MacMost: Mac Basics

Learn how to properly take a screenshot, mark it up, and share it with others. Learn how to avoid three common mistakes people make when doing this and how to best share a screenshot instead of sending a large email attachment.

TextEdit is an app that comes with your Mac and allows you to create and edit simple text and word processing documents. You can use it to create notes that exist as files, to record information, to start writing, edit code, or open Word documents.

Here are the four techniques that you need to master to use your Mac effectively. You need to learn the ins-and-outs of the Menu Bar, Drag and Drop, the Context Menu, and Copy and Paste. Each one is a basic skill, but also goes deeper. Learn to use these four techniques well and you can do much more with your Mac.

Drag and drop is one of the most basic skills you need to master to get the most from your Mac. You can use drag and drop to move files, rearrange items, move content from one app to another, and much more.

The Desktop Folder is a regular folder with the interesting special feature that files and folders inside it are also display over your Desktop. The files you see on your Desktop are the same files you can view in a Finder window when looking at the Desktop Folder.

Siri can be a good tool to help you increase your productivity if you give it a chance. You can ask for information, search the web, get to files, folders and settings. You can also use it to schedule events, add reminders, send messages and emails. You can use Siri completely silently if you set it up right.

Launchpad is a way to launch any app on your Mac. You can access it with your mouse or trackpad, but also using just the keyboard. You also use Launchpad to uninstall most apps.

Learn how to use Mission Control on your Mac to have multiple Desktops, also called Spaces, that make it seem like you have more than one display.

Learn how to search for files in the Finder. You can simply search for words in the names or contents of files, or perform more complex searches in specific locations and for dates, file types and other criteria. Lots of advanced tips too.

With a quick keyboard shortcut you can bring up Spotlight Search and look for files, launch applications, get various kinds of information. People use Spotlight Search in a variety of different ways.

While most Mac users are familiar with using tabs in web browsers, fewer utilize them in other apps. You can use tabs in most apps to have multiple documents in one window. You can even use them in the Finder to have multiple disk locations in a single window in separate tabs.

Learn about the various ways you can right click on a Mac. This is also called control clicking or simply bringing up a context menu. In games you may need to check the settings to figure things out.

The Dock is one of the most basic tools you'll need to learn to use a Mac. You can use it to launch apps and you can customize it to contain the apps you need. You can also put files and folders in the Dock and change how it works in System Preferences.

You can set your Desktop Picture to a variety of dymanic or static images that Apple provides. You can also use a soild color or choose from one of your own photos or an image file.

If you want to see the contents of a file before opening it in an app or importing it into a document, you can use many different methods in macOS. You can use Finder icons, Gallery View, the Finder window preview area, or Quick Look.

Each person using a Mac should have their own user account. This allows everyone to have things set up the way they want, access their own iCloud Account and prevents others from accidentally deleting or changing files. Enable Fast User Switching to make it easy for more than one person to use the same Mac.

The cursor or pointer is a primary tool you use on your Mac to get things done. The pointer changes to show you what action is being performed. The cursor is used to show where you are acting inside of text.

System Preferences is where you go to change settings on your Mac. Settings are arranged by category in panes, but you can search for settings too. On the Mac, you access app preferences in the individual app.

The Red, Yellow and Green buttons at the top left corner of windows on a Mac perform a variety of functions. They are similar to, but different than buttons at the top of windows in other operating systems. Find out how they work and learn some tips.

Moving a resizing windows is a fundamental skill for using your Mac. There and many ways to resize a window and lots of tricks that use modifier keys and double-clicking.