How Do I Do this on a Mac

How do I make Safari save passwords for me?

2012-08-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

This has been reposted to www.serpiethespider.com

I'm retiring How do I do this on a Mac and moving it to http://www.serpiethespider.com

How do I make Safari save passwords for me?

Problem: On my Mac or iPad I want Safari (the web browser) to save my passwords for me

Solution:

1. Tap Settings from your Home screen

2. Tap Safari / AutoFill.

3. Make sure: *Names and Passwords* is turned ON.

Problem solved. Sort of. It doesn't always work. It depends on the site as well, and how they have their security set up. Like your bank probably isn't going to allow you to save passwords like this. Or maybe they do. If they do, you should get a new bank.

I reposted this from my old blog called How do I do this on a Mac.

How do I look up a word on a Mac

2012-07-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Question: I want to look up or Google a word really easily on my Mac

Solution: Right mouse button.

In Safari or Chrome

Right click the mouse

Right click over the word; a menu will pop up
Move the mouse so that the action you want to take is highlighted
Left click the mouse

Here are some examples. Look to the bottom of this post for a caution about using the right mouse button to run a Google search while using Safari.

The Mac has a convenient dictionary you can use to look up a word without leaving your page in Safari or Google Chrome. These instructions show you how to access that dictionary.

You can also search Google in the same way.

Caution: Google Chrome will open a new window for you when you do that. Safari will not--it will take you out of your current window and run the search in Google. This means that you might lose your work in the current window.

What's a Command Key?

2012-07-20T18:45:00.000-07:00

Problem: I'm new to Mac's. People keep talking about the command key, but I don't know where it is. Maybe it's because I don't have a standard Apple keyboard and have a Windows Keyboard instead.

Solution:

The command key is on the lower portion of your keyboard.

It looks like this

or like this

More information/trivia:

The general term for the key is the meta key.

In Microsoft's world, it's called the Windows key.

Apple's command key is often used where you would have used the control key in Windows

The fancy square design on the Apple Command key is called a Bowen's knot.

Wikipedia has a whole article about the Command key.

How can I quickly annotate or edit something on my Mac?

2012-07-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Problem: I've got a picture. I just want to add an arrow to it or add some text.

Solution: You can do it in the preview.

1. Just open the file in the preview

2. Then go over to Tools and scroll down to Annotate.

3. Save by doing CommandKey - S

Helpful hints:

Control-CommandKey-A sets you up to do an arrow.
If you want to change the color or size of the arrow you can. See below.

Where are my files? There's supposed to be on the desk top

2012-07-18T13:00:00.000-07:00

Problem: I open up preview and I can't see the files I just put onto my desktop. The files should be right there, but they aren't.

Solution: There might be two reason why you can't see them.

1. You're sorting by date and you're expecting to see the file on top because you just created it. But the file might have no date, in which case it'll be toward the bottom. See below.

2. You have to click the button below so you can see all the files.

How do I do a find and replace in Word on my Mac

2012-07-18T12:01:00.000-07:00

Problem: I'm using a new Mac. I'm using Word. I want to do a find and replace.

Solution: There are two ways.

1) Click Shift - Command Key - R; or

2) Follow the directions below

1. Click on the magnifying glass

2. Choose "Replace..."

3. Your find and replace options will be on the left side

To learn how to set up a shortcut key for find and replace, hop over to this excellent blog.

Rant: Are they kidding? Why did the make it so hard to do a find and replace? I went everywhere, to the edit tabs, through all the stupid funky new tabs, and couldn't find it. Because it's not labeled with words. It's labeled with a damn picture of a magnifying glass. What the hell is that? You know what the problem with Apple is? It assumed it's users are retarded. Guess what, I can actually read. I look for things using words. Damn. It took me so long to find out how to do a "find and replace" on my new Mac using the new version of Word. It should have been the easiest thing in the world. I hope this saves you some frustration.

On my iPad, how do I select in the middle of a word

2012-07-17T10:15:00.001-07:00

Problem: on my iPad, I typed something wrong and I want to edit it in the middle instead of typing the whole thing in again.

