MacMost: Archives

New Mac users sometimes don't understand why the top row of keys on the keyboard don't work as expected. These keys are both the function keys and the special features keys, also knows as f-keys and media control keys. You toggle how these keys behave with the fn key. But a setting in System Preferences determines which mode is the default one and which requires the fn key.

With the new Voice Control feature in macOS Catalina you can control almost anything on your Mac with your voice. You can access menu commands, dictate text, click buttons and even click a specific point on the screen using grids. This functionality is critical for some, but for others it can also offer a nice hands-free alternative to using your Mac.

If you only use the Dock to launch apps, you missing out on one of the Mac's most powerful features. By adding folders to the right side of the Dock, you can have quick access to downloads, applications, files and more. You can create Smart Folders to view recent documents or documents from a single app. You can create folders full of aliases to get quick access to groups of applications or files.

Even if you don't have the bucks to buy someone a new MacBook Pro or iPhone, there are still plenty of greate gifts for Apple fans that are much cheaper. You may want to consider an Apple Battery Case, an Apple Pencil or a Series 3 Apple Watch, all which run under $200. You can also get gifts that aren't directly related to Apple but will run Apple services, such as an Amazon Echo to play Apple Music or a Roku TV box that plays Apple TV+. Other ideas include game controllers for Apple Arcade and two different types of Apple gift cards.

If you find yourself always changing the font and other styles in Pages after starting a new document, you may want to set up your own custom template to use as the default for new documents. This will save you time as every new document will begin with things set just as you like them. You can also set things like paragraph spacing and even headers and footers. While there is a new default font setting in Pages, creating your own blank template gives you far more control.

If you want to convert a group of JPG image files to a single PDF, you can use a variety of methods. Most people will tell you to use Preview. But there are other ways that are either simpler or more versatile. You can use a Quick Action to do it without even opening up an app. You can also use Pages and Keynote to create richer PDFs with border, text and other features. The best way may be to use Photos which offers a variety of printing options that can be used to create PDFs.

Version 13.2 of audioOS for the HomePod included two new features that could be useful if your HomePod is in the bedroom. You can now ask Siri to play a collection of endlessly looping ambient sounds, such as Forest, Stream, Fireplace, Night, Ocean, Rain and White Noise. This effectively makes your HomePod a white noise machine, one with amazing speakers. You can also ask Siri to set a sleep timer for these sounds, or any music you are playing.

Conditional highlighting in Numbers is simply a way to change the style of a cell based on the contents of that same cell. However, by using a trick you can have conditional highlighting affect other cells or an entire row.

Apple released new battery cases for the iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max this week. Similar to previous battery cases, these fit around the iPhone and connect through the Lightning port to add a second battery to the iPhone, tightly integrated with iOS so that the user can see the battery levels for both. Connecting the unit then charges both batteries.

There is a place on your Mac and on your iOS device where you can view almost all of your subscriptions, including Apple TV+, Apple News+, Apple Music and subscriptions from any third-party apps you may have. You'll find your iCloud storage subscription in a different location. You can view, modify or cancel any of these subscriptions.

If you prefer to type instead of using the mouse and cursor you can manage your files and folders with the Terminal. You can use commands to list, open, rename, move and delete files. You can do nearly everything that you can do in the Finder, and some commands are even more powerful.

You can't copy and paste or print Reminders in macOS Catalina. However, with the help of a script you can get a Reminders list as text to be pasted into any app, printed, or sent as email. Learn how to create a Mac script in JavaScript (JXA) using Script Editor or Automator to get this important function back and have it available as an easy-access menu command.

With iOS 13 it is easy to use your iPhone as a scanner and scan single or multi-page documents. You can scan directly to iCloud Drive and then your documentd would be on your Mac without any additional steps. You can even scan while away from your home or office and they documents will end up in the same place with no extra effort. Your iPhone will flatten the pages and make adjustments automatically.

If you need to open, edit, create, save or collaborate using Microsoft Word .doc or .docx files, there are several ways to do it on your Mac. The best way, but one that will cost some money, is to simply get Word for Mac from the Mac App Store and pay for a Microsoft subscription. But many Mac users simply using Pages instead. You can also get a couple of good third-party free office apps that will handle Word. There are even more options that don't require downloading anythng at all.

As part of yesterday’s announcement of a new MacBook Pro 16-Inch model, Apple added more information about the upcoming Mac Pro desktop tower, giving us an update on the release date: December.

Apple released a new top-end model of MacBook Pro today, with an increased screen size and new keyboard. A base price of only $2,399 includes 16GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD.

Apple announced the new 16-Inch MacBook Pro today. This replaces the 15-Inch model. You can now choose between the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13-Inch and MacBook Pro 16-Inch. For most people the choice will be clear with the MacBook Air being the cheapest and lightest, the 16-inch MacBook Pro being large and expensive but much more powerful, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro filling lots of needs in between. Watch as I break down the differences between these models.

Instead of using music from a collection or jingles from iMovie you can easily create your own video soundtrack in GarageBand. It only takes a few minutes to combine a drum track with other loops and then export some music that you can drag and drop into iMovie or Final Cut Pro. Then your video will have unique royalty-free music that fits the content.

Here are some handy tips for using Pages on your Mac. You can make writing easier with paragraph spacing, showing word count, using text replacements and other things. You can adjust how your document looks with character styles, Emoji clipart and hyphenation. You can also copy and paste elements to avoid having to set properties over and over again. That and much more!

You can listen to regular worldwide and local radio stations using the Music app in macOS Catalina and iOS 13. Thanks to agreements with streaming radio services, you can find these stations by searching or askign Siri. At the moment the streams don't seem to require an Apple Music subscription.