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As many of you may know from reading my posts, I am a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts. That is to say, a keystroke combination that has an equivalent mouse command. But how do you find them?
You can learn them one at a time by doing Help searches or by paying attention to the shortcuts commands on the Menu. But better yet, Apple has an extensive list of a common keyboard shortcuts, all in one place. If you use or wish to use keyboard shortcut more often, you can find the list at Apple’s Support Page at the following URL:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
A great idea might be to print it out and keep it next to the computer. Before you know it, you’ll have all of your favorite shortcuts memorized!
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If you ever need to call Apple for support, you may need to know your Mac’s serial number. There are a couple of ways to find it. The first, is to shut down your computer and look for it underneath the battery.
There is an easier way however although it is hidden, and not at all obvious to find. Click and then choose About this Mac from the Apple menu. If you click on the OS X version, you will be able to cycle through three bits of information: Version, Build Number and finally your computer’s serial number.
It wouldn’t hurt to have this written down somewhere as well in case you ever reach the unfortunate situation where your computer will not boot up.

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When you click on an icon in the Dock, it bounces up and down until the application opens. Depending on how quickly the application load, the bouncing can continue for quite some time.
Many folks find these bouncing icons annoying. If you are one of those people, you can easily remedy this from the Dock Preferences dialog box. Choose > Dock > Dock Preferences from the menu and uncheck the box next to “Animate opening applications.” From this point forward, your dock icons will no longer bounce. Instead, the tiny light below the icon will discretely blink a few times until the application has opened.
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When browsing folders in the Finder, you may (or may not) have noticed that on the top of the folder in the Title Bar is a little icon next to the folder name. This is called a “Folder Proxy Icon” and enables you to easily move or copy a folder.
If you click on the icon, wait a moment until it darkens and then drag, you can move the folder even while its open to the Sidebar, to another folder, to the Desktop or even to the trash. If you wish to copy the folder instead of moving it, hold down the Option or Alt key as you drag.
Many applications contain a Folder Proxy icon in their open document windows as well. However, they may work a tad differently, depending on the application. For instance, if you drag the Folder Proxy icon from an open Pages document, it will create an alias of the document rather than move it whereas if you perform the same maneuver in a Microsoft Word 2011 document, it will move the document to its new location.
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In OS X Lion, the Home Library folder is no longer listed in the Finder window or in the Finder menu. For many people, this is not an issue as they rarely have need to visit it. However, if you ever need to delete a pesky preferences file, it can be a tad challenging to figure out how to find your Library. Luckily, there is a quick workaround.
To access your Library folder:
- Open a Finder window.
- Hold down the Option or Alt key on your keyboard.
- Click Go on the menu. The Library option will display as long as you hold down the Alt or Option key.
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Just a quick tip for today, with it being Sunday and all. Every now and then, my Mac just refuses to give up the trash. That is to say, when trying to empty the trash, I receive the error:
“Trash Cannot be Emptied because [Filename] is in use”
This may occur even though the file is closed and there appears to be no other applications open. Here are a couple of ways to solve the problem.
Option 1
- Select Finder > Secure Empty Trash from the Finder menu.
If this doesn’t work:
Option 2
- Open the Activity Monitor application from the Utilities folder.
- Select the Locum process in the window and then click the Quit Process button.
- Enter your admin password when prompted.
- Go back to the Finder and Select Finder > Secure Empty Trash from the menu.
Or if you prefer the Terminal:
Option 3
- Open the Terminal app (from the Utilities folder) and type in: rm -rf ~/.Trash/*
Hopefully, one of these will do the trick!
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Taking pictures of your screen is not as simple as pressing the Print Screen button, like you do when working with Windows. Rather, taking shots of your screen on the Mac requires that you memorize a rather long and unintuitive keystroke combination. For instance:
To take a picture of part of the screen to clipboard: Command + Control + Shift + 4
To take a picture of the entire screen: Command + Shift + 3 (add Control key to save to the clipboard)
An easier (and my preferable) way is to add a keyboard shortcut to the command in the Keyboard Shortcuts area of the System Preferences.
- Click the Apple icon on your screen and select System Preferences.
- Click “Keyboard” under the Hardware area.
- Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
- Click “Screen Shots” in the left pane.
- In the right pane, double-click the shortcut you wish to change.
- Type in the new keyboard shortcut.
In the example above, I have changed the Copy picture of selected area to the clipboard command to execute whenever I press the F6 key. That is to say, that whenever I press the F6 key, the mouse pointer transforms into a crosshair pointer, allowing me to select a specific area of the screen and then copy it to the clipboard (the same result as the Command + Control + Shift + 4 shortcut).
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In order to switch from the internal speakers to bluetooth headphones or to external speakers, you typically have to open the System Preferences window, click Sound in the hardware area, click Output and then choose the speakers you wish to use. There is however, a much faster way to change speakers – all from the menu bar using the Option key (or Alt key, depending on your keyboard).
Usually when you click on the Volume menu, you see a slider which allows you to adjust the volume of your currently selected speaker.
However, if you hold down the Option key while you click the Volume menu, you will instead see a list of available input and output devices. Chose the one you wish to use and voilà! You have just changed the active speaker device.
Note: If you don’t see the Volume menu on your menu bar, open the System Preferences window, click Sound in the hardware area and then click the checkbox next to “Show volume in menu bar.”
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