Posts By: Gary Rosenzweig

You can't use Pages or TextEdit to select non-contiguous text on a Mac. But you can use a variety of other apps to do it. Plus, some reasons why you would want to do this in Pages are better served by using Character Styles instead. CotEditor: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/coteditor/id1024640650" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/coteditor/id1024640650</a>  LibreOffice: <a href="https://www.libreoffice.org" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.libreoffice.org</a> (free download from official site). ClipTools: <a href="https://macmost.com/cliptools" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://macmost.com/cliptools</a> 

When you buy a new external drive for your Mac, it is not going to be formatted for your Mac. You should use Disk Utility to set the drive up right before using it.

Apple dropped some major new product updates this week. Here are my thoughts on the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, the new M2 Mac mini and the return of the HomePod.

ClipTools is a free clipboard manager and text selection utility for Mac from MacMost. With it you can access your clipboard history, save clips, use programmable Smart Clips, paste the date or time, insert example text, perform calculations and paste the result or replace the selection, convert numbers to words, sorts lines and so much more. Check out https://macmost.com/cliptools for a full list of features and an App Store link.

If you use a Trackpad with your Mac you should check out all of the customization settings. Even if you don't change anything, there are probably gestures you aren't aware of that you could be using.

The normal way to delete files on your Mac is to use the Trash or Bin folder. There are several shortcuts and advanced techniques that you should know about.

While doing a video on Hot Corners I began to wonder if you can use a Terminal command, and thus a Shortcut, to change what each Hot Corner does. Turns out you can. Here's the basic Terminal command: <strong>defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-XX-corner -int Y</strong> XX would be <strong>tr</strong>, <strong>tl</strong>, <strong>br</strong>, <strong>bl</strong> depending on each corner (top/bottom, right/left). Y would be one of these: 0=nothing, 2=Mission Control, 3=Show App Windows, 4=Show Desktop, 5=Start Screen Saver, 6=Disable Screen Saver, 10=Display Sleep, 11=Launchpad, 12=Notification Center, 13=Lock Screen. Then you need to use this to restart the Desktop and have it take affect: <strong>killall Dock</strong> You can also use this to set a modifier key for the Hot Corner: <strong>defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-XX-modifier -int Z</strong> Z would be: 0=nothing, 131072=Shift, 262144=Control, 524288=Option, 1048576=Command

I thought it would be neat to be able to put a message where you can see it all day. But not just A message, but a message that can easily be changed. I started using image editing and Terminal commands, but it turns out this can be done in a much better way with a Shortcut.

Your Mac shows the date and time at the top right. You can customize this to only show the time and whether to include things like AM/PM, seconds, and the day of the week. This is more than just a display as it acts as a button for Notifications Center and Do No Disturb.

Lists replace Groups in the Contacts app and since you can now manage them on the iPhone and iPad they are much more useful.

How long can Mac filenames be? What characters can you use and which should you avoid? What about if you want to use the files on other systems too? How can you get numbered or dated files to sort properly?

Your Mac comes with a variety of interesting screen savers. Most use your photos, but some show patterns or information.

Split View is a simple useful multitasking tool that lets you work with exactly two windows at the same time. Here are some tips to get the most out of Split View.

I have released ClipTools to the general public. This is my free clipboard manager with all sorts of extra functionality. You can get it for free from the Mac App Store. Sorry for the long video, there's just so much to explain. Here's a link to the page that explains how to use it: <a href="https://macmost.com/cliptools" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://macmost.com/cliptools</a>  Here's a link to the Mac App Store page to download it: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cliptools/id1619348240" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cliptools/id1619348240</a> 

If you want your Mac's Desktop background wallpaper to automatically change every hour or day, you can do it in System Settings, Wallpaper. However with the new look of System Settings in macOS Ventura, it can be hard to find the controls if you are used to the old System Preferences app.

Do you need to purchase and use Microsoft Office? Free Apple apps like Pages and Numbers are good alternatives to Word and Excel. But some people may still be better off buying Microsoft Office and having both sets of apps available.

You can use the Shortcuts app to create very simple Shortcuts to launch apps. You can then assign a keyboard shortcut to that and now launch or switch to that app with a single key press. Add as many as you like for quick access to your most-used apps.

Here's a simple(ish) script that will look at your selection in Numbers and clear out only cells with number values. It will leave formulas and text alone. Apparently Excel users have this, but there's no easy way to do it in Numbers. If you take this script and put it in a Shortcut, it can be just as easy to do in Numbers though. I'll attach the Shortcut to this post.

Take the time to clean up and customize your Dock to improve your productivity. These 10 tips are quick and easy to do.

There are a variety of ways you can get directly to specific Mac settings without needing to launch the System Settings app and search for the particular section. You can use the Dock or Spotlight to get to places. You can also create Shortcuts that can then be in the Menu Bar or assigned to a keyboard shortcut. Link to page with Ventura System Settings URL Schemes: <a href="https://github.com/bvanpeski/SystemPreferences/blob/main/macos_preferencepanes-Ventura.md" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://github.com/bvanpeski/SystemPreferences/blob/main/macos_preferencepanes-Ventura.md</a>  Here's the scheme for going right to Text Replacements: <blockquote>x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.keyboard?TextReplacements</blockquote>And here's the one for Keyboard Shortcuts: <blockquote>x-apple.systempreferences:com.apple.preference.keyboard?Shortcuts</blockquote>