How to Use Mac Effectively

How To Use Mac Effectively Selecting multiple items When you are moving, copying, or making changes to items, you sometimes want to select more than one item at a time. Select multiple items that are next to each other: • Click one item, then press the Shift key and click other items to include them in the selection. • Click the first item, then press the Shift key and click the last item. All items in between are included in the selection. Select multiple items that are not next to each other: Hold down the Command (⌘) key, then click the items you want selected. Select all items in a window: Click a window to make it active, then press Command-A. All items in the window are selected. ` Using the Dock The Dock provides quick access to apps, documents, and folders. Folders in the Dock are called “stacks.” A stack can be a folder of documents or apps—anything you need to use frequently. Perform various actions such as opening or quitting the app: Press and hold the app’s icon in the Dock, then choose an option from the menu that appears. Add an item to the Dock: Drag the item to the Dock. Notice that there is a separator line in the Dock. Place apps to the left of the line and files and folders to the right. Note: When you drag an item to the Dock, an alias to the item is placed in the Dock. The original item is not moved. Remove an item from the Dock: Click the item, and without pausing drag it away from the Dock. Continue holding the mouse button until a poof of smoke appears around the icon. Then release the button. Note: Only the alias to the item is removed from the Dock. Removing an item from the Dock does not remove it from your computer. Set options for the Dock: Choose Apple menu>Dock> Dock Preferences Preview files without opening them Using Quick Look, you can quickly view the contents of a file or folder without opening it or starting an app. • Select one or more items you want to preview, then press the Space bar. A Quick Look window opens with the first item displayed. • If you’re previewing multiple items, click the arrows along the top to move from one item to the next. You can also press the Left Arrow and Right Arrow keys. • If you like, continue previewing items by clicking their icons in the Finder. The Quick Look window displays each item as you click it. • To close the preview, press the Space bar again, or click the close button (x) in the Quick Look window • To open an item in its app, click the “Open with” button. The content you see depends on the type of item you are previewing. If it’s an image, you see a full-size version of it. If it’s a text document, you can read the text and scroll to see more. If you select several items, they appear as a slideshow. Spotlight Spotlight helps you quickly find anything on your Mac and disks attached to your Mac, including documents, emails, apps, songs, contacts and more. You can also get quick definitions and simple math calculations. The Spotlight menu is in the upper-right corner of your screen and has a magnify glass icon. Click it to start searching. Tags (previously labels) Tags are a powerful way to organize and find your files. Simply tag the files you want to organize together with a keyword, like “Science.” Tag a file once, or give it multiple tags to assign it to multiple keywords. Tag a file as you work: You can tag an item as you work when you save. Either select a previously created tag or create a custom tag by typing in a new keyword. Tag an item in a Finder window: Click the item to select it, then click the Tags button. You can also create a custom tag by typing a new keyword in the text field and pressing Return. Tag an item on the desktop: Control-click the item, then choose a color from the palette below the Tags option. If you would like to create a custom tag choose Tags and enter a new keyword in the text field and press Return. Un-tag an item: Control-click or tap it with two fingers, then choose Tags. Select the tag you want to remove, then press Delete. Remove every instance of a tag from all files and folders: Choose Finder>Preferences, then click Tags. Put the pointer on the tag, Control-click, then choose Delete Tag. Edit a tag: Choose Finder>Preferences, then click Tags. Select the circle to change the color of the tags. Select the text to change the name of the tag. Select the checkbox if you want the item to be viewed on the sidebar. Add tag to favorite tags: By adding a tag to your favorite tags you make it available for quick use in Finder menus. To do so choose Finder>Preferences, then click Tags. Drag your frequently used tags to the favorite tags area at the bottom to include it in your favorite tags list. Find items you have tagged: 1. Choose File> Find or press Command-F 2. In the search attribute pop-up menu, choose Other from the left pop-up menu, select “File label,” them click OK. If the search attribute pop-up menu is not present, click Add (+) in the search window. 3. Select the colored tag to search for. Note: If the tag is not a selectable option, it needs to be added to your favorite tags. See everything tagged with a particular color: Click the color in the Tags section of the Finder window sidebar. Mission Control Mission Control gives you a bird’s-eye view of what’s running on your mac, including Dashboard, all your spaces, and all open windows including those in full-screen view. If you have many overlapping windows, Mission Control makes it easy to find the one you need. Your open windows are grouped by app. Zoom to Mission Control: To see all your open windows, enter Mission Control using one of these methods: • From a trackpad, swipe up using three or four fingers. • From the keyboard, press the Mission Control key. If your keyboard does not have a Mission Control key, press Control-Up Arrow. • From the dock or application folder, select the Mission Control app. Leave Mission Control: Swipe again or press the key you used to enter Mission Control. Edit Mission Control Settings: Choose Apple menu> System Preferences, then click Mission Control. Dashboard Dashboard is a collection of small programs, called “widgets,” that let you quickly do a wide variety of tasks such as checking stock prices, finding local or global weather information, looking up words in the dictionary and more. Open Dashboard It is possible to open dashboard using one of these methods: • From a trackpad, swipe right with three or four fingers. To close Dashboard, swipe left. • From your keyboard, press the Dashboard key, or press F12 (Fn-F12 on laptop keyboards). To close dashboard, press the key again or click the right arrow in the bottom-right corner. • From the dock or application folder, select the Dashboard app. See and use all the available Widgets: Open Dashboard, then click the plus button (+) at the lower-left corner of the screen. To use a widget, click it. To organize widgets, drag them where you want them. Put Widgets away: Open Dashboard, then click the minus button (-) at the lower-left corner of the screen. Click the close buttons (x) of the widgets you want to put away. If you do not see a close button (x), press the Option key, then move the pointer over the widget. Launchpad Launchpad helps you find, organize, and easily open your apps. Entering Launchpad: You can open Launchpad and quickly access your apps using one of these methods: • From a trackpad, pinch together your thumb-and-three-fingers in gesture on your trackpad. • From your keyboard, press the Launchpad key on your keyboard if present. • From the dock or application folder, select the Launchpad icon. To move between pages in Launchpad: If there is not enough room to show all of your apps on one screen, Launchpad creates multiple pages. The dots at the bottom of the Launchpad screen show you how many pages of apps there are, and which you are currently viewing. You can move between pages by: • From a trackpad, swipe left or right with two fingers. • From your keyboard, press the right or left arrow key. • From the Launchpad screen select a dot at the bottom. Launchpad folders: You can organize your apps into categories in Launchpad. To do so, drag and drop one icon onto another. You can rename a folder by clicking on the folder and selecting the name. To remove items in a folder and put it back on the main Launchpad screen, simply drag the icon out of the Launchpad folder and let go. Exiting Launchpad: To exit Launchpad, open an app. If you want to exit without opening anything: • From a trackpad, pinch outward using your thumb and three fingers. • From a keyboard, press the Escape (esc) key or Launchpad key. • From the Dock, click the Launchpad icon or another app icon. Application Switcher The application switcher allows you to quickly switch between open apps. Using the Application Switcher To show the Application Switcher, hold down the Command (⌘) key and the Tab key.

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