Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

If you ever need to restart the Finder, you don’t need to use Command+Option+Esc to force it to quit and relaunch. Instead, you can Control+Option click the Finder icon in the Dock and choose Relaunch.

I was looking for a way to batch convert image files that didn't require an app. I found the Sips command in the Terminal, which seems to have a lot of interesting options.

If you are in the habit of putting a blank line between paragraphs in Pages, you should learn to use paragraph spacing instead. You can also manage the spacing between lines with a variety of options. Paragraph and line spacing can be set on a per-paragraph basis.

If you want to prevent yourself from going to a website you can manually block a domain using the Terminal. To do so, you must edit your hosts file and redirect a domain to your local address. This could be useful to help you resist distractions while getting work done.

A lot of people think I am using a green screen or some technical trick to have a black void as my background. But it is much simpler than that.

The Finder seems to be designed to require the use of your mouse or trackpad. But you can get around and do everything using only the keyboard. For some, this may be even more efficient than clicking and dragging. You can use arrow keys to select files, shortcuts to move into and out of folders, and even type the names of folders to jump to them.

Typical Mac users never need to shut down their Macs on a daily basis. It is better to let your Mac go to sleep so it can handle maintenance tasks while you aren't using it. This will make your Mac faster when you are using it, and also allow you to avoid any delay while it starts up. A sleeping Mac uses very little power.

You may already know how you can print and then use Save As PDF to save a PDF of almost anything on your Mac. But you can also add to that menu, creating convenient locations to save PDFs without needing to search for folders. You can also indicate applications that handle PDFs to send a PDF version of your document directly to that app.

If you want the Mac App Store to show you apps that have Photos extensions, use the search field and try “appex:com.apple.photo-editing” to find extensions for editing. You can also use “appex:com.apple.photo-project” to find extensions that offer more printing and project options.

You can set a script, either AppleScript or JavaScript (JXA) to handle incoming messages in the Messages app. In fact, there are a few default scripts already there, including one that will speak incoming messages. In this video I'll show you how to make a really simple script that gives and extra alert when you get a message from a specific person.

There is no built-in sort function in Pages, but you can easily sort cells in tables. To sort a list of text, you can copy and paste the list into a table, sort it, and then copy it back out. The trick is to merge the data into a single cell before copying back out of the table.

The main Photo library view in Mac Photos doesn't let you choose a sort order. But you can easily view your photos sorted by time or title by creating a Smart Album and using that to view your photos instead. You can also sort your list of Photo albums by viewing all of the albums and choosing a sort option, or manually dragging and dropping the albums.

Apple Music and Spotify Shared Playlists are great ways to access selections of music from movies, books or represent a genre. You can find more complete movie soundtracks in Shared Playlists and also collections and "mixtapes" mentioned in movies and books.

You can use Preview to study or for research with its simple highlighting tool. You can highlight in several colors and see a list of all of the text you have marked. You can also add notes through the document.

While most Mac users know how to select a single item simply by clicking it, it is a little harder to select multiple items. You can use the Command and Shift keys to select multiple items in places like the Finder, Photos and many other apps. You can also drag a rectangle around several items to select them in some cases. The keyboard shortcut Command+A is used often by experience Mac users to select all items.

Once you close a tab in Safari, you can easily reopen it. If you just closed the tab, you can use Edit, Undo (Command+Z) to quickly reopen it. You can also go to History, Recently Closed to reopen tabs or windows. You can also use History, Reopen Last Closed Tab, which changes to Reopen Last Closed Window if you more recently closed a Window. Reopen Last Closed Window will include all of its tabs.

Did you know Apple makes an iPhone and iPad simulator for the Mac? It is part of the Xcode tools that are available to all for free. This can be very useful for web developers or anyone with a website. You can check out how your site looks on various devices. And it is fun to play around with.

You can access Amazon's Alexa assistant on your iPhone, but you don't do it through the Alexa app. Instead, you use the Amazon shopping app. You can access the same information and services that you do on an Echo device.

I've been enjoying the Juiced.GS magazine for a while now. Even though I don't have an Apple II anymore, I still occasionally fire up an emulator for fun. If you want to check out the most recent issue of Juiced.GS, you can get 20% off by going to <a href="https://juiced.gs/store/volume-22-2017/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://juiced.gs/store/volume-22-2017/</a> and using the coupon code MACMOST at checkout.

A hidden feature of TextEdit will allow you to search for patterns like email addresses, phone numbers and URLs. You can also construct complex search patterns. You can use these patterns to do complex text replacements such as switching around the order of items in your text.