads Folder. To access the display options right click the folder and choose fan, grid or list.
Using the Trash bin
To delete a file drag it into the trash bin. Note that as you position the cursor arrow over the trash bin icon it darkens. Release the file and it drops into the trash bin. The trash bin icon shows an image of paper in it if files are present.
To empty the Trash bin right click the trash bin and choose “empty Trash”. You can also access the empty trash command in the Finder menu
To take an item out of the Trash: Click once on the trash icon in the dock to open it’s Window. Find the file(s) you want to restore and drag them back to the location you want them in OR select the wanted files to their original location.
Keyboard shortcuts.
If you learn keyboard shortcuts to commonly used commands it can save time because you don’t have to take your fingers away from the keyboard to carry out the command. Many of the commands in the file and edit menus for applications have Keyboard shortcuts for instance.
Modifier keys. These are keys that do not do anything by themselves, but modify the behaviour of other keys. The most commonly used are
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⌘…….The Command Key
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⌥…….The Option Key
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⇧…….The Shift Key
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⌃…….The Control Key
In the Application menu check the application, File and Edit menus, for useful keyboard shortcuts. Examples are:
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⌘o …… Open File
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⌘s …… Save File
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⌘c …… Copy
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⌘v …… paste
Using a Keyboard shortcut. Hold down the modifier key(s) and tap the associated letter , number , or F key once.
The OSX Character Library
To access the OSX character library while creating a document in Pages choose edit then “Special Characters” to open the Character palette. Choose the character and either drag the character into the document or click the insert button at the bottom right of the window.
In Microsoft Word click on a clear part of the desktop to bring up the finder menu. Choose Edit then special characters to open the Character Palette. Find the character you wish to use and drag it into your word document
Create a list of favourite special characters. First open the character palette. Navigate to a symbol you wish to add to your favourites. Click on the symbol to select it then click the Gear shaped icon in the bottom left of the window. And choose “Add to favourites” from the menu.
Continue adding characters until you have your favourite set. To insert a character fro you favourites list first open the Character palette choose the Favourites folder (top centre), then insert your character into your document.
Grey vs Black
Note the meaning of Grey versus Black commands in the Application menus. Black commands are available for you to use at that point in time If a command is grey it means that you cannot use that command at the moment.
Using tool tips
These are the little tips, which pop up when you “hover” your mouse over an item. They give the purpose of the item. Hold your mouse cursor still over an item for about 3 seconds to reveal its tool tip.
Hover Tips
In Mail, hover over a sender's name to see their email address.
In Safari, hover over a link to see its web address (URL). Example: Open Safari and go to Wikipedia. Note that all the links are highlighted in blue . When you position the cursor over a link, the link underlines in blue and the URL appears in the “Status Bar” at the bottom of the safari window. Note also that a Tool Tip appears for each link if you hover over it for 3 seconds.
Visual Clues
The Mac provides visual clues to assist the user. An example is the blue line which surrounds the edit boxes at the top of the safari window to indicate that that window is active (note the edit box on the right below)
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When you are closing a document the Mac gives you a dialog with save options
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| Note that the save button is blue. This is a visual clue that you can carry out this command simply by hitting the return key. |
Watch the cursor for clues as you move around Applications. The shape of the cursor changes when you can carry out an action. Example: Open a finder window. Move the cursor between the sidebar and the main window. The shape of the cursor changes to a double arrowed horizontal line with a small vertical line through it, indicating that you can press and drag this edge to resize the sidebar.
The Help Menu
Every Mac application has a Help menu. Its always at the right end of the menu bar at the top of the application window. Click help and a search box opens. Type in a key word or two to start your search. You will see two types of options, Menu Items and Help Items
Menu Items. These give you directions on where to look . When you select an option in the menu items list, a menu drops down and an arrow points to the item you are looking for.
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Help topics
These are specific help files relating to the topic you searched. When you choose one of these . The help file opens.
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Support Pages
The Apple website has a number of support pages and a user forums where users give tips about the mac and software applications. There are
http://discussions.apple.com/index.jspa
Useful forums are
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=190 MacBook Pro forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=140 Airport and Time capsule Forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=143 iTunes forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=149 iPhoto Forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=141 iMovie forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=127 GarageBand Forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=128 iDVD Forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=188 iWeb Forum
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=263 Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=166 iCal
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=169 Safari
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=253 Keynote
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=202 Numbers
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=225 Pages
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1136 Getting started with video production on a Mac
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1107 Producing Podcasts
Disabling the caps lock key
Have you been typing up a document, then checked the screen and found that you activated the caps lock key several sentences ago? To disable Caps lock go to System preferences, keyboard, click the modifier keys button at the bottom of the window. New window opens. Click the options box for caps lock key. Choose “no action” then click the OK button.
Shut down the warning
When you choose “Shutdown” from the Apple menu a dialog that appears asking you if you really want to shutdown. To get rid of the dialog hold the option key as you click shutdown.
Mac Video tutorials
(Mac Basics). These are the beginners video tutorials on the Apple website. Use the link to navigate to the site. http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#switcher
Create PDF
Any file can be converted to a pdf document. Open the file, choose print and choose the PDF button at the bottom left of the window.
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Choose “Save as PDF”
Give the file a new file name and new save location (if desired) and click Save.
Choose “Mail PDF” to email the Pdf file
This creates the PDF file, Opens Mail, and puts the PDF in the message ready to send. It’s that simple!
Choose “save PDF to Web receipts folder”
Ever make purchases over the web? This feature is designed to save a copy of a web receipt and put it into a special folder called “Web Receipts”. Watch the file name though. If you make multiple purchase transactions from one site be sure the new file has a different file name from your last receipt captured from that site or you will over-write the old receipt.
The Documents and Downloads folders
The Documents and Downloads folders in the dock allow you to easily find these key folders in your home folder. You can also open a finder window and choose your home folder from the “places” list.
You can also find your Home folder in the Mac hard drive. Click on the Macintosh HD icon on the desktop or open a finder window and choose Macintosh HD from the “Devices list”. In the finder window. Choose column view, drag the widow out so it shows at least 4 columns. Single click “users” then your home folder name, then the folder you wish to view.
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Exposé
If you like to keep a number of windows open you can use Exposé to help you organise your desktop. Open several windows (mail, safari, pages) Hold the Function key (bottom left key) and press the F11 key. Every window on the desktop disappears, leaving only the desktop. Function + F11 will bring them all back.