Helpful tips for Mac Users
Screenshots –
CMD+Shift+3 to capture full screen
CMD+Shift+4 to get crosshairs to drag diagonally across to capture a rectangle shape
CMD+Shirt+5 will bring up a menu with several selections. It even shows pixel count, where to save the capture, etc. If you don’t want the shadow on the edge press and hold down the Option key while making your selection.
If you want to save your screen shots as a .jpg file instead of the default .png, open spotlight search and type terminal which will open the terminal window and type the following. To go back, use the second selection.
Copy & Paste These Commands for PNG/JPEG Terminal Tip;
To change from PNG to JPEG: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type JPG
To change from JPEG to PNG: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type PNG
Then press enter after pasting and restart your machine.
As an alternate, if you don’t want to use the terminal commands, you can open the .png with Preview and save as a .pdf or a .jpg or one of several other formats. Just open the FILE menu, select EXPORT and customize as needed.
If you came over to the Mac world from the dark side (PC world. jk) you were accustomed to having a backspace and delete key. On a Mac there is no dedicated backspace key, but there is an easy solution. Hold the Function key when pressing delete to turn it into a backspace key. Give it a try.
To Delete a file, you can’t just select it and press Delete. You’ll need to hold down the CMD key and then press Delete to remove the file. The item goes to Trash where it stays for 30 days in case you change your mind. To remove it permanently, right now, press CMD+Opt+Delete and it’s gone forever and does not go into Trash.
Your Mac has an app called Keychain Access to store your passwords. You can also store other things such as Notes, Keys, Certificates. To store a private note, Keychain Access and select the Notes Tab (the All Items Tab is opened by default). Click on the new note icon, give it a name and then type what you want to save. It will be protected like your passwords and will require your computer login to access. You can’t access this through IOS at this time. Here’s a workaround. On your IOS device, open Notes, create a new Note and then Lock it. Open the note with the sensitive information you added, click on the Lock icon at the top, type the password and then again to confirm it and type a hint. Notes, of course, is accessible by all Apple devices.
When pasting text into an email, you might have to reformat it to match what is already there. However, rather than using CMD+V (paste), use CMD+Shift+Option+V, now it will be pasted without formatting to match what is already there.
On M1 Macs, you can use the Function key to bring up the emoji page. Just give the Function key a tap to open the emojis. On older Macs, just press CMD+CTRL+Space to open the emojis. Press the Icon in the upper right corner of the emoji screen will make it larger and easier to select your choice.
I suggest that you use HotCorners (set up on System Preferences, then select Mission Control, then HotCorners at lower left of dialog box). Here you can select up to four actions when you move your cursor to one of the four corners of your screen. I like to use the lower right corner for a Quick Note. When I am researching something in Safari and want to make a note on what I am thinking or reading and save a link to the webpage, I just move my mouse to the right lower corner, and a small window appears. Click on the pop up to make a note and then click on the “chain link” icon at the top of the screen to grab the link to the webpage you are viewing. If a previous note comes up, jut type CMD+N to open a brand-new note and start typing. When you open the Notes App, you’ll see these notes annotated as Quick Notes to help you find them more quickly.
Another way to do this is to select some text or image in a webpage, then right click and select New Quick Note. Now you will have the text you selected pasted into the new note as well as the link to the web page.
Do you have any to share?