Shortcuts for Deleting Text

One way to remove unwanted text is to use the Delete key. Another is to highlight the word or words and then press the Delete key.

Here are three secret shortcuts to make editing even easier:

For PC converts who miss the Forward Delete key:

Hold down the FN key and press the Delete key

To delete an entire word:

Position the cursor at the end of the word, press and hold the Option key while hitting the Delete key
or
Double click in the word to highlight it, then press Delete

To delete an entire line of text:

Position the cursor at the end of the line, press and hold the Command while hitting the Delete key

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

4 Tips for Charging Your Mobile Device

1. To give your iPad and iPhone batteries the longest life possible, you want to make sure you completely cycle it once a month. That means charging it to 100%, draining it down to 0% (until it automatically shuts off), and then charging it all the way to 100% again.

2. Put your device into Airplane Mode and it will charge twice as fast. Remember to switch back when you’re done or you won’t have phone service or wifi access.

3. Apple branded chargers work much faster than third party brands.

4. Plugging directly into the wall will charge your device faster than plugging into your Mac.

———–

iTunes: Authorizing and Deauthorizing Users

When you purchase music from the iTunes Store you initially have permission to only play it on the computer you purchased it on. If you want to be able to play your purchased music on your other computers and mobile devices, you need to give them permission. You can authorize as many as five devices to share your purchased music.

In iTunes, click on the Store menu
Choose Authorize the Computer

To see what other devices are authorized, under the Store menu, choose View Account

If you have a computer or mobile device that you no longer use, you should Deauthorize that device.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Safari History

Lots of features have moved and changed in the newest version of Safari. The History icon used to be right there at the bottom of the screen. Now you have to go find it.

1. In Safari Tap the Bookmarks icon at the bottom. It looks like an open book.

2. If you don’t see icons at the bottom, tap the top of the window to reveal them.

3. You should see a list of choices: Favorites, History, Bookmarks menu

4. Easy. But if you’ve previously selected Favorites or the menu, to return to see these choices, tap the Bookmarks word in the top left corner to the complete list.

5. This is also where you can access your Reading List

———-

Camera Trick: Burst Mode

Did you know you can take a quick series of photos with your iPhone and iPad?

Hold down the shutter button in your camera and you’ll automatically activate Burst mode. Your phone or iPad will take a series of photos in rapid succession and save them to your camera so you can choose the best action shot.

Calendar Trick

I tend to work with my calendar in Month view, so that I can get an overview of my work schedule and not overextend myself or overbook. But then, I want to be able to quickly go to a certain day to see the details.

To quickly switch from Month View to Day View so that I can see everything on a particular date, double click on the number of the date.

For more great ways to use Calendar, sign up for the upcoming THE ORGANIZED MAC class.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Secret Tools

Did you know that iOS 7 includes a handy compass? And a level?

The Compass app shows your current city and state next to the compass reading and it also displays full latitude and longitude coordinates below. And if you want to follow a particular bearing (for example, 17 degrees northwest), you can tap the compass face once to set it. As you move around, the compass draws a red arc on the inside of the circle, showing how far you’re deviating from your original course.

But did you know there’s also a handy level?

Open the Compass app, calibrate it as directed, then swipe to the left to reveal the level.

To use the level, place your iPad or iPhone flat on its back. Two overlapping white circles appear with a degree of measurement in the center. As you adjust the level, the circles change until they overlap perfectly for more than a few seconds. When it is level, the background will turn bright green.

Hold your device in landscape or portrait, and you access a rectangular level, dividing the screen into white and red rectangles. When the white rectangle reaches equilibrium with the red rectangle, the latter turns bright green.

If it’s not working correctly, quit the Compass app, re-open it and calibrate again.

————-

Safari Settings

A reader recently asked: “When I click on Safari, instead of just the Google page coming up, there is a page titled: Top Sites. How do I return to just the Google page?”

The newest version of Safari may have changed your default settings, including what shows when you first open Safari.

1. In Safari, under the Safari menu choose Preferences

2. Click the General tab

3. This is where you choose what you want to appear when you open Safari.
If you don’t use Top Sites, change to Homepage

4. This is also where you can set what the Homepage is

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Navigating in Safari

iOS 7 changed how you navigate with Safari. When a page opens, you can see the Address Bar at the top, but as you peruse the page, that bar disappears. So do the Forward and Back arrows, and the other icons at the bottom of the screen

So how do you get back to searching?

Tap the top area where you expect the Address Bar to be and it will re-appear. The tools at the bottom also return.

Tap it again to highlight the current address so you can type a new search in the box.

To return to a page you recently visited, tap the Pages icon at the bottom right.
Close any pages you’re done with by tapping the X

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Changing Passwords

Last week’s Heartbleed bug affected the security of many favorite websites. This Money Magazine article from April 11 suggests that you change your passwords on several top sites, including Gmail, Yahoo and Facebook.

You do not need to change any of your Apple passwords!

Your iCloud password and all of your passwords that are stored in Apple’s iCloud Keychain are secure.

As you visit sites where you have since changed a password, iCloud Keychain will ask if you want to save the new password. Say yes.

