Mac Tips: The Pro Series

It's about time to unleash the real power of OS X

    

Cleaning Gmail in Seconds

Dock or No Dock?

Finding the Size of Multiple Documents

$⁋€Ↄ1⋎∟ ⒸÅ℟Å℃ ₮ ∑ ₨,   √er¥ ƒast!

Finding the Best Wi-Fi Connection in One click 

Switch Between Applications

Icons: Change 'em, Switch' em, Create 'em

Screen shots & Screen copy Virtuoso  

Da Vinci's TrackPad

Fast Quit

Master the Volume

Put Your Mac in Sleep Mode Like a Jedi 

Zip Files in One Click

Giving Your Dock a Dirty Mind

(Need something?  leave a comment ;-)

To come:
Set priority Search in spotlight

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Zip Files in One Click

Mac 201 Pro Series: Zip Files in One Click

You can Zip files (compress) in one click
Just select the files or folders you want to compress and either use the Control+Click  or the Right Click on you mouse and select "Compress x Items" on the Drop Menu
The Shortcut to select multiple files is Command + click. 
That was easy!

                  














Also,  I suppose you've noted the "Burn" in one click to  ;-) 

                   
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Master the Volume

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Master the Volume

Don't like the beep beep sound when changing the volume? 

Holding Shift will make it silent  [ ⇧ + F11 or F12 ] 

Want to fine tune the Volume? Option + Shift + F11 or F12  [ ⌥ +⇧ + F11 or F12 ]  Will allow you to go by increment of 1/4 of the regular increase/decrease

                    



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Track Pad: Wow! You Can Do That?

Mac 201 Pro Series: Multitouch Track Pad

Play your TrackPad like a Beethoven 

The Track Pad on a MacBook is a little wonder of ingenuity. Knowing how to use it and what you can do with it will make your life much easier.
Before going too far, a little intro: Watch the video and relax
The original video is available here

That's neat! No?
Now we can start playing a little
For better understanding the arrows will represent your fingers, 2 arrows = 2 fingers,  3 arrows = 3 fingers. You got the picture, huh?
This MBP is an early 2009, the before last model
the new ones have no click bar, as shown in the video. That does not change much as for your fingers movement.  Let's play ..





Quicktime & DVD Player

Fast Forward
From Speed 1.1 to Speed 32
When released, speed returns to "Play"

Rewind
From Speed -1.1 to Speed -32
When released, speed returns to "Play"

UP
Frame by Frame Forward

Down
Frame by Frame Rewind

Diagonal Out
Zoom in or Full Screen

Diagonal In
Zoom Out or Small Screen

Down (4 Fingers)
Activate Spaces

Up (4 Fingers)
Activate Desktop

Right (2 Fingers)
Seek or FF

Left (2 Fingers)
Seek or RW




Preview & iPhoto 

Diagonal Out
Zoom in

 

Diagonal Out
Zoom in

Rotate (2 Fingers)
Rotate Pictures (90,180,270)
Works also with one finger still and one turning


 

Almost All Apple Apps have commands that you can execute with the Track Pad,
Try it with Finder, Dock, etc. You'll find plenty of shortcut yourself. 

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Dock or No Dock?

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Dock Peekaboo! 

 There is a very simple shortcut to hide & un-hide the dock

 [ ⌥ + ⌘ + D ]   Option + Command + D  (D as Dock, easy to remember, huh?) 
 To bring the Dock back temporarely, just point your mouse cursor where the dock was. 
 To bring it back permanently, just re-do a Option + Command + D


What's the point? 
 1) You can show off to your friends
 2) Make your Mac look neat during a presentation 
 3) View a movie in Full - Full Screen 
 4) Or, if like me, being annoyed when you grab an app on the dock instead of the bottom right corner of  a window





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Finding the Size of Multiple Documents

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Finding the Size of Multiple Documents

Let's say that you want to copy a bunch 'o files to a USB drive, You start the copy and a minute later: Disk Full!

