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20 Useful OS X Tips

applematters.com — 20 cool tips for OS X, some advanced, some not.

Who dugg this? Made popular Nov 6, 2006

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  • jctambay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21Try : CTRL + OPTION + APPLE + "8"

    :-)
  • roostersheep, on 01/16/2009, -1/+11A nice list indeed. Since the author suggested we'd suggest some of our own here are some of mine: (Forgive me if you know these, I'm very new to the mac)

    - Just because you don't have the remote doesn't mean you don't have FrontRow, press Apple + Esc to see if you have it!

    - Hold shift to slow down transitions. e.g. Minimizing programs, Opening dashboard, Opening FrontRow, etc (Ctrl + Shift for Slower)

    - If you want to save anything from your browser you can simply drag it to the desktop (images, text, links)

    - You may notice the # key is missing on the apple keyboard: alt + 3 for the # key
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8apparently you come before ... no, it's too easy
  • angelof, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I thought this was going to be more of the same tips, but there were plenty I had never tried.
    However, what's with all the Apple stuff on the main page today? Not that I mind though, makes for some interesting comments between all the Apple Haters vs Apple Worshipers.
  • heyitsme23, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7yes but the printscm doesnt do just a window or selected area
  • Klaus777, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6more...

    option + F14 will open your screen resolution preferences

  • nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6spring loaded folders is what they call those. you can change the delay too i believe, whether that's in system prefs or with a 3rd party app i don't remember. if your HD is visible on the desktop it makes convenient dragging to your folder list on the left.

    (and digg looks pretty slick inverted)
  • plum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If you want just one Get Info window for multiple files, select those files, hold ctrl while right-clicking, you should see Get Summery Info in the menu.

    One cool tip I found out which I think isn't well known is that when you hold the alt key while clicking on the zoom (green) button, for instance in iTunes, it will adjust the window for the widescreen display.
  • KSUdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5cmd + option + eject = sleep

    Drag your hard drive into your dock, if you right click it you get a menu of your entire hard drive contents. This can be done with any folder also.

    cmd + option + esc = force quit

    cmd + shift + delete = empty trash

    Just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.
  • microbreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4That's for desktops....if you are using a notebook, its Option + F1 or F2.

    And if you want to get into the sound preferences, its Option + F3 or F4 or F5.

    Bonus: On my Macbook Pro, Option + F8 or F9 or F10 goes into the keyboard/mouse preferences.
  • roostersheep, on 01/16/2009, -1/+5Here's another useful feature I just found. If like me, when moving items, you might be used to opening two finder windows and dragging an icon from one to the other. Well I just found that if you drag an icon over a directory for about 2 seconds it will automatically open that directory for you. This also works with items in the sidebar.
  • ardenr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4cmd + option + 8 is the shortcut to turn zoom on and off.
  • meatmcguffin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@blinkcowz182

    Nearly. ctrl and two finger scrolling will zoom in and out
  • dmoney06, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6A nice list. Most of it is pretty basic, but there are some gems people may not know.
  • Klaus777, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Holding option, apple and the + or - will zoom in on your desktop
  • microbreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Option + Shift + k = 

    On a mac this is an Apple symbol, I don't know what it outputs on other systems. Anyone know what the keyboard keystoke combo is to create the command symbol?
  • kiddailey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You can also avoid having to wait for the spring-delay by hitting the space bar, which will cause the folder you're hovering over instantly.
  • KSUdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3That will only work if you first turn on the feature, located in System Preferences in the Universal Access section.
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Control-Eject = rediscover the outside world
  • iheartbeer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3"cmd + option + eject = sleep"

    Careful with that. I just did "ctrl + cmd + option + eject" by mistake as was presented with a quite lovely & speedy shutdown -- not fun if you have a lot of browser windows open.
  • onestep, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here are over 200, and almost everyone has a visual tutorial.
    http://www.thinkmac.net/blog/archives/mac_tips/
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Or the apple and two fingers on the trackpad
  • ggko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Works for both F14 and F15, which alone controls screen brightness. Similarly, option + the volume control keys brings up the sound control panel.
  • alecks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What I wish was consistent on the mac is the HOME / END and arrow keys for navigating and editing text.

    For ex, in windows while coding, I'm always jumping around and highlighting via keyboard with CTRL + Arrow to skip by word and SHIFT CTRL Arrow to select, or SHIFT END to select to the end, etc etc..

    I know in OSX you can do Option Arrow, but it doesn't seem consistent across applications and I still can't figure out how to jump to the end or begginging of the line, while selecting.
  • andy78, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I found these by accident,

    shift-clicking to minimize the screen makes it close really really slow (on purpose I think, to see the genie effect better)

    control click to minimize makes it minimize moderately slow

    control clicking an item that is minimized in the dock will make all items minimized in the dock open.

    windowshade by unsanity has a lot of great options for minimizing windows in place and such, I suggest you check them out.
  • mipadi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Depends on whether it's a Cocoa or Carbon app. Cocoa apps respond the same way, but Carbon apps might have nonstandard behavior.
  • kiddailey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Under OS X, you can change the screencapture keys to whatever you'd like.

    System Prefs > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts

    (Not to mention that OS X automatically saves yor screen captures to a file so you can do more than one in rapid succession.)
  • hyukhyuk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1to jump to the beginning of the line cmd-arrow (left or right)
    to jump to the beginning of the line while selecting shift-cmd-arrow (left or right)

    This may not work in all applications but that could be a developer issue.
  • chrish, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1lmao! :D
  • imcquill, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/

    Doublecommand allows you to exchange the home/end keys to have the same functionality as windows .
  • eoliveri, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1In Soviet Russia OS X, printscrn button putsches you!

    (Well, someone had to say it.)
  • NobleRocket, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Ctrl + Shift + Apple + 4 lets you do a screen cap by drawing a selection on the screen. The selection then gets copied to the clipboard for pasting into an application such as Photoshop.
  • RossH, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Or Alt+Cmd+i which shows the dynamic inspector (don't know the real name!)
  • notpip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@heyitsme23

    alt-printscreen for just the active window.
  • moet, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1apparently 29 comes b4 20 in this article
  • heyitsme23, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3buried for being a tool mejogid
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Because that would be un-American!
  • lament, on 10/12/2007, -12/+7After turning on your Mac, hold down Option to bring up the Bootcamp menu to boot into Windows. ;)
  • furplepig, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0why not just unbeaten?
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1An example sentence would be:
    Don Shula, who coached the "undebeaten" 1972 Dolphins, is the NFL's all-time winningest coach.
    See? You know it makes sense.
  • DucksofAnaheim, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1wow...on Windows we just push the printscrn button !
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1Why not just say "blue cheese"? How pretentious.
  • ab2650, on 10/12/2007, -9/+1I like bleu cheese. What's your point?
  • JuyLe, on 10/12/2007, -11/+2I knew most of them.
  • Mejogid, on 10/12/2007, -16/+5Burried for mindless fanboy sheep.
  • subtle, on 10/12/2007, -15/+1I think "undebeaten" should be a word. Specifically, I'd like it to be an English word. An AMERICAN English word.
    Oh, and I like the colour blue (yes, I spell "colour" with a "u").
  • dkoon, on 10/12/2007, -19/+5OSX doesn't need tips! It just works!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -16/+1more...

    a hammer is the solution to a mac
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -17/+1Dugg for OSX

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