TIPS FOR CREATING A SECURE PASSWORD:

When choosing a new password, consider something more cryptic, even if it is hard to remember. Experts suggest choosing a sentence or phrase and taking the first letters of each word, combining capital and lowercase letters and also including some numbers.

For example, the phrase: take me to the beach this year
could be the password tM2tB14

And every time you type it, you’ll think about taking yourself to the beach.

Experts also recommend having four different user name and passwords… one for low level usage, like when you have to give an email address, one for your email accounts, one for high level things like banking and purchases, and one in the middle for everything else.

I recommend that you write everything down in a notebook. And if you need it online, at least save it in a password-protected document on a secure cloud server like iCloud.

If you’re looking for an online password solution, 1PASSWORD gets high marks from many of my clients. They’re offering a 20% off special here: https://agilebits.com/store

And remember, when you change your Gmail or Yahoo passwords on their websites, you’ll also have to change it in the Mail settings on your Mac, iPhone and iPad.

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Auto Typing with Text Expander

Users of Mavericks can now take advantage of a built-in text expander. If you type the same phrases, you can create shortcuts for this frequently uses text.

Let’s say you often type “Love you much” in your emails.

You can create a shortcut so that, when you type LYM it will automatically type the complete phrase.

1. From the Apple menu, open System Preferences

2. Click on the Keyboard icon

3. Click on the Text tab

4. Click the + at the bottom of the left column to create a new shortcut

5. Type the shortcut keys and the full text in the appropriate spaces

6. Close System Preferences

7. Open up Mail or a word processing document and try it!

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Auto Typing With Text Expander

Do you type the same phrases all of the time on your iPad or iPhone? You can create shortcuts for these frequently used sentences.

Let’s say you often type “Love you much” in your emails.

You can create a shortcut so that, when you type LYM it will automatically type the complete phrase.

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll all the way down to Keyboard

4. Scroll down to Shortcuts

5. Tap Add New Shortcut…

6. Type in the complete phrase, ie: Love you much!

7. Next to “Shortcut” type the letters you want to use for that phrase, ie: lym

8. Tap SAVE

9. Open up Mail and try it!

———–

Cookies, Explained

When you walk into any store these days, you are giving them permission to film you on their surveillance videos, to know that you’ve been in their store. Cookies do the same thing. They give the website owners information about you as a consumer.

If you turn off all cookies, you won’t be able to access most websites. But you can control who has access to your information.

1. In Safari, under the Safari menu, choose Preferences
2. Click on the Privacy icon
3. Next to Cookies and other website data, click on the Details button
4. You’ll see a list of every website that you’ve visited
5. Click on one or hold down the Command key to select more than one
6. Click to Remove
You can choose to Remove All, but then you may have to reenter information the next time you visit that website
7. Make it a habit to clear out cookies data regularly, especially from sites your no longer visit so that they are no longer gathering information about you

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Battery Life

To get the most battery life out of your iPad and iPhone, completely cycle it once a month.

1. Charge it to 100%
2. Drain it down to 0 (until it automatically shuts off)
3. Then charge it all the way to 100% again

Plugging the device into a power outlet will charge it faster than plugging it into your computer. Also, Apple branded chargers work must faster than thitd party brands.

Make Things Bigger On The Desktop

Did you know that you can make the text AND icons bigger on the Desktop?

1. From the Finder click the View menu

2. Choose Show View Options

3. You can drag the top slider to make the icons bigger or smaller

4. Change the text size

5. You can even reposition the label text from the bottom to the side

6. Click a check mark next to Show Icon Preview and you’ll see a thumbnail of all of your jpgs

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Contacts and Calendars Not Updated?

Your Contacts and Calendars will sync whenever you are connected to wifi.
If you know there have been changes and you don’t see them on your iPhone or iPad, you can manually Refresh to get the newest changes.

In Calendars
Tap Calendars at the top left
Pull the screen down (iOS7)
or tap the clockwise arrow at the bottom of the screen (pre iOS7)

In Contacts
Tap Groups in the top left
Pull down the screen

————–

Safari’s New Home Screen

Even if you haven’t upgraded to Mavericks, you may have notices some changes in Safari version 6.1.

If your home page now shows icons of Top Sites, you can change it to your familiar home page.

1. Under the Safari menu, choose Preferences

2. Click on the General icon

3. Next to each line, choose your preference for what opens when

4. This is also where you can set things to download to the Desktop so you can find them and file them

————

Full Screen

It’s great to use the space of your entire computer screen, especially if you’re watching a movie or surfing the web.

Many of my clients activate the full screen mode without realizing it, and then wonder how to get back to seeing their menus, the Dock, etc.

To get into full screen mode, click the diagonal arrows in the top right corner of the window.

To return to your regular screen, hover your mouse at the very top of the screen where the menu bar should be, and click on the diagonal arrows again.

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

Navigating Windows in Safari

The iOS7 version of Safari is slightly different on the iPad and iPhone. On your iPhone, recently visited pages are stored and available by tapping the icon with two squares on the bottom right. Press the X in the left corner of each page to close it.

On the iPad, web pages open as tabs across the top. Tap the small gray X next to any page title to remove it.

Google searching is now available in any Safari window by tapping in the address bar at the top, once to activate it, then tap the small X at the right end of the address to clear it so you can type in your new search criteria.

