Jumping from word to word.

This little trick may be useful when you micro-edit a text. 

When you want to jump from word to word quickly, you don’t need to click with your moust cursor or swipe on the trackpad — and miss. 

Instead, press Shift and tap on right/left arrows. The cursor will ‘jump’ to the next word. 

Equally, you can highlight text word by word by pressing Shift and Option simultaneously. This can be useful for example, when you add hyperlinks to parts of the text.

Read my post 'The Many Uses of the Shift Key.'

Blogger login problem after Google+ closure

For several days now there has been an 'endless loop' problem with logging in into Blogger.

When try to log in or go to Blogger from whatever other Google application, such as gmail, by  choosing Blogger from the services menu at the top right of the browser page, it takes you to the Welcome page inviting you to create a blog or log in. When you click login it takes you back to the Welcome page.

The solution here is to go to your Google profile and 'change' your profile (displayed) name. In fact, you don't have to change it, just type it in as it is or was and click go to Blogger. Than will take you to your usual Blogger page with blog posts, stat and all the other stuff.

Here is the direct link:  https://www.blogger.com/switch-profile.g  

Resetting display.

If you use an external additional display you may encounter this frustrating problem: screen seems to go wider than the display with menus on the dges half-obscured; images are distorted (squashed) and fuzzy; everything seems out of proportion.

Restarting the machine or calibrating the display may not resolve the issue.

One simple trick not to be forgotten is resetting the display. Disconnect (unplug) it from the computer, wait for about 30 seconds and reconnect. The display comes back to its usual behaviour.

It worked for me a few times, so I thought I should share it.

Apple has a problem.

One of the annoying and occasionally confusing aspects of working on a Mac, or any other Apple device for that matter, is their language. They often turn out phrases that seem to put blame on you, the user, or seem to alert you to a 'problem' that is not a problem at all but simply a signal to take a certain step to carry on with what you're doing.

There is no problem. No problem with you. It's Apple who has a problem with their language.

Consider this:

This is a message that comes up when you start up your Mac. Here there is no problem with your iCloud or your gmail account. You don't need to fix this problem. 

It is merely an invitation to log in into your iCloud account. Click on iCloud Preferences and type in your Apple ID password. 

That's all.

Drag and Drop Images Straight from the Browser.

UPD: This trick works with the current Pages 8.1 — and with most other Mac applications, Numbers, Keynote, TextEdit, Stickies, Notes etc. (August 2019)

This post is to draw attention of Pages users to a simple trick with downloading images from the Internet: click on an image in your browser, hold and drag it straight into an open Pages document.

When 'caught' the image will 'lift off' the web page and show a white + sign in green circle and a black arrow.

Drag and hover over the Pages document and let got. The image will land into the document.

I wrote about this trick in a 2011post and it still works in the current Pages 6.3 version. It saves time and space on your hard disc. You don't need to store all images in Photos (library), they just as well sit comfortably in Pages, and can be extracted easily when needed as a separate graphic file.

Remember to check the copyright status of the image.

note technique pour des lecteurs français: drag and drop est glisser-déposer.

How to reset the wireless keyboard (and what for)

With wireless keyboard, sometimes things go haywire. Characters appear on the screen very slowly, or switch to repeat with no apparent reason. 

First time it happened to me I tried restarting the computer, switching it off and on again. I tried safe boot. Nothing worked! 

Don’t panic, usually it has nothing to do with your computer. Simply, the keyboard itself needed resetting. 

Here’s how to do it.

1. Unscrew the battery compartment on the left of the keyboard and slide the batteries out. 

2. Slide them back in again and screw in the cover. It can be done with a screwdriver or a coin.

3. Switch the keyboard on by pressing the button on the right. A green led light will appear to the top right of the keyboard. In a few second the computer will find the keyboard and reconnect with it. A ‘keyboard reconnected’ sign will appear on the screen and things will go back to normal. 

Until the next moment the keyboard decides it needs your love and attention.

How to add accents on QWERTY keyboard — à.

