Folders in Mountain Lion

The old way to put similar files into a folder is to first create the folder and then drag the items into it.

Mountain Lion offers a shortcut:

1. Select the items by clicking on one, holding down the Command key and clicking on the others.

2. From the File menu choose New Folder From Selection

or

Right-Click (or hold down the Control key and click) on one of the selected items and choose New Folder From Selection from the revealed menu

3. Title the folder and you’re done.

iPad Tip of the Week

Change Your Email Signatures

Your emails don’t have to say “Sent from my iPad or iPhone. In fact, if you have several email addresses, you can now create a different signature for each account.

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap Mail, Contacts, Calendars

3. Scroll down to Signature and tap

4. To set the same signature for all email accounts, tap All Accounts and then, in the box below, type what you want to appear at the bottom of every email

5. To set a different signature for each email account, tap Per Account. All addresses will be listed and you can type in each box

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Using iCloud to Share Mailboxes

One of my favorite features about iCloud is that I can save important emails on the cloud and am able to access them from my computer, my laptop, my phone AND my iPad, and even from someone else’s computer via the web. I find this especially helpful when I am traveling: all of my flight information, reservation confirmations and other important stuff is with me.

To set this up:

1. In Mail, click the plus sign at the bottom of the left column that shows all of your Mailboxes.

2. Chose to create a New Mailbox.

3. Title it (ie. TRAVEL)

4. Next to Location, choose iCloud

5. Now, drag any important travel emails into this Mailbox. That Mailbox will now be available on all other devices that have your iCloud/me.com/mac.com mail account

In order to use iCloud to sync your Mailboxes, you need to be running Lion or Mountain Lion. If you’re ready to upgrade, I can help with the transition. Email me for details.

iPad Tip of the Week

Sharing iCloud Mailboxes

To access the Mailboxes you created on iCloud for sharing emails,

1. In Mail, scroll down past the Inboxes to Accounts

2. Tap iCloud

3. Scroll to see all of the Mailboxes

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Tips for Printing iCal Calendars

Here’s a quick video lesson that will show you several ways to customize what you print from iCal. Yes, you can even print blank monthly calendars!

Here’s the link–enjoy!

iPad Tip of the Week

Hidden Volume Adjuster

Even faster than pushing the up and down button on the side of your device, you can adjust the volume right on the screen.

1. Double tap the Home button to reveal the bar that shows all of your recently opened Apps.

2. Slide that bar all the way to the right until you can’t go any further and you’ll see the volume slider.

3. You can also adjust the brightness here.

4. Double tap the Home button when you’re done.

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Google Secrets

With Safari’s new all-in-one address/search bar you can access some of Google’s powerful features without having to go to google’s page.

To get a quick definition of a word, type: define and the word

To check on a flight, type the airline and flight number

To check a stock price, type the stock symbol

To bring up a calculator, type in any equation

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Returning Recent Calls

To quickly call back the last person you spoke to, no need to tap on Recent. Instead, from the keypad, tap the Call button and the last number will appear. Tap Call again to dial.

Turn Notes Into Stickies

The Notes app in Mountain Lion is a great tool for jotting down thoughts, lists, to-dos. If you want to keep a Note in view on the Desktop, like a Stickie, just double-click the note in the list window. Now you can move it around your Desktop and keep it in view.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Easier Reading with Reader

Have you found an interesting article to read, all of the ads on the screen are distracting?

Safari has a built in READER feature that will open most articles in a new window with just the article. No distractions.

1. Click on a new article. Most newspaper and magazines with substantial text will support this feature.

2. Click on the word READER that appears at the far right side of the page’s address (this may not be available for all articles).

3. The article will open in a new window with just the text.

4. Click READER again to get back to the full page in Safari.

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Saving Photos From Mail

A reader recently sent this question:

“If I get an email with photos attached, there is a drop down menu that invites me to save as or add to iPhoto. The iPhoto option does not work. Of course I can drag and drop or I can save as but I’d like to know why the add to iPhoto option does not work.”