When no page is selected and all previous pages are closed, you will see square icons of websites that are in your Mac’s Bookmark Favorites bar.

————–

Sending Emails to a Group of People

If you send the same email to the same group of people all the time (ie. a book club, a board of directors, your family), instead of choosing each person each time, you can create a Group.

(The steps may vary if you are running Lion or Snow Leopard)

To Create a Group:

1. From the File menu in Contacts, choose New Group

2. A new Untitled Group appears

3. Without moving or clicking your mouse, type the name of the group then press the Return key to lock it in

4. Click on All Contacts at the top of the list to see everyone in your Address Book

5. Scroll through the list to select the people who belong in the group

You can drag each person, one at a time, to the left column then up and on top of the Group name

OR

Click on one name, hold down the Command key and continue selecting others, then drag one of the selected names on top of the group and they will all go

Be sure to drag the name left first and then up, or you may accidentally highlight the entire list of people.

To Send an Email to the Group:

In the BCC field (so that everyone remains anonymous), type the name of the group
Press the TAB key and it will fill in

If you want to see the names of the people in the group, in Mail, under Preferences, click on the Viewing icon and choose it

iPhone and iPad Tip of the Week

iOS7 Calendar Solution

With all of the changes and new features in iOS7, there is one glaring change that has some Calendar users up in arms.

If you view your calendar in the Month mode, iOS7 has removed the helpful list at the bottom that shows all of a day’s appointments.

But you can still access the list, even though it’s not quite the same.

From the Month mode, tap the magnifying glass icon at the top right. A list of ALL events appears, separated by the day (though it’s a bit tough to see the demarcation.)

This is also how you can search for an event.

Are You Missing Your Scroll Bars?

If you are using Mountain Lion, you may have noticed that your Scroll Bars have disappeared. In fact, the new default setting is to only show them when you are scrolling.

To change this, from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, click on General and, next to Show scroll bars, chose Always.

Ahhhhhh…….

iPad Tip of the Week

Tall or Wide, How to Lock the Orientation

A helpful feature on the iPhone and iPad is that you can turn the device sideways to rotate the screen orientation. It’s a lot easier to read articles and emails in the sideways or landscape orientation. But it can also be annoying to have the screen randomly change orientation.

You can lock the orientation so that it no longer changes orientation.

On the iPhone:

Double-tap the Home button to reveal the line of open and active apps

Slide all the way to the LEFT until you see the iTunes icon and the play buttons. Also on this screen is the Rotation Lock icon

Tap it to lock the Portrait orientation so that the screen will no longer rotate to wide.

On the iPad:

Tap Settings

Tap General

Scroll down to the choice where you can use the side switch to Lock Rotation

Before you lock the switch, turn the iPad in the direction you want to use, either tall or wide, and then Lock the screen in position

NOTE: Even if you choose to lock in the wide/landscape orientation on the iPad, some apps may still open only in portrait.

————

Seeing Only Certain Contacts on Your Phone

All of your contacts are stored in one place and are automatically synced with all of your devices. But many folks don’t want to SEE all of their contacts on their iPhone. They just want to see the people they call.

On your Mac:

1. Open Contacts and, from the File menu, choose New Group

2. Name it “phone” or something similar

3. Click on All Contacts in the left column

4. Find the people you want to see on your iPhone

5. Move them into the new “phone” group

You can select them one at a time and drag them on top of the group you just created or

Click on one name, hold down the Command key and select others.

Drag one person on top of the phone group and they will all go.

iPad Tip of the Week

To See Only The Contacts in the “Phone” Group You Created

1. Tap Contacts

2. In the top left, tap Groups

3. Right now, the groups that are checked are all showing in the Contacts list

4. Tap Hide All Contacts to remove all the check marks

5. Tap the “phone” group to choose ONLY those people

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Are You Missing Your Scroll Bars?

If you are using Mountain Lion, you may have noticed that your Scroll Bars have disappeared. In fact, the new default setting is to only show them when you are scrolling.

To change this, from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences, click on General and, next to Show scroll bars, chose Always.

Ahhhhhh…….

iPad Tip of the Week

Tall or Wide, How to Lock the Orientation

A helpful feature on the iPhone and iPad is that you can turn the device sideways to rotate the screen orientation. It’s a lot easier to read articles and emails in the sideways or landscape orientation. But it can also be annoying to have the screen randomly change orientation.

You can lock the orientation so that it no longer changes orientation.

On the iPhone:

1. Double-tap the Home button to reveal the line of open and active apps

2. Slide all the way to the LEFT until you see the iTunes icon and the play buttons. Also on this screen is the Rotation Lock icon

3. Tap it to lock the Portrait orientation so that the screen will no longer rotate to wide.

On the iPad:

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll down to the choice where you can use the side switch to Lock Rotation

4. Before you lock the switch, turn the iPad in the direction you want to use, either tall or wide, and then Lock the screen in position

NOTE: Even if you choose to lock in the wide/landscape orientation on the iPad, some apps may still open only in portrait.

