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Mac 101: Going Commando with Command-key shortcuts in Mac OS X

Filed under: Switchers, Productivity, Mac 101

One of the adjustments those new to the Mac need to make is to familiarize themselves with the Command key. Although I switch hit and use Windows at work and a Mac when I’m not working, I’ve always preferred it over Control. Its proximity next to the space bar allows me to use my thumb, as opposed to my pinky finger with the Control key, for keyboard shortcuts. I find it particularly faster for copying and pasting.

The clover-looking key (it’s actually an infinite loop), which had always been accompanied by an Apple logo until recently, sometimes behaves in ways similar to the Control key in the Windows world. At other times, however, it doesn’t. Whether you’re a recent Mac switcher or a seasoned Mac user, here are some shortcuts using the Command key to help you speed your way through tasks.

Safari
In Safari and Firefox, right-clicking on any word or set of words will allow you to do a Google search on it. In Firefox, this search will open up in another tab. Safari’s default behavior, however, returns search results in the same tab or window that you’re working on. No fear, however, for the Command key is here: holding down the command key while right clicking on the Google search option will open the search in a new tab.

Similarly, attaching the Command key to normal clicking (not right-clicking) in Safari will open up sites in another tab. This includes Command clicking on links on a site, your browsing history as well as sites within a bookmark folder, which will open up all sites within the folder in a different tab.

Finder
Like Command clicking on a link in Safari, Command-clicking on any Finder folder will open it in a new Finder window. If you do this with a stack in the dock, you’ll be taken to the root folder of the stack. Command clicking on Finder folders also works with Folders displayed on the Path Bar of a Finder window (if you don’t already have this enabled, you can do so by clicking on “View” and select “Show Path Bar”).

One other useful Finder shortcut that I commonly use is Command-Delete. This will move selected files or folders to the trash, similar to clicking on the delete key on a Windows-based computer.

iTunes
I have the “Automatically sync when this iPod/iPhone is connected” option enabled on most of my iPods and my iPhone. Most of the time, I use my Mac to charge my iPhone (instead of a wall plug), so charging also helps keep me up to date on my music and Podcasts. However, there are situations where I don’t want my iPhone to automatically sync. For instance, I may have a particular Podcast that I want to listen to again, and my Podcast settings call for only the latest episode to be kept. To prevent your iPod/iPhone from automatically syncing, use the Command-Option key combination as you connect it to your computer.

Another iTunes shortcut I’ve found handy is Command-Option-1. This key combination will bring up the main iTunes window, which is handy if you happen to close it or if you’re browsing a playlist in another window (which you can do by double-clicking on a playlist).

iChat
Similar to how Command-Option-1 will display the iTunes window, Command-1 in iChat will display your buddy list. Say you close your iChat buddy list, but you leave your chat window open (or windows, if you don’t collect all of them in a single window). In this situation, clicking on the iChat icon in the dock will show your chat window(s), not your buddy list. When clicked on in the dock, iChat’s UI behavior is to display your buddy list if a chat window is minimized to the dock.

Although you have buddies on your list, you may opt to chat with them at your willing. In addition to mousing your way to make yourself invisible, you can also use Control-Command-I key combination.

iWork
One feature from the iWork suite that runs circles around its Microsoft “format painter” counterpart is its style-based copying and pasting. It works not only on text sizes and colors, but on charts and other objects as well.

• The “Copy Style,” via the Command-Option-C key combination, allows you to copy the style of “these words.“
• And through “Paste Style,” via Command-Option-V, paste the style of “these words” to “this set of words” to make it look like “this set of words.“
• However if you want to paste “these words” somewhere and them look like “this set of words,” you can do this with the “Paste and Match Style.” Its shortcut is Command-Option-Shift-V

Other handy shortcuts that work across the iWork suite of apps are Command-T, which brings up the font selection panel, as well as Command-Option-I, which shows Inspector palette for the app.

Parallels
Most of the time, I run Parallels Desktop in a window mode, dragging and dropping files, as well as copying and pasting text, between Mac OS X and Windows XP. However, there are times that I need to fully immerse myself and zone-in on Windows XP (I know, frightening, ain’t it?), which is when I’ll put it in full screen. To pull yourself into and out of the Windows XP full screen warp zone in Parallels Desktop 5.0, hit Option-Command-Enter; for Parallels 4.0, it’s just Option-Enter.

