If you ever need to print out a list of a folder’s contents, you can do so without having to use the Terminal or a third party application.

First of all, open up a plain text editor such as Byword or WriteRoom. You can use the TextEdit application but you will first need to set the format to plain text by choosing Format ➪ Make Plain Text from the menu.

Next, open the folder whose contents you wish to print in the Finder. Select Edit ➪ Select All from the menu or press the ⌘ and A keystroke combination to select all of the files in the folder.

Then, select Edit ➪ Copy from the menu or press the ⌘ and C keystroke combination. This will copy the names of all of the files in the folder to your clipboard.

Finally, switch to your open text editor and select Edit ➪ Paste from the menu or press the ⌘ and V combination. This will paste in a list of the names of all files in the folder.

Note: If you end up with file full of grapics, this indicates that the format of the document is not plain text.

Someone recently asked me if there’s away to turn off the splatting noise that your Mac makes when you’re turning up or down your computer’s volume. Typically, each time you press the volume up key or the volume down key, your Mac makes this noise, which some people find annoying.

To turn off the “splatting” noise when adjusting the volume, hold down the Shift key as you press the volume up and down buttons. No more splats.

Another way to noiselessly adjust your volume is to click the *Volume* icon in the menulet bar (on the top right of your screen) and drag the slider until the desired volume is attained.

 

There are several shortcuts that you can use from the Save As dialog box (also called “Save Sheets”) from within an application. This means no more having to go to your mouse or trackpad to choose the destination folder when saving files.

Choose File ➪ Save As from the menu and then choose from the following commands:

• Switch to your Desktop: ⌘ + D
• Switch to your Home Folder: ⌘ + ⇧ + H
• Specify a folder: ⌘ + ⇧ + H and then type the path of the folder (for example: Dropbox/Writing/Articles)
• Cancel the operation: ⌘.

To automate even further, I have added keyboard shortcuts to my favorite folders in the Default Folder X application, which I can then use from the Save As dialog box. For instance, I use the keyboard shortcut control + d for Dropbox, control + g for Google Drive, control + w for my writing folder, etc. I wrote about Default Folder X in a previous post. This is an excellent example of using automation with that application.

You can also create keyboard shortcuts using Keyboard Maestro and then use them to switch to specific folders from the Save As dialog box.

When I’m working on a project or a longer blog post, I tend to open certain files over and over again. While you can open recently-opened files from the File menu of most application (File ➪ Open Recent) using the mouse, I prefer to use a keyboard shortcut.

To do so, launch the Applicaiton Switcher by pressing the ⌘ + Tab keystroke combination. Press and release the Tab key until the desired application is highlighted. Then, press the Up Arrow key (↑) on your keyboard. A list of recently-opened documents for that application is then displayed in a cover-flow view. Use the right and left arrow keys to navigate the list. Once you find the file you want to open, press Return or Enter.

Quick Guide: Access Recently-Opened Files using your Keyboard

1. Activate the Applicaiton Switcher by pressing the ⌘ + ⇥ (Command + Tab) keystroke combination.
2. With the ⌘ key held down, press and release the Tab key until the desired applicaiton is highlighted.
3. Press the ↑ key on your keyboard.
4. Press the ← or → keys on your keboard to navigate the recently-opened file list. The currently selected file is highlighted in blue.
   
5. Once the file you wish to open is highlighted, press Return or Enter.

Every application has its own set of menu commands that you can trigger using keyboard shortcuts. If you use a lot of different applications, these commands can be challenging to memorize.

Besides memorizing the various commands, you can search for a menu command and then activate it using the keyboard.

To Search the Menubar for Commands

1. Press the ⌘ + ⇧ + ? (Command + Shift + Question Mark) keystroke combination.
2. Type in the search term. For example, if you wanted the command to move a message, type: mo
   
3. Press the up arrow or down arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate the results list.
4. To execute a command in the list, press the Return or Enter key.

Sometimes, there can be nothing more irritating than an Dock icon bouncing up and down, trying to get your attention, often for some stupid reason. Luckily, you can prevent this behavior but to do so, you’ll have to enter a couple of lines in the Terminal Applicaiton.

To Stop Dock Icons from Bouncing

1. Open the Terminal application.
2. Type or paste in the following line of code: defaults write com.apple.dock no-bouncing -bool TRUE
3. Press Enter or Return.
4. To restart the Dock, type or paste in the following line of code: killall Dock
5. Press Enter or Return.

If you ever want to return the the original bouncing behavior, repeat the process above except place the word TRUE with the word FALSE.

In today’s tip, we look at 10 keyboard shortcuts that can help you to quickly navigate a Finder Window. Many of these only work when in List view.

1. Option + ⌘ + Spacebar: opens a new Spotlight window.
2. Option + ➜: Expands a folder and all folders inside of it.
3. Option + ⬅︎: Collapses a folder and all folders inside of it.
4. ⌘ + ⬆︎: Opens the Parent folder.
5. Option + click the Close Button – Closes all Finder Windows.
6. Option + click the Minimize button – Minimizes all Finder Windows.
7. ➜ or ⬅︎: Expands or Collapses the currently selected folder.
8. ⌘ + ⬇︎: Opens the currently selected folder.
9. Tab: Selects the next icon, going alphabetically.
10. Shift + Tab: Selects the previous icon, going alphabetically.

Today we continue with our theme of keyboard shortcuts but this time, we are working with open windows. If you wish to cycle through all open windows in all applications, use the Control + F4 (Control key and F4) keystroke combination. This is different than using the ⌘ + Tab, which only cycles through open applications (not all of the open windows in each application).

If you wish to cycle through the open windows only in the active application (your open documents in Word or Pages for example), use the ⌘ + ~ (Command key and Tilde).