How about knowing the size before you copy? punching the numbers one by one? nope!
Just open Finder, Select what you want, and just use Command + Option + i   [ ⌘ + ⌥ + i ]
And Voila!  7.53GB

                    

                    


If you want to open the "Get Info" all at once, just drop the option: Command + i   [ ⌘+ i ]

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Screen Copy Virtuoso

Mac 201 Pro Series: Screenshot Virtuoso

How to make a Screen Copy / ScreenShot / Print Screen / Video Capture /  on a Mac

Did you know that you have multiple ways of doing it? Each one has a little specific "plus"
Depending on the shortcut used, you can capture the entire screen, just an app, or only a specific portion using the cross-hair cursor.
On the Top of that, you can save directly as a picture on the Desktop, or copy into the Clipboard for use in Graphic Editors, Emails & Documents
Let's Start ...

Shift + Command + 3  [⇧⌘ 3 ]

Take a Picture of the Entire Screen and Save on Desktop (Saved as Screenshot date+time .png)

Shift + Command + 4  [⇧⌘ 4 ]

Take a Picture with Cross-hair Cursor (Selected Area) and Save on Desktop (Saved as Screenshot date+time .png)

Shift + Command + 4 + SpaceBar [⇧⌘ 4 Space]

Take a Picture of the Entire Active App Window with Camera Cursor and Save on Desktop (Saved as Screenshot date+time .png)
The Window Selected will turn blue-ish. No need to select the foremost App, just a portion is enough

Shift + Control + Command + 4 [⇧⌃ ⌘ 4 ]

Take a Picture with Cross-hair Cursor (Selected Area) and Save on Clipboard
You can use the Control + V to paste in a Document or Emai

Shift + Control + Command + 4 + SpaceBar [⇧⌃ ⌘ 4 Space]

Take a Screenshot of the Entire Active App Window with Camera Cursor and Save on Clipboard
You can use the Control + V to paste in a Document or Email


Escape [esc] Will cancel the Action

Video Screen Capture

Just Use Quicktime:  File >> New Screen Recording
Quicktime Video Recording is fairly simple but free. If you wish to have more advanced features, you can use ScreenFlow (Fee) or Camtasia (Fee)

  

Changing The Output Format and Shadow

By default, the parameters are output as .PNG and Shadow "On"
If you wish to change the output as Jpg or PDF, remove the shadow etc, just follow the lead...
In order to better understand the differences, here are two examples: one with the shadow, one without. The Shadow Color has been exaggerated for the example.

 





The simplest way to change those parameters is to use the -excellent- Onyx.
By now, if you have listened, you should have Onyx installed.

If not, I would like to remind you of the famous "Bunch O' Free Goodies" Article.
Okey, Onyx Installed?
Just Lauch, Go to "Parameters" and Check/Un-Check the Shadow Option.
As for the output Format, Ditto. You have the choice between Jpeg, PDF, Tiff, BMP, etc etc

                   
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Put Your Mac in Sleep Mode Like a Jedi

Mac 201 Pro Series: Sleep Mode in 2 Seconds

Want to put your Mac in sleep mode in 2 Seconds, Like a Jedi?
Use the Shortcut Command + Option and hold Eject for 2 seconds. [ ⌘+ ⌥ + ⏏ 2 sec ]

There: The Snow Kitty is now in Grizzly Type Hibernation

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Master the Volume

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Master the Volume

Don't like the beep beep sound when changing the volume? 

Holding Shift will make it silent  [ ⇧ + F11 or F12 ] 

Want to fine tune the Volume? Option + Shift + F11 or F12  [ ⌥ +⇧ + F11 or F12 ]  Will allow you to go by increment of 1/4 of the regular increase/decrease

                    



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Switch Application and Fast Quit

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Switch Application + Fast Quit

[ ⌘ + Tab ]   Switch Application,  Cycle Forward 

[ Shift + ⌘ + Tab ]   Switch Application,  Cycle Backwards

[ ⌘ + Q ]  Quit Application (use with Command Tab, it's easier )
Voila! 

If you still have doubts, a little video may help you see the advantages ...