Solution: put your cursor right where you want to edit. Here's how:

touch the area you want to put the cursor
hold the stylus or your finger against the ipad for a second

problem solved

Background (no need to read this unless you're interested)

It seems like it always wants to put the cursor down at the end of the word. Sometimes I could put the cursor down in the middle of the word, but sometimes not. It was random because I didn't know how to place the cursor. After retyping blackcarsarethebest and fixing it to blackcatsarethebest about a million times, I decided to google: ipad how to select middle of word. That brought me to a discussion of cursors on an iPad forum and now I know. Yay!

Whoa, I also came across an excellent site called www.makeuseof.com. Here's a link to tips on efficient typing. Oh, and here's another article and standing at your computer. Who is this Bakari Chavanu and why is he so awesome?

I tell you, there's a lot of spam and total garbage on the Internet, but there are also people who are putting out great info. It's hard to describe, this Internet culture of sharing information, keeping it updated, creating new things and sharing them with other people. It's not overstating it to say this it elevates the human condition.

So today I went from being annoyed at having to type too much to correct my errors, to searching for a solution to my problem, to sharing my solution with others to being inspired once again by the Internet. Cool!

How do I change the clock on my Mac to show the seconds?

2012-07-09T09:35:00.003-07:00

Problem: I want the clock on my Mac to show seconds. Or I just want to know how to change it. How do I change the clock settings on my Mac.

Solution: coming right up, with pictures

1. At the bottom of your screen, in the "dock," click this icon

2. When it opens, click the icon that's highlighted in the picture below. It's called "Date & Time."

3. Edit this screen as desired.

4. Your changes are saved immediately (you don't need to search for a "Save Changes" button. There isn't one.

How do I capture part of the screen on the Mac

2012-07-09T09:32:00.000-07:00

Problem: I want to take a screen shot of part of the screen on my Mac. I want to capture only a part of what the monitor on my Mac is showing.

Solution:

Command key - Shift key - 4 key

Details:

Hold down the command key. Hold down the shift key. Now press the 4 key. Let go of the keys.
Your cursor will change shape. Now use it to draw a rectangle around whatever you want to capture. To draw the rectangle, hold down the left mouse button. If you're using an Apple mouse, you only have one mouse button, so hold that down.
When you let go of the mouse button, a file containing the captured image will appear on your desktop. It will be called Screen Shot <today's date> <today's time down to the second>

And there you go, problem solved!

∫

The icon that shows up on your desktop will look something like this.

The name of the file got shortened; it's only showing me the beginning of the name and the very end. I didn't take the screenshot at 3 AM. I took it at 9:15 am and 3 seconds. It's confusing.

Here's a link to a page that tells you how to change the default filenames for screen captures. I haven't tested out this method, so I can't vouch for it.

What I did was go change the clock on my screen to show the seconds. Click here to learn how to change your Mac's clock so that it shows seconds.

How do I delete files on my Mac using the keyboard?

2012-07-08T02:04:00.002-07:00

Problem: I want to delete stuff on my Mac by using the keyboard but Command-Delete doesn't work.

Solution: WindowsKey-Backspace

Hold down this key

Then press this key

Quick info:

The Apple keyboard only has one key for erasing stuff. It calls itself the "delete key," but it's more like a backspace key.

Windows keyboards have two keys for erasing stuff:

1) the delete key

2) the backspace key

Details: You probably have a non-Apple keyboard. The "delete" key on an Apple keyboard is actually a backspace key. The Apple keyboard doesn't have a real delete key. To delete text (i.e. erase the stuff in front of the cursor, not behind it), you need to press the Windows key and hold it down while you press the backspace key.

Rant: I'm in the finder or the preview, and I want to delete something without using the mouse. I looked it up, and Command-delete doesn't work. Instead, I get this irritating noise, but it doesn't delete anything. Why is it so difficult? Isn't there a way to freaking delete files without using the mouse to move them to the trash? Is this retarded or what? I just want to save my arms a little and be able to delete, erase, remove a file using the keyboard and not the mouse. On my Mac. I want to do this on my new Mac. I need a solution to deleting using the keyboard.

How do I move between desktop spaces?

2012-06-29T15:59:00.000-07:00

solved
question:

how do I move between windows on a mac?
how do I move between desktops on a mac?
what's an alternative to the three finger sweep to change desktops on a mac?

