[HowEver]

Here's the story: you switch to use a Mac, get basic help, find the support you need, and then you want to explore the tips and tricks of Apple professionals. All wrapped up in one neat little package.

Switch to Mac 101: Apple - Support - Switch 101

Mac Help 101: Apple - Support - Mac 101

Apple Support: Apple - Support

Mac Pro Tips: Apple - Pro - Pro Tips

What's your favourite switching story, help tip, support solution, or professional time-saving strategy?

My favourite tip is, after a search to see if the answer is already posted, "ask on ehMac first." Chances are you'll get help here faster than elsewhere.

I updated the Pro Tips link above.

 

[HowEver]

Two seconds to sleep.

Tip of the Week
Two Seconds to Sleep

Want the fastest way to put your Mac right into a deep, sleepy-bear hibernation-like sleep (no whirling fan, no dialogs, no sound — nuthin’ — just fast, glorious sleep). Just press Command-Option and then hold the Eject button for about 2 seconds and Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It doesn’t get much faster than that.

 

[The Doug]

Two seconds to sleep.

That's cool, thanks. I tried it - yup it makes my G5 sleep quickly, but I noticed that it won't wake up if I press any key on the keyboard; even a mouse-click won't do it. The machine will only wake up if I touch the power button on my Cinema Display (ancient clear-frame model, 20"). Is that normal behaviour for this sleepy-bear hibernation-like mode? With normal sleep (whether timed, selected from the Apple menu, or via a touch of the power button), use of the keyboard or a mouse click will awaken the computer. Just wondering.

 

[HowEver]

That's cool, thanks. I tried it - yup it makes my G5 sleep quickly, but I noticed that it won't wake up if I press any key on the keyboard; even a mouse-click won't do it. The machine will only wake up if I touch the power button on my Cinema Display (ancient clear-frame model, 20"). Is that normal behaviour for this sleepy-bear hibernation-like mode? With normal sleep (whether timed, selected from the Apple menu, or via a touch of the power button), use of the keyboard or a mouse click will awaken the computer. Just wondering.

It looks like that is indeed the behaviour for waking from deep sleepy-bear hibernation. On my MBP anykey waking won't work, I must hold the power key for a second.

Going _into_ deep sleep, though, was instantaneous.

 

[The Doug]

Maybe instead of Sleep, this mode should be called Coma.

 

[HowEver]

Apple - Pro - Pro Tips

Apple - Pro - Tips - Dropping Text on the Dock for Fast Results

Dropping Text on the Dock for Fast Results

Let’s say you’re reading an article online, and you read a sentence that you want to email to a friend. Don’t do the copy-and-paste thing. Instead, just highlight the text and drag-and-drop it right on the Mail icon in the Dock. It will open Mail and put that sentence into a new mail message. This tip also works in other Cocoa applications like TextEdit, Stickies, and Safari. For example, if you’re reading a story and want to do a Google search on something you’ve read, just highlight the text and drag-and-drop it on the Safari icon in the Dock. It will launch Safari and display the Google Search Results.

 

[chas_m]

This whole thread, but particularly HowEver's starting post, should be made a permanent sticky.

Since we're sharing tips, here are two a lot of people -- even longtime users -- don't always know:

1. If you have a lot of windows of the same app open (for example in Safari or Word) you can close all of them instantly and simultaneously by holding the option key down when you close any one of them. Works in every app I've tried.

2. Related to HowEver's tip above, if you want to send a page URL to a friend you can simply "drag" the URL from Safari by grabbing the icon at the beginning of the URL and drag down to the Mail icon. Mail will open a new message with the URL as the first line of the message. (There is also a service to do this if you want to do it that way, but I find the drag technique faster.)

 

[HowEver]

New one to me.

Apple - Pro - Tips - Switching Apps Within Exposé

Invoke Exposé to see multiple apps "exposed" across your screen.

Hit the tab button and switch between these apps. Hit the return button or click once you get to the app you want to stay with.

 

[HowEver]

Here's a great tip from ehMac:

As far as Safari is concerned, the following javascript bookmarklet will instantly maximise the current window.

javascript:self.moveTo(0,0);self.resizeTo(screen.availWidth,screen.availHeight);

• Copy the code to the location slot, thus:
  
• Press Enter, and the window pops to full size.
• Drag the globe flavicon to the Bookmark Bar, and give it a compact "name" - I use a dot - •

:clap:

 

[HowEver]

How to put Safari's tabs at the bottom

Here's a tip from elsewhere. I haven't tried it, and it's not for the faint of heart, as they say, but it seems like a cool modification. You need to have Developer Tools installed and know how to use same.

