Everything Mac

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People who know me know I love my Mac and my iPad, well all things Apple really and I subscribe to a number of magazines and learn all these cool things that make life easier.

OSX (iMac, laptop)

  • Not getting the most out of your Mac? 
  • Magic Mouse. It has 4-way scrolling so you can get around a spreadsheet with ease. Use 2 fingers to swipe through web pages, use one finger to scroll up and down. And of course it has left and right click like a normal mouse, but without the ball that gets filled up with dust. It's bluetooth, so there are no cords, but on the downside the batteries do not last long, so turn it off when you aren't using it.
  • How to dictate to your Mac
    • want to multi-task and doing something else while writing a long email or word doc? Read more...
  • 10 Coolest Keyboard Shortcuts
    • all keys are to be selected simultaneously
    • Need that "other" delete key that's not on your laptop keyboard? Press fn delete and text will disappear to your right. 
    • Want to have a quick preview of any file including a song? just press the spacebar.
    • ⌘ shift 4, drag the crosshairs around what you want to copy, it creates a png file that you can insert or attach to an email
    • Ctrl shift ⌘ 4 copies the selection to the clipboard for you to paste it somewhere else.
    • Replace the 4 with a 3 in the above two shortcuts to do whole screen shots
    • Option⌘i to get the information on more than one file in Finder, just ⌘i for one file
    • Read more...
  • Batch rename files in finder
    • don't want to have to rename a group of files individually? Read more...
  • Signing documents
    • This is a life saver for me, no printing, filling in documents and rescanning for me. Edit the documents in Preview, sign, save and send. I have even "whited out" text and re-typed on top of it. Read more...
    • Encrypt a PDF that has sensitive data and give it a password before emailing. Read more...
  • Get the most out of spotlight
    • need to quickly add something up, check a currency conversion? - you don't need to leave the program you are in, click "cmd spacebar". Read more...
only typed £56 (opt3 for £)
  • Want to make a list of all your files such as books or movies. Select all  the files in a folder in Finder (cmdA) or just the ones you want and copy/paste them into a spreadsheet. Easy! 
  • Need to expand all those folders so you can copy them to a list? Go into list view in Finder, highlight all the folders, then click the cmd and right arrow and they will expand.
  • Using a Windows formatted (NTFS) external drive on your Mac - there are a number of programs that allow your Mac to edit files on a Windows drive. I use Paragon. Just remember to make sure your machine is up and running before plugging in the USB drive or it won't be able to 'see' it. Hard drives have to be formatted in NTFS or FAT for Smart TV's to read them and don't go bigger than 2TB as they can only read the first 2TB's.
  • Still have a program that doesn't come in a Mac version? There are a few programs out there, Bootcamp, Parallels and VM Ware. I use WM Ware, which I load onto my Mac and have Windows 7 and other Windows software on an external hard drive. I make sure I turn off the internet before logging on to minimise the chances of getting infected - remember you are using Windows!
  • Not enough room on your Macbook Air for iTunes? With the introduction of SSD's, there isn't much room for lots of videos, photos and music. You can set up iTunes with all your music, photos, podcasts, videos etc on an external hard drive. Unfortunately if you are using iBooks, it will still store another copy of the book in the hidden library folder on your SSD, no way around that yet. Read more...
  • Backing up - Mac comes with a built in backup system called time machine. It's very easy to setup.

iPad

  • Did you know that Microsoft office products for iPad are now free? Slightly limited capability but for most users you probably don't use those functions anyway.
  • Want the text from a web page but can't save/print it to PDF yet? (I live in hope). If the page has "reader view" (those reading lines at the top next to the web address), click these lines to go into reader view, then click the right arrow on the other side to email it to yourself. The text will be put in the body of the email. You can then copy/paste the information into a Word/Pages doc.
  • Magazines: there are two ways of getting magazines for your iPad. Paid and free. Companies such as Zinio and Next Issue let you subscribe to your favourite magazine(s) and will send you an email to let you know when the next issue is available for download. 
  • Many library memberships allow access to Zino for free, so check their website or ask them. Each library subscribes to different magazines, so if your library doesn't have the one you want, check other libraries in your state if you live in Australia. A resident can join any library in the State, you may have to visit to collect a card for access, but not all. 
  • To download from the libraries, you need to log onto their Zinio website, log in, click on the magazine that you want, and click "checkout", tick the checkbox to email you when the next edition is available. You also need the Zinio App on your iPad. It will then appear on your iPad and you will need to click on the cover and it will download. When you have finished reading it, hold your finger on the cover and a cross will appear for you to touch and it will be deleted from your iPad. You can usually download back issues as well.
And of course, remember. If you ever want to know something, chances are someone else does too - so ask Google!

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