And the answer is:

to move between "desktop spaces" on a mac, you can do it three ways:

four fingers up on the trackpad, then choose the desktop space/window/desktop/whatever you want
three finger sweep to go between spaces/windows/desktops
control --> That is, hold down the control key and use the left or right arrow on your keyboard

How do I turn off autocorrect on my iMac?

2012-06-17T06:13:00.002-07:00

It's pretty hard for my cats to write in LOlspeak when fussy Mr. iOfficious gets all iPedantic and tries to "correct" their spelling. So I went into the System Preferences looking for autocorrect. Nope. Then I went into "keyboard." Still no luck.

Here's how to turn off autocorrect on the iMac:

go into System Preferences
click on Language and Text
Click on Text
Unclick "Correct spelling automatically"

Problem solved.

Every time I download a picture, the preview window opens, how do i stop this?

2012-06-16T19:09:00.000-07:00

This has been driving me nuts. Whenever I download a picture or whatever, the preview window opens up and shows me it. Plus everything else. It's so freaking annoying. I don't want the preview window to open just because I downloaded a picture. Especially when I'm downloading a bunch of pictures.

Anyway, the only way I found to stop this is to follow this

open system preferences
go to general
uncheck 'restore windows when quitting an reopening apps'

How do I force quit an application

2012-05-25T17:49:00.002-07:00

How do I kill a process? What's the equivalent of "kill -9"? In other words, how to I stop an application?

Well, if your application is frozen and the pretty, spinning globe won't stop spinning, you can do things:

Go to the little apple symbol in the upper left corner of your screen, click it and scroll down to Force Quit. That brings up the Force Quit menu.

Or press Option/command/escape and bring up the Force Quit menu.

On a regular keyboard, that's ALT/MS Key/escape
There are six ways to force quit. Here's a link.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/03/02/force-quit-mac-apps/

After I sync my iPad, where do my pictures go on the Mac?

2012-05-24T16:26:00.000-07:00

Well, here's one place, under "All my files" under "Images"

How do I move a browser window to a different workspace?

2012-05-21T23:18:00.001-07:00

How do I move a browser window to a different workspace/desktop/office space?

Four fingers up to get to this screen

Then you grab that the window you want to move (the big one) and drag it to the workspace where you want it (represented along the top).

You might need to open a new window (not tab) on your browser so you have something to move. You do this by holding down the Apple key (the one that looks like a squiggly square) and then pressing the N key.

How do I close a window on a Mac

2012-05-21T20:30:00.001-07:00

If by "window" you mean a "desktop space," then here's your answer.

four fingers up on the track pad (or somehow get tot he screen below)
hover mouse over the one your want to close
click the X button

If that doesn't work, go to the window/desktop space you want to close and make it so that it's not full screen anymore. Every time you make something full screen, it creates a new desktop space/window.

Where can I find a list of keyboard shortcuts for my Mac

2012-05-21T20:25:00.004-07:00

Keyboard shortcuts for you Mac, coming right up.

Wikipedia

Some of my favorites:

Apple key-R to refresh/reload

How do I take a screenshot on a Mac?

2012-05-15T16:01:00.005-07:00

How do I do a screen print or screen capture on a Mac?

Get your fingers ready, you'll need four.

Control Command Shift 3

This will take a screen shot and save it to the clipboard. If you want to save the screen shot as a PNG file on the desktop, then leave off the Control

Command is the key to the left of your spacebar that looks like a fancied-up square.

For more details, go here. There are several variations.

Note: Control Command Shift 3 is sweet for blogging on blogger. Just take your screenshot, then paste into your post. You'll need to resize.

How do I refresh a page on my Mac

2012-05-15T15:51:00.003-07:00

How do I refresh or reload a page on my Mac using hotkeys?

1) Apple key-R

Note: The "Apple key" is the one to the left of your spacebar that looks like a fancy, loopy square

Note: You can also click the little bottom at the top of the screen, the one that looks like a curved arrow.

When I take a picture on my Mac, where does it go?

2012-05-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

When I take a picture with my Mac, where does it go?

If you're using the tool that looks like a photo booth, it doesn't go anywhere; it stays there. If you want to do anything with the picture, you need to

1) go into PhotoBooth
2) click on the pic
3) click on Share in bottom right corner
4) save it to iPhoto

After that, you'll need to import it from iPhoto.