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Mac 101: Float a Sticky note above all windows
Here is a great tip from creativebits. Stickies and the Mac have gone hand in hand for years. They're a great way to quickly jot down a bit of information, just like their paper counterparts. Ivan explains how to keep a Sticky Note front and center. With your target note selected, simply press Command-Option-F and it will float above all other windows.Stickies have matured over the years, and gained additional functionality like appear translucent and display Quicktime movies. What's your favorite "Sticky Trick?"
Mac 101: Customize your application toolbars
Many switchers to Mac OS X have the same question: "how can I customize my application toolbars?" While this is fairly straightforward in Windows, Mac OS X makes it much easier. Just open the customization menu by right-clicking (if you have a one-button mouse you can control + click) on the toolbar, then select "Customize..." When you do this, you are presented with a dialog box that "rolls down" to display all of the items that you can add. Just drag the ones you want to the toolbar. If you find you don't want a certain toolbar item, just open the customize panel again and drag the item off the menu bar. For more tips and tricks like these, visit the Mac 101 section on TUAW.
Mac 101: Eject button in the menu bar
If you're using a keyboard without an eject key, say a non-Apple keyboard, an older Apple keyboard or (in my case) a really old Apple keyboard, you're probably missing that eject button. Sure, you can launch iTunes and select "Eject Disk" from the Controls menu, but there's a much easier way.Navigate to the CoreServices folder, which lives in your system's Library. There, you'll find "Eject.menu" in the Menu Extras folder. Simply double-click that sucker and presto! An eject button is now in your menu bar.To remove it, simply click it and drag it onto the desktop while holding down the Command key. You can also re-arrange menu bar items by dragging with the Command key depressed.[Via MacSupport]
Mac 101: Retrieve lost passwords
Everyone eventually forgets a password or two. It's OK, don't be ashamed. Even your friends at TUAW have committed this error. Honestly.Ivan at CreativeBits offers a simple way to reveal a forgotten password with Mac OS X's Keychain Access application. You'll find it in your Utilities folder (which lives in the Applications folder). It lists all the passwords you've stored for different applications (wireless networks, FTP servers, etc.). Just select the one you're interested in and perform a "Get Info" by hitting Command-I. Good luck, and write it down this time, will you?
Mac 101: The desktop in dialog windows
You want to open a file on the desktop from within a given application. Let's say Microsoft Word (it could happen). So, you select "Open" from the File menu. However, it selects the directory you last accessed with this method - the Documents folder. Don't reach for that mouse! A simpler solution is to hit Command-D to jump to the Desktop's files. Note that this works in Save dialog windows, too. "How long does it take for me to move to and from the mouse?" you ask. The answer is just a second or two. But those seconds add up over the course of a day, a week, a year. Now, what will you do with all the extra time?
Mac 101: system-wide thesaurus at the touch of a hotkey
As a Mac switcher, my Mac's built-in spelling and grammar checking has been a huge productivity boon for me. I'm someone who often gets stuck on a word, and since nothing's ever good enough for me, I've often wished that Leopard also included a built-in thesaurus. While that's not currently in the cards, there is an alternative. How many ways are there to say "Whoops?" Of course, Leopard does include a built-in thesaurus via Dictionary.app. See the continuation of this post for a screenshot. Thanks to everyone in the comments for keeping me honest. If the Apple offering isn't to your liking, Nisus Thesaurus, a free app from Nisus Software, works as a standalone application and a system service. This means that it installs in the Services sub-menu of your Mac and is accessible from any program you use that is able to interact with the Services sub-menu. These applications include Mail, TextEdit, Safari, MacJournal, and countless others. Once installed, using your new thesaurus is as simple as highlighting a word that you would like to look up, and pressing the Nisus Thesaurus Services sub-menu hotkey (Command -<). This will pop up the Nisus Thesaurus window with your word options only a click away. Select the word you would like to use as a replacement, press Command->, and voila; your new choice has replaced the original word.
Mac 101: Quick Mac info
Here's a quick and unobtrusive way to grab some information about your machine. As you may know, you can select "About this Mac" from the Apple Menu to produce a small window which lists your version of the Mac OS, your processor type and speed plus the amount of memory installed. You could click "More Info..." to launch System Profiler and gain more information, or try this.Click the version number field and it changes to the OS X build number. Click it again, and your machine's serial number is displayed. But the fun doesn't stop there! You can gain even more information from the login window (accessible when you first start your machine or after logging out). Clicking the field under "Mac OS X" there reveals Your computer's name The OS version Build number Serial number IP address Any available network accounts Date and time Don't you just love Finder tricks and OS easter eggs?We tested this under Mac OS 10.5.2, so if your experience is different, let us know what version of the OS you're using as well as what you found.