One more thing…
Actually, make that two more things. One of my favorite things about Mac OS X is the consistency with how you could tinker and adjust an app to your liking. In the Windows world, doing this may require you to navigate to the edit menu and select preferences, or clicking on tools and then selecting options. With very few exceptions, in Mac OS X, you just need to select “Preferences” from the app’s menu (i.e., Keynote — Preferences and iMovie — Preferences). The shortcut to each of your app’s preferences is Command-, (not a typo — it’s Command-Comma).

And if a particular app happens to be acting up on you, you can force quit it with Command-Option-Escape. This is the rough Mac OS X equivalent to Windows’ Control-Alt-Delete.

TUAWMac 101: Going Commando with Command-key shortcuts in Mac OS X originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FriendFeed Clone Cliqset Launches Social Memory Integration Courtesy Of Evernote

Evernote, the popular site, iPhone (and now Android) app which lets you record your memories by snapping geo-tagged photos, making voice notes, or just text notes and making it easy to search through them, is gaining serious traction on the web. In December, Evernote just reached 2 million unique users, only 7 months after reaching its first million. Of course, it makes sense that users would want to use Evernote to record social interactions. Today, Cliqset, a FriendFeed-like realtime online identity platform that lets users merge and share a vast variety of social information, is integrating with Evernote to allows users to archive social content.

With this integration, users of both Cliqset and Evernote can store photos, status updates, reviews, blog posts, videos, music, documents and anything they want to remember or save, to their Evernote account. Cliqset, which offers both a web-based and desktop app, aims to be a one-stop-shop for social communications, pulling in content from close to 70 social networks and services, including MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed and more. Users can also update their status, and share photos, bookmarks, reviews on Cliqset and push them out to wherever they choose.

Once you activate the Evernote integration and account information, you can share any content on Cliqset via the click of the Evernote icon on the app. You can create folders for Evernote content, and then search for the content within Evernote. The integration has been synced across web-based app, Cliqset’s desktop app, Firefox extension and bookmarklet.

While the real-time social media stream is fast becoming a crowded space with Threadsy, Streamy and others offering compelling platforms, Cliqset is continuing to innovate its platform to allow for ultimate syndication. Of course, Seesmic is entering the fray with the acquisition of Ping.fm. Darren Bounds, president of Cliqset, has told us that the platform aims to be a less clunky version of FriendFeed, with a target audience of users who aren’t as technologically savvy. Cliqset will be launching an iPhone app in the near future and is currently developing a browser extension for Chrome.

Cliqset + Evernote from cliqset on Vimeo.

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Five customized Automator services to help save you time

Filed under: Software, How-tos, Productivity

One gem in Mac OS X that sometimes gets glanced over is the Services menu. Lots of readers may not know yet that Snow Leopard brought with it the ability to create your own customized service in Automator — in other words, you can get additional selections on a contextual menu when right-clicking within a certain context, say a file within a Finder window. To create a customized service, all you have to do is launch Automator and select “Services” from the “Choose a template for your workflow” window, and then insert your own service from there.

Here are five customized services for you to install on your own Mac.

Attach to Mail
In the Windows world, right-clicking on a file(s) brings up the option to “send to,” and “mail recipient” is one of its options. The result is your attachment(s) showing up automatically attached in a new email message window. This service does the same thing in Mac OS X with Mail.app.

• On the right hand pane, select service receives selected files or folders in Finder.
• Now, drag “New Mail Message” (from the Mail.app actions in the library) over to workflow pane (on the right side).
• Save your workflow with a name that make sense — like “attach to message” — because this is what will appear on the contextual menu when you right-click a file.

Print Selected Files
Similar to the mail service, this service provides a print option in a contextual menu so that you can right-click on selected files and print to your heart’s content.

• Service receives selected files or folders in Finder.
• Now, drag the “Get Selected Finder Items” from the Finder actions in the library over to the workflow pane.
• Likewise, drag the “Print Finder Items” from the “Utilities” actions to the workflow pane.
• Save.

Create Thumbnail
This service will thumbnail re-size your selected images.

• Service receives selected image files in Finder.
• Now, drag the “Get Selected Finder Items” from the Finder actions in the library over to the workflow pane.
• From the “Images” actions, drag the “Create Thumbnail Images” action to your workflow pane. Within this action, you can specify the suffix that will be appended to the file name, as well as thumbnail size.
• Save.