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Icons: Change 'em, Switch' em, Create 'em

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Icons: Change, Switch & Create

How to change Icons on a Mac

-Personally-, Me, Myself and I, find, that after a while, Mac OS X icons need a little spice. 
I don't mean going nuts, but just make them more representative and appealing. 
After all, Icons are Visual Tools. 

Change Icons

 








Go to Finder and Select a folder (Source) with the correct icon , and either:  Right Click OR CTRL Click OR Command + I  [ ⌘ + I ]
Select GET INFO 
Repeat the operation with the second folder (Target)

 











Click on the source folder small icon (Top Left) 
A blue shadow will appear around the icon 
Control + C  (copy) 
Click on the Target folder small icon (Top Left) 
Control + V (paste)
The icon is now changed 
Close both Get Info windows. Done! 

                    



                  

Create Icons from a Picture

You can create your icons set, or use pre-existing ones

To create from a picture, you'll just need to use a free App called Img2icns,  Just select a picture and it will convert it in to an Icon. 

 

Take a look at the Article "25 free Apps.." for the download link

You can also do it directly with Preview: Open a picture with preview and copy the picture, Open the Folder with Get Info, Select the Icon Folder, and paste. 

The best results are with not-too-complex pictures.  A large picture will be reduced an size and will loose some of the details. In Short: Keep it simple!

Create Icons From a Folder

If you wish to keep the Mac OS Icon Style, but want to add some fizz to it, Just use a free App called "Telling Folder"

Select a folder or create a new one, select a picture OR an existing Icon and just drag into the App

Create Dock Icons

This one is a little bit more tricky: The goal is to create Right Side Dock Icons, just as the example shown below with the Applications Folder







First, select a Picture or Icon that you like,
With Photoshop, Gimp or any graphic editor, remove the background
With Img2Icns, create an Icon and name this Icon with a 0 (zero) as first character  i.e  0App.icns
Move the icon into the Application Folder and use the following options for the Dock Folder

Sort by: Name

Display As: Folder

View Content as: Automatic

The Trick here, is to have a picture with no background.

Using those parameters, OS X will superpose the Icon over the folder(s)

If you change the sorting, i.e by date, you'll loose the trick. - unless you change the date on the icon.

Long story short, whatever you do, just keep the Icon wanted on first position in the Folder

Icons Sets

If you wish, you can scroll the web in search of free icon sets for Mac.

 
You'll find everything and anything, Even a Vuitton Icon set (?)
I don't have -yet- the need to coordinate My Mac with a (un-probable) set of Vuitton lugagge, but just in case Ms. Paris Hilton is reading this blog...

A good place to look for Mac Icons is Deviant Art
Over 8000 Icons for Mac, You'll find about everything.. 

Still looks better than your average icon, no?

Enjoy... 

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$⁋€Ↄ1⋎∟ ⒸÅ℟Å℃₮∑₨, √er¥ ƒast!

Mac 201 Pro Series:  $⁋€ç❙∀∟ ⊂Å℟/\℃✝∑₨,  FAST!

 [ ⌥ + ⌘ + T ]  ☜ that's how we do it:  Option + Command + T Voila! 
Use the search, Fav, Glyph, Radica, Code Tables, Drag, Drop ...    and go nuts 
How?  Details here

 

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Finding the Best Wifi in One Click

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Finding The Best WiFi in One Click

On the Menu Bar (Top Left)
Find the Airport Icon

Hold Option + Click on the Icon  will reveal the connection status
Example:

PHY: Physical Layer Device (802.11 a,b,c etc.. )
BSSID: Basic Service Set Identifier. A unique address that identifies the access point/router that creates the wireless network. Keep that one private. You can be Located or Spoofed with this number.
Security:  None - WEP - WPA (Shall you have the first two, you could be in trouble)
RSSI: Received Signal Strength Indication (Signal Strength) The closer to zero the better.
Transmit Rate: Theoretical Max transmit rate (here tested at 8700KB/S)(that's high...)
MCS Index: Too long to explain,  Geeks Only


So, in short Look at the RSSI and the Transmit Rate and it will give you a clear idea of your Connection Quality. 