There is a bug in Mountain Lion with Apple’s Mail program so this feature currently doesn’t work. So, until Apple fixes this, the easiest way to save photos you receive in Mail is to drag them, one at a time, onto the iPhoto icon in the Dock.

If you are still using Lion or Snow Leopard, this Save to iPhoto feature does still work.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Deleting Photos

A reader emailed me this question:

“I need to delete pictures from my iPad. I need more space on it for games for my grandson, but when I follow the steps below, my delete button changes to DELETE EVERYWHERE. I don’t want the pictures deleted on the MAC. How to delete from the iPad device only without losing the same picture on the MAC?”

The Delete Everywhere refers to the photos on the iPad only. You may have them in the Camera Roll and in an album. Deleting the photo from the camera roll will also delete it from any albums it is in.

It will NOT be deleted from your Mac. You can test this by deleting a single photo, then checking your Mac.

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The Power of Preview

A reader recently sent this question:

“When I open a PDF in Preview I get a list there of about 10 items (Pics). I didn’t notice these before is there a way to get them off Preview when I open it?”

Apple’s free Preview app is the easiest way to open and read PDF files. You can see the entire document in full screen and you can also see the thumbnails, miniature images in the sidebar for navigating quickly to a particular page.

To show or hide the thumbnails, from the View menu, choose what you want to see: contents only or thumbnails.

You can also make your choices from the Toolbar by clicking on the View icon all the way on the left.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Quick Definitions

If you are reading an article on Safari and need to look up a word, here’s a fast and easy tip:

1. Tap and hold your finger on the word to highlight it

2. A choice will appear

3. Tap Define

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Viewing Full Names of Files

A reader recently sent this question:

“If you put some icons on the desktop, the names on this icons get truncated and its difficult to figure out the name you picked. How would you increase the number of characters you can use in naming a desktop icon where it can be seen?”

First you should remember that, the more files and folders that you have saved onto your Desktop, the slower the Mac will be. While you can adjust the size of the icons and text (In the Finder, under the View menu, choose Show View Options) it won’t change how many letters are revealed.

If you move all of these items into a single folder on the Desktop, then you can play with the different view options of that folder (by icon, list, column, coverflow) and you’ll be able to read full titles.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

A Trick For Rearranging Icons, Creating Folders

There are several ways to move and organize your favorite Apps on your screen.

First, press and hold on one of the icons to get them wiggling.

To move an App, just drag the icon to a new position.

To move an App to a different screen, drag it all the way to the edge of the current screen to advance to the next screen.

This can be frustrating, getting the icon to easily move to the next screen. So here’s a great trick:

1. Press and hold on one of the icons to get them wiggling

2. Drag the App into the Favorites Bar at the bottom (If there is no free space, temporarily move several of your existing favorites onto a screen to create some space in the Bar)

3. Swipe to the screen where you want to put it

4. Then drag the App from the bar up to where you want it

To group similar Apps together, drag one on top of another and a Folder will be created that you can rename.

Which Newsletter Program Is Best For You?

It used to be that, if you wanted to stay in touch with your clients or your club members or even your family, you mailed them a newsletter. These newsletters were mostly text, maybe with a single photo at the end.

Nowadays, we want to include lots of pictures and maps and use fun fonts and colors. While these enhancements look great, they make the files really, really big.

If you are still snail mailing your newsletter, the file size isn’t an issue. But if you are emailing your content, it may be time to consider a new way to work.

Microsoft Word and Pages are great applications for designing and creating a newsletter if you are printing and then mailing your newsletter. And Pages makes it even easier with templates and simple ways to add pictures and wrap text around them.

But if you are sending your newsletter as an email, consider switching to an online email marketing program, like Constant Contact.

Constant Contact allows you to create a template and then just copy it each time, update the content and send it. You can add photos, jogs, even your own logo and signature.

Constant Contact has many templates to choose from, for newsletters, cards, flyers and more and it works with its own mailing lists so that you can choose who to send to.

