BECOMING THE ULTIMATE MENU MASTER

BECOMING THE ULTIMATE MENU MASTER

Want to really speed things up? How about jumping right to the Apple menu without even clicking the mouse? Just press Control-F2 and the Apple menu pops down. Oh, but there’s more! Now that you’re in the Apple menu, press the Right Arrow key on your keyboard to move to the other menus (Finder, File, Edit, View ,etc. )and the left Arrow to move back, once you get to the menu you want, use the tip I mentioned earlier: Type in the first letter of the command you want and it jumps right there, then press Return to choose that command (and you did it all without ever touching the mouse).

A FASTER WAY TO GET YOUR SYSTEM INFO

If, some reason, you run into some serious problems with your Mac (hey, it could happen), you might have to tell Apple tech support, a repair tech, or a Macintosh consultant some technical information about your particular hardware and system software configurations. Luckily, all that information is found by launching Apple’s system profiler. The only bad news id it’s buried deep within your Applications folder, inside your utilities folder. Here’s the tip: there’s a quicker way to get the Apple System profiler. Just go under the Apple menu and choose about this Mac. When the dialog appears, click on the button at the bottom called more info and it launches the Apple System profiler for you.

FINDING SYSTEM PREFERENCES FAST BY SORTING ALPHABETICALLY

If you’ve been using Mac OS X for a while, you’ve no doubt noticed that the System Preferences window puts all the individual preferences in horizontals rows, sorted by four categories (Personal, Hardware, Internet & Network, and System). That’s great, if you know exactly which category to look under, but if you’re new to Mac OS X, you might prefer a feature introduced in Jaguar-sorting the preferences alphabetically it’s probably located near the end of the list. To sort your System Preferences alphabetically, first open the System Preferences Window, go under the View menu, and choose Organize back by categories in the View menu.

SHORTCUT TO HIDE YOUR APPS 

This simple keyboard shortcut is one of my favorite features When you’re in the Finder, you can hide all of your running applications from view by pressing Option-Command-H (the shortcut for hide other’s, which is found under the finder menu .)Ahhhh, to me that alone was worth the upgrade price (okay, it was almost worth the upgrade price). 

AUTOMATICALLY ADDING FILE EXTENSIONS

AUTOMATICALLY ADDING FILE EXTENSIONS

Sharing your files with someone using a PC? Make sure you name the file “Don’t you wish you had a Mac. Txt” or something like that (kidding). Actually, if you’re sharing files with a PC, you can ask Mac OS X to automatically add the three-letter file extension to your file name every time you save a file. Just go to the Finder menu, choose preference, click on the Advanced icon, and select the Show All File Extensions checkbox.

HOW TO BE SELECTIVE WITH EXTENSIONS

In Mac OS X, every file has a three-letter file extension (like PC files do), but by default, Mac OS X hides those three-letter extensions. In the previous tip, I showed you how to make those three-letter extensions visible all the time, but what if you just want to see the three-letter extensions for an individual file or two? If you want to see these extensions (perhaps if you’re designing Web graphics and want your files to have the . gif and .jpg file extensions visible), you can do that when you save each file. In the Save dialog, you’ll notice a checkbox called hide Extensions, which is on by default. Just turn that checkbox off, and the appreciate file extension is added to the file, In some applications, you may see a checkbox for append extension instead. In the case, make sure the checkbox is on to show the extension.

SPEEDING THROUGH YOUR SYSTEM PREFERENCE

When you’re in the system preference dialog. There’s a superfast way to quickly get to the individual preference pane you want. Just type the first letter of the preference, then hit the Spacebar. This not only selects the preference it opens that pane as well. This my friends, is one juicy speed trick!

SAVING TIME IN THE “GO TO THE FOLDER” DIALOG

Once you enter a path in the Go to the folder dialog of a Cocoa app, that last path stays in memory (thanks to panther’s auto-complete feature), so if you want to get back to that same folder, don’t press the “/” (slash) key when you’re in the Open dialog. Instead, press shift-command-G; that way, when the Go to the folder dialog appears, the last path you entered is already input for you, saving you the trouble.

