Mac Top Tips

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Best Tips for Mac

  • Duplicate Find File to Find Files Faster

To run simultaneous searches, copy your Find File application and rename it. Then you can start one search with the first Find File program and a second one with the renamed copy. Your Mac processes both searches simultaneously, and when they’re complete, each copy will display the search results in a separate Items Found window.

  • Hot Tip: Skip the https://

You don’t have to type a URL in its entirety, https:// and all. For the URL https://www.apps-mac.com/, for example, you can simply type macworld in your browser’s location field.

  • Keeping Project-Related E-mail with Other Project Files

It’s nice to have a folder in which you keep all files associated with a particular project. You can also put e-mail associated with a particular project into that folder by doing the following: In Qualcomm’s Eudora create a mailbox for a new project. Next, make an alias of the project mailbox (not the .toc file), which is stored in the Eudora folder, usually found in the System Folder. Place this alias in your project folder. You now have project files and e-mails all in one convenient place.

  • Make Mounts Count

When you mount a server volume across a network, do what you must and then press command-Y to unmount it. Keeping servers mounted unnecessarily bogs down the network.

  • Hit Cancel to Reset

To reset the choices inside many of Adobe Photoshop dialog boxes, press the option key to change the Cancel button to Reset, then click on the Reset button to bring back the original values. Or press option-escape or command-option-period.

  • Make Browsing Easier

Hey, Webmasters, if your Web site uses special features, such as embedded Adobe Acrobat files, JavaScript, or Macromedia Shockwave animation, be cognizant of the first-time user. Make sure you’ve built hyperlinks to the appropriate Web pages or program files so that Internet rovers will be able to easily download what they need in order to enjoy those features of your page.

  • Easily Adding Words into QuarkXPress

Adding new words or a long list of acronyms to an auxiliary dictionary in QuarkXPress can be a time-consuming task. Here’s a way to automatically add all the words in a QuarkXPress document to the active auxiliary dictionary. First, open the auxiliary dictionary to which you want to add words and begin a spelling check. When the spelling check stops at the first unknown word, hold down the shift and option keys while you click on the Cancel button. Voila! The open auxiliary dictionary now contains all the words in the document.

  • Power Navigation through Excel

Don’t bother tabbing through the empty cells in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Hold down the command or control key when pressing the up, down, left, or right arrow keys to leapfrog over empty cells and move directly to the next nonadjacent filled cell in a row or column. Use these keystrokes within a block of data to jump to the edge of the current block.

  • Keep Applying the Same Attributes

You can automatically apply the same field or object formatting to all subsequently created fields and objects in ClarisWorks. In Layout mode, select the pointer tool and click on an empty spot in the layout (making sure that nothing is selected). Then choose formatting options from the palettes and menus. Additional fields and objects that you create are automatically formatted with the attributes you’ve chosen.

  • Thank You for PhotoText

PhotoTools’ PhotoText filter eliminates most uses for Adobe Photoshop’s native type tool and offers a few unexpected keyboard shortcuts: First, you can press the option key to access the arrow tool when the type tool is active. Better yet, you can press command-tab to switch back and forth between the type and arrow tools.

  • Sending Attached Files

Instead of using the Message, Attach Document, and Open File Dialog menu items in Qualcomm’s Eudora to attach a file to an outgoing e-mail, you can simply drag and drop a file onto the Eudora icon (or an alias thereof), and it automatically attaches to the document you are composing.

  • Customize Your Stickies

You can create customized Stickies for phone messages and to-do lists by setting up a new Stickies note in whatever style you like–you can even insert default text across the top. Then choose the Export Text command from the File menu and choose the Save As Stationery check box. Give the note a name, then click on Save. Instead of writing the note into the standard Stickies file inside the Preferences folder in the System Folder, create a New Notes folder in your Apple menu and keep all your customized Stickies stationery tucked there.

  • Create Colors Quickly

To add a new color to Adobe PageMaker Colors palette, don’t bother with the hassle of the Define Colors dialog box. Just go into the Color Options dialog box directly by command-clicking on any of the Black, Registration, or None colors in the Colors palette. Because you can’t edit these colors, PageMaker lets you create a completely new color instead.

  • Getting Out of an Option Box Rut

If you press a key and Adobe Photoshop doesn’t seem to react–or worse, it beeps at you–it’s probably because it’s trying to apply the command to an active option box. To get out of the option box and return control to the image window, press the return key.

  • Handling Layers in Photoshop

Used to working with layers in Adobe Photoshop? The latest version method of pasting a selection into a layer mask can be confusing. To do so without creating a new layer, option-click the layer mask thumbnail to view only the mask, and then paste your selection. Alternatively, use the Channels palette to select the mask channel and make it visible, then paste.

  • Getting To the Colors

Colors are now more convenient in Adobe Illustrator, but you have to know how to get to them. The four important key shortcuts to memorize are comma, period, slash (all in a row on the keyboard), and X. Press X to switch back and forth between the fill and stroke. Press the comma key to fill or stroke a selected object with a solid color and display the Color palette (if it’s not already visible). Press the period key to fill a selection with a gradation and display the Gradient palette. Press the slash key to make the fill or stroke transparent.

  • Zooming in Photoshop

The latest version of Adobe Photoshop lets you zoom to 100 percent view size (that is, doubling the size of the view) from the keyboard by pressing command-option-0 (zero). You can also press command-0 to reduce or magnify the image so it exactly fits on screen.

  • Make Better FileMaker Pro Searches

In FileMaker Pro’s Find mode, precede your keyword with an equal sign to find exact matches. For instance, Apple will find instances of Apple but not Applebaum. To find specific pieces of text, bound your keyword or phrase by quotation marks. For instance, “!” finds records with exclamation points, while just ! finds duplicate records.

  • At Home on the Range

One-click navigation shortcuts are always better than endless scrolling or tabbing through a Microsoft Excel worksheet. Use the home key to scroll your spreadsheet to the top of your current column. Command-home teleports you to the first cell of the current worksheet, and command-end zips you down to the last cell of the entire worksheet. If your work is spread across several worksheets, use option-left arrow and option-right arrow to move from worksheet to worksheet without clicking on the sheet tabs at the bottom of the screen.

  • Change Columns Easily in PageMaker

Do you want to change the number of columns in an Adobe PageMaker layout, but shy away from all the steps involved? Try this: instead of cutting an unwanted column, just select one of its window shade handles. Then roll it up or down until it touches the other handle. That’s it. If you select any other element and then try to reselect the original column, you’ll find it’s disappeared, and the text automatically reflows into the remaining columns. Then, just resize the text blocks to fit the new column layout. If you want to add a column, click on the + symbol at the bottom of any column’s window shade, then click the cursor where you want the new column to appear. The text flows from the window shade with the + into the new column.

  • Target Practice

To make sure you don’t grab a column guide in Adobe PageMaker while you are trying to select a neighboring graphic on the page with the arrow tool, press command as you select.