MacMost: Archives

Uisng your Mac, iPhone or iPad you can chat with several other Apple users at the same time. You can use this to stay in touch with family and friends while staying at home, as long as everyone involved has Apple products.

With GarageBand on your Mac you can import audio files as samples and play them using a virtual or MIDI keyboard. The controls to do this are burried deep, so it isn't obvious how to do it. You cna save these instruments as patch files to use again.

While there is no typewriter effect title in iMovie, you can easily add it with the help of Keynote. This can appear as text by itself anywhere you want, or you can get creative with more graphics like a search box that appears over your video.

Many Mac users use keyboard shortcuts all the time, but overlook an obvious and useful one. Learn how to jump to items in long lists and find things even when there is no way to search.

TextEdit seems like a simple text editing tool, but it actually has some pretty rich features. You can do things like set document properties, edit code, define and use styles, insert images, audio and video, and even export HTML documents.

If you want to get a window out of the way, you can close the window, but doing so closes the document or page without quitting the app. Quitting will get rid of all of the windows being used by that app, which will by default reappear when you launch the app again. A better option most of the time is to hide the app.

There are many important settings in Mail Preferences that you can use to customize your experience and improve productivity. Take this tour of the Mail Preferences and see which ones you should change.

A new feature of macOS 10.15.4 and the latest versions of Pages, Numbers and Keynote is the ability to collaborate using shared iCloud Drive folders. Once you share a folder, you can create documents in those folders and they are instantly ready for real-time collaboration with no additional steps. This can be used to work on a whole set of files with your team over the course of a project, or permanently.

You can now set a background color, gradient or image for sections in Pages documents. This is a new feature in the Section sidebar that makes it much easier to include a color fill or pattern behind your text.

The new version of Pages includes a powerful Drop Caps feature with a ton of options. You can use Drop Caps to make the first letter or word of a paragraph stand out. This also works in Keynote and Numbers.

In Mac Notes you can only export one note at a time as a PDF file. With the help of a script, you can quickly and easily export all of your notes to html files as a backup or archive. You can also save notes this way to clear out your Notes app.

If you need to place a simple stamp to a PDF file on your Mac, you can do it using the markup tools available in Preview, Mail and other apps. You can reuse these stamps by creating a blank PDF just to hold them, and then copying and pasting stamps when needed.

Not all Numbers spreadsheets need to have complex formulas and perform calculations. Some of the most useful spreadsheets simply help you keep track of members of a group or items you own. Create a simple database like this is easy and can come in handy, especially if you save it to iCloud Drive for mobile access as well.

If you ever have trouble reading text on your Mac because it is too small, there are many ways to adjust text in different places to help. You can make a universal change by adjusting your display resolution, use helper features like Accessibility Zoom, or change the display size for text in apps like the Finder, Safari, Mail and more.

Apple released new software updates to its major operating systems with new features this week. The main new feature are across all was the ability to share a folder using iCloud Drive. iPhones got new Memoji stickers and the iPad now has upgraded ability to use a trackpad or mouse as a cursor.

macOS version 15.4 includes some new features. You can now share iCloud folders with other iCloud users. There are new ScreenTime options. You can follow along with lyrics in Apple Music. Safari has new tab options. You can import Google Chrome passwords. You can also control your mouse with your head.

A new feature of iPadOS 13.4, released today, is the ability to control your iPad using a Bluetooth mouse or Trackpad. This works with almost any Bluetooth pointing device and any iPad capable of running iPadOS 13.4.

While it is difficult to be in the same location with kids right now, it is possible to use Macs to be able to read with them and do other educational activities online. You can use the Messages app on two Macs to start screen sharing and then bring up a book or other content. You can talk with them while you do this and they can follow along with your cursor and highlights.

The new iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard could finally be a legitimate laptop computer for some people. There will be a lot of people deciding between the new MacBook Air and iPad Pro. They both have similar abilities, but also some distinct differences. Here are some factors that will help you decide which one is right for you.

You can turn any standard sound file into a ringtone right on your iPhone using the free GarageBand app from Apple. You can also use some music from your library, and download audio files and music online, even from YouTube, to use as ringtones.