Start Keynote Slideshow
This service will open the selected Keynote presentation in slideshow mode.

• Service receives selected files or folders in Finder
• From the Finder actions, drag the “Open Finder Items” to the workflow pane.
• From the Keynote actions, drag the Start Keynote Slideshow action to the workflow pane.
• Save.

Bit.ly shorten a URL
Courtesy of Alexandre Hamez, this service allows you to right-click and shorten a URL using the bit.ly service.

• You can download the service here.
• After downloading, move the file (named “bit.ly.workflow”) to the “Services” folder, which is also where you’ll find all of your services. The path to this folder is ~Username/Library/Services.

These are just a few examples of customized services that you could create in Automator, but by no means are they the only ones. If you’ve got a favorite service of your own, be sure to share it in our comments below!

TUAWFive customized Automator services to help save you time originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BumpTop launches for Mac, turns your desktop into your desk (+100 free accounts)

Look at your computer desktop. Everything’s clean, rigid, in nice neat rows and columns. Now look at your desk (or at least mine): piles everywhere, mess galore, and yet, somehow, it works much better than the computer version.

BumpTop thinks it can bridge that gap, making your desktop behave more like your desk. An application that launched initially in April of 2009, BumpTop is launching a Mac version today. There’s been a Windows version since April, and the company released a multi-touch version for Windows 7 in October that’s getting a lot of buzz. But today’s Mac version has a lot to love.

For a lot of computer users, the desktop becomes the default place for things—anything that doesn’t have an obvious home just lives on the desktop. Files get organized by name or by size, which isn’t nearly as useful to me as whatever insane system the mountains on my desk have. BumpTop changes that, letting me work with my virtual files just like I’d work with my physical ones.

All the elements of your desk’s workflow are there with BumpTop. You can create and organize sticky notes just like regular Post-its; make piles out of your things instead of putting them in folders, and flip through them easily just by scrolling your mouse. One click opens what you’re looking for, or breaks apart the pile to make searching easier.

The environment is totally 3D, so you’ve even got walls to pin things to if you’re so inclined. There’s no restriction to how you organize—BumpTop lets you drag and drop to your heart’s content, piling and re-piling, organizing and reorganizing. For the cubicle-conditioned, try clicking on one of the walls: BumpTop zooms in on that wall, putting your desktop in its own virtual cube.

For the not-so-neat among us, finding your files is also a whole lot easier with BumpTop. When you’re on your desktop, just start typing what you’re looking for, and anything what that term in it will be highlighted on your desktop. Files you use more often grow bigger on the desktop, making the things you use most frequently easier to find.

Arguably my favorite thing about BumpTop, and the feature that makes it so exciting for touchscreen users, is the widget support. Drag a file or icon to a particular widget, and quickly and easily share it on Twitter, upload it to Facebook, email it to a friend, instantly copy it to a USB key, and more.

Today’s new version brings a bunch of cool new features to BumpTop, just for Mac users. If your computer has a multi-touch supported mouse or touchpad, pinching and dragging will make an icon smaller or larger—big icons are hard to miss and easy to remember, small ones easy to ignore. It works seamlessly with Spaces, Expose and Quick Look as well, so none of the things you love about the Mac desktop are going away.

It’s a graphics-heavy program, and I found that after filling my desktop to the rafters to test BumpTop, it started to run a little slow. But, for most people who aren’t intentionally overloading their desktops with files, it should work fine—it even requires less power than Windows’ own Flip 3D feature.

Whether or not BumpTop is really useful or just eye candy remains to be seen—you really need to use it for a while to get used to the workflow, even if it is a more intuitive one. Whether or not this is the solution I can’t say, but it’s a vast improvement over the stodgy, option-less way most of us interact with our desktops. Most of the major improvements (like piles instead of folders) are subtle, but make a difference in how you organize yourself and your computer.

The basic version of BumpTop, for both Mac and Windows, is free. To access all of the features, there’s a $29/year Pro service. As a gift to VentureBeat readers, though, we’ve got 100 to give away! The BumpTop Pro version is a free upgrade to the first 100 people to sign up at this special VentureBeat page.

