Mac OS X Shortcuts

OK, so Kev has been bugging me for weeks to get this up… here goes;

Mac OS X is the newest operating system from Apple, it has a *completely* different feel and interface from *all* prior version and any other OS for that matter. This has caused massive changes in the way people work and means adjustment is something we are going to *have* to become used to (short of switching to Windows; yeah fucking right). SO here are some of my humble findings and tips:



1) Visit MacOSXApps.com and download TinkerTool: use it to set up a few of the standard hacks like Trash on the desktop and make hidden apps in the dock show up transparent a la MacOS 9.

2) Download VolumeDockling or MenuStrip so that you can control volume from the dock or desktop.

Now, on to the tricks…

3) Hold Command as you drag customizable menu items in any Finder toolbar or application toolbar to quickly re-position them.



4) You can also Command-click the wide toolbar hide/show widget in the upper right corner to switch between icon and text view (in Cocoa apps at least).

5) Command-dragging into the dock stops the excess movement of the folder and trash icons.

6) Holding option as you mouseover files that have been truncated in any view will instantly bring up a tooltip-style flag with the entire filename. Very cool!

7) Holding command and option while you drag any file onto an application in the dock will force that app to open the item you are dropping. (try telling the calculator to open HTML … mmm!)


8) Set up a large horizontal window in column view with maybe 3 or 4 columns in it, and click the Computer icon in that window’s toolbar. Close the window, and click on the Finder icon in the dock.. This will give you a wonderful starting point. Notice it is in the same place? This is very handy as it becomes the only window you need in column view and you can treat all your other windows like MacOS 9 windows by removing the toolbar from it (click the widened widget in the top-right) and using icon or list view.


9) I’m getting tired, I’ll keep at this.. and edit it later.

• Category: Macintosh