macOS

Despite the promise long ago of the paperless office, we still need to print documents from our Macs at times. The usual launch an app to print a document routine works fine for that, but you can save a little time by printing your files directly from the Finder. You can print documents from the…

There are quite a few ways to make text larger in Safari if you're having trouble seeing it. As I've discussed before, you can even use some special Universal Access features if you're really having problems. There still are tons of other simple methods you can use, though. For example, if you've got a touch-enabled…

In past articles here on TMO, I have enjoyed pointing out and discussing the free applications that are included with every new Mac. Some are obviously available via the Dock by default. Other apps – most being quite useful – are out-of-view and inside the Applications folder, the Utilities folder and elsewhere. A lot of…

Everything was great (at least conventional) with saving documents up through OS X Snow Leopard. In Lion, inspired by iOS, Apple introduced what's called the Modern Document Model into its iCloud enabled apps. Apple eliminated Save As…, introduced Auto Save and Versioning, but most importantly, drove long-time users crazy. Also, the mods introduced a small…

Using what are called Services, you can do all sorts of crazy, incredibly handy stuff. One of my personal favorites is creating a keyboard shortcut so that every time I highlight some text, I can press that shortcut to automagically start a new email and include the selected text. It's pretty simple to set up,…

I don't really think there would be a problem naming OX S 10.9 “Cougar.” In fact, Apple should. It's a fairly big, strong cat, and the name connotes power and ferocity. Much more so than “Lynx.” Next, Apple has had the trademark on Cougar (and Lynx) since 2003. No problem there. Finally, there is that…

Concerns regarding personal data security and privacy have been with us since the dawn of computing, when the Chinese introduced the abacus back in 2600 B.C. With increased connectivity, work collaboration, social networking and remote data storage, these concerns have increased many-fold. This is a good thing in that everyone's data security awareness is at…

I admit it. I think the interface of iTunes 11 is a bit…counterintuitive. Clunky, even. As soon as I installed it, I turned the old sidebar back on (View > Show Sidebar), and I sometimes still think it's not very user-friendly. That said, I find customizing my view has helped a lot. This trick isn't…

Back in September, we performed extensive tests to determine the effect that OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion had on Mac battery life. Our tests confirmed the complaints of many Mountain Lion users that their MacBooks were running for a noticeably shorter time while on the go after upgrading to Apple’s latest operating system. Thankfully, we…

I reviewed Keir Thomas’s first book written for Mac users and found it to be easy to read and full of helpful tips. It was written for those using the OS X Lion operating system. I was looking forward to reviewing this second edition which is written for those using OS X Mountain Lion, and I…

In this article, we're gonna go over a few tricks for minimizing windows and closing them. Be aware that most of the shortcuts I'll mention will work around OS X and even in some third-party apps, so they're certainly worth memorizing for the sake of productivity. Plus, you'll look like a total wizard to your…

Spotlight is a great tool for sifting through the files on your Mac's drives to find exactly what you need. It isn't so great, however, when its Index file get corrupted and you don't see all of your files — or your Mac's fans start spinning incessantly. If Spotlight is having trouble indexing your hard…

I am certain that most people have at least one family member, friend or associate who has an uncommon first and/or last name that is tricky to pronounce. It would be considerate of everyone in our Contacts app to have easy names that won't flummox Siri. Not everyone has names that are a cinch for…

Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air charger is great because it includes a built-in way to wind up its MagSafe cord. The problem is that it's kind of easy to bend and fray the cord over time where it goes into the power supply, even with the extra reinforcement Apple added. Thanks to a quick…

Teachers, trainers, and students are really swell people. I know this is true because I have been all three. The teachers and trainers are usually underpaid and overworked, and most students are just trying to make it through school with the best grades possible. So when I discovered an app that would make life easier…

Control-clicking a document to see the Open With contextual menu is a handy way to choose exactly which app you use to open a PDF, JPG, or any other file. OS X has a problem, however, where duplicate apps can show up and make the list grow longer and longer. You can fix that issue…

Sometimes you take tons of pictures only to discover that they're all wrong in the same way. Maybe the lighting was bad, or maybe you need to tweak the temperature slightly. iPhoto provides a really simple way to adjust one image and then apply those same changes to as many other photos as you want…

Preview on the Mac. Elegant, powerful, unpretentious, highly useful, free. Preview is an application that comes pre-installed on every Mac. Technically, it's a browser/viewer for images and PDF files. However, Preview can do quite a bit more than simply let you view pictures and documents. Here on TMO, Melissa Holt and Jim Tanous have covered…

Recent versions of OS X, starting with Lion and continuing with Mountain Lion, have introduced some great new features for Mac users. Unfortunately, much functionality was also taken away or modified as Apple continued to fine-tune its desired OS X experience. One of the best features of previous versions of OS X that has now…

Java has been showing its security flaws a lot lately, pushing some OS X users to remove the platform from their Macs. Killing Java outright is great for some Mac users, but there are plenty that need it for apps like Photoshop and InDesign, so simply disabling it in your Web browser is a nice…

The Finder's Go > Go to Folder (Shift-Command-G) menu item is a nifty way to access your file system.  First of all, you can use it to see hidden folders, so if you need to view /private/var, you don't have to open a Terminal window to do so. Secondly, the Go to Folder window is…

Mac Geek Gab listener Seth sent us 3 quick tips this week and as soon as I read them I knew we had to share them with you. Each of these is to be typed (or copied and pasted) into your Mac's Terminal, and we tested them here and each work great on our Mountain…

In a lot of programs around your Mac, if you need to insert a special character (like, say, the ellipsis or the trademark symbol), you can select Edit > Special Characters (Option-Command-T, where available) to bring up the Character Viewer. Double-clicking on an item from that list will insert the selected character into your document,…

An odd bug in OS X causes nearly any application to crash by typing in a short string of characters, according to a bug report published last Thursday and brought to our attention by tech site Neowin. Typing the world “File” (with a capital F), a colon, and three forward slashes will crash most apps…