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Tip # 01

To take a screenshot, press Apple-Shift-3 to capture the full screen area. To capture a smaller area you define, press Apple-Shift-4 then release all three keys and drag a box around what you want to capture. The image will appear on your Desktop as a PNG file.

Tip # 02

To select multiple items in a list, highlight the first item then Shift-click the last item. Apple-click to select or deselect individual items, and to add or remove items from your existing selection.

Tip # 03

To add an Application to the dock, go into the Applications folder and drag it down onto the Dock. To remove an item, drag it away from the Dock and drop it (so it goes poof). To add a document or folder to the Dock, drag it to the right of the divider near the Trash.

Tip # 04

To make sure you are connected to the right wireless network, look under the Airport menu in the top right of your screen to ensure there is a checkbox next to your network. If your network is not showing up on the list, you may want to power cycle your router.

Tip # 05

If you forgot a password that your computer had stored for you previously, go into Applications -> Utilities -> Keychain Access. From there, look down the list of items until you find the one you’re looking for, double click it, then click the Show Password checkbox. You will be asked for your computer’s Administrator password to see that saved password entry.

Tip # 06

If a program is unresponsive or the spinning beach ball of death isn’t going away, wait for a while (your Mac sometimes just needs a second to think). If it is still spinning after several minutes, you can Force Quit applications from Apple menu -> Force Quit... or by pressing Option-Apple-Escape. Use this with caution, as it can cause data loss and file corruption!

Tip # 07

To bring up the Contextual Menu (right click), hold Control and click. On a laptop that supports multi-touch you can enable the “Place two fingers on trackpad and click button for secondary click” option within System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse -> Trackpad.

Tip # 08

To Zip compress a folder full of items, right click it and select “Compress [item]” from the Contextual Menu. If you highlight a group of items in the Finder, you can right click one of them to compress them all.

Tip # 09

To activate Quicklook in the Finder, highlight a picture, document, or video and press Spacebar. To get out of Quicklook press Spacebar again or click the little grey X in the top left corner of the Quicklook window.

Tip # 10

To switch between all your open applications, hold Apple then press Tab repeatedly without letting go of Apple. To quit one of those open applications, press Q when that icon is selected (without letting go of Apple).

Tip # 11

Some handy keyboard commands: Apple-Q to quit the front-most application, Apple-S to save and Apple-W to close the front-most window.

Tip # 12

To hide the front-most application, press Apple-H. To show all the hidden applications again, go to the Application menu (just right of the Apple menu) and select Show All.

Tip # 13

In any dialog box or error message, pressing Return will select the blue (default) button. Pressing Escape is the same as pressing the Cancel button.

Tip # 14

Having multiple items on your Desktop does not slow your Mac down - but Macinhome consultants may give you a hard time about it.

Tip # 15

To “forward delete” (deleting characters to the right of the insertion point) on a keyboard without the

key, press Fn-Delete.

Tip # 16

To create a PDF from a document, go to File -> Print, then pull down the PDF menu in the bottom left and choose “Save as PDF...”

Tip # 17

To move pages from one PDF to another, open both PDFs in Preview and then drag the page thumbnails from the Sidebar of one PDF to the Sidebar of the other.

Tip # 18

To enter Front Row without an Apple remote, press Apple-Escape.

Tip # 19

To quickly select an icon in a Finder window, just start typing the first few letters of its name. Make sure you type quickly if you want to be specific.

Tip # 20

To show or hide the Dock, hold Apple-Option and press D.

Tip # 21

To delete locked items from the Trash, hold Option when you select Empty Trash.

Tip # 22

To see some additional options for your Dock icons, right-click on them. This also allows you to enable or disable “Open at Login”.

Tip # 23

In Safari or Firefox, to open a new Tab, press Apple-T. To open a link in a new Tab and keep the current page at the forefront, hold Apple when you click the link.

Tip # 24

In Address Book, to see what group(s) a certain card is a member of, highlight that card and hold the Option key.

Tip # 25

When you’re filling out a form online, to move forwards or backwards in text fields press Tab or Shift-Tab. For drop-down menus, Tab to select it then press Spacebar to expand it. Use the up and down arrow keys or type the first few letters of the item you want to select, then press Spacebar again to select that item in the drop-down.

» more tips

Every one of our mobile consultants holds at least Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) certification, and we are members of the Apple Consultants Network.

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