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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

Making icons extra large

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If the icons in the Finder just aren't big enough for you, try this tip - open Terminal (in the Utilities folder) and enter...

 defaults write com.apple.finder DesktopViewOptions -dict IconSize -integer '928'

...and press the Return key on your keyboard. Then, restart your Mac (or just log out and then log back in again) and presto - instant huge Finder icons! To return your icons to normal, just resize them in View Options as you normally would.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

Opening a window and retaining its parent

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If you want to open a window in OS X but keep the parent window open, hold down the Command (Apple) key while double-clicking on the folder you want to open. Very handy for quick copying or moving of files within one parent folder.
Last Updated Tuesday, 30 November 1999

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

Customising the toolbar

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Every window has a toolbar of buttons at the top. these include buttons to change the view (icon, list and column) as well as search your computyer for file.

Also, a new button has appeared known as the 'Action' button for soing things like assigning colour lebls to files and folders. Now while these buttons can all be taken on and off this toolbar bu going to the "View" menu and choosing "Cutomize Toolbar...", what you may not know is that they can sit anywhere you want at the top of each window. So, by holding down the 'Command' (or 'Apple') key, you can click and drag these icons around and place them on the left and right of the window in any order you want.

The moment you do that, all windows will take on the same look and placement of buttons. Even better for someone lime me, that doesn't have any need of the 'Action' button...you can hold down the 'Command' (or 'Apple') key and click and drag this button off the window and it will disappear in a puff of smoke. Any time you want any items back, you can go up to the "View" menu and choose "Customize Toolbar..." like before.

Last Updated Tuesday, 11 March 2008

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

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

Set the default Internet browser application

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Previously it was easy to tell the operating system which application you wanted to surf the web with by changing a setting in the System Preferences area. This setting is now hidden...inside Apple's default "Safari" web browser. To switch to using a different program for surfing the web, launch Safari, go to the "Edit" menu and choose "Preferences". In the "General" section of the preferences window, you can change your default browser by selecting it or choosing in the pop-up menu as shown.
Last Updated Tuesday, 11 March 2008

What are the main Keyboard Shortcuts for OS X?

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See this page....

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343?locale=en_NZ

Last Updated Sunday, 22 June 2008

How do I hide all App Windows except the one I want to work with?

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Hold down the Option and Command buttons, and then click on the icon of the application you are using in the Dock. In other words, click on the icon of the application that is running.

This will hide all other applications.

Now if you hold down Option and Command buttons again and click on another icon of an application that is running (but obviously hidden at the moment) in your dock, the clicked application's window will show up and all other application windows will hide.

 

Last Updated Monday, 23 June 2008