I have just published the latest guide in my Up to Speed series entitled: macOS Mojave: Up to Speed, which will help you get up and running quickly with Apple’s latest Mac operating system. The book is available in ebook format at Amazon, Kobo, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other online retailers. It is also available in PDF format from the PCM Courseware website.
Many of us use our Desktop as a temporary storage area for files or for those files we need to access often. I’m guilty of this myself. The problem with this, is that our Desktop can get quite cluttered if you have a lot of files, making it difficult to find what you’re looking for.
That’s where the new Desktop Stack feature comes in. What this does, is groups your files into stacks. For instance, all of your image files will be grouped into one stack, your spreadsheet files in another, and your PDF documents in another. To open a stack, click on it. When you do so, all of the files in that stack will display on the Desktop. To “restock” the items, click on the icon with the stack name, such as Images or PDF Documents.
By default, Mojave groups your stacks by file type. You can, however, change how your Mac groups the stacks. Options available are: Kind, Date Last Opened, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created and Tags.
Any new files added to the Desktop will automatically be placed in the appropriate stack.
A handy feature of macOS is the ability to quickly find your cursor by shaking your mouse back and forth or rapidly rubbing your trackpad. Doing so increases the size of your cursor so you can easily find it. This comes in especially handy if you’re using a dual monitor setup and have a tendency to lose sight of your cursor. This feature is turned on by default.
There are some instances when using certain software programs, however, where you may need to move your mouse quickly or rub on your track pad and don’t necessarily want your cursor size to change. If this is the case, you can turn off this feature from the Accessibility pane of System Preferences.
Many people these days tend to use a laptop as their main computer, especially folks who spend a lot of time away from home or from their office and need a portable solution. I’m one of those people and I do love the portability of my MacBook Pro. When I’m at home working at my desk, however, I prefer working on a larger external monitor rather than my small laptop screen.
Here’s how to set up your Mac to use an external monitor:
Tip: You can also use these same settings to attach a projector to your Mac.
If you’re looking to learn Apple’s new operating system, macOS High Sierra, then you may be interested in my latest book: macOS High Sierra: Up to Speed. The book is published through PCM Courseware and is available in ebook format from Amazon, Kobo, Apple iTunes and other online retailers.
If you prefer a printable version of the book, you can purchase the PDF version directly from the PCM Courseware website.
Below is the blur for the book:
The macOS High Sierra: Up To Speed guide helps you to get up and running quickly with Apple’s latest operating system. This handy step-by-step guide is written from scratch, starting with basic macOS topics and moving on to more advanced features of the operating system, designed to help you to become more productive more quickly. Though comprehensive, the information in this book is presented in a clear, concise manner with screenshots providing helpful visual guidance all along the way.
In no time at all you’ll be navigating High Sierra, setting up and maintaining user accounts, managing files, playing music and video, modifying system preferences, surfing the Web and working with applications like a pro.
Some of the topics include:
And More….
A relatively new feature introduced in macOS Sierra allows you to insert a period by double-tapping the keyboard. This will work in any application that accepts text entry (or at least it worked in all the ones I tested). You can already do this in iOS but it was only recently introduced into macOS. Many people aren’t even aware that this feature exists because it is turned off by default, unless you’ve installed a fresh version of Sierra or High Sierra (or purchased a new Mac).
You can turn on the feature from the Text tab of the Keyboard Preferences pane.
In past versions of Mac OS X, whenever you sorted a folder or drive in the Finder by name, folders were sorted right along with the files. Thus, everything was jumbled together in one window. This resulted in making folders difficult to find, especially if you have a lot of items.
In macOS Sierra, you can now choose to keep your folders on top when sorting or arranging. To do so, you’ll need to launch Finder Preferences and under the Advanced tab, click Keep folders on top when sorting by name.
Once this is done, Finder will now sort your folders by name on top of the window, separately from the files. The remaining items are sorted by name underneath the folders. Turning on this feature can make managing your files much easier.
If you find yourself switching back and forth between two open windows, you might want to give Split View a try. The Split View feature allows you to snap two windows side-by-side without you having to rearrange windows. The two windows that you designate fill up your entire screen, thus eliminating distraction from other windows. This comes in especially handy for comparing two document or to watch a video in one screen and take notes in another.
To enter split view, click and hold on the Full Screen button on the top-left of a window. As you hold down the button, one side of the screen will be shaded in blue. Drag to the left or right side of your screen, depending on where you want the active window to reside. Release the full screen button and the window will automatically format to fit half of the screen. Any compatible apps and widows will then display as thumbnails on the opposite side of the screen. Click the thumbnail for the window that you want. Both windows will now display side-by-side on your screen.
Note that you don’t have to stick with an even 50/50 split. You can adjust the amount of space that a window takes up by clicking the divider bar between the two windows and dragging in the desired direction.
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