———–

Seeing Only Certain Contacts on Your Phone

1. Open Contacts and, from the File menu, choose New Group
2. Name it “phone” or something similar
3. Click on All Contacts in the left column
4. Find the people you want to see on your iPhone
5. Move them into the new “phone” group

iPad Tip of the Week

A Faster Way to Scroll in iCal

——————

Printing those Passwords

While you can’t print the password list directly, you can take a screen shot and then print that.

1. Resize the window so that you can see as many passwords as possible

2. Hold down the Command and Shift keys and type the number 4

3. The cursor will become a crosshair

4. Starting in any corner, drag to surround everything you want to print

5. Release the mouse and you’ll hear a sound like a camera shutter

6. Click on your Desktop to find the file named “Screenshot”

7. You may have to take several shots to get your complete list

8. To print these Screenshots, just double click to open, then choose Print from the File menu

iPad Tip of the Week

A Faster Way to Scroll in iCal

Instead of tapping the forward and back buttons to go to a different month:

Tap and HOLD on that arrow to navigate faster

Remember to tap Today to quickly return to the current month

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Website Passwords

I’m a big proponent of keeping a written list of all of your passwords in a notebook so that you always have access to them.

One of the new features in Safari stores all of your website passwords, in case you forget them.

1. Under the Safari menu, choose Preferences

2. Click on the Passwords icon

3. To reveal the actual passwords, click Show Passwords

4. You will need to type the password for the computer to gain access

You can remove any saved passwords or clear the entire list.

iPad Tip of the Week

Cleaning Out Storage Space

Believe it or not, iMessage and texts take up quiet a bit of storage space on your mobile devices.

This is particularly true if you send and receive a lot of multimedia messages with photos, animations, etc.

To clear out old Messages:

1. Open Messages app

2. Tap Edit

3. Tap the red (-) button to delete an entire message thread

4. Repeat as necessary

Changes in Gmail

If you access your Gmail via the web and not through Apple Mail, you’ve probably noticed a few changes.

Gmail has introduced a new feature called tabbed inbox that automatically filters your email into several different categories. Most newsletters and mass mailings will now be delivered to your “Promotions” tab instead of your inbox.

To change this:

1. Click on the “Promotions” tab

2. Find any emails that you don’t want to get lost in this pile of promotions and drag it to the “Primary” tab.

3. Be sure to click “Yes” when the alert pops up. Do this for any of the emails you want to see right away.

Or, if you prefer to remove this new Tabs feature:

1. Go to the “Settings” box in the upper right hand corner of your inbox and select “Settings.”

2. Click on “Configure Inbox,” unselect all of the categories except “Primary,” and then save your changes.

Thanks to Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo and Anna Garrett for the heads up on this!

iPad Tip of the Week

The Fastest Way to Open Any App

If you’re like most of my clients, you have quite a few apps on your iPhone and iPad. And to find the ones not readily available on the first page can take some scrolling and searching.

Here’s a shortcut:
Instead of scrolling, swipe in the opposite direction, to the RIGHT to reveal Spotlight, the built-in Search tool.
Type the name of the app you’re looking for and it will appear in a list.

If you don’t see it, you’ll have to adjust your Spotlight settings

Tap Settings
Tap General
About halfway down, tap Spotlight Search
Be sure there is a checkmark next to Applications

You might want to remove the check mark next to items that you don’t want to include in the search. This will also save on battery usage.

————-

Quick Scrolling in Safari

Instead of using your mouse’s scroll wheel or trackpad 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.

iPad Tip of the Week

Quick Scrolling

When you reach the bottom of an article, or an email or the news feed in FaceBook, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top:

Just double tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Setting Margins in Microsoft Word

Many of my clients have been using Microsoft Word for years, yet they admit they don’t know how to properly set margins.

It’s NOT by sliding the triangles on the ruler!

Click here for a free video lesson that will show you how easy it is to properly change your margins.

This tip is just one of the many things you can learn in Mac to School’s Virtual Classroom. To gain access to the entire course and all of the other great video lessons, join the classroom.

iPad Tip of the Week

Emailing Photos

One way to share pictures via email is from the Photos app:

1. Open the Photos app

2. Tap Camera Roll or Photo Library, depending on where the photos are

3. Tap Edit

4. Select the photos you want to email

5. Tap Share

6. Tap Mail

If Mail is not an option, you have too many photos selected. So cancel and unselect several photos then try again.

Another Option is to insert the photos directly from Mail

1. Create a new mail message

2. When you’re ready to insert a photo tap and hold in the message area

3. Choose Insert Photo or Video

4. Choose where the picture is (Camera Roll, Photo Library, an album, etc.)

5. Choose the photo

6. Tap USE

To send several photos at once, either repeat the above steps for each photo or use the first method from Photos.

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Sorting and Searching in Notes

I use the Notes app for all kinds of things: movies people recommend, restaurants I want to try, great ideas that come to me when I am out and about.

By default, the Notes are sorted by the date they are edited, which can mean a bit of searching for the Note I want.

From the View menu, you can change how notes are sorted: by Date Created, Dated Edited, or by Title, so you can choose what works best for you.

Or, use the Search feature to have Notes find it for you.
Just click in the box next to the magnifying glass at the top of the list of Notes and type what you’re looking for.

iPad Tip of the Week

Enjoying Photos

Family gatherings are a great time to share photos. And it’s fun to be able to have your photos displayed in the background.

