Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

Deleting a file from iCloud Drive means that it is deleted across all of your devices. A copy will remain in the trash of the Mac you are using. But even if you empty the trash there is a way to recover the files using iCloud.com.

Naturally many people have asked my opinion about the Danny Boyle/Aaron Sorkin movie that tried to sum up the man’s life in two hours and two minutes. In addition to being an Apple enthusiast I am also a movie buff, so of course I saw it when it came out. It is in the news again this week with two Golden Globe wins and two Oscar nominations.

If an app isn't in your Dock, you can easily find it and launch it one of several common ways. You can look for it in the Applications folder, use LaunchPad or search with Spotlight. If you use an app often, add it to the Dock to easier access.

When you open a new window or tab in Safari, the address field should be blank with a magnifying glass at the left. If it isn’t, you can simply select and delete the address there to see the magnifying glass. Click on that magnifying glass and you’ll get a list of your recent searched and can select one to do it again.

Learn how to create custom icons using on the Finder and Preview. You can make a folder or file stand out in a few simple steps with a custom icon.

Both Google and Microsoft offer voice assistant apps that you can download for your iPhone or iPad for free. Google's app offers some advantages over Siri, but neither app can match Siri because of Siri's connection to your built-in iPhone apps.

The iOS App Store app is basically a specialized web browser that shows you apps and allows you to download them. Sometimes it misbehaves. You can clear its cache and reload the content you are viewing with an odd little trick. Tap the Featured button at the bottom of the screen 10 times in a row. Other buttons at the bottom usually work as well. After the 10th tap the screen will go blank and reload.

The Print function in the El Capital Mac Calendar app offers a ton of options. Some options provide nice printed versions of your calendars or event lists. But you can also print to a PDF and use the text in those PDFs to do things like get a list of your upcoming events.

Is it time for a new Mac, iPhone or iPad? The answer depends on what you use your device for and your budget. But Apple does give us some clues as to which devices it thinks are too old on a few web pages. Ultimately, you've got to decide when to get a new Mac. How old do you think is too old?

With the latest version of Photos in El Capitan, you can sort your list of albums by title or latest-first. Control+click on “Albums” in the list on the right. Select Sort and choose By Name.

Pages, Word and some other apps allow you to see what would otherwise be invisible characters like spaces, tabs and paragraph breaks. You can use these visual symbols to edit your documents with more precision.

In addition to sending email 'to' someone, you can also include additional email addresses in the CD and BCC fields. CC is a way to send copies of your messages to people that need to know the information, but don't need to respond. BCC is a good way to send messages to people without sharing their email address with others.

If you do presentations with your Mac, you probably don’t want notifications popping up while presenting. Go to System Preferences, Notifications and check Turn on Do Not Disturb “When mirroring to TVs and projectors.” Or, you can simply remember to Option+click on Notifications Center in the upper right corner of your screen to turn on Do Not Disturb before presenting.

If a menu item in an app doesn't have a keyboard shortcut, you can always add one through System Preferences. You can also change keyboard shortcuts for menu items that already have one. This is a built-in system function so it works with almost any app.

You can create recurring calendar events on your Mac and the latest version of iOS. For instance, you can create an event that will automatically recur on the second Tuesday of every month.

You probably know that you can use Command+H to quickly hide the app you are using on your Mac. But you can also use Command+Option+H to hide everything except the current app. This is useful if you find you suddenly need to concentrate on composing an email or editing an image and you’ve got lots of other apps cluttering your screen.

The Photos app makes it easy to crop your pictures. Cropping is non-destructive, so you can always revert to the original. You can create a custom crop or select from specific ratios. You can then export the photo at a specific pixel size if needed.

You can use various websites and apps to test your home broadband speed. Compare that to the speed you are supposed to be receiving from your provider and call them if you see a problem. You may be able to get better speeds without spending anything extra.

You can customize how often the Mac App Store asks for passwords in System Preferences, App Store. You can set it to always require a password before purchase, or only do so once every 15 minutes. You can also set it so it doesn’t require a password for free downloads.

Parents may want to set time limits for their kids to limit computer use, or force them to stop using their Mac when it gets too late. You can set time limits for managed user accounts in Parental Controls. You can set a limit on the total amount of time per day, or have access shut off at a specific time. There are separate settings for weekdays and weekends.