Mac Tips & Tricks

I always try to master the software I use. So in all the experimenting and reading that I do, every so often I come across a cool trick. Here are some tricks I find useful. I hope they help you as much as they've helped me.

Keyboard Navigate Any Menu

That’s right, you can navigate any menu with your keyboard! Click on a menu... the main menu, a menu in a Photoshop panel, wherever. Then start typing the name of the item you want. It will highlight and you can hit Return to accept it.

Window Titlebar Icons

When you have a file open, such as an image in Photoshop, or a letter you are writing in Microsft Word, you may want to see where that file is saved or move it to another folder. In the titlebar of a window, most programs have an icon to the left of the filename (as shown below). These icons actually represent the file. If you click and hold on the icon for a moment, then drag it to a folder, your desktop, wherever, you’ll actually move that file! Please note that some apps work differently. For instance TextEdit makes an alias to the file instead of moving it.


To locate where the file is, hold Command and click on the filename in the titlebar. As shown below, a menu will pop-up displaying the folder structure of the file’s location. Choose one of the folders to open it in the Finder. In OS 10.5 you can also Right-Click or Control-Click to get this menu.

Customize Keyboard Shortcuts for ANY Program

While more programs are now allowing you to customize their own keystrokes, but even if it doesn't, Mac OS X gives you a way. You can define universal keystrokes apply to all applications, or specifically for one application. Here's how to do it:

1. Go into the Apple Menu > System Preferences.
2. Click Keyboard & Mouse (Keyboard in Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard).
3. Click the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
4. Click the + button (towards the lower left side).
5. Choose All Applications or the specific one you want.
6. Enter the Name of the menu item exactly as it appears (don't worry about the menu that it's in, just the name of the specific menu item. Capitalization matters and don't forget the ... at the end of many menu items.)
7. Enter the Keystroke.
8. Click Add and Quit System Preferences.
9. You'll need to relaunch the affected program to use the new keystroke.

One limitation is that the keystroke must be for a feature in a menu. If there's no menu item for the keystroke you want to change, this tip won't work.

TextEdit & Safari are Good Buddies

If you copy some text in Safari and paste into TextEdit that it maintains formatting and links.

Easy Configuration of Bonjour (formerly Rendezvous) Printers

If your printer supports Bonjour (formerly called Rendezvous) you can administrate it through Safari! Who would have thought? Try it out...
• Launch Safari.
• Go into Bookmarks > Show All Bookmarks.
• On the left side click Bonjour (or Rendezvous).
• Your printer should be listed there. Double-click it and test out that admin page!

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