A few years ago I wrote a post with tips on using various accents (diacritical marks) on the English QWERTY keyboard without switching languages, which can be a distraction if not real pain.

One mark that I missed was accent grave,  i.e. the accent in French that goes upwards and to the right.

To type it, press the Option (alt) key and type accent grave key, the one to the left of Z on the QWERTY layout. You will see the (sometimes) yellowed accent grave. Type the letter you want with this accent — and it's done.

In French, the presence or absence of this accent can make a huge difference. When you mean 'where to' it's à; when you mean 'have' or 'had' it's a without the accent. When you mean 'or' as in either or, it's ou, but when you mean 'where' [is it], it's où.

Mind your French, folks!

Other accents still work the same as described in my old post.

How to get back to the top of the document — or an internet page.

In an open Pages document, especially a long one, a longread or even a book, you are often stuck in somewhere in the middle when you want to get back to the top.

Instead of swiping your Touchpad endlessly or clicking your mouse, press the Command key (marked cmd) and tap on the UP arrow in the bottom right end of the keyboard. Your cursor will jump back right up to the beginning of the document.

The same works when you are on an internet page with a long text. lick in the body of the page, press Command and then tap the UP arrow. This will bring you to the beginning to the internet page.

The same works when you want to go right to the end of the page, for example to read Terms and Conditions. Press Command and tap the DOWN arrow. 

How to make paragraphs in comments on Facebook.

Control+Return (Enter)

If you write long comments on Facebbok you may want to break your text with paragraphs. But hitting the Return (Enter) key posts the comment.
One way to post text with paragraphs is to write it in another application and then copy-paste into the comment field.
But you can make paragraphs right in the comment field. Press Control and then hit return. The comment will not be posted but you will get a new paragraph.

Read more in my new book 'iWork for Mac OSX Cookbook' (2012), follow me on Twitter at iworkinpages, like my page I Work in Pages on Facebook and add me to your circles on Google+

Switching (cycling) through open apps in Mac OS.

To cycle (switch) through open programmes (applications) in Mac OS, press Command and hit the Tab key. 

You will see the large icons of all the open programmes in the middle of the screen. One hit on the Tab key will move you from the programme you are in to the one you’ve been using before that.

Continue pressing the Tab and you will ‘cycle’ through the programmes. Cycling goes to the right. 

But if the programme you want to switch to is on the left, press Command and Tab and hit the left arrow on the extended keyboard. If your keyboard doesn’t have arrows or if you simply don’t like arrows, Press Command and Shift and then hit Tab. Switching will go to the left.

Cult of Mac site suggests doing left-cycling by pressing Command and Tab and then typing tilde (~), which on some keyboard sits in the top row to the left of figure 1. I don’t have it on any of my keyboards, so cannot verify it. 

Where is the Command Key on a Mac?

On Macs, the main key that adds functionality to key strokes is called the Command key even though it's not marked as such on the Mac keyboard.

Hence the confusion among beginners and switchers from Windows, where the corresponding key is Control.

Even experienced mac users sometimes get confused when they see or hear 'Command' mentioned. Some call it 'the apple key' after the Apple icon shown on the key together with a squiggly rectangle.

In Windows you press Control and type S to save a document. On a Mac you press Command and type S. Most other standard keyboard operations are a combination of Command and one of the letters of the keyboard, for example, Command+P - to print, Command+Z - to undo.

If you touch-type, I suggest using the thumb of your left hand to press Command: move it slightly away from the Space bar, press and then type the letter of the shortcut.

The Control key is also present on Mac keyboards but it is not used as widely as in Windows.

Wikipedia has an article Table of Keyboard Shortcuts that shows which shortcuts on a Mac correspond to which in Windows. In iWork, a list of available shortcuts is under the Help menu.

If you want to use the Command icon ⌘ in your document, go to the Edit menu and slide down to  Special Characters. When the character palette opens, click on Symbols > Technical Symbols and drag the icon from there to your document.

How to select multiple files on Desktop by dragging.

