MacBook Pro Portable Genius E-Book

Brad Miser

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Serie: Portable Genius
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 539

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Discover loads of tips and techniques for the newest MacBookPro You're already ahead of the game with a MacBook Pro. Now you canget even more out the popular Apple notebook with the new editionof this handy, compact book. Crammed with savvy insights and tipson key tools and shortcuts, this book will help you increase yourproductivity and keep your Apple digital lifestyle on track. Fromdesktop sharing and wireless networking to running Windowsapplications, this book avoids fluff, doesn't skimp on theessentials, saves you time and hassle, and shows you what you mostwant to know. * Includes savvy advice and plenty of no-nonsense information ina clear layout that is easy to access * Covers essential tools, topics, and shortcuts on things likedesktop sharing, wireless networking, running Windows applications,using the Intel Ivy Bridge processor, and more * Features Genius icons throughout the book that provide smartand innovative ways to handle tasks and save yourself time MacBook Pro Portable Genius, 4th Edition shows you justhow to get more out of your MacBook Pro.

Leseprobe

MacBook Pro® Portable Genius, 4th Edition

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: How Can I Use My Desktop Space Efficiently?

Setting the Finder Desktop Icon Preferences

Utilizing the Sidebar and Toolbar

Using and configuring the sidebar

Using and configuring the toolbar

Working with the Dock

Configuring and using Dock icons

Changing the Dock’s appearance and behavior

Using the Launchpad

Configuring the Dashboard

Setting the Dashboard keyboard shortcut and hot corner

Customizing the Dashboard

Configuring widgets

Installing more widgets

Creating your own web widgets

Managing Your Desktop with Mission Control

Managing windows on a Desktop

Using Desktops

Configuring Mission Control

Managing your Desktop

Using Applications in Full Screen Mode

Configuring Notifications

Working with the Notification Center

Configuring notifications

Working with Displays

Configuring the MacBook Pro display

Connecting and configuring an external display with a cable

Connecting and configuring an external display with AirPlay

Using a projector

Setting a Desktop picture

Chapter 2: How Do I Manage User Accounts?

Working with User Accounts

Creating Administrator or Standard user accounts

Setting Login Items for a user account

Configuring e-mail, contacts, and calendar accounts

Creating Sharing Only user accounts

Creating Group user accounts

Changing accounts

Deleting accounts

Limiting access with Parental Controls

Using Automatic Login

Configuring the Login Window

Working with Fast User Switching

Working with the Root User Account

Chapter 3: What Are My Internet Connection Options?

Setting Up a Local Network

Installing an AirPort Extreme Base Station or Time Capsule

Building a local network

Connecting via Wi-Fi

Connecting via Ethernet

Connecting via Cellular Modem

Connecting via iPhone or iPad Tethering

Managing Multiple Network Connections

Configuring network connections

Managing network connections with locations

Troubleshooting an Internet Connection

Solving a network connection problem

Solving a MacBook Pro connection problem

Finding help for Internet connection problems

Chapter 4: What Can I Do on a Local Network?

Sharing Files

Sharing files with AirDrop

Sharing your files with others

Accessing shared files

Sharing files with Windows PCs

Sharing Screens

Sharing your MacBook Pro screen with other Macs

Sharing another Mac’s screen on a local network

Sharing Printers

Sharing USB printers connected to a base station

Sharing printers connected to a Mac

Sharing an Internet Connection

Chapter 5: How Can I Control My MacBook Pro and Maintain Battery Power?

Using the Trackpad Effectively

Configuring the trackpad

Using gestures to control your MacBook Pro

Using the Keyboard Effectively

Configuring the keyboard

Configuring language settings and the Input menu

Using keyboard tricks

Configuring Bluetooth

Adding a Bluetooth Mouse

Adding a Bluetooth Keyboard

Sharing Files with Bluetooth

Maintaining the Battery

Monitoring battery status

Extending battery life

Powering your MacBook Pro while traveling

Chapter 6: How Do I Take Advantage of iCloud?

Getting Started with iCloud

Synchronizing Data on Multiple Devices

Configuring iCloud on a MacBook Pro

Configuring iCloud syncing on an iOS device

Working with Your iCloud Website

Managing your iCloud account

Working with iCloud web applications

Using Find My Mac

Using iCloud with Documents

Chapter 7: How Do I Manage Contacts and E-mail?

