macOS

For example, here's the conventional view when searching with CMD+F. There are two popups. In the first popup (left), you can search for contents, a created date, kind, and so on. The second popup (right) allows you to refine the search term. CMD+F However, and here's the trick, if you know you want to search…

Well, here’s the thing: Depending on your settings, doing so may open up that new event’s details in a completely separate window, which used to be handy, but under Yosemite, that window unfortunately doesn’t get selected.  This means that you can’t just create a new event and start typing in a selected field—you’ve gotta go over…

__________________ First, to explain what I'm talking about, here's how the default install of Safari 8 shows your favorites list when you click on the integrated URL/search bar. Image credit: Apple Considering that you were likely going to enter a URL or a search term, the abrupt display of favorites may not be visually desirable. For…

iTunes 12.1 gets a Notification Center widget According to Apple's release notes, the 12.1 update also improves sync performance with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. While the new Notification Center widget is pretty slick, we found it to be a bit of a disappointment, too. If offers controls only for the currently playing song,…

So here’s what I mean. If you place your cursor within any paragraph, make sure “Format” in the upper-right of your window is selected, and then click on the “Layout” tab, you’ll see the “Borders & Rules” section. Those settings will allow you to do all sorts of neat stuff, like putting a box around…

Missing image thumbnails makes iPhoto pretty hard to use Before bringing back your missing image thumbnails be sure to quit iPhoto. Once you've done that, we're ready to start. Here's what to do: Launch iPhoto by double-clicking the app icon while holding down the Command and Option keys at the same time. iPhoto should launch,…

Source: GoSquared Yosemite launched on October 16, 2014, and early signs indicated a slightly faster adoption rate than Mavericks, the former leader. Yosemite has continued its relatively rapid pace, reaching just under 50 percent less than three months after its release. By comparison, Mavericks had an adoption rate of about 37 percent by the end…

When you do that, you’ll get the opportunity to tell iPhoto how many you’d like of each. As you can see above, you’ll edit the number that appears next to a size to indicate how many you want. If a particular size would look bad on a photo you’ve selected because of its low resolution,…

See that little “PDF” drop-down? That’s where all the coolness is.  So what you can do with this menu is save what you’re looking at—a webpage, for example, or a document—as a PDF or send a PDF of it to someone else. The options here may differ slightly depending on what programs you have installed,…

In any case, since our computers are now ringing when we’re getting calls, we should be able to change what ringtone we hear, right? It’s easy to do, but the place where the setting lives isn’t obvious. To get to it, first open the FaceTime program from your Applications folder. From the menus at the…

Here’s what you should do instead. Open Finder first and choose Go> Go to Folder from the menus at the top of the screen (or press Shift-Command-G). Then copy and paste the following path in the box that’ll appear:  /System/Library/PreferencePanes Like so: When you press “Go” and collect $200…I mean, when you arrive at that…

 ____________________ Of course, all this information is available via the GUI: Apple > About This Mac > System Report… But the fun part here is to do it on the command line and even save selected data to text files. (The OS X terminal app is in /Applications/Utilities.) The terminal command I'll discuss is: system_profiler …

Let’s say that I’ve decided that I need to crop this image in pretty closely. If I select the photo, click on “Edit” in iPhoto’s lower-right corner, and use the crop tool to make that change… …I can then compare my edits to the original with the Shift key. If I hold down Shift, I’ll…

In the early years of OS X, the Mac operating system was sold on a DVD. If a user forgot the administrator password, perhaps the simplest way (of several) would be to use that disc to set a new administrator password and regain control of the Mac. Nowadays, there is no install disc provided with…

______________________ 1. Built-in Calendars. Apple's OS X Calendar app (formerly iCal) has two built-in calendar subscriptions: Holidays and Birthdays. These are found in Calendar > Preferences > General. Figure 1. OS X Calendar Preferences If you deselect the checkbox for one of these calendar subscription, it will no longer appear in the sidebar of the…

First, launch Spotlight. For most people this is Command-Spacebar, but you may have set it to something else, I'm not the boss of you. In any case, when you get to Spotlight, start typing the name of the app you want to launch. If it appears at the top, like my example, just hit return…

If you already have 1Password, though, there are a few neat tricks to be aware of to get the most out of its awesomeness. My favorite tip is that in Safari, Chrome, or Firefox, the keyboard shortcut Command-\ will either automagically fill in the login for a page you’re on, or if you have multiple…

Tad's tip is to invert colors on your display. It might look like a photo negative at first, but if you are dealing with a lot of black text on white backgrounds, this can make it easier to see. It also helps if you're working on a plane or in some other public place; it…

To see all of the photos and attachments in a Messages conversation, just click Details. It's in the upper right corner in every conversation. You can click and drag anything from the Details view to your Desktop or folder, and double-clicking an image opens it in Preview. OS X Yosemite's Messages app shows all chat…

OS X Yosemite includes a file batch rename tool To batch rename files in OS X Yosemite, do this: Open a Finder window and select the documents you want to rename as a group. Control-click or right-click one of the selected files, then choose Rename from the contextual menu. Enter the common text you want…

The first, most obvious way you could call someone is to click the “Audio” button under the person’s number in Contacts. That’ll give you the choice of calling someone via FaceTime Audio or using your iPhone as the conduit. Secondly—and this is my favorite method—you can use Spotlight to search for a contact’s name, and…

Spotlight is a fantastic tool. But sometimes it needs a little maintenance to keep it in shape. Here's an option in Yosemite that might help keep Spotlight humming along as a perky little helpful utility. As we saw earlier this year at WWDC, Yosemite has a wider variety of sources from which to gather search…

Search criteria is an option that's available whenever you look for files and folders through the search field in the upper right corner in Finder windows. You used to be able to click the little Plus button next to the Save button that appears once you start your search, but in OS X Yosemite, it's…

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility, and click on Display in the options on the left hand side: System Preferences – Accessibility There is a checkbox for “Reduce transparency” which gives you full-on opaque menus in Yosemite, not as seen in the Keynote, but certainly better than feeling like suddenly your Mac has gone out…