When your iPad is asleep and locked, you can still view Photos using the Picture Frame mode. It’s different than the Slide Show mode when you are in your Photos.

To set your preferences for Picture Frame:

1. Click Settings

2. Click Picture Frame

3. Choose your Transition

4. Choose how long it shows each photo, whether to Zoom in on faces, and if you want them Shuffled, in a random order

5. Choose which photos and albums to show

6. Sit back and enjoy

—————–

See What Fonts Look Like

You can change the fonts of text in Mail as well as most other Apple programs by highlighting the text and then clicking on the desired font from the Font pulldown menu. But you don’t know what the font will actually look like until you do it.

Another way to experiment with fonts in email is to choose Show Fonts from the Format menu.

The Fonts window shows a list of grouped fonts (Collections), the family of typefaces, the possible styles of each typeface and a size to choose.

To see what the font actually looks like, you can reveal the Font Preview Pane.

1. Click on the barely noticeable circle that is below the word “Fonts” and above the “T” tool. Your mouse becomes a tool with arrows.

2. Drag the tool down to reveal the Font Preview Pane.

You can make the entire window bigger by dragging on any corner of the window.

iPad Tip of the Week

Creating Groups

Unfortunately, there is no simple way to create Groups in the Contacts app on your iPad or iPhone. But there is a workaround:

Create the Group in the Contacts app on your Mac. Any changes made on the Mac will automatically sync via iCloud to your iPhone and iPad.

Zooming in Safari

You can zoom to see the entire page larger or just the text on the page.

To Zoom In on the entire page:

From the View menu choose Zoom In several times
or
Hold down the Command key and press the + several times.

To Zoom Out:

From the View menu choose Zoom Out
or
Hold down the Command key and press the – several times

To only increase the size of the text:

From the View menu, choose Zoom Text Only.

This feature may not work on all web pages.

iPad Tip of the Week

View Browsing History

To see the last few websites you’ve visited, tap and hold on the back arrow in the Safari window.

Tap on any of them to return to that site.

To see a full history of where you’ve been:

Tap on the bookmarks icon (looks like an open book)
You’ll see three icons on the bottom, a book, a clock and a pair of glasses
Tap the book icon to see all of your Bookmarks
Tap the glasses to access your Reading List
Tap the clock to see your History
Tap on any item to go there

————

Bookmarking Tabs in Safari

Some of us like to open each website in a new window while others prefer working with Tabs.

I like to use both, depending on the situation. If I am just going from one site to another, I’ll use windows so that I can navigate with the Back arrow. But if I am researching a trip or looking for information on a particular topic, I may choose to open those windows as Tabs, by holding down the Command key when I open the page.

Using Tabs keep all windows open and active, allowing me to move between pages without having to go back, back. back.

With all of those Tabs open, sometimes I’d like to Bookmark them all as a collection.

To Bookmark a set of open tabs as a collection:

1. From the Bookmarks menu, Choose Add Bookmark for These Tabs
2. Type a name for the collection
3. Choose a location from the pop-up menu
4. Click Add

Now, when you click on that Bookmark in the list where you saved it, you’ll have access to all of those tabbed windows

iPad Tip of the Week

Photos On The Go

If you’re planning to travel this summer with your digital camera and don’t want to carry your laptop to transfer all of the photos you’ll be taking, you can easily connect your camera or SD card directly to your iPad with a USB Camera Connector.

In addition to connecting your camera, the connector lets you attach a USB keyboard and many USB microphones and headsets.

Sorry, the USB Camera Connector doesn’t work with an iPhone.

————-

The New Mavericks: What Should Snow Leopard Users Do?

Several clients have asked me about Mavericks, Apple’s newest OS announced earlier this week and coming in the Fall. It looks like there will be some great new tools for organizing files and sharing between devices. You can read all about the new features on Apple’s website.

You can also preview the new iOS7 for iPhones and iPads, also due in the Fall.

And you can check out the system requirements for the new versions here.

While indications are that you will probably be able to upgrade from Snow Leopard directly to the new Mavericks OS, you may want to start the upgrade process NOWso that you can start taking advantage of iCloud, syncing between your iPad and iPhone and using some of the cool new apps and features.

I can help you with the upgrade, before, during and after, so that everything works and you’re comfortable with the changes.

We’ll meet virtually to make sure your computer can handle the new OS, upgrade any software and, most importantly, I’ll help you tweak Mountain Lion so that it looks and feels and works the way you’d like it.

Drop me an email and we’ll talk!

P.S. Not sure what version of the OS you’re running? Under the Apple menu, choose About This Mac. 10.6.8 is Snow Leopard, 10.7 is Lion, 10.8 is Mountain Lion.

Three Secret Shortcuts for Deleting Text

One way to remove unwanted text is to use the Delete key. Another is to highlight the word or words and then press the Delete key.

Here are three secret shortcuts to make editing even easier:

For PC converts who miss the Forward Delete key:

Hold down the FN key and press the Delete key

To delete an entire word:

Position the cursor at the end of the word, press and hold the Option key while hitting the Delete key

To delete an entire line of text:

Position the cursor at the end of the line, press and hold the Command while hitting the Delete key

iPad Tip of the Week

What To Do If Your iPhone Gets Wet

Before putting it in a bag of rice:

1. Remove from water as soon as humanly possible.

2. Turn the iPhone off immediately by holding down the power button until it shuts off.

3. Remove any case or enclosure right away since they can trap in moisture. Screen protectors are fine to leave on unless there’s an obvious water bubble.

