Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

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.

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.

One advantage that Numbers for iPad has over Numbers for Mac is Form mode. If you want to simulate a form in Mac Numbers, you can do it using a few lines of JavaScript code in Script Editor and even make those script available in the menu bar. This could be the starting point for a more complex set of scripts that check values and even allow you to edit row data in a form too.

In macOS Catalina enhanced dictation is now part of Voice Control as part of your Mac's Accessibility features. It has several improvements over previous version of macOS dictation, including several ways to work to correct text, move the cursor, make selections and type difficult words.

You can use Keynote to create a presentation and then record yourself giving the presentation. Your voice and the timing as you advanced from slide-to-sldie will be recorded. You can then export this as a video. This is a good way to quickly get information into video format for distribution on YouTube and elsewhere.

So I had this idea. If you put a video into Keynote, and the first 5 second on the first frame, and the second 5 seconds on the second frame, etc. And then you exported it as video, would it export just like the original? Turns out it will, as long as you set things up right. So given that, you now have a way to add all sorts of graphics, text and other elements to those frames. This could be a way to create some interesting videos.

Sometimes you need to shrink an image in order to upload it to a web site or send to someone. You can do this easily on a computer, but it is harder to do on an iPhone or iPad. This Shortcut will give you a way to do it by sharing the photo to create a smaller file.