Post your favorite Mac tip

[zarly]

How in the world do you remember all of the shortcuts?

 

[leon1878]

How in the world do you remember all of the shortcuts?

Was thinking the same thing. I just put them in stickies.

 

[macintheday]

use Quicksilver. it's free.

It's for users of all levels and helps you complete boring tasks quickly and easily.

http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

 

[RiDE]

use Quicksilver. it's free.

It's for users of all levels and helps you complete boring tasks quickly and easily.

http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

IMO an absolute must-have app.

The current OS (Tiger) is incredible as is though. If your coming from Windows... Tiger will "Wow" you mow, just as much as Leopard would 4 months from now.

 

[the8thark]

If you have any old dos apps you want to play. For old times sake. Use Dox Box. On there are a heap of old games compatability info on the site too.

Btw a basic knowledge of using dos commands is needed.

 

[zarly]

use Quicksilver. it's free.

It's for users of all levels and helps you complete boring tasks quickly and easily.

http://quicksilver.blacktree.com/

Hey I have quicksilver installed, I just use it to find stuff though, not for shortcuts. How does QS work with shortcuts?

 

[rounak]

Hey I have quicksilver installed, I just use it to find stuff though, not for shortcuts. How does QS work with shortcuts?

go to triggers and click on "+" , choose the app, hit enter and then set hotkey

 

[ChairmanMao]

deserves a bump

 

[jvetter18]

My favorite is having my Mac speak my mail to me. I have it set to Option+Space bar.

Just highlight text, like a news article, press Option+Space bar and go make your coffee and bagel while your mac speaks the news to you out loud.

Amazing!

 

[Davyerit]

I seriously multitask when I'm on my computer, and when using cmd+Tab, I always seem to skip over the program I want. One of my favorite ways to jump between individual windows (not just the programs) is Expose. I set my activation to the top left corner. Also a great way to see multiple images side by side. (I really miss this when I'm working on a Windows at work!)

 

[KeithTeeple]

When you're trying to highlight, just double click on the paragraph, works like a charm.

 

[cwa107]

I seriously multitask when I'm on my computer, and when using cmd+Tab, I always seem to skip over the program I want. One of my favorite ways to jump between individual windows (not just the programs) is Expose. I set my activation to the top left corner. Also a great way to see multiple images side by side. (I really miss this when I'm working on a Windows at work!)

Gotta love Expose. The sad thing is, I'm sure there's plenty of Mac users who never use it or realize it's there.

I also use the other Expose feature that pushes all of your windows out of the way and instantly gets back to the desktop - that's my upper-right hot corner assignment.

 

[KeithTeeple]

My cousin is a great example of that. He always has 3 windows open of Safari, one on FaceBook, one on YouTube and the other on his eMail because he doesn't use Mac Mail. He was probably better off saving the money and getting a PC if he's not going to utilize the Mac's features that sets it apart from Windows.

 

[HelloImTerise]

Cool Trick

I think Control + Option + Command + 8 is a fun trick. I'd love to see the expression on an Apple Store worker's face when they see what happened. Just don't let them see you put in those keys, make it a surprise ;D

 

[WhiteTiger]

My favorite tip (especially for LONG forum posts) is "Summarize"...

Click/highlight the text in a post or news article....

Now click Safari.. Services.. Summarize.

Viola! You now have the short version of the post/story... You can use the slider to shorten or lengthen the summary.

It's like.... MAGIC!!!! Mac-Magic!!!!

I can't get this to work. I've highlighted and everything, but can't find the "summarize" service. I see 6 services, but summarize isn't one of them. What am I doing wrong?

 

[bobtomay]

Head to Safari - Services and select 'Services Preferences'.

Once there scroll down to the 'Text' section, look for Summarize and place a check next to it. While you're there, you can check all the other services available.

It's not enabled by default in 10.6 as it was in the last couple of versions of OS X.

 

[IvanLasston]

Great thread and thanks for reviving it. What I noticed about Mac is that Apple has a way to do something and everyone accepts it. Unfortunately coming from Windows and/or Linux - there are things I like to do with shortcuts and I have searched far and wide for replacements. Below are what I have found - and hopefully others find it useful.

Better Touch Tool
Better multi monitor & multitouch experience for Mac OS X by Andreas Hegenberg SecondBar & BetterTouchTool Blog
It makes magic mice and touchpads even better. Configure gestures to do anything - expose, application expose, open dashboard, open spaces, open an app - you name it. Instead of assigning a hotkey - you can assign a gesture. Plus with the latest version you get that windows 7 easy tile functionality - works pretty well. See this youtube video to see the windows 7 version.
YouTube - Windows 7 Snap TV Commercial
From what I found searching - to do stuff like tiling windows for Mac took an apple script.
Added bonus from the same guy is secondbar - when you have two monitors you can put a menu bar on both screens.

Zooom2
Zooom/2: Window management for your Mac made easy
This one costs money but I like the ability to move windows without having to click the title bar. Standard function in a linux windows manager. Zooom2 also adds magnetics to your move. Something else that also comes standard with linux. It also provides windows resize with hotkeys of your choosing. $20 is steep for something that has been around forever on linux.

As stated before - Quicksilver. RTFM but I use it to launch my applications - it is the fastest way to launch a program.
Blacktree

Show All and Better Touch tool
I configured hide all windows in Better Touch tool to be a 5 finger swipe down. I wanted a show all windows gesture to be 5 finger swipe up. I noticed that hide all windows was available but show all windows wasn't. Show all windows is a command under the application menu. To get this all to work I had to assign a hotkey to Show All. To do this Go to System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Select Application Shortcuts -> hit the + button and add Show All. I assigned it ctrl-alt-cmd-h -> You can then assign this hotkey to 5 finger swipe (or whatever) in Better Touch Tool.

 

[WhiteTiger]

Thank you Bobtomay! Got it now.

 

[Taylor810]

Thanks for all these tips. I wish there was a collection of all these so I could take a snapshot and save them.

 

[Taylor810]

Thanks for all these tips. I wish there was a collection of all these so I could take a snapshot and save them.