Adding Contact Information to Contacts

Configuring the card template

Creating a contact manually

Importing vCards

Adding contact information from e-mail

Editing cards

Working with Cards in Contacts

Browsing contact information

Searching for cards

Organizing Cards with Groups in Contacts

Creating groups manually

Creating Smart Groups

Changing groups

Synchronizing Contact Information with iPhones, iPod touches, or iPads

Synchronizing via iTunes

Synchronizing via iCloud

Configuring E-mail Accounts in Mail

Configuring iCloud accounts

Configuring POP accounts

Configuring IMAP accounts

Configuring Exchange accounts

Testing e-mail accounts

Working with File Attachments in Mail

Sending compressed files through e-mail

Preparing attachments for Windows users

Working with received files

Organizing E-mail in Mail

Using mailboxes

Using Smart Mailboxes

Chapter 8: How Do I Communicate and Share in Real Time?

Conversing with FaceTime

Configuring FaceTime

Starting a call

Receiving a call

Conducting a call

Messaging with Messages

Configuring Messages

Using Messages to text chat

Using Messages to audio or video chat

Sharing Desktops during a chat

Sharing Your Content

Chapter 9: How Can I Manage My Calendars?

Managing Calendars

Configuring Calendar preferences

Creating calendars

Managing calendars

Adding events to calendars

Working with event invitations and availability

Managing events

Printing Calendars

Sharing Calendars

Publishing calendars via iCloud

Sharing calendars via iCloud

Working with Published and Shared Calendars

Subscribing to published calendars

Working with shared calendars

Subscribing to public calendars

Moving Calendars to iPhones, iPods, and iPads

Chapter 10: How Can I Make Better Use of the MacBook Pro Audio Features?

Getting Sound Out of a MacBook Pro

Understanding sound output options

Using external speakers

Controlling sound output

Creating and Using Sound Effects

Configuring sound effects

Creating and using custom sound alerts

Recording and Working with Sound

Recording sound with the internal microphone

Recording sound with a USB headset

Recording sound with a video camera

Recording sound from external microphones and musical instruments

Recording sound with an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

Dictating to Your MacBook Pro

Chapter 11: How Do I Add and Manage Storage Space?

Using External Hard Drives

Installing an external hard drive

Preparing an external hard drive with Disk Utility

Working with external hard drives

Maintaining Hard Drives

Managing free space on a hard drive

Checking the available space on a drive with Activity Monitor

Checking or repairing an external drive with Disk Utility

Checking or repairing the internal drive with Disk Utility

Erasing an external hard drive with Disk Utility

Working with SD Cards and Flash Drives

Chapter 12: How Can I Run Windows Applications?

Choosing a Windows Option

Running Windows with Boot Camp

Configuring Boot Camp and installing Windows

Running Windows using Boot Camp

Running Windows Virtually with VMware Fusion

Installing VMware Fusion

Running Windows under VMware Fusion

Chapter 13: How Can I Protect My MacBook Pro?

Keeping Software Current

Keeping App Store software current

Keeping other software current

Preventing Internet Attacks

Shielding your MacBook Pro with a base station

Shielding your MacBook Pro with the Mac OS X firewall

Protecting MacBook Pro with General Security

Protecting Data with Time Machine

Preparing a backup drive

Backing up with Time Machine

Restoring files with Time Machine

Using the Mac OS X Document Protection Features

Using Auto Save

Restoring documents with Versioning

Protecting Data with Online Backup Services

Protecting Data with Encryption

Protecting Information with Keychains

Viewing and configuring keychains

Adding items to a keychain

Working with keychains

Chapter 14: How Do I Solve MacBook Pro Problems?

Looking for Trouble

Understanding and Describing Problems

Recognizing user errors

Recognizing software problems

Recognizing hardware problems

Describing problems

Trying Fast and Easy Solutions

Forcing applications to quit

Forcing the Finder to relaunch

Restarting or restoring

Shutting down soft

Shutting down hard

Using a troubleshooting user account and deleting preferences

Repairing external hard drives

Repairing the internal hard drive

Repairing permissions

Reinstalling applications

Starting up from the Recovery partition

Starting up from an alternate external drive

Getting Help with MacBook Pro Problems

Using the Mac Help system

Describing a problem in detail

Getting help from others

Starting Over

Reinstalling Mac OS X

Melting and repouring

MacBook Pro® Portable Genius, 4th Edition

Brad Miser

MacBook Pro® Portable Genius, 4th Edition

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Blvd. Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-1-118-36361-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor