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Giving Your Dock a Dirty Mind

Mac 201 Pro Series:  Giving Your Dock a Dirty Mind 
Not Dirty? ok, play Dock Scrabble 

Bored at work?  Want to send a subliminal message to your co-workers?  Your boss maybe?  Or  tell your friends something, or simply play Dock Scrabble? 

For that, you'll need few applications, some of them free, that you'll find in the now famous "Bunch O' Free Goodies"

I'll give you a little help first, but after that, it's up to you to be creative...
Use with caution...don't get fired ;-) 



 I know that you are already looking for other letters, So if you wish to create your own Icons... Follow me ... 

Enjoy! You are now officially an Apple Geek ;-)

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Special Characters and Symbols on a Mac

  
Special Characters & Symbols on a Mac   (OS X)


I tweet,  and every single day I see someone asking how to make a hash sign (#) or an Apple sign (), even the very secret clover (CMD) sign ⌘ Then, it's the GRΣΣK Characters or the Accented Latin ones ( The é of Café)
Even for the general public,  looking for a ±, ‰ or ≠ can be nerve wrecking, and make you spend a ∞ of time looking for it, and I am not ☞ at anyone here.  Not even  ☞  my ♡♡♡ wife.  Ok, Enough  for the demo.
Here is how you can access all of them without going on a overload of shortcuts and keeping your sanity. (If you are a Keyb Shct freak: ⌥ ⌘ T )

You either have, or not, on the top left of your screen something called the "Character Viewer"

For the ones without it:

Go to System Preferences (In Applications Folder)

Select "Language and Text"

Select "Input Source"
Check boxes: 
✔ Show Input menu in Menu Bar
✔ Keyboard and Character Viewer

Close Dialogue Box, and you are done!

Now everybody should have access to the Character Viewer

Just Click on It and you'll have access to all the ☀ ☠ ☢ ☤ Ω ☏ ✈☝, as well as ≤ ≥ = ≠ ≡ ≅ ≈ .... you get the picture ...

Related Characters, Manage Symbols and Add to Favorites 
Click "Character Info"  to find related characters. i.e  ♳ is related to ♴ and ♻ ♲ ♼ ♽
Click on the left box to insert the character
Use the option box to add to favorites

Tip:  
You can use the find box:  i.e if you type "mus" it will list all special characters in relation of "mus..
















Tip #2  Drag and drop the character into a document, it will automatically adjust to the correct Font and Size


Leopard User: 
You'll find this Special Character editor under Pages >> Edit >> Special Character



Symbols Available (example of. )
Currency Symbols           $ ¢ ₥ ₠ € ₣ ₤ £ ₧ ₱ ¥ ₨
Phonetic Symbols            a ɑ ɐ ɒ æ b ʙ ɓ β ð ƈ œ ɨ ɣɠ
Miscellaneous Symbols  ☏  ♳  ♻  ☕  ♕  ♖  ♗  ♌  ♋  ♍  ☤
Geometrical                     ◐ ◑ ◒ ◓ ▤ ▥ ▦ ▧ ┿ ╂ ╬ ╦ ╔ ╠ ╚ ╩ ╣
Arrows                             ↩ ↪ ↫ ↬ ↻ ⥁ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ☜ ☝ ☞☟
Mathematical Symbols    ⨗ ⨘ ⨧ ⨦ ⨑ ⨊
Braille                              ⠪ ⠲ ⠳ ⠴ ⠬ ⠭ ⠽ ⠿
Enclosed letters                ㈖ ㈗ ㈘ ㈙   Ⓐ Ⓑ Ⓒ  ⒠ ⒡ ⒢ ⒣
LetterLike Symbols           ℻  ℡ ℅  ℆ ℉ ℞
Technical  Symbols           ⌭  ⌬  ⌛  ⍒  ⍋   ⍉  ⌁
Musical Symbols             ♭ ♮ ♬♫  ♪ ♩ ♯

And while you're at it, check the Symbol and Text Substitution.
You can add and create your own, for example "cdeg" will automatically being replaced by the Celsius Degree Symbol ℃. You can create your own shorthands.
Just select Text, and the +. Then ....go nuts ...

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