The usual way to select a file is to click on it once. To select more than one file, press Shift and click on the files you need.

In an open folder, you can select files by dragging the cursor. In tables and spreadsheet multiple cells can be selected by dragging.

I've recently impressed a colleague by another trick – selecting multiple files on the Desktop by dragging the cursor over them. (see the picture above.) Click on the Desktop and drag the cursor over a number of files. They will all be selected (highlighted).

This shortcut is handy when you want to scoop up work-files left on the Desktop after you've finished a project. Open a new folder, mark it with the name of the project, scoop up the related files and put them in the folder.

Another use is when you have several graphic files (photos) on the Desktop and want to have a quick look at them. Drag the cursor over them to select, press Command and type O (letter, o - for open). All files will open in one Preview window with a side pane. Click on the thumbnails in the side pane to view, or run a slideshow. You can also add pictures to an iWork document by dragging them from Preview to the iWork document.

I often use this trick to clear space on the Desktop, or to group related files together. Select them by dragging the cursor, then click once on any of the selected files and move them all together to a new location – to the side of the screen, to a folder, or even to Trash.

Storing frequently repeated text. Stickies.

Stickies with stored text.

A while ago I wrote about various ways of storing and reusing chunks of repeated text. And quite recently I've stumbled upon an article on a Mac tips site on the same subject. The article recommends using TextOnTrays free application from TrainTrain Software. I can't say anything for or against the application. From its description it looks like a neat solution, certainly try it if you feel like it.

However, I want to reiterate the principle that I have often expounded on this blog – look at what you already have on your Mac before searching for additional software and installing it. The solution may already be there.

Over the past months I have been working on two large, long-term projects where I am constantly using repeated bits of text – headings, leads, intros, referencing etc. And for storing those ready chunks of text I've been using Stickies.

Stickies is a small word processing application that comes pre-installed on every Mac. It usually sits in the Dock when you start using your new machine. If you don't see it in the Dock it would be in Applications folder.

Because it's so light, it launches quickly with a selection of smallish brightly coloured windows that look like paper stickies.

Stickies are different from other word processing apps: all the windows you've created open when you launch the application. You can double-click in the window bar to collapse it. Collapsed Stickies don't flow down to the Dock but stay on screen. The first line of the Sticky text shows in the bar. On closing the Sticky you delete it. If you highlight a word, a phrase, a paragraph or all the text on a Sticky, it will stay highlighted until you deselect it or quit Stickies.

These features make Stickies perfect for quick scribbles and for keeping repeated chunks of text to which you want quick access.

• To add highlighted text to your document, in iWork, Mail or any other application, click on it and hold, then drag the text to your document. 
• The blinking cursor will indicate the insertion point. 
• Let go – and the stored text will land in your document.

You don't have to switch applications. When you work on an iWork document and the Sticky is in the corner of your screen, click on the highlighted text there and drag it to your document.

How to Constrain Proportions Without Metrics Inspector

Press the Shift key as you drag the object's handles. 

Holding down the Shift key constrains proportions temporarily, just for when you need it. It's a simple trick when you want to get on with your project quickly. 

When working on a design, you mostly use Graphic Inspector. But changing size, rotating, flipping and constraining proportions is in Metrics Inspector. Some of these operations can be done without the Inspector, but it isn't obvious how to Constrain proportions without going to Metrics inspector. Using Shift avoids endlessly switching from Graphic to Metrics when you need to change the object's behaviour. 

To constrain proportions with Metrics Inspector: Put a tick in the checkbox next to 'Constrain Proportions'. It stops the graphic image distorting when it is resized – if you don't, the image will be squashed, when you pull horizontally, or stretched, if you pull vertically.

The Shift trick works with charts too.

How to make JPEGs in Lion

For some reason, the popular path Print>PDF>Save PDF to iPhoto has been removed in Mac OSX Lion (10.7). Instead there is a Save PDF to iTunes option. It is difficult to see how widely macusers will need it.