Stephanie McComb

Project Editor

Amanda Gambill

Technical Editor

John Lynn

Senior Copy Editor

Kim Heusel

Editorial Director

Robyn Siesky

Business Manager

Amy Knies

Senior Marketing Manager

Sandy Smith

Vice President and Executive Group Publisher

Richard Swadley

Vice President and Executive Publisher

Barry Pruett

Project Coordinator

Katherine Crocker

Graphics and Production Specialists

Joyce Haughey

Andrea Hornberger

Christin Swinford

Proofreading and Indexing

Penny L. Stuart

Potomac Indexing, LLC

About the Author

Brad Miser has written more than 45 books to help people get more out of their technology, faster and easier. In addition to MacBook Pro Portable Genius, Brad has written Teach Yourself Visually MacBook Pro, iPhoto ’11 Portable Genius, My iPhone, My iPod touch, Sams Teach Yourself iCloud in 10 Minutes, and Sams Teach Yourself Mac OS X Lion in 10 Minutes. He has also been a co-author, and development or technical editor on more than 50 titles.

Brad is currently a solutions consultant. He has been the director of product and customer services, and the manager of education and support services for several software development companies.

In addition to his passion for silicon-based technology, Brad enjoys his steel-based technology in the form of a motorcycle whenever and wherever possible. Originally from California, Brad now lives in Indiana with his wife Amy; their three daughters, Jill, Emily, and Grace; a rabbit; and a sometimes-inside cat.

Brad would love to hear about your experiences with this book (the good, the bad, and the ugly). You can write to him at: [email protected].

Acknowledgments

Stephanie McComb has my emphatic thanks because she is the one with whom this project had its genesis and who allowed me to be involved. Amanda Gambill deserves lots of credit for keeping the project on track and on target; I’m sure working with me was a challenge at times. John Lynn did a great job of keeping me on my toes to make sure this book contains fewer technical gaffs than it would have without his help. Kim Heusel transformed my stumbling, bumbling text into something people can read and understand. Lastly, thanks to all the people on the Wiley team who handle the other equally important parts of the process, such as production, sales, proofreading, and indexing.

On my personal team, I’d like to thank my wife Amy for her tolerance of the author lifestyle, which is both odd and challenging. My delightful daughters, Jill, Emily, and Grace, are always a source of joy and inspiration for all that I do, and for which I’m ever grateful.

Introduction

From its distinctive metallic finish to its backlit keyboard, dazzling display, and inviting design, the MacBook Pro is amazing technology that looks as great as it works. Running Mac OS X and including a lot of amazing software, a MacBook Pro allows you to do more right out of the box more easily than any other computer. In fact, a MacBook Pro does so much, it’s easy to overlook even more of the great things it can do. That’s where this book comes in.

While you probably already know how to turn on your MacBook Pro, you might not know how to create virtual working spaces on the desktop, so that you can keep many applications and windows open at the same time and move among them easily. While you likely know how to use the trackpad to point to objects on the screen and select them, you might not know how to create your own keyboard shortcuts for just about any command in any application that you use. While you have probably thought about how you need to back up your important data, you might not have actually done it. Also, while you’ve probably surfed the web, you may not have taken advantage of all of the options being connected can give you, from sharing files locally to communicating with people around the world, easily and inexpensively.

The purpose of this book is to provide a resource for you when you are wondering how to do something better, how to do it more easily, or even how to do it at all. You’ll find that each chapter is organized around a question. Within each chapter are answers to that question. These answers are task-focused so that you learn by doing rather than just by reading. The steps you’ll find are very specific and, hopefully, quite complete. If you start at Step 1 and work through each one in sequence, you’ll end up someplace you want to go. Thus, the book’s title of Portable Genius; it is intended to be your companion, and guide you on your in-depth exploration of your MacBook Pro. Once you’ve been through a topic’s steps, you’ll be prepared to go even further by extending what you’ve learned to other tasks.

This book is designed to cover a broad range of topics in which most MacBook Pro users are interested. There’s no particular order to the topics in this book, so you can jump to any chapter without having read the proceeding ones. To get started, I recommend that you take a look at the table of contents and decide which question you want answered first. Turn to the appropriate page and off you go!

Chapter 1: How Can I Use My Desktop Space Efficiently?

The MacBook Pro Desktop is the area displayed on its screen. Like a physical Desktop, you place things (in this case, windows) on top to focus your attention on them and use their content. As you work, your Desktop naturally becomes cluttered with windows for applications, documents, and system tools. Keeping control of all of these windows helps you make the most of your Desktop space. With all of the great Desktop management tools