Mac 101: use a tab to navigate dialogs
Recently we here at TUAW were asked about navigating dialog boxes and applications with the keyboard. It is really easy to use the tab key to select different parts of the window and different buttons in a dialog box, if you know how to enable this behavior.Open System Preferences > Mouse and Keyboard, and click the "Keyboard Shortcuts" tab. You are presented with two options at the bottom of the window (in the "Full keyboard access" section): Text boxes and lists only or All controls. By default, "Text boxes and lists" should be selected, but if you want to be able to select other buttons in a window with the tab key then you need to select the "All controls" option. Now when you encounter a dialog box (or window), just press the tab key to switch between the various buttons on the screen. If you would like to go to a previous button, use shift + tab. When you've got the button you want highlighted, press the enter key or space bar. It's as easy as that! For more tips and tricks like these, visit the Mac 101 section on TUAW.
Mac 101: Apply actions to multiple windows
Here's a tip for those who take a tidy desk to the extreme. When you've got multiple Finder windows open, you can apply an action to all of them at once.Press Command-Option-W to immediately close all windows. Likewise, if you hold down the Option key while pressing the red, yellow and green buttons in the upper left hand corner of a Finder window, you apply the corresponding action to all open windows Option + yellow minimizes all windows to the Dock Option + green maximizes all windows Option + red closes all windows Keep your desktop neat and tidy by dismissing all open Finder windows in a snap.
Mac 101: Zoom and pan images in Quick Look
Is your laptop not among those that can do Multi-touch? Don't feel badly, you can replicate those great features!Well, kind of. First, open an image with Quick Look. Next, hold down the Option key while performing a two-finger scroll. The image zooms in and out! Finally, let go of the Option key but keep your fingers in place on your trackpad. The cursor turns into a four-point directional, and then you can pan the image within the Quick Look window.This also works with a mouse and scrollwheel.Thanks, Max!
Mac 101: fine tune your Mac's volume
More Mac 101, tips for Mac beginners. Sure, you can use the volume key on your MacBook or Apple keyboard to do quick volume changes, but that doesn't adjust the volume that precisely. If you want to fine tune your volume, you have to either open System Preferences or click on the volume icon in the menu bar. However, you can also tweak the volume by holding down the option + shift keys and tapping the volume up/down keys on your keyboard. Note that this is a Leopard-only trick, as pointed out by our commenters.As an additional note, you can also hold down the shift button while pressing the volume keys to mute the "pop" that you hear when pressing the volume key. If you want to permanently silence the volume-adjust beeping, uncheck "Play feedback when volume is changed" in the Sound Effects preference pane and it won't bother you again (helpful for podcasting or other situations when you might need to adjust your volume on the fly).[via Tekzilla]
Mac 101: curing multiple-monitor mixups with Detect Displays
More Mac 101, tips for the Mac beginner in you. Lucky dual-monitor users, rejoice -- with that second display on your desk, you're bound to be the productivity envy of the entire office. Just one little problem, though: sometimes your Mac has trouble recognizing that extra real estate, and rebooting every time your resolutions get munged is beginning to get old.Relax, and check out your mini-menu for monitors over there in the menu bar. See "Detect Displays?" That's your buddy, right there -- it will tell your Mac to recheck the connected monitors and adjust resolutions as needed. Note the model number of the external display shown; if everything's connected as it should be, your Mac should autosense the type and capabilities of the display without any intervention.For an even quicker trigger on display detection, try Cmd-F2 (brightness up) on your built-in laptop keyboard. Cmd-F1 will toggle display mirroring, also handy in a pinch.There are several ways other ways to get external displays to behave; the oldest, for laptop users, is to sleep the machine and wake it back up -- this usually triggers a display detection when all else fails. There's also a Detect Displays button in the Displays preference pane.Also, to answer a reader question from the comments: it's easy to specify which display acts as the primary monitor in a dual-display setup: just drag the teensy proxy menubar from one display to the other, and your menus, drive icons etc. will follow.
Mac 101: get a floating clock on your screen saver
Welcome, once again, to Mac 101, TUAW's continuing series focusing on tips and tricks useful to new Mac users. Mac veterans might learn a thing or two along the way, but these tips are aimed squarely at our new Mac friends.Today's tip is all about knowing what time it is. If you're running Leopard you can have your Mac display the time when the screensaver is running.Simply do the following: Launch System Preferences Click on 'Desktop & Screen Saver' in the 'Personal' row Choose 'Screen Saver' You'll then see the options to the right. All you have to do is click 'Show with clock' and a clock appears on your screen saver. This clock can be overlaid onto any screen saver that is included with OS X, as well as those made by 3rd parties. Pretty neat, huh?You can't actually customize the look of the clock, but if you're looking for some customization (or you're not running Leopard yet) check out the Big Time screen saver. It lets you change the look of the clock displayed, as well as set alarms though you can't overlay the Big Time clock screen saver onto other screen savers.Read on to see what the clock looks like on the Arabesque screen saver.
