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Confused by too many windows being open
at the same time? You don't have to close
them:
-
Click the yellow button in the top
left portion of the window to
"minimise" it to the dock. A mini
version of the window will appear on the dock
with the program's icon on it to help
identify it.
-
Click on its mini window on the dock
to "maximise" it again.
You can also hide the application to
temporarily get rid of its windows:
-
Click on the application's menu -
its the first menu to the right of the blue
apple in the top left corner of the screen
and has the same name as the frontmost
program.
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Select Hide "Program Name"
(where "Program Name" is the name
of the frontmost program). All the
program's windows will disappear. You can
press Cmd (apple) + H in many
programs to accomplish the same thing even
quicker.
-
Click on the program's icon in the
dock to bring back all its
windows.
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Want to move around a web page quickly
in Safari without using the mouse? Try some of
these shortcuts:
-
Scroll down a windowful - press the
space bar.
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Scroll up a windowful - press shift +
the space bar.
-
Scroll down (approximately) one line -
press the down arrow once (pg dn).
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Scroll up (approximately) one line -
press the up arrow once (pg up).
-
Go to the bottom of a web page
- press Cmd (apple) + the down
arrow once (pg dn).
-
Go to the top of a web page -
press Cmd (apple) + the up arrow once
(pg up).
-
Go back to the result of the previous
link (equivalent to pressing the
"back" button) - press the delete
key once (doesn't work if the cursor is
in the address box or a text
box).
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Prone to typing errors or want to
quickly look up the meaning of a word or find
its synonym? Use the Mac's built-in
universal spell-checker, dictionary and
thesaurus:
-
Double-click the word to highlight it
then control (ctrl) + click (or right-click)
it - a menu appears with, amongst other
items, an option to look up its meaning
in the dictionary and one to check its
spelling; if the word is misspelt, the menu
also offers spelling suggestions.
Here's another entertaining thing to
do with the dictionary (it works anywhere
there's text, eg. on a web page):
-
Hold down Cmd (apple) + control (ctrl)
then press the letter "d" (for
dictionary, presumably); now release just the
"d" and move the pointer over any
word and see what happens.
Note that some older programs are not
aware of these OS X features.
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Need to capture a screenshot on your
Mac? Here's how:
-
To take a picture of the whole screen
- hold down Cmd (apple) + shift and
press
the 3 (#) key along the top of the
keyboard.
-
To take a picture of a part of the
screen screen - hold down Cmd (apple) + shift
and press the 4 (#) key along the top of the
keyboard - the cursor changes to a cross-hair
- click and drag the cross-hair across the
section of the screen you want then
release
the mouse button.
-
To take a picture of a complete window
- hold down Cmd (apple) + shift and press the
4 (#) key along the top of the keyboard,
release the keys then press the space bar
once; the cursor changes to a camera - place
the camera over the window you want then
click
the mouse button (it works even if the
whole window is not visible).
In each case, a portable network graphics
(png) file is created on the desktop named
picture(n).png (where n is a number). You can
save the screenshot to the Mac clipboard instead
of a png file by holding down the control (ctrl)
key just before the last action in each step
above (shown in red).
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Having trouble seeing something on your
Mac's screen? Then magnify it!
-
Hold down Cmd (apple) + option (alt)
and press the 8 (*) key along the top of the
keyboard - this toggles the magnification
feature on and off (you only ever need to do
this once, unless you turn it off
again).
-
From now on, to magnify the
screen, hold down Cmd (apple)
+ option (alt) and press the + (=) key along
the top of the keyboard.
-
To reduce
magnification, hold down
Cmd (apple) + option (alt) and press the _
(-) key along the top of the
keyboard.
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Want a right-click on your Mac? Any of
these will work:
-
Attach any multi-button mouse - right
click works automatically.
-
Hold down the control (ctrl) key and
click.
-
On a Macbook, click with two fingers
on the trackpad (this is activated through
the Keyboard & Mouse System Preference).
You can also place two fingers on the
trackpad to scroll.
-
If you use an Apple Mighty Mouse,
open the Keyboard &
Mouse System Preference and
set your right mouse button as
"secondary".
The Keyboard & Mouse System
Preference lets you set any
of the multiple buttons on your mouse to activate
a number of different functions.
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