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TotalFinder beefs up Finder

Filed under: Software, Productivity, Snow Leopard

A new “hack” for Finder is in the works, and it’s pretty darn cool. TotalFinder adds tabs, Visor-like functionality and a few other goodies (with more on the way) to your plain, vanilla Finder setup. If you’re skittish, though, don’t jump just yet. TotalFinder is alpha, and not in that way that developers label software just to be safe. It’s really, really alpha. TotalFinder runs as a SIMBL plugin, too, which can (in some cases) cause some system instability in and of itself. However, if you’ve got the apples for it, it’s a very cool new way to soup up your Finder.

In its current state, it does a few simple — yet amazingly useful — things, starting with adding tabs to Finder. Honestly, we got tabs in Terminal before Finder? This catches us up a little bit. The Visor feature (which is optional), assigns a hotkey that makes your tabbed Finder window slide onto the screen and disappear when you’re not using it. It’s take-or-leave for me at this point; it’s cool, but it takes a lot of getting used to, especially for window-to-window file dragging within Finder. You can’t currently drop files onto other tabs, so some problems arise in that situation. The other features include preventing .DS_Store file creation and sorting file listings with folders grouped on top.

For now, I’m sticking with Path Finder for my souped-up Finder needs, but TotalFinder has the potential to bring Finder into its own after years of relatively few improvements. You can grab a copy to try out (for free) at BinaryAge, and note that it comes with an uninstall script that will wipe it clean off your system if you don’t like it.

[via Smoking Apples]

TUAWTotalFinder beefs up Finder originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PBWorks Offers Templates – A Great Way To Get Started In Enterprise Collaboration

A distinguishing aspect to PBWorks is its industry-specific approach. The enterprise collaboration service has made a name for itself by focusing on the particular requirements of the education and legal markets.

Now PBWorks is taking a smart approach by extending its position in vertical markets and offering a template store that people may download and use in a variety of business- and industry-specific ways.

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The template store is opening with 25 applications, both officially approved and those developed by the community at large. PBWorks screens the templates that users provide.

The enterprise collaboration space is still in its early days. People understand the importance of collaboration but often they do not know where to start. The PBWorks templates provide some framework for how to start using wikis and other forms of collaboration. The templates can include embedded media, files and documents as well as folders.

PBWorks is making a smart move by offering templates. It follows a long standing tradition of providing a structure for people who are just starting to use new software or who want to improve what they are already offering. Microsoft has been doing this for years. The practice seems well suited to the increasing complex world of enterprise collaboration.

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Exporting all of your playlist names to a text file

Filed under: How-tos, iTunes, AppleScript

The ability to sync albums didn’t exist prior to iTunes 9.0. My workaround to sync albums was to create album-based playlists with the following nomenclature: artist – album. This also made it easy for me to burn CDs of albums, as I could just navigate to a playlist and click on the “burn” button.

If you manage your iTunes library like this, and would like a way to export your playlists to a text file (to share your album collection with your friends and whatnot), then the Playlist Names to Text File AppleScript may do the trick for you. To install the script, first download it and then place it in your [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts/ folder.

After running the script, you’re presented the option of whether or not you want to save a text file with the names of all the playlists (and folders) in your iTunes library. Playlist Names to Text File is available as a free download on Doug’s Scripts site, though I’m sure Doug will certainly appreciate any donations.

2009 for me wasn’t very musically exciting. To make up for lost time, I’ll be embarking on a journey to listen to 52 albums in 52 weeks during 2010. But I can’t do this without “a little help from my friends,” who’ll be reviewing my album list and make some recommendations.

TUAWExporting all of your playlist names to a text file originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All Your Docs Belong to You: Google Docs Now Exportable

With no fanfare or as much as an official announcement, Google has taken an important step in making users’ Google Docs more open and portable.

As of today, several bloggers have reported seeing this new feature, which allows users to grab all their Google Docs and batch export them as a zip file. Files can be exported in a number of formats, including Microsoft Office and Open Office formats. Users can also choose to export only certain types of docs, e.g., spreadsheets and slide decks only.

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The process is simple: Users select the documents they wish to export, click “More actions,” then “Export.”

If a user is particularly pressed for time or has a larger chunk of data to export, he can also choose to navigate away and receive an email when the export is finished.

Unfortunately, any folders a user may have created or data related to authorship or shared documents do not seem to be included once documents are exported.

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