Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

You can use the Maps app on your Mac for more than just finding locations and getting directions. You can create maps to be used in other apps as well. You can export a map into Preview and then annotate it to send in an email or message. You can copy and paste or export a map to use in Pages documents, Keynote presentations and iMovie video projects. You can also export satellite and 3D views.

I often talk about shortcuts and other ways to be more productive on yoru Mac. Here are 10 shortcuts that I actually use in my work every day including how I prefer to resize windows, switch apps, avoid typing my long email address and more.

There are many commands and modifiers you can add to your Google searches to get better results. You can narrow searches to a single site, look for exact phrases, search using an image instead of text and much more. There are also special Google pages and sites that Google offers with tons of useful information.

Remember back in the 1980s when computers were things that you would buy and then use to learn how to program? You turned on the Apple II and you were greeted with a command line and could start programming in BASIC right away. This is how I started. You can't really do this on a Mac, but you can do something kinda like it. The <strong>Script Editor</strong> app can be used to get started with JavaScript in a similar way to how the Apple II let you learn BASIC. And JavaScript is related and similar to so many modern programming languages, so it is a good place to start. So I decided to try to recreate a simple BASIC learning workbook, but using Script Editor and JavaScript. I'm not sure if the result is good or not. It certainly is long, at 25 minutes. Or, maybe that is short for what it covers. I'm thinking of doing this in a more polished way as a regular MacMost video. In the meantime, here's my first attempt at such a tutorial.

If you have songs in the Music app that are missing information then the app may not group them by artist or album correctly. You can correct this information easily in the app. You can also modify songs so they appear on the proper albums and sorted in the right order. You can add album artwork too, and set the order of tracks in an album. This works the same way before Catalina in the iTunes app and will even work for songs obtained from Apple Music and sync with your other devices.

Numbers is a huge app with tons of features. If you use it a lot, you can benefit from learning some tips, tricks and techniques. Learn how to autofill cells, re-apply sorts, get quick caluclation results, automatically format cells, hidden keyboard shortcuts and much more.

The Clips app from Apple can be used to create video slideshows from your photos. You can add images one-by-one with titles and captions, audio narration and filters. Then you can edit and export the result to share.

I'm a huge fan of RTS (real-time strategy) games. Back in the heyday of RTS games, titles like Age of Empires and Rise of Nations were my favorites. But those games are so old they don't work on modern Macs. I miss them. I was surprised to see a new game appear, and not from a major studio or developer. And is is definitely built for modern computers with way better graphics, etc. Take a look.

After upgrading to macOS Catalina, many users mistakenly believe that the new Music app requires that you subscribe to Apple Music. In fact, you can use the Music app just like you used the old iTunes app. You can ignore Apple Music and listen to songs in yoru own library, import new music just like you did before, and also buy music in the iTunes Store. You can also disable Apple Music entirely in the app.

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.

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.