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Quick closing of the navigation sidebar

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Every folder window that opens in Mac OS X Panther has a sidebar that provides you with access to your hard-drives, network places, applications, documents and more. However, at times, you might want to hide the sidebar.

It is possible to click and drag on the line separating the two parts of the window, so that the sidebar disappears. But a faster way is simple....just double-click anywhere on the column separating the sidebar area and the main part of the window (you can see where to click by where the cursor is in the picture above) and the sidebar will close.

Last Updated Sunday, 09 March 2008

Moving a folder via its icon

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When you are using a folder that is nestled deep in the dungeon of UNIX, you can simply move it to the desktop for faster consentient use. When its open in icon view, click and hold the folder icon on the upper title bar and then drag to the desktop. Magically the folder is now available from the desktop.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Moving files (not copying) across disks

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Traditionally, when you drag a file from one disk to another (or from one partition to another) the file gets copied to the new location and the original; remains where it is. This is frustrating at times, because when you want to move the file, you have to copy it across and then delete the original.

Instead, under OS X, there is a way to "move" a file rather than "copy" it. Simply hold the 'Command' (or 'Apple') key down before you click and drag the file to its new location. This will cause the file to be moved from one disk to the other and the file will disappear from its starting location.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Quickly put your Mac to sleep

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To quickly put your Mac to sleep without using your mouse, press the following keys at the same time: Apple, Option and Eject.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

'Show Inspector' - advanced Get Info

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In the Finder, press the Option key before choosing Get Info from the 'File' menu, and you will see it has changed to 'Show Inspector'. Say hello to the file Inspector! This is the 'Get Info' window on steroids; it remains open and shows info for any file you then click on in the Finder. This saves you from having to open & close multiple 'Get Info' windows if , for example, you are wanting to change the permissions for multiple files.
Last Updated Monday, 10 March 2008

Quickly hide all windows/programs

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Ever had lots of programs and windows open at the same time, and want to hide them all quickly, to get back to the desktop? Try this: hold down Option and Command (Apple) keys and click the desktop. This will hide ALL currently running programs. Very quick and saves you from having to use Command H for each program.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Zooming the screen on a flat-panel Mac

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Pretend your pokey 15-inch flat screen is really 22-inches or bigger. If you have Jaguar OS 10.2 or above you can. Press this combination of keys: 'cmd (apple key) & option & 8' to access this ability. Now you can zoom in on your screen using 'cmd & opt & +' keys, and zoom back out using 'cmd & op & -'
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

How to I install software from a .dmg file?

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A ".dmg" file is a disk image file. This is a series of files, an application or an application installer that is in a compressed format (to help with downloading off the net) that you can then 'mount' (load a temporary virtual disk) on your Mac to get the software from the disk image and onto your Mac permanently.

Let's take a look at installing the OmniWeb web browser. When you go to the Omni Group site, you'll download a ".dmg" file like the one you see here.

Variation 1 - An application that needs installing

Variation 2 - Clever dragging and dropping

• Some people mount a disk image and then try to use the application on the disk image from there, rather than dragging a copy of the application to their "Applications" folder. In most instances this is not a good idea.
  
  
• Some people forget they haven't made a copy of the application in their "Applications" folder, then find it hard to eject the disk image or wonder why the application has disappeared next time they start their computer. If you're having this problem, you probably didn't install correctly the first time.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Setting paper to A4 size

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If you're sick of changing your paper size from US letter to A4 go to the Applications Folder and open the Utilities folder. Double click 'Printer Setup Utility'. Go to The Printer Setup Utility menu and choose 'Preferences'. Choose A4 from the Default Paper Size pop-up. Then close the dialog box and you're done.


Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Using older printers with Mac OS X

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If you are unable to print to your favourite (but maybe slightly older printer) go to http://gimp-print.sourceforge.net and get Gimp Print. It allows you to print to many printers not supported in OS X and you won't even know it's there.
Last Updated Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Deleting files that won't delete

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Sometimes Mac OS X just doesn't want to delete files, this is away which you can delete files that normally wont delete through the trash can.

• Open up the Terminal
• type "rm -r" (Without the speechmarks. DO NOT PRESS RETURN)
• now find the file drag it into the Terminal and press return.

This instantly deletes the file. You can also use it for folders.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Safari keyboard shortcuts

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In Safari, you can select the toolbar bookmarks by pressing cmd-1 through to cmd-9. However, it only works for the first nine bookmarks. The bookmarks bar isn't counted, and neither is are pop-down menus, such as the "news" menu in the default setup.
Last Updated Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Keyboard scrolling in Safari

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When you're trying to read a long web page, do you scroll up and down with the scroll bar? Give away all that wrist-straining fine mouse movement and use the keyboard.

First, click on the page and then use the Space bar to scroll down and Shift-Space to scroll up. 'Command [' will take you back a page and 'Command ]' will take you forward.

You can get around very quickly with these few keyboard commands.

Oh, and in Internet Explorer use Space for down, Option-Space for up and 'Command [' and 'Command ]' for Back and Forward.

Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

How do I repair Disk Permissions?

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Some suggest doing at Disk permissions repair on a regular basis, especially when installing new software.

• For Mac OS X 10.2 or later, open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/).
• Select your Mac OS X startup volume in the column on the left of the Disk Utility window
• Click the First Aid tab.
• Click the Repair Disk Permissions button.

Users are advised to read Apple pages on the use of Disk Permissions:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106712

Some also advocate regular disk permission repairs (such as weekly) as a way to improve performance, although there isn't a consensus on this approach. The following is an excellent article worth reading and looking at the Pros and Cons of using disk permission repair...http://www.macworld.com/article/52220/2006/08/repairpermissions.html

Last Updated Friday, 25 April 2008