Mac 101: iTunes volume and a two-finger scroll
Here's a handy tip for MacBook Pro users* who listen to music with iTunes. While it's fun to listen to music while you work, the iTunes window takes up a lot of screen real estate. The quick answer is to minimize the window.Here's the tip. With the cursor over the window, you can perform a two-finger scroll to adjust iTunes' volume. Scrolling to the right increases the volume; scrolling left turns it down.Thanks, Anthony!*We haven't tested this on a MacBook Air. If you try it out, let us know what happens.
Mac 101: Apple's product guide
Back to basics with Mac 101, our ongoing series of posts aimed at new Mac users. If you've got a hankering for news about the latest Mac-compatible products, you've got plenty of places to look (including, naturally, right here). What if you've got a specific product need, something obscure, small-audience or somewhat vintage? You can always hit the search engines or check our archives, but there's a one-stop shop for Mac-compatible products that doesn't always get top billing: Apple's Macintosh Product Guide, tucked away at guide.apple.com.This venerable database of Mac apps and hardware (it's under the Developer heading on Apple's site nav, and judging by the 'lasso' URLs it may run off a FileMaker back-end-- way to support the home team!) lists thousands of products, and it's got separate categories for iPod and iPhone accessories. Starting off with the guide is a great idea if you need to find a vertical-market or niche app; you'll probably come up with several good choices.
Mac 101: Don't move those files!
No, this won't be another post where I explain my reasons for loving and ordering the MacBook Air. That will come later when I actually have the MBA in my hands. Until then, I want to pass along a little bit of knowledge I learned while doing Mac consulting many moons ago: many files and folders on your Mac should be left alone and not moved or thrown away.One particular incident that illustrates this point happened to a user who called me one day saying his entire Microsoft Entourage store of emails, contacts, etc. had just "disappeared" and Entourage had "reset to when it was new." Well, naturally that sounded a bit odd to me so I went over to see what I could do to resolve this little problem.After a bit of searching around I discovered the user had "accidentally" moved a very important folder out of a folder called "Documents" (which is located in his individual "Users" folder) to the Trash. For the win, can you guess which folder he threw in the trash? iI you guessed it was his "Microsoft User Data" folder, you would be correct. Fortunately for this particular user, after moving the folder back where it belonged all was well with Entourage and his data was restored. Let's go over that again, just to be clear. This particular folder, the "Microsoft User Data" folder, is located in your particular "Documents" folder on the hard drive of your computer.
Mac 101: Boot options
We've had some questions recently on Ask TUAW about boot options so I thought it would make for a good Mac 101. Obviously, Boot Camp has brought dual-booting to the fore on the Mac platform, but there are actually a variety of boot time options built into your Mac which allow you to interact with it to some degree before loading the OS. The most important of these, of course, is choosing the boot partition and this is easily done by holding down the option (???) key after restarting the machine. This will bring up a menu of all bootable volumes (such as a Windows Boot Camp partition), including mounted external USB and FireWire drives as well as optical discs. However, there are more handy shortcuts as well: You can force OS X to boot from a mounted optical disc by holding down the C key. Holding down the T key will put that Mac into FireWire Target disk mode, which will allow another Mac to access its hard drive over a FireWire cable as if it were an external hard drive. Holding down the Shift key will boot into Safe Mode, which can be very useful if your Mac is misbehaving. Apple has a nice list of a few more boot time key combos that are worth keeping in mind.
Mac 101: Drag and drop in the Application Switcher
We've talked previously about the wonders of the Application Switcher, the translucent bar that comes up when you hit ???-Tab. However, thanks to Macworld I realized today that the Leopard version adds a great feature that should have been there a long time ago: drag and drop. In Leopard the application icons in the Application Switcher are live. This means you can grab a file in the Finder, hit ???-Tab, and drop the file on the running application of your choice. So, for instance, you can easily drop a plist on a text editor instead of using the default plist editor. In previous versions of OS X you needed LiteSwitch X ($14.95) to achieve the same thing (though it's true that LiteSwitch X still has a few tricks up its sleeve that the default Application Switcher is missing).
Mac 101: Screen rotation
For today's Mac 101 I thought I'd draw your attention to a feature of the Displays tab of the System Preferences that only appears on external monitors: Rotate. If you plug in an external monitor to your Mac you should see that you have the option to rotate the display by 90 degree increments (clockwise). Now why would you want to do this? Well, if like me you have an external widescreen display, sometimes it's actually more handy to use it vertically instead of horizontally. I do this because I work entirely on the main (24") display and use the external (20") for showing my email, iTunes, etc. On my desk, I feel like this is a more efficient allocation of pixels. You can see a picture of my setup after the jump.
Mac 101: Whip your widgets into shape
Widgets are way too much fun. Though your Mac ships with a few of them already installed on the Dashboard, frankly they're kind of boring. I mean, how much fun is a calculator, clock, or calendar? Did you know there's a bunch more hiding in the far corners of your computer, and even more waiting to be discovered online? Let's take a look at where to find the extra goodies.