HIDDEN COLUMN VIEW NAVIGATION TIP

HIDDEN COLUMN VIEW NAVIGATION TIP 

Here’s somewhat of a weird problem (and a simple fix): Let’s say you have your Favorites folder in your Sidebar, and you click on it to get to some of your favorite files. If you’re viewing all this in Column view, the first column winds up being the contents of your Favorites.   You can’t scroll to a column farther back (like to your Library folder, which holds your Favorites folder or to your Home folder or User folder, etc.) Well, you can’t unless you know this hidden little tip: Just hold the Command key and press Up Arrow key on your keyboard.  Each press it, it moves you back farther, so instead of hitting “the wall” when you’re in the Favorites column, now you can keep going as far as you want.

CREATING YOUR OWN KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

Keyboard shortcuts are such huge time- savers, but sadly, not all Finder commands have them.  But they can, because in panther, you can create your own. Here’s how: go under the apple menu, to system preference, and choose keyboard & mouse. When the dialog appears, click on the Keyboard shortcuts tab, then click the + (plus) sign at the bottom left of the dialog. A dialog appears. Choose finder from the pop-up list, then type in the exact name of the menu command you want to add a shortcut for. Then, type in the shortcut you want to use, and click the add button. It’s that simple.

THE SAVE DIALOG SAVES ITSELF

The Save dialog as an excellent memory. Because not only does it remember the recent folders that you saved to, but it also remembers if you expanded it into column view or sketched out the size. The next time you open that application and go to save a file, it remembers that you like column view and how large you made the dialog. It treats it as if you’re setting “Save dialog” defaults for that application.

REARRANGING THE MENU EXTRAS

REARRANGING THE MENU EXTRAS

Want to change the order of the Menu Extras in your menu bar?  Just hold the Command key and drag the icons into the order you want to them.  It gives you a real feeling of power.  Well, a feeling of power over tiny icons anyway.

REMOVING MENU EXTRAS FROM YOUR MENU BAR

To remove a Menu Extra, just hold the Command key and click-and-drag the Menu Extra off the bar.  It doesn’t get much easier than that.

THE ACCIDENTAL-DELETE PROTECTION DEVICE  

In previous versions of the Mac OS, you could protect an important file from accidentally being deleted (trashed) by clicking on the Locked checkbox in the Info window.  The problem was you could still put the file in the Trash, and if you held the Option key while emptying the Trash, you could still delete it.  Talk about a half –assed security device.  Well, in Mac OS X, you can apply the lock the same way (click on the file, press Command- I to bring up the Info window, and click on Locked); but the improvement comes in that Mac OS X will not even let you drag that file  to the Trash on the first place.  Instead, you get a warning dialog telling you basically, “Sorry, puck.” Hey, serve you right for trying to delete a file you thought was important.  

SAVING TO THE DESKTOP IN A FLASH

When you’re in the Save As dialog and you want to save a file to the desktop, just press Command-D and the “Where” pop-up menu switches to Desktop, so all you have to do is name your file and click OK.  Another alternative to saving in the Documents folder (like the OS really wants you to), is to save the file directly to your Home folder by pressing Shift-Command- H and Home appears as your Save destination.

ERASING FILES FOR GOOD!

ERASING FILES FOR GOOD!

People are getting pretty freaky about the security of the files on their drives.  Especially since they learned that even though they “trashed” some of their most personal and sensitive files and thought they were gone forever, they’re still recoverable.  And not just recoverable by the FBI lab, but by your average junior-high student.  That’s why Apple created a secure version of the Empty Trash command called – big surprised- Security Empty Trash. Without going into too much techno-geek-speak, it deletes your file and writes over the drive space where it once lived so many times that agents from top-secret government agencies that we’re not even supposed to know exist couldn’t resurrect those files.  In short, use Secure Empty Trash when you really want your files gone for good.

LOOKING INSIDE MULTIPLE FOLDERS AUTOMATICALLY

Need to see what’s inside more than one folder while in List view? Do it the fast way – Command –click on all the folders you want to expand, then press Command Right Arrow.  All the folders expand at once.  If the file you’re looking for isn’t there, just press Command- Left Arrow (you can do that, because your folders are still highlighted) to quickly collapse them all.  