For example, if you do the newsletter for your garden club, you may need to send some correspondence just to the board members while the entire membership receives your monthly newsletter. So you can create two different lists and only send to the selected list. You can even schedule your newsletter to be sent on a particular day.

No more struggling to line up your text in columns. No more sacrificing color and photos to get a reasonably sized file. With Constant Contact you can have it all.

The cost for this easy, efficient web-based email marketing program starts at $15.00 a month. For more information visit http://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

And of course, I can help you set it up, create your templates and master this amazing, easy-to-use program.

And, if you still snail mail your newsletters, I’m happy to help you learn the great features in Pages that will make creating and designing your newsletters much easier and more fun!

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Caps Lock

While there is no Caps Lock key on the iPad or iPhone keyboard, you can create one.

1. Click on Settings

2. Click General

3. Click Keyboard

4. Make your choices for several keyboard options, including Enable Caps Lock

To use the Caps Lock, double tap the Shift arrow and it will turn blue, indicating that the Caps Lock is on.

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iPhoto: Cropping Pictures for Printing

If you plan to print or order prints of your favorite photos, remember to first crop them to the desired size. Otherwise, the photo lab will crop them for you and you may be disappointed with the results.

To crop a picture in iPhoto:

1. In iPhoto, click once on the photo and click Edit from the toolbar at the bottom .

2. Click on the crop tool.

3. From the pull-down list of numbers, choose the size of the print you will be ordering. A rectangular box will appear on the photo.

4. Drag the corners to resize the rectangle to include what you want in the photo. You’ll notice that if you make it narrower it will also make it shorter–it is constraining the photo to the proportions of the size you selected.

5. You can reposition the rectangle by dragging in the middle of the rectangle.

6. You can also change it from a landscape to a portrait by choosing again from the size list–the last choices in the menu give you the option to make it tall (portrait) or wide (landscape).

7. When you have the desired area selected, click Done.

8. Now you have a proper photo of the desired size.

If you are ordering several different sizes of the same photo, duplicate the photo first (photos menu, choose duplicate) and crop each one to the desired size.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Rearranging Icons, Grouping Into Folders

There are several ways to move and organize your favorite Apps on your screen.

First, press and hold on one of the icons to get them wiggling.

To move an App, just drag the icon to a new position.

To move an App to a different screen, drag it all the way to the edge of the current screen. If this doesn’t work for you, drag the App into the Favorites Bar at the bottom, slide to the preferred screen, then drag the App to where you want it.

To group similar Apps together, drag one on top of another and a Folder will be created that you can rename.

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Fast Finding and Searching

Every program on the Mac has a Search tool. Usually it’s a rounded rectangular box with a mini magnifying glass in the upper right hand corner of the screen. (If you don’t see it, try dragging your window wider to reveal it.)

Just type what you’re looking for in this box to save you time and aggravation.

In Mail, when you Search, you can limit where Mail looks and what it looks for by clicking on one of the choices across the top: All Mailboxes or just the one selected, whether the text is in the Entire Message, From, To or part of the Subject of the email.

To find a folder or document saved on your Mac, you can use click on the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner to open up Spotlight, which gives you a list of all items.

A second way to Find documents is to choose the Find command under the File menu in the Finder. Type in what you’re looking for and a list will appear. Click once on the item and at the bottom of the window, you’ll see the path listed, so you know where to find the item.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Fast Searching

Looking for a person’s phone number? While you might think it’s pretty easy to click on your Contacts and scroll to that person’s name, there is a much faster way.

Slide to the screen to the left of the first Home screen to reveal the built-in Spotlight program. Begin typing the person’s name. Not only will their name appear next to the icon of the Contacts, but you’ll also see all emails related to that person, any iCal appointments. Click on any entry and you’re there.

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Typing Accent Marks and Foreign Language Letters

It’s easy to type foreign characters such as accent marks on a Mac. As an example, for the word Qu√©, The accent mark is an optional character above the e.

First type “qu” then,

Hold down the option key and type “e” to get the accent mark. It will appear above the text and create an empty space.

