Emoji can be used for more than just expressing emotion in text messages and comments. You can also use Emoji characters throughout macOS. They can help bookmarks, files and folders stand out, as well as calendar events and more. You can use them as clipart in Pages, Keynote and even in videos. You can even use them as special symbols in Numbers. They are also useful in the Mail app and you can also use them to search in the Maps app.
The Notification Center appears on the right side of your Mac's screen and contains lots of useful information. To get the most from it, you should take the time to customize both the Today view and Notifications view. Eliminating notifications you don't care about and learning how to use the Today view widgets will help you get more from this useful macOS feature.
You can create your own transitions for iMovie using Keynote. But making simple one or two-slide presentations that include a transparent background, you can export short videos that can be used as overlays in iMovie. These overlays can be applied to become a transition between one clip and another. They can also be customize with graphics to fit your style or theme in the video.
A single keyboard shortcut will take you to a power control that will let you take a screenshot of your entire screen, a window or an area. You can set options such as where to save the screenshot or which app to send it to. You can also use the floating thumbnail feature to preview and edit a screenshot before you do anything with it. A variety of hidden keyboard shortcuts make taking screenshots faster and easier if you take the time to learn them.
When you start typing something in Safari’s address field at the top of the window, you’ll be shown all sorts of suggestions from your search engine and Siri. These can be useful. But if you want to streamline and speed up things, then go to Safari, Preferences, Search and uncheck everything except Show Favorites. Then you’ll get a cleaner list of suggestions from just your bookmarks and history. In fact, it makes it a handy way to search your browser bookmarks.
Keynote is a free app from Apple that you can use to build presentations. Learn the basics of adding slides, text, images, transitions and more in just 5 minutes. Also learn how to customize how you present with the Presenter Display and slide notes.
There's a special mode in iMovie that lets you edit and export vertical video. I hate to mention it though, because I don't want to encourage people to shoot vertical video. But it is good to know, nonetheless.
Sometimes you need to select two or more files in the Finder on your Mac. You can do this in a variety of ways depending on which Finder view you are using at the moment. All views let you use the Command and Shift keys to select multiple files, though they differ in some ways. You can also drag to select multiple files in each view. Keyboard shortcuts can be used to select all or deselect all.
There are lots of useful accessories you can get for your Mac, ranging from $4 to $500 or more. Take a look at 10 very useful accessories you can get, what they will do for you, how to search for one online and what to look for when purchasing.
Most Mac apps have toolbars at the top of each window with a collection of buttons and other controls. You can customize these toolbars, adding more buttons, arranging them and removing them. You can always easily revert to the default set. Some apps, like the Finder, even let you do more with toolbars.
If you have a list of names in Numbers it is very difficult to sort by last name unless you have the last name in a separate column. However, you can use a series of formulas to extract the last name and first name, format them properly as Last, First, and then sort them. It will take some extra effort to deal with middle names and initials as well. You can even get rare last names that include spaces to sort properly.
When creating or editing a contact in the Contacts app, there is a checkbox for “Company” under the name. When you check it, the company name and first name and last name fields swap positions. You can then ignore the first name and last name fields and just enter a company. This is useful for having entries for utility companies and other service companies so you have their customer service or billing contact info in your Contacts app. It is also handy for other non-person contacts like your local police non-emergency number and local restaurants where you sometimes call for delivery or reservations.
If you need to draw text along a circular path on your Mac, you'll find you need a third-party app to do it. One general image editing app that will do it is Acorn, available in the Mac App Store at a much lower cost than anything from Adobe. You can easily add text outside or inside of a circle, and make adjustments to the text afterward. You can then export the result to use in any app.
You can quickly and easily made a slideshow in the Photos app, but those can't be exported to share. By using the free iMovie app from Apple, you can build a slideshow from a set of photos in minutes and then export it as video to share. You can also customize each photo with filters, cropping, movement and text. You can add music, audio and narration to the slideshow too. The basic idea works on the iPad as well.
When I'm done making each tutorial, I spend a few minutes making the poster that you see at YouTube and the MacMost site. This includes the title, a graphic like an icon, and usually me looking excited/authoritative/goofy in front of a background. I create these in Pixelmator with a variety of techniques. I use two selection tools to cut myself out of the image and then put myself in front of the background and template with a subtle shadow. My hope is that by including a face in the poster it makes it more "visible" in places like YouTube so get some new people watching my tutorials.
You can create custom folder icons by using only the software that comes with your Mac. By taking the existing folder icon graphic and bringing it into Preview, you can tint the color and then add text, emoji or shapes to create a useful custom folder icon. Changing folder icons can be a little tricky and buggy, however. You can also use graphics apps to create more highly-customized icons and download icons online to use.
You can schedule notifications of important items at specific times using eithe the Calendar app or the Reminders app on your Mac, iPhone and iPad. So why are there two apps that seem to do the same thing? These apps do overlap somewhat, but they also have their own unique functionality. When you need to schedule something, however, it can be hard to decide which app to use. But there are good reasons to choose one over the other in most situations.
The Clips app is a free iPhone image and video app from Apple. You can use it to do a variety of things. In this tutorial, I'll show you how you can quickly and easily add a fun caption to any photos before sharing it in a message or on social media.
Did you know there are several text editors included on your Mac that you won't find in the Applications folder? They are in Terminal. Sure, they are ancient editors from a bygone era, but there are still a lot of cool functions in them that you can't do in Word or Pages. Check out some examples. I doubt anyone will want to switch to VIM after seeing this, but it is good to know it is there just in case.
