mac tip
Option Key Closes Multiple Windows at Once
7:30AM Gina Trapani | Mac users with multiple Finder windows littering your desktop: hold down the Option key when you click on the close button on one to close them all in one shot. This works for any multi-window Mac app (though normally you’d just hit Cmd+Q to quit entirely). Here are a few more things you didn’t know you can do on your Mac. More »
Open New Windows via Command-Tab
9:00AM Gina Trapani | As Windows user, one of the strangest things about Mac OS is a running, active application can be in focus without any actual windows open. If you use Command+Tab to switch between apps and don’t want to get stuck in no-open-window limbo, use the following key sequence to open a new window on your way there: Hold down Command+Tab, then press Option, then release Command. It doesn’t work for all applications, but it does for Safari and Terminal at least. More »
Use Keywurl to Jump to “I’m Feeling Lucky” Sites Instantly
11:15PM Kevin Purdy | Reader Brett writes in with his favourite Safari tip, harnessing the power of Google and keyword search tool Keywurl into one nifty time-saver. He sets his default Keywurl search to a URL that pulls up Google’s first “I’m feeling lucky” result, using this string: More »
Get to More Than Definitions in Dictionary.app
7:00AM Gina Trapani | Mac OS X Leopard only: Reader Ben points out that there’s a lot more to Mac OS X’s built-in Dictionary than definitions. He writes in: I just noticed that in Dictionary.app (at least in Leopard), under to “Go” menu, there is an option labelled “Front/Back Matter.” Clicking this brings up a whole slew of useful reference material, including a language guide (complete with a list of clichés to avoid), a list of the chemical elements, and the text of the Constitution. Next time I’m on a place, I think I’m going to brush up on the Bill of Rights. It’s true: the Ready Reference area of Dictionary.app’s Front/Back Matter is a treasure trove of good stuff for writers or anyone who wants to see if they can name the capital of all fifty states in the U.S. Thanks, Ben! More »
Delete Mac System Files with Dot_clean
9:00AM Gina Trapani | Mac guy Rob Griffiths points out a few brand new command line utilities in Leopard, like the handy dot_clean command, which sweeps away Mac system files that start with a dot and annoy the hell out of you when you use that thumb drive on your PC. Griffiths writes: Prior to 10.5, you had to manually delete them on the other system, or use Terminal trickery to remove them on the Mac prior to copying. As of 10.5, though, you can just use the dot_clean command on the directory in question. Type dot_clean /path/folder to join the dot-underscore files with their parent files. Read OS X 10.5’s manual pages (man dot_clean) for more information. Now you don’t have to disable .DS_Store file creation entirely; though you may still have to deal with Windows’ annoying Thumbs.db system files on your Mac. Leopard’s Unix tricks [Macworld] More »
Laser-Focus Your Spotlight Queries
8:00AM Gina Trapani | When you just can’t seem to hunt down that file you know you’ve got stowed away somewhere on your Mac, it’s time to break out the Spotlight big guns—advanced search operators, that is. Macworld runs down advanced Spotlight operators which will be familiar to power Google searchers. Here’s a sampling: Enclose phrases in quotes, like "time machine" Use AND, OR, and NOT to narrow or widen your search, like java NOT coffee or invoice OR bonus Search by document attributes using operators like author:authorname, kind:pdf (for PDF files), and date:today What’s your favourite Spotlight operator? Give it up in the comments. Create good queries in Spotlight [Macworld] More »
Automatically Quick Look Your Downloads
11:05AM Adam Pash | All-things-Mac web site Mac OS X Hints discusses how to automatically Quick Look certain files as soon as they’re downloaded to your Downloads folder. The best approach from the thread involves setting your browser to automatically open certain file types (like your PDF or Word documents) with the Quick Look Droplet, a simple application that launches a Quick Look preview of whatever file it opens. Of course you could just set your browser to automatically open downloaded files with their default applications, but if you don’t want to load up heavy software like Microsoft Word just to peek at the file’s contents, this Quick Look Droplet might be a worthwhile solution. 10.5: Automatically Quick Look certain downloaded files [Mac OS X Hints] More »Speedily Navigate Finder’s Column View
1:13AM Gina Trapani | The Mac Tipper blog sings the praises of Finder’s column view, and schools the rest of us on how to navigate files and folders in a flash using the keyboard. Hit the play button to see it in action. How to Quickly Navigate Column View [MacTipper Blog] More »
Speed Up Sleep Mode on MacBooks
1:00AM Kevin Purdy | Tech blogger Dan Warne notes that MacBooks loaded with serious memory—like MacBook Pros with more than 2 GB—can take a long while to activate these days, since the entirety of that memory is being written to your hard disk in the default “safe sleep.” If you’re almost always plugged into a wall socket or aren’t the type to run your battery down entirely, Warne recomments a one-line Terminal hack that brings back the old swift-moving sleep: More »
