Did you know you can link not just to a web page, but also jump to a particular piece of text and even highlight that text? This can be very useful when you want to point something out to the link recipient. Here's how a use a Shortcut to make these easy to generate in Safari.
Apple Maps does a really good job of making public transportation usable, at least in my area. How is it in yours?
The cropping tools in the Photos app are great, as long as the image is already in the Photos app. But what if you want to crop a photo that is just a file? The Preview app can do it, but the steps are very different.
Seems like you should be able to schedule Shortcuts on your Mac to run at specific times or when an event occurs. But you can't. A third-party app to the rescue! Shortery: <a href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shortery/id1594183810" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shortery/id1594183810</a>
The rumors are getting stronger about an upcoming VR/AR headset from Apple. And it may be here soon. I'll break down the important parts of an article and tell you what I think about potential features. Here's a link to the actual article: <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-23/apple-reality-pro-details-eye-hand-tracking-app-store-3d-ios-like-interface" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-23/apple-reality-pro-details-eye-hand-tracking-app-store-3d-ios-like-interface</a>
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>
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.
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 comes with a variety of interesting screen savers. Most use your photos, but some show patterns or information.
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>
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.
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>
How do you get circle halves, quarters and even thirds in Pages, Numbers, Keynote and Freeform? It isn't hard once you know the tricks.
An addition in iPadOS 16 is that you can now customize toolbars like you can on the Mac.
After playing around with Freeform for a week, it is hard to say why it is so interesting and why it has been such a hit so far. But I think it has to do with combining simplicity and ease-of-use to foster creativity.
For those of you curious about the new Advanced Data Protection feature for iCloud in macOS 13.1 and iOS 16.2, here are my thoughts on it. TL;DR - For those waiting for better data protection for their iCloud stuff, it is here. For others, no immediate action is needed. But if you are curious you can read up on it and use it if you want. Not important for most users to worry about too much.
ChatGPT is this free AI chatbot that can give you answers to things and even write code. Turns out you can use it to write Regular Expressions. Then you can use those Regular Expressions in Numbers! <a href="https://chat.openai.com/chat" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://chat.openai.com/chat</a> (Downloadable video below for those having trouble with the Patreon video player.)
Pixelmator Pro on the Mac just added some new features that let you work with video. What can you do with video in an image editing app? Turns out, lots of useful things. (Downloadable video below for those having trouble with the Patreon video player.)
It is interesting that Pages has two formats: the old packages format and the current single-file format. There's almost no reason to use the old package format, but it could be somewhat useful in two situations. This is true for Numbers and Keynote as well. NOTE: You may notice something different about this video. I'm testing out some new video graphic elements. Let me know what you think! (Downloadable video below for those having trouble with the Patreon video player.)