4. Dry out the iPhone as best as you can using cloth (t-shirt, socks, whatever is readably available) or an absorbent material. Wipe down the screen, sides, and back. Pay special attention to the power button, volume buttons, mute switch, speakers and microphones, and the audio output jack, try and get all visible moisture soaked up.

5. Use a Q-Tip if possible to try and soak up extra water from the audio output jack and in small crevices. If you’re out and about or have no q-tips handy, a little stick or sharp pencil poking through a t-shirt or cotton material can work too.

6. Disconnect any headphones, ports, chargers, USB cables, or accessories immediately.

7. Now with all visible water removed, you’re ready to stuff the iPhone into a rice bag.

8. Put the iPhone Into a Sealed Bag Full of Rice.

Here are the basic requirements:

– A zip-lock bag or similar that is air tight
– Rice, any generic type, ideally not “enriched” (more on that in a second)
– Patience for at least 36 hours

Fill a zipper locked bag fairly full of rice so that the entire iPhone will be covered, then place the iPhone into the bag and seal it shut with some air in the bag.

Any type of rice works, but try to avoid enriched rice as it leaves a lot of white residual powder in the bag and it will also get into the ports and buttons on the iPhone.

The patience part is the hardest, and generally the longer you wait the better the likely outcome because you want all water inside the device to be completely absorbed by the rice before trying to power it on again.

Once you’ve waited at least 36 hours, open the rice bag and check out the iPhone. If you suspect the iPhone has any residual moisture left in it at all, do not power it on. If all seems well, go ahead and turn it on as usual. If all goes well, it’ll power on as usual, and your iPhone will have survived the water encounter!

Thanks to OSXDaily for the tip!

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Claim More Desk Space: Move The Dock

The Dock is that strip on the bottom of your Desktop with all of the icons on it. It’s a handy tool for quickly opening all of your favorite programs.

Most computer screens are wider than they are tall, and the Dock takes up precious screen space. Some people solve this issue by Hiding the Dock.

If you like to see your Dock, but still want more screen space, consider moving it to the side.

1. Under the Apple menu, choose Dock

2. Slide the mouse over and choose Position on Right or Left

It may take a day or two to get used to the new location, but I think you’ll really appreciate the full screen space.

iPad Tip of the Week

Undo and Redo

Did you know there is a way to UNDO and REDO on your iPad and iPhone?

If you accidentally delete some text, you can undo your last action in Mail or Notes.

On the iPad:

To UNDO, tap to access the number keyboard, then tap the Undo key.

To REDO, tap to access the Symbol keyboard, then tap the Redo key.

As an alternative, you can also shake your device to undo and redo, like this:

After deleting some text, hold your iPad firmly with your both hands and give it a quick shake, and the Undo button slides in for you to undo.

To redo, shake it again.

On the iPhone:

There are no Undo and Redo keys but shaking works for both.

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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.

Finding Words on Web Pages

Even though there is no visible Search tool, you can search any web page in Safari, even your FaceBook news feed.

1. From the Edit menu choose Find or hold down the Command key and type F

2. A search box appears in the top right of the toolbar

3. Type the text you’re looking for and press the Return key

4. It will tell you how many there are and the first match will be highlighted

5. Press the Return key again to move to the next match

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Don’t Bother Typing Periods

Instead of actually typing a period at the end of a sentence, double-tap the space bar and it will put in a period followed by a space so you can just start typing the next sentence.

If this feature doesn’t work:

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Tap Keyboard

4. Turn the “.” Shortcut ON

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Opening Links in New Tabs in Safari

Searching on the internet usually means doing a Google search, clicking on each of the suggested sites, and clicking the back button to return to the list of Google’s suggested sites.

What if there were an easier way to see those pages without leaving the list of results?

Some folks use Tabs all of the time. Others prefer to open each new page and use the Back button to navigate. (You can set this preference under the Safari menu, Preferences.)

But Safari allows you to combine both ways to navigate.

Anytime you see a link in Safari and you want to open that link without leaving your current page:

Hold the Command key when you click it.

It won’t look like much different but if you look toward the top of that window below the Bookmarks Bar, you’ll see a new tab has been opened with the desired link.

The Back button is not active because you never left the original page. Instead, to close the current page, hover on the tab at the top of the page, below the Bookmarks Bar and click the X or to return to the original page, simply click on that Tab.

If you’re stuck and can’t get back to where you want to go, you can Quit Safari and all will return to normal.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Selecting Photos to Share or Delete

To select a single photo or more than one to share (or delete):

1. Tap the Photos icon on the Home screen

2. Tap Edit in the top right corner

3. Tap the photos you want to select and a check mark will appear on the photos

4. Tap Share (or Delete) from the bottom toolbar

5. Choose Email, FaceBook, etc

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Missing Folders in Mail

Where did all of my folders go?! Many clients are emailing me in a panic.