Saving document to iPhoto has long been the easiest one-step way to produce JPEGs from iWork documents. Luckily, I have an older Mac which I’ve decided not to upgrade to Lion – and I still use the iPhoto option. 

If you only have Lion on your machine, here’s a simple two-step way to JPEGs.

1. Print>PDF>Open PDF in Preview 

2. File>Save>JPEG

Type Command+P (File>Print) to open Print dialogue. In the bottom left corner click on PDF and choose Open PDF in Preview option. 

When Preview document opens, type Command+S (File>Save) and in the Save dialogue click on the document format drop-down menu to choose JPEG. The document will be converted to JPEG. 

Next, you can crop or edit it in Preview or iPhoto.

If you are comfortable with Automator, try another path to JPEGs suggested on the Apple discussions forum. I haven’t tried it myself, so cannot vouch for it.

How to disable 'snap to grid' (Alignment Guides)

When you move or edit images and boxes in iWork, 'snap to grid' function can be very helpful – objects quickly jump to align themselves with the layout grid or with other objects.

In a design where there are numerous objects it can be maddening. Objects align with the layout grid and with other objects.

To disable this function, press Command after starting to move objects or dragg their handles.  Remember, after, not before, otherwise a different function – rotating – activates.

Apple doesn't actually use the term 'snap to grid'. Instead, we have Alignment Guides in iWork.

If your design requires moving and editing numerous objects, disable Alignment Guides. Under Application menu (Keynote/Pages/Numbers) open Preferences>General  and uncheck the boxes 'Show guides...' under Alignment Guides. The menu says 'Show' but in fact means activate or disable the snap to grid function.

How to Constrain Proportions Without Metrics Inspector

     

Hold down the Shift key as you drag handles.

It's a simple trick when you want to get on with your project quickly, without endlessly going to Inspector and switching from Graphic to Metric, to Wrap, etc. 

Constrain proportions function is in Metrics inspector, not Graphics. Put a tick in the checkbox next to 'Constrain Proportions'. It stops the graphic image distorting when it is resized – if you don't, the image will be squashed, when you pull horizontally, or stretched, if you pull vertically.

Holding down the Shift key constrain proportions temporarily, only  for the time you need it. 

Stretched

This trick, of course, is for pulling on the object handles in the middle of the sides of the object, not on the corners. 

Squashed

How to Change Units of Measurement in Rulers.

If you are more used to Imperial measures (inches not centimetres) and your copy of iWork came with metric units activated as default, you can change it in Preferences>Rulers. Preferences are under Pages, Numbers or Keynote menu.

Click on the Ruler Units drop-down menu and choose the measure unit of your preference. 

It's useful not just for when you want to use the unit that you are more comfortable with, but for finer adjustment of tabs and bullets when formatting text. Instead of using split inches or centimeters, you can use typographical points, which are more suitable for paragraph or bullet indentations. 

And the other way round, when positioning graphics objects on a page, split inches or centimetres may give a more exact position to the object. Set the coordinates in Metrics Inspector.

There is a converter widget with the Dashboard. Click on Dashboard in the Dock, choose units from drop-down menus, enter numbers and convert. 

  

Three Dots Shortcut (Ellipsis)

This one is for you if you love unfinished sentences and thoughts, or if you sigh after every (written) phrase, or even in the middle of the phrase. Or, seriously, for omitted parts of a quotation, or for long lines between parts of text.

To type three dots in one hit on the keyboard, press Option (alt ⌥) and hit semicolon (;).

⌥ + ;  =  …

The 'posh' name for the three dots is ellipsis. To read all about it, go to this wikipedia article, which also shows and describes other punctuation signs. 

Drag File from Spotlight to Dock to Choose Application.

When you do a Spotlight search on your Mac, you don't need to double-click on your file to open it – just click it once.

There is another useful trick.

If you want a file to be opened by a particular programme, not the one that opens it by default, click and drag the file from Spotlight search window onto the Dock icon of that programme.

For example if you want a PDF to be opened by Acrobat instead of Preview. Or if you want Pages to open a Doc. file instead of Word of Open Office.

Apples 2011.