Then type the “e” that goes under the accent mark.

To see what other optional characters you can type, such as Àú and ¬ø, you can look at the Keyboard Viewer.

Hold down the Option key in Keyboard Viewer to reveal some hidden characters.

Hold down the Shift and Option keys to reveal additional characters.

To actually type those characters, just hold down the corresponding keys when you are in your actual document.

iPAD and iPHONE TIP OF THE WEEK

Keeping Up With Software Updates

Be sure to connect your iPad or iPhone or iPod to your computer at least once a month. Apple often releases new versions of the software for your device and the only way to update it is when you connect via iTunes.

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EMAIL ATTACHMENTS

CLEARING CACHES

Your Mac stores references to all the sites you’ve visited on the Internet so that pages load faster when you revisit those sites. The Mac also stores all kinds of other files on the computer. To help maintain an efficient system, it’s a good idea to empty the caches (pronounced cashes.)

To clear the Cache in Safari:

In Safari under the Safari menu, choose Empty Cache

To clear the Cache in Firefox:

In Firefox under the Firefox menu, choose Preferences

Click on the Advanced Tab

Click on Network

Click to Clear Now

To clear out all of the cached System files:

If a message appears about a file being in use, press Continue until all but those files have been deleted.

ADJUSTING THE BRIGHTNESS OF YOUR SCREEN

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ADDING FREQUENTLY USED ITEMS TO THE SIDEBAR

THE EASIEST WAY TO RENAME SOMETHING

RECENT ITEMS

To quickly return to something you’ve recently used:

1. Click on the Apple menu
2. Choose Recent Items
3. Follow the menu to reveal the list
4. Click on the item you want to open

COMPARING PHOTOS IN iPHOTO

Often you will have two similar pictures and it’s hard to decide which one is better. Instead of looking at one, then the other, you can compare them, side by side.

1. Click on the first photo

2. Hold down the Command key and click on the other photo

3. Click the Edit button in the bottom toolbar

4. They will open in the Edit mode, side by side

5. Now you can choose which one to keep or use in your project

Slow iPhone 3G

If you have a 3G or 3GS phone and you are experiencing a major slowing down since you upgraded to the new iOS4, try this:

Turn Off Spotlight:

1. In Settings, click General
2. Click Home Button
3. Remove the check Marks next to everything

You should notice a major improvement in the speed of things now.

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ZOOMING YOUR SCREEN

Do you ever want to quickly enlarge your screen so you can see something bigger?

1. Under the Apple menu, choose System Preferences

2. Click on the Mouse icon

3. Click to put a check mark next to Screen Zoom.

4. Click the Options for more choices.

5. It is set to use the Control key but you can choose a different key if you prefer.

6. You can also change how the screen moves when you zoom. Play with the different choices to see which works best for you.

7. Click Done

Now, anytime you hold down Control key and scroll with the mouse button, you’ll be ZOOMING! Try it.

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS IN SAFARI

Instead of using your mouse’s scroll wheel or dragging the blue scroll bar, you can move down the page by pressing the Space Bar. Move up the page by holding down the Shift key and pressing the Space Bar.

To go Back to the previous page, instead of clicking the Back Arrow, press the Delete key.

HIDING PICTURES IN iPHOTO

If you have your Desktop Screen Saver set to use all the pictures in iPhoto, you may have certain pictures that you don’t want to include. Instead of creating a separate album specifically for the Screen Saver, you can hide selected photos.

In iPhoto, click on any picture you want to hide from view.

From the Photos menu, choose Hide Photo. An X will appear in the top right corner, indicating it is marked as Hidden.

If you don’t want to see Hidden photos in iPhoto, under the View Menu, re-select Hidden Photos to remove the check mark.

The picture is still in your Library, you just can’t see it.

To Unhide it, first, from the View menu, choose to show Hidden Pictures

Then select the photo that has the X on it and choose Unhide from the Photos menu

For more great iPhoto tips, check out the new video training series, Maximize Your Mac.