>Open the Browser NIB (inside Safari) in Interface Builder (part of the dev Tools), select the tab bar and move it to bottom. You may need to move the webview up to get room at the bottom.

 

[HowEver]

Apple - Pro - Tips - Resizing Photos for Emailing

Tip of the Week
Resizing Photos for Emailing

Have you ever noticed how freaked out relatives get when you email them high-res photos from your six- or eight-meg digital camera? For example, your grandmother in Minnesota may not have Photoshop CS2, and so dealing with that 26MB, 41-inch-wide photo you shot with your eight-meg camera might put a strain on her system. That’s why you might want to reduce the size of those photos you’re about to email. You don’t even have to launch Photoshop — because you can do the resizing right within Mail.

After you attach a photo to your email message (you can just drag-and-drop the image into the New Message window), take a look in the bottom-right corner of your email message window, and you’ll see a pop-up menu where you can choose the Image Size you’d like to send. As soon as you choose a size (other than Actual Size), the image is immediately scaled down right within the email message window so you can see the exact size of the photo you’re sending.

 

[Arne]

"Dropping Text on the Dock for Fast Results

Let’s say you’re reading an article online, and you read a sentence that you want to email to a friend. Don’t do the copy-and-paste thing. Instead, just highlight the text and drag-and-drop it right on the Mail icon in the Dock. It will open Mail and put that sentence into a new mail message. This tip also works in other Cocoa applications like TextEdit, Stickies, and Safari. For example, if you’re reading a story and want to do a Google search on something you’ve read, just highlight the text and drag-and-drop it on the Safari icon in the Dock. It will launch Safari and display the Google Search Results."

An even faster technique: Right-click (or Control-click) on the highlighted text, and from the pop-up window, choose Search in Google. OSX.4.11

 

[HowEver]

Instant Maps!

Apple - Pro - Tips - Get Instant Maps

Tip of the Week
Get Instant Maps

In Leopard, your Address Book doesn’t just tell you where to go—it shows you!

To get an instant map to any address, just control-click on the address field of a contact card (or right-click if you have a two-button mouse). Then select Map Of.

This command opens Safari (if it’s not already open) and reveals the address in Google Maps.

This trick isn’t just confined to Address Book: Leopard can detect street addresses within Mail as well. When your cursor hovers over a street address in an email, a dotted rectangle surrounds it and a small gray triangle appears. Click on the triangle and select Show Map... to see the address in Google Maps.

 

[eMacMan]

Here's a tip similar to the Leopard Exposé bit but works all the way back to Panther. I use it routinely but many are unfamiliar with it.

Command Tab will show all open applications and highlight the active app. Keep the command (Apple) held down and press Tab to switch through the open applications. Way easier than dock diving.

BTW the second step works all the way back to OS7 and maybe even a bit earlier.

 

[HowEver]

Thanks to chas_m.

iDVD Tutorial: Apple - iLife - Tutorials - iDVD - Using OneStep DVD

Using OneStep DVD
Sometimes when you might not want to design a DVD from scratch. Maybe you have footage in your camcorder that you want transferred to DVD quickly—like a play rehearsal that you want to share with the cast, or a sports event the coaches need to review, or a movie on tape that you’ve already edited.
With OneStep DVD, you can copy the footage straight from the tape in your camcorder (or from your hard disk) to a DVD that will play your video footage as a single movie.

...

 

[HowEver]

Pinch and expand TEXT with Multitouch

I knew that Cmd- and Cmd+ (formerly the Apple key, ⌘, and then minus or plus) decreased and increased the size of text in Safari and other apps.

I didn't know that my (Penryn 2.5) MacBook Pro's multitouch trackpad could also decrease and expand text without needing to use the key combination.

It's the same pinch and expand gesture you use for pictures.

Apple - MacBook Pro - Features

(works with the MacBook Air trackpad also)

 

[HowEver]

Snazzy Apple instructional podcasts added:

Apple has instructional podcasts!

(Thanks CubaMark.)

 

[HowEver]

Using a Penryn MacBook Pro, or presumably a MacBook Air also:

in QuickTime, try the two finger swipe back and forth horizontally to fast play back and forward, and the three finger swipe to toggle start/where you left off. Pinch and expand for window/full screen modes.

 

[HowEver]

Sudden Motion Sensor tips:

Sudden Motion Sensor: Advanced Tips

(Thanks to a recent post.)

 

[Vexel]

This isn't so much a feature of OS X, but a program that makes it really easy for Audio professionals to switch between Audio Inputs and Outputs.

SoundSource has been a real time saver. Basically, when you want to switch to lets say a USB headset, normally you would have to go into System Preferences/Sound/Output to change to them.

With SoundSource, it's a menu item. Clever!