The triangles that used to appear next to ON MY MAC and iCLOUD and GMAIL that you could click on the reveal your folders are gone.

To see your folders, hover your mouse over ON MY MAC and iCLOUD and GMAIL where the folders used to be and you’ll see the word SHOW on the right side.

Click SHOW and all of your folders will appear.

Phew!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Adding a Person’s Photo to their Contact Info

It’s fun to have a person’s face appear when you are receiving an incoming call from them on your iPhone or a FaceTime call on your iPad or iPhone.

1. Find the person in your Contacts

2. Tap Edit

3. In the top left next to their name tap the square that says Add Photo

4. You can either take a picture of them or choose a photo from your Camera Roll

5. Now, whenever they call or FaceTime, you’ll see their photo. FUN!

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Emptying the Cache in Safari

Safari’s Cache makes pages that you’ve previously loaded open faster. Often it’s because it’s opening an older version of that page. Sometimes refreshing or reloading a page will bring up the newer version, but sometimes it’s best to Empty the Cache.

In previous versions of Safari, it was easy and clear how to Empty the Cache. Under the Safari menu you choose Empty Cache.

With Lion and Mountain Lion and the newest versions of Safari, Empty Cache is no longer a choice under the Safari menu.

1. Under the Safari menu choose Preferences

2. Click on the Advanced icon

3. At the bottom of the window put a check next to Show develop menu in menu bar

4. Close Preferences

5. You’ll see you now have a new menu across the top called Develop

6. Under the Develop menu, about half way down, choose Empty Cache

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Bar Code and QR Code Scanning

A reader recently asked about bar code and Q scanning with her iPhone. There are several free apps that allow you to take a photo of a bar code or QR Code with your iPhone or iPad. Search the App Store for Bar Code Scanning to see the choices.

The codes reveal all kinds of information including:

– Prices from over 30 different online retailers including Amazon, Home Depot, Macy’s, Best Buy, Target, and more
– Local prices to find out if the product is sold near you (US only)
– Millions of customer reviews from Amazon & Best Buy
– Related deals & coupons
– Related accessories
– Nutritional information & ingredients (US only)

New Gestures in Lion and Mountain Lion

A reader emailed me this question:

My screen jumps to the left and reveals a few apps on a black background ( temp, calculator etc). This always comes as a surprise… I have no idea how it happens but I would love to know. And other times, I see miniatures of what’s open..what’s that?

The Mac lets you use fast hand Gestures to activate different actions and windows. If you aren’t aware of these settings, you don’t realize that your movements are actually giving these commands.

The black background screen is the Dashboard, a collection of web based apps that you can open without first opening Safari and then navigating to the site. Your screen jumps to the Dashboard when you accidentally swipe the mouse or trackpad sideways.

The window with a mini view of all open applications is called Mission Control. With so many windows open, this feature makes it easy to quickly click on the one you want to work with next.

You can turn off these gestures: in System Preferences, under either Mouse or Trackpad, click More Gestures. Roll your cursor over the individual choices to see a short video that demonstrates what each gesture does. To turn off any gesture, just remove the check mark.

BONUS TIP: If you like to access Dashboard and Mission Control, but don’t like doing it with Gestures, you can set a keyboard combination to access them.

In System Preferences, click on Mission Control, choose a keystroke combination for each feature you want to use.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Settings for Visually and Hearing Impaired

Macs have always catered to users with visual and hearing disabilities, so it is no surprise that the iPhone and iPad also have settings to make using these devices easier for folks with limitations.

Tap Settings

Tap General

Tap Accessibility

Here you can turn on VoiceOver, to have the device read to you

You can Zoom text, make text much larger, even change the text to be white text on a black background.

This is also where you can set your device to work with an adaptive accessory if you have difficulty touching the screen.

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Clear Safari’s Cache in Lion and Mountain Lion

Safari’s Cache makes pages that you’ve previously loaded open faster. Often because it’s opening the older version of that page. Sometimes refreshing or reloading a page will bring up the newer version, but sometimes it’s best to Empty the Cache.

In previous versions of Safari, it was easy and clear how to Empty the Cache. The newest versions of Safari have changed where you go to empty out the Cache.

Now, under the Safari menu choose Reset Safari.

Remove the checkmarks next to things you do NOT want to reset.

Click Reset and everything else, including the cache, will be cleared.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Check out these free travel-related apps

Gas Buddy: Find gas stations near you and compare prices.

Hotel Tonight: Get last minute deals on hotels.

KidzOut: Find kid-friendly restaurants, parks and play places, even diaper changing stations.

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New VIP Feature of Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion, Apple’s newest operating system, is packed with new features and capabilities.

One feature in Mail is great for keeping track of emails from your most important people, your VIPs.

You can designate someone as a VIP by clicking the star icon to the left of the person’s name in any incoming or sent message. Every message to or from that person will now displays a star in message lists, making it easier to find those messages.

In addition, when you designate a person as a VIP, a new mailbox in the VIP Mailbox is created so that when you can click on a VIP’s name,you get a list of all messages, across all mailboxes (including Sent and Trash), to or from that person.

To remove the VIP designation, click on an email from that person, then click the arrow on the right side of their name and choose Remove from VIPS.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Undo and Redo

Did you know there is an UNDO and REDO button on the iPad?

