Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

A typical problem new Mac users have is a Downloads folder that quickly fills with lots of files taking up a large amount of hard drive space. The Downloads folder is the default location for web downloads and it can be easy to forget to maintain it. It is accessible like any other Finder folder and you can easily sort it and delete or move items from it to keep it clean.

You can switch between the standard keyboard and the Emoji keyboard easily fi you know which key to tap. The key changes its symbol and position depending on which keyboard you are currently using, which can be confusing. You can cycle through your existing keyboards, or just right to a specific keyboard by tapping and holding that key in some cases.

When you use the Save dialog in an app to save a file, you can also rename and throw away files you see in the dialog. You must be using the list or column view in the expanded Save dialog, and then you can Control+click on a file to bring up a context menu on another file that you see. This is handy when you want to rename or trash a file so you can replace it with the new one you just created.

You can open standard MIDI files in GarageBand. You can then view the notes in each track, change them, and change the instrument being used to play that track. You can combine MIDI tracks with other Apple Loops to create interesting remixes of music.

I played around with a JXA (JavaScript for Automation instead of AppleScript) script that searches for duplicate photos in your Photos library and marks them with a keyword. It turned out to be pretty simple. But it could be dangerous if you plan to use it to permanently deleted photos.Here is the script text: var Photos = Application("Photos"); Photos.includeStandardAdditions = true; var currentSelection = Photos.selection(); var photoDataList = []; for (var item of currentSelection) { var photoInfo = String(item.date())+" "+String(item.size())+" "+String(item.name()); var isDup = false; for(var i=0;i<photoDataList.length;i++) { if (photoDataList[i] == photoInfo) { isDup = true; break; } } if (isDup) { var keys = item.keywords(); if (keys == null) keys = []; item.keywords = keys.concat(["duplicate"]); } else { photoDataList.push(photoInfo); } }

If you have several printers on your network, it can sometimes be difficult to know which one is which. But you can name your printers to make it easier. Names will carry over to other users on your Mac, but not to other Macs or devices on your network.

The iPad Dock is a persistent Home screen feature that allows you to easily switch to your most-used apps. You can customize the left side of the Dock, while the right side shows your most recently used apps. You can also bring the Dock up inside of other apps for quick switching or multitasking.

If you are new to Mac, you may not yet be using the Notes app. This is a handy built-in app where you can store small pieces of text and create lists. When you use iCloud, your Notes sync across all of your devices, so you can create them and edit them anywhere. You can also share notes with other iCloud users.

Some people may prefer digital iTunes gifts instead of physical CDs and DVDs. You can send a specific album, movie, app or book as a gift to another Apple user from within iTunes. You can include a special message and even schedule the gift.

If you have System Preferences in your Mac Dock, you can Control+click it to reveal shortcuts to each individual section within System Preferences. So no need to launch it first and then find the section you want. The list is in alphabetical order, which can also make finding things easier. If System Preferences isn’t in your Dock, just go to the Applications Folder and drag and drop it from there to the Dock to add it.

Apple Music users can easily download playlists, albums, artists and songs for offline listening. After a while, you may have a large collection of downloaded music taking up space on your iPhone. You can easily remove these downloads in the Music app, or in the Settings app.

Have a look at my menu bar icons. I'll explain where each one comes from and perhaps you'll find something you can use as well.

You can use the Photo Booth app on your Mac to simulate a green screen with any stable background. You can use some preset replacement backgrounds, or your own image. The key is to use your Mac's built-in camera and have a stable background and surface for your Mac.

A useful new feature of Photos 3.0 is the ability to see all of your imported photos organized by the time they were imported. You can see all of your imports going back in time. You can use this view like any other, jumping directly to editing or organizing.

If you are new to Mac, then you may not be familiar with the modifier keys like Command, Option and Control. These each have special symbols that you will see in articles and the menu bar. Learn how to use these important modifier keys and how they differ from Windows modifier keys.

You can no longer use your Mac to arrange apps on your iPad or iPhone home screens. But thanks to iOS 11, it is now much easier to do so directly on your iOS device. You can quickly and easily move one app. You can also select multiple apps and move them from screen to screen or into a folder.

If you need to type a unicode character and know its code, you can bring up the emoji character panel with Control+Command+Space in most apps, and then search for the character starting with “U+”. For instance, searching for “U+2602” will bring up the umbrella character.

I've had people ask me about viewing and editing photo metadata on the iPhone or iPad. It takes a third-party app to do that. This one called MetaPho will allow you to view, change and delete metadata.

When editing text in TextEdit, Pages and other apps, you'll often see options for Kern, Ligatures and Baseline. These adjust the character spacing, combine some letters into a single character, and adjust the vertical positions of the letters. See examples and learn how to use these text features.

The new iTunes version 12.7 removes the ability for iTunes to easily store and sync ringtones to your iPhone. But the method for manually adding and removing ringtones is easier than ever. Learn how to add custom ringtones to your iPhone through iTunes on your Mac.