BETTER THAN THE OLD CONTROL STRIP- IT’S MENU EXTRAS

The Control Strip, thankfully, is gone and has been replaced by something infinitely better- Menu Extras.  These tiny black icons appear in the menu bar, just to the left of your menu clock; and not only do they tell what’s going on, they actually work (at least if you click on them, anyway) kind of similar to how the  Control Strip worked, but without the annoyance of the Control Strip.  (Are you getting the feeling that I didn’t like the Control Strip?) Just click on the Menu Extras to access their controls.  For example, click on the one that look like a speaker, and a volume-control slider pops down, just like a menu, where you can control your system volume.  You add Menu Extras in the System Preferences of each control you want to add.  For example, you can add the Display Menu Extra by going to the Displays preferences and choosing the Show Displays in Menu Bar checkbox.

FINDING THE HIDDEN “GO TO” FIELD

FINDING THE HIDDEN “GO TO” FIELD

In the previous versions Mac OS X, there was a “ Go to” field at the bottom of the Open dialog where you could jump directly to the folder you wanted by typing in its locations.  In Panther, that field no longer appears in the Open dialog, but luckily, it’s not gone forever- it’s just one simple keystroke away.  When you’re in the Open dialog, just press the “/” (slash) key on  your keyboard and the Go to the folder dialog pops down from the top of the Open dialog, ready for you to type in the path of your folder.  Note: this doesn’t work in all applications, so if typing the slash doesn’t bring up the Go to the Folder dialog, Just press Shift-Command-G and that’ll do the trick.

SPEED TIP: TAKE OUT THE PAPERS AND THE TRASH

Want to empty the Trash without making a trip up to the Finder menus first? Just Control –click on the Trash icon in the Dock and choose Empty Trash.  Of course, you could also press Shift-Command- Delete, but how much fun is that? Incidentally, if you want to get something in the Trash in a hurry, just click on it, press Command- Delete, and that file jumps into the Trash lickety-split!

GET INFO’S SECRWT SECOND PERSONALITY

While Command- I brings up the regular Info dialog, pressing Option-Command- I brings up a second version with a special hidden feature (you’ll know it’s the second version because it corners are squared, rather than rounded, and there’s no Minimize or Zoom Button).  This second version stays live when you click on the different files- giving you their file info as well (the regular version just deselect when you click on the different file, so you have to press Command – I all over again get info on that file .)  This is great for quickly comparing things like a file sizes or modified dates, because you can just click from file to file, and the file info is instantly displayed.  Another nice speed benefit is that when you use Option-Command-I to open Get Info, you can also use that same shortcut to close it instead of clicking on the red close button.  (The standard Command-W shortcut closes the “first personality” Command- Get Info window).

GETTING TO YOUR MOST- USED FILES AND FOLDERS FAST

GETTING TO YOUR MOST- USED FILES AND FOLDERS FAST

Do you find yourself going to the same folders over and over again? (Of course you do, we all do, we just don’t admit it at parties.) Well, if this sounds like you, you can place these most-used folders right in the Sidebar so you can access the anytime (including from the right within the Open/Save dialog).  To add a folder to the sidebar, just click on t, the press Command –T (the old Favorites shortcuts from previous versions of the Mac OS X).  Although technically there’s still a Favorites folder (I talked about it in Chapter 1), it doesn’t really much help, because (1) there is no longer a keyboard shortcut to move a file into your favorites folder, and (2) you can no longer designated a folder to be a “favorite” from within Open/Save dialog boxes, like you could in previous versions.  Basically, Apple wants you to use the Sidebar to keep your most-used files and folders- that way, you can access them from Open/Save dialogs.

STEALING A FILE’S NAME, THEN SAVING RIGHT OVER IT

If you’re saving a file, you can use the name of an existing file by just clicking on it in the Save dialog navigation window.  Even if the file is grayed out,  you can still click o n it, and when you do, its name appears as your new file name at the top of the Save  dialog.  This is a huge timesaver.  When you click OK, it asks you if you want to replace it with the file you’re saving. If you’re saving a different version of a file, and all you want to do is add a version number (like “Brochure Inside Cover 2”), all you’d have to do is click on the existing file named “ Brochure Inside Cover” in the Save dialog, and that name would then appear has your new file name, then just type in a 2.

MENU SPEED TIP

Getting the right to the menu item you want to fast can save loads of time (Since we spend so much in time digging around in menu all day).  That’s why you’ll love this tip.  The next time you’re in a pop-down menu, instead of mousing down to the item you want to select, just press the first letter of the command you want to and the command becomes selected.  For example, to select the Customize Toolbar command, click once on the View menu, press “c”, then press Return.  That’s speed menus, baby! By the way, if two commands starts with same letter, type in the first two letters.