1/15/14
You can use data in your spreadsheet tables to create colorful charts of many different types. Learn how to quickly create a chart and modify its look. You can also put charts on separate sheets to make them easier to share and print.
1/13/14
You can use Preview's editing tools to cut out a piece of an image. You can then paste that image in another picture. You can also copy a portion of an image, adjust the color in the rest of the image, and then paste the original segment back to make a part of your image stand out.
1/10/14
Learn how to find handy keyboard shortcuts by simply looking in the menu at the top of the screen. Also look in System Preferences for more shortcuts. You can change the shortcut used by many system functions. You can also create your own custom keyboard shortcuts. Download and print out MacMost's handy keyboard shortcut guide at http://macmost.com/j-keyshort.
1/8/14
You can use iMovie to create a slideshow video from a series of photos. All of the iMovie tools, like effects, transitions and titles, can be used in a slideshow to make it more interesting than slideshows created in some other tools. You can also easily share your slideshow video from iMovie.
1/6/14
When giving a presentation with Keynote you can use the display on your MacBook to show you more than what the rest of the room sees on the main display. You can see the next slide, the time, and use tools to jump to slides and pause the presentation. You can also view your slide notes.
1/3/14
Learn how to use Pages to create simple page layout documents. You can remove the word processing aspect of a Pages document and place text boxes, images and other elements to create flyers, newsletters, brochures and other types of documents.
12/18/13
There are many advantages to using multiple tables in a single spreadsheet in Numbers. Take a look at how you can use two tables with the LOOKUP function to make computations easier. The LOOKUP function will grab data from another table by looking up a value in one column and returning the value of another.
12/16/13
You can place one video or photo over another in iMovie using picture-in-picture. Then you can position and resize the overlaying video. You can add transitions and even have the one video swap places with the other. Side-by-side is a similar effect that places two videos next to each other.
12/13/13
The Mac OS X Dock is a handy device for launching applications and accessing important folders and files. You can customize the look and location of the Dock. You can add apps to the Dock, and also files and folders. Folders in the Dock are called Stacks and you can customize those to easily access the content in them.
12/11/13
You can use Preview to edit images without needing to take them into iPhoto or an app like Photoshop. You can adjust the colors in an image, crop it, rotate it and even copy and paste portions of the image from one image to another. You can also resize and then export an image, which is something you may want to do before sharing a photo online.
12/9/13
Learn how to put transitions between your video clips in iMovie. You can specify exactly where each transition starts and ends with the precision editor. You can also quickly apply transitions with a keyboard shortcut or have them automatically fill in as you add more clips. Special iMovie themes have custom transitions that work in special ways.
12/6/13
You can use GarageBand as a way to record your voice or anything with your Mac's microphone. You can record bits and pieces and rearrange and edit them. You can also overlay tracks. Each track can be altered with editable filters. You can then export your audio as a standard file to share or use in other software.
12/4/13
Magic Move allows you to create custom animated transitions between slides. Elements will smoothly move from their positions on one slide to their positions on the next. You can use this to emphasize objects or create a flow between slides instead of jumping between completely different screens. You can animate images and other objects, and also create special effects between the words or characters in text boxes.
12/2/13
Learn how to use simple formulas in Numbers to calculate results. You can use basic math operations or complex functions from a library. You can feed these functions single cells or ranges of cells. You can also copy and paste formulas to perform the same calculations on other rows or columns.
11/29/13
Learn many different ways you can launch apps on your Mac. You can use LaunchPad or access the apps right from the Applications folder. You can use the Dock, and create custom Stacks of apps in the Dock for access to even more apps. You can also use the Spotlight Menu or open documents to run apps. Some more obscure ways to launch apps include the Terminal window and using Speakable Items.
11/27/13
Explore iMovie's video effects. You can make color and quality adjustments on each video clip. You can also apply a variety of special effects, like aged film, to each clip. Controls let you speed up, slow down or freeze frame.
11/25/13
After you import an image into Pages, there are many ways to adjust it. You can play with the image settings to get it to look just right. You can crop and mask it. You can also choose how you want text to wrap around the image.
11/22/13
Use transitions to make moving from one slide to another more interesting. Use builds to add animation to objects as they appear and are removed from the slides. There are a variety of transition and build options, and each can be customized.
11/20/13
Finder tabs allow you to have more than one file view in a single Finder window. Each tab can contain the view of a different folder or location. Each tab can also use a different view mode. You can drag and drop files between tabs. You can also move tabs between windows and combine windows full of tabs. Full screen mode for Finder windows allows you to focus on your files in a single screen.
11/18/13
iPhoto has a set of photo adjustment tools that allow you to correct problems in your photos as well as add enhancements and fun filters. You can edit a photo, layering several effects on top of each other, and still revert to the original even after you are done editing.