If you accidentally delete some text, you can undo your last action in Mail or Notes.

To UNDO, tap to access the number keyboard, then tap the Undo key.

To REDO, tap to access the Symbol keyboard, then tap the Redo key.

As an alternative, you can also shake your device to undo and redo, like this:

After deleting some text, hold your iPad firmly with your both hands and give it a quick shake, and the Undo button slides in for you to undo.

To redo, shake it again.

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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.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Week

Copy and Paste

1. Yes, of course you can copy and paste text on your iPad and iPhone.

Press and hold your finger at the beginning of the text you want to select. A menu appears, and the text is highlighted in light blue and there are blue circles on either end of the selection

2. Drag the blue circles to highlight all of the text you want to work with or choose Select All

3. Choose Copy

4. Press and hold your finger where you want to put the text you copied

5. Choose Paste

Edit Text

Use this same technique of pressing and holding your finger to reposition your cursor to Edit text

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Have Your Mac Read To You!

Did you know that you can have your computer read to you? The Speech commands are built into several Apple products and are really easy to use. Thanks, Sheila Cohn for sharing this great tip!

Try this:

Highlight this paragraph
Click on the Edit menu
Choose Speech and
Follow the triangle to the right to choose Start Speaking

To turn it off:

From the Edit menu choose Stop speaking

This works in Safari, too:

Find an article
Click on READER in the top right of the address bar so that the text is in its own window (A cool tip in itself!)
Click on the Edit menu
Choose Speech and
Follow the triangle to the right to choose Start Speaking
If you hadn’t first highlighted a particular section it will begin reading from the beginning

You can also change the voice and tone of the speaker:

Under the Apple menu choose System Preferences
Click on the Speech icon
Click on the Text to Speech tab
Next to System Voice, choose a name and click Play

Additional Speech and Voice Over features can be found under the Universal Access icon in System Preferences.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Quick Scroll to the Top

When you reach the bottom of an article, or an email or the news feed in FaceBook, instead of scrolling all the way back to the top:

Just double tap in the very top black horizontal menu space where the time and battery are displayed and you’ll zip right up to the top of the screen.

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Watching .WMV Files in Mail with Lion

1. Click here to download the VLC player.

2. Click on the top VLC choice for 32/64 bit.

3. It will download and appear wherever you have designated downloaded files to go. If it’s not on the Desktop, it’s probably in the Downloads folder.

4. To find the Downloads folder, from the Finder screen, click on the GO menu at the top.

5. Click on Downloads and find the file titled “VLC-1.1.12.dmg”.

6. Double click on the file and it will open.

7. Drag the icon of the orange cone on top of the Applications folder in that window and it will copy it.

8. When it’s done, close the window.

9. Trash the two VLC files that are still in the Downloads folder.

10. Now open an email that has a .wmv that you previously couldn’t open and it will work!

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Deleting Emails

While there is still no way to Select All and Delete, there are two different ways to delete emails.

Option 1:

1. In the Inbox, tap Edit
2. Tap the circle next to each email you want to delete
3. Tap Delete

Option 2:

1. Slide across the right side of the email when it’s listed in the Inbox
2. Delete will appear as a choice

Try both options and see which one works better for you.

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Quick Look

Often, you’ll have documents in a folder or on your Desktop and you have no idea what they are. Instead of wasting the time to open each item, use the Mac’s Quick Look feature to get a Quick Look.

Click here for a short video to show you how it works.

FOR MORE GREAT VIDEO TIPS, check out the videos in The Virtual Classroom.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Add a Web Page to Your Home Screen

If you have a few favorite websites that you always go to on Safari, why not make them be icons on your home page for faster, easier access?

1. Open Safari
2. Go to the desired website
3. Click the “+” to Add a Bookmark but instead of choosing Add a Bookmark
4. Tap Add to Home Screen
5. Now that site is just a tap away.

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Safari: Zooming In and Out

Sometimes things online are just too small. Safari has an easy way to ZOOM in to see more detail.

There are several ways to zoom:

~ From the View menu, choose ZOOM IN

~ You can also hold down the Command key and type a “+”

~ You can even add an icon to the Toolbar for zooming

Under the View menu, choose Customize Toolbar.

Drag the big A little A tool into the toolbar.

Now zooming is click a click away.

Try it with this artist’s work that is more than just painting with tiny bits of paper. Look at the textures, the shadows, the kinds of papers the artist used. They are stunning.

FOR MORE GREAT SAFARI TIPS, check out the videos in The Virtual Classroom.

iPad and iPhone Tip of the Month

Portrait? Landscape? Lock It In Place

(This week’s tip works on the iPad 2 and the new iPad.)

You know that you can turn the screen sideways and the contents of the window automatically switches. Some folks like this feature, others find it annoying.

You can lock the screen so that it stays in one orientation.

1. Tap Settings

2. Tap General

3. Scroll down to below Restrictions to “Use Side Switch to:

4. and choose Lock Rotation

5. Get out of Settings by tapping the Home button

6. Tilt the screen so it’s the orientation you want

7. Slide the switch on the right side to the locked position so that you see orange

The iPad will still automatically adjust to tall if the app doesn’t work in the wide mode.