If you have a folder of files that you think you may not need anymore, but don’t want to delete just in case, then why not compress them into a single file? You can do this very easily by just selecting the folder, Right+Click or Ctrl+Click it, then select Compress. This will create a single .zip file from the folder and all of its contents. You can then throw away the original. You can always double-click on the .zip file to expand it again and get to the files inside. A single compressed file is not only easier to handle, but can save a significant amount of disk space.
When you are on a Web page that asks you to upload a file, it usually includes a Browse or Choose File button. For instance, you may be uploading a new profile image to Facebook or Twitter. Usually, you would click the button and select a file. Then press another button to upload. But did you know you can drag and drop a file from any Finder window to the Choose File button and it will insert the file path for you? Just be sure to drag and drop directly on the button. If you drop it away from the button it will load the file into the browser window instead.
The Eject button located at the top right of most Apple keyboards can be used as a shortcut for restarting, sleeping or shutting down. Option+Command+Eject will put your Mac to sleep. Ctrl+Command+Eject will try to restart your Mac, providing no running applications are in the way. Ctrl+Option+Command+Eject will attempt a shut down. In addition, you can simply press Ctrl+Eject to bring up a dialog where you can choose Restart, Sleep and Shut Down. In addition, Shift+Ctrl+Eject will attempt to out your display to sleep, instantly.
If you ever find yourself with too many Safari windows open, you can merge them all into one tabbed window by selecting Window, Merge All Windows. The window currently at the front will remain, and all tabs of all other windows will become tabs of that window. This is especially useful if you run into a lot of sites that pop open new windows when you click links.
This very useful new feature of Expose and the Dock was missed by many who upgraded to Snow Leopard. If you want to see all the windows of a running application, just click and hold on its icon in the Dock. After a second, Expose will activate and show you the windows of that application. Then just click on a window to bring it to the front. Or, click again on the icon to return to how you were.
While typing in many applications such as TextEdit, you can see a list of words that start with the letters you have typed before by pressing the esc key. For instance, type “macintos” and then esc and you will get Macintosh, macintosh, etc. You can use the arrow keys to scroll down and select one with the return key.
In Snow Leopard you can sort the Expose windows with some keyboard shortcuts. Press F9 to start Expose, then Command-2 will sort by application, while Command-1 will arrange them by name. Press Tab repeatedly to view windows from each application in the Dock.
Ever quit Safari only to realize that you forgot to do something? Or accidentally close a Window and then have to navigate back to where you were? With Safari 4, you can reopen the last window or all the windows from your last sessions. Just re-launch Safari and then choose History, Reopen All Windows From Last Session. You can also choose History, Reopen Last Closed Window.
Don’t like how Photobooth gives you that white flash or counts down from three to take a picture? Hold the Shift key down when you press the picture button and it will stop the flash. Hold down the Option key and the picture will take immediately. You can hold down both if you like as well.
iTunes 9 shows a full circle next to a podcast you haven’t listened to or watched. It shows no circle only if you have listed to the whole thing, including closing credits that you may skip. Otherwise it shows a half circle. But if you want to force the circle to go away, Ctrl+Click or Right Click on a podcast episode in iTunes and choose “Mark as Watched.” This is also useful if you have set only unwatched podcasts to sync with your iPod or iPhone and you want to make sure old episodes don’t sync.
If you want to know more about the WiFi connection you are currently attached to, you can hold the option key while selecting the WiFi icon in the menu bar. You get information like the mode, (802.11g, 802.11n, etc), channel, security, transmit rate and your ID on the network.
Sometimes Web sites have more than one RSS feed. For instance, on CNN.com you can get a feed for top stories and one for recent stories. When a page has more than one RSS feed available, click over the RSS button in the address field at the top of the window. A pop-up list of all of the feeds will appear and you can select which one you want to view. Select one and then you’ll see the feed, as well as the URL in the address field. To return to the web page you came from, click the RSS button again.
In Safari you can open Web pages in multiple windows, and multiple tabs in each window. Go to the Safari Preferences, Tabs to enable Tabs. If you have tabs in multiple windows, you can drag the tab by clicking and dragging on the tab at the top of the window and dragging it to the tab area in the other window. You can combine two windows into a single window with tabs this way.
Do you hate wasting a few minutes every morning while your Mac starts up? You can go to System Preferences, Energy Saver and click on Schedule to set your Mac to wake up in the morning before you get to your desk. You can even set it to do so only on weekdays.
In the special application menu, there is the Services, TextEdit, New Window Containing Selection item. This is even more handy when you go to System Preferences, Keyboard & Mouse, Keyboard Shortcuts and add “New Window Containing Selection” as a shortcut under “All Applications.” Then all you need to do is make a selection and use that keyboard shortcut to instantly create a document with that text in it.
Don’t want to be bothered by the “Are you sure you want to…” dialog boxes when you select Restart or Shut Down. Just hold down the Option key when you select the Apple menu and you’ll notice the … disappear from after these menu choices. Then select them for an instant restart or shut down.
If your Apple Mail inbox is pretty full, you can focus on only a few messages in it at a time. Select those messages, as many or as few as you want. Then choose View, Display Selected Messages Only. This will hide all the other messages and only show you those selected. It can help you temporarily focus on one subject or email from one set of people. Choose View, Display All Messages to cancel.
You can change the alert volume on your Mac independently of the master volume using the System Preferences, Sound, Sound Effects pane. But you can also adjust it from the menu bar. Just hold down the Option key when pressing the volume control at the upper right corner of your screen. You can then release the Option key as you adjust the slider.
A recent change to iTunes took away the Genre column from the browser (Command+B) while viewing your library in list view. You can add that column back if you like, by going to the Terminal application and typing:
defaults write com.apple.itunes show-genre-when-browsing -bool TRUE
Manually adding pages to appear on your Safari 4 “Top Sites” page is less-than-intuitive. The + button to the left of the address field at the top of Safari lets you add the current page to your bookmarks bar or menu, and also Top Sites. Just click it and in the pop-up menu that appears inside the drop-down controller, choose Top Sites. The site will be added and automatically “pinned” to stay on your Top Sites page.
