Day 4 - A few issues left. Downloads and select print

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Hi. I'm getting used to things after 20+ years of PC.

First off, is there any way to set this machine up to handle downloads cleanly? Most times when I load something, it leaves odd traces (icons) on my desktop or dissappears into the Finder where I cannot find it at all. Sometimes I just get code loaded in firefox/safari when I click 'download'.
For example, I can't get one single screen saver from this site: http://www.reallyslick.com/

2ndly - OMG! What was Apple thinking by not allowing "print - Selection" like Windows does? The basic way to do it is cumbersome, time-consuming, archaic, and flat out ridiculous. I have to do this one act perhaps 100 times per day and if I had to open each chunk in text edit (another window), then print that, etc. I'd blow my brains out.
Anyone know of a program, script, etc. that will fix this inhumanity to man level of insanity?

Thanks
 
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And another question.... What is the alternative to ctrl F on a Mac to be able to find a keyword in a long piece of text or a forum page, etc?
 
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The shortcut is apple-F for find.

Not sure what problems you're having with downloading. Have you got an example URL?
 
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2ndly - OMG! What was Apple thinking by not allowing "print - Selection" like Windows does? The basic way to do it is cumbersome, time-consuming, archaic, and flat out ridiculous. I have to do this one act perhaps 100 times per day and if I had to open each chunk in text edit (another window), then print that, etc. I'd blow my brains out.
Anyone know of a program, script, etc. that will fix this inhumanity to man level of insanity?

Thanks

If you are using Safari isn't there is a Print Selection in the services section Shift +command +T. It works with most things. I believe there are some programs out there (I had the same gripe) I found nothing that worked in Universal Binary

You may have to install this http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/24202

if you haven't got that function on the services menu
 
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That link looks like its got uncompiled software.
 
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One thing you could try for your "Select Print" is to highlight the text you want to print, and then click and drag the text to the desktop, click on your new file and print. Voila. I'm sure there may be an easier way, but this I know for sure beats opening up text edit and copy/pasting the text you want. Hightlight > Click and Drag to Desktop > Select and Print.
 
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Dragging doesn't work either in Mail, Safari, Firefox. :)
Anyone think this will be fixed in Leopard? It's a pretty bad situation. Gotta admit that one.
 
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You have to click and hold a while before you drag text.
 
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Surfwax is right, you have to click and hold for about a second before you try and drag it away. I don't have Firefox but I did just test it in Safari and Mail and it works just fine.
 
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In Safari, I drag the text to the desktop. It creates an icon that I click on.
There is no print button or section to print. This text box, when selected, is labeled as "Finder". No print option. I have no idea why it's opening in Finder instead of Text Edit, etc.

In Mail, when I highlight text, I cannot drag it anywhere. Won't let me.
 
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Are you using 10.4.8? I'm not sure that matters any, but I just tested it (again) in both Mail and Safari. I wish I had a screen video capture program I'd show you what I'm talking about.

Best text explanation, after you have the segment of text highlighted, hover your mouse over it, then click and hold, after about a second (more if you want to be cautious) drag. It should show you the WHOLE text area that you are dragging, just drop it onto the desktop. On my computer it automatically makes it a file that if double clicked on takes me to a finder window. However, if you right click (Apple + Click) on the file itself, before opening it, then it brings up your options...one of which is print. I don't have a printer hooked up to my MBP so I can't test out that part, but I would assume if you select print, it will print. As for it not working in Mail, I suspect it's a matter of you not waiting long enough before you begin to drag. That, OR, it's an update that you've missed....which I doubt.
 

dtravis7


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This was suggested a few posts back but works. In Safari or Mail, Highlight the text you want to print, click on the Safari, Mail ETC in the Top Menubar and click on Services then on Textedit and on "New Window containing selection". The selected text will then open in Textedit and from there just tell it to print. This works as I just tried it in Mail and Safari and should work in most other Applications that follow the rules.
 
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dtravis - I know it can be done that way, but I literally have to do this act at least 100 times per day for my business and jumping thru those hoops would kill me. I guess I could use bootcamp/parallels to run windows all day but geez - I can't believe mac has no easy way to do this like windows does. I'm quite appalled by this. Seriously, if Leopard doesn't have this core basic feature, I'm going to raise **** with Apple. Like it's my job!

Jamo - Yes, I have 10.4.8. Highlighting rec'd email doesn't drag. Can't drag anything out of it. In Safari, I can drag it out to desktop but when I click on it - it's in "Finder" mode which has no print option at all. I have no idea why it's opening it in Finder instead of a zillion other things like TextEdit.

I know there are a few programs out there that "might" handle this but I can't even get the demos to load on this thing. I was told to use Bomarchiver? But I need to load that first I guess. My day with the Mac is going poorly.
 
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Meagain, once you have the icon of the highlighted text on your desktop DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK IT OPEN, but instead RIGHT CLICK (CTRL+ Click) on it and select print. Like this:

print.jpg
 
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OK thank you, that worked. At least for now. It won't print, but at least I had all the right commands in front of me. I'm convinced something's seriously wrong with this new computer. I can't load many types of programs at all. I seem to lack some Bomarchiver thing that I was told should be included, etc. :(

I was told to log out/in holding the shift key to see if things magically turn around.
 
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OK thank you, that worked. At least for now. It won't print, but at least I had all the right commands in front of me. I'm convinced something's seriously wrong with this new computer. I can't load many types of programs at all. I seem to lack some Bomarchiver thing that I was told should be included, etc. :(

I was told to log out/in holding the shift key to see if things magically turn around.

Are you near to an Apple store at all? If you take the machine in, or just pop down there, the guys at the store will happily show you how to do this stuff in person.
 
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Well I just had some real weidness with the "drag selection to desktop and right click to prnt" method. I couldn't select my other applications for use. I would always be tossed back into Finder. Somehow I fixed it. I think by deleting the file. Anyway...

To see if I could find a solution to the requested problem I did a little digging and ended up writing a little Applescript for the job. I'm not an Applescript expert but it looks like it works. It sends it to my NextStation print queue to print, but my actual printer is messed up.

You'll need to first start the AppleScript Utility in the /Applications/AppleScript folder. Set the check mark on the "Show Script Menu in menu bar" option and close the application.

Next open the Script Editor in that same folder. Copy the following text into it and save in your personal Library/Scripts folder. That may or may not be the default that pops up. Name the file something like "Print Mail Selection".

Here is the text to copy into the Applescript editor;

tell application "Mail"
activate
tell application "System Events" to keystroke "c" using command down
end tell
do shell script "pbpaste | lpr"


After saving the Applescript, go to Mail, select some text in a message, select the Applescript symbol (a wavy scroll) that appears on the right half of the menu bar, and choose the name of the script you saved. It will likely be near the bottom.

From what I can gather, the script will print to your default printer, so you'll need that setup.
 
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Another way to print the selected text is to choose the Reply button, and then print that window which appears. You will however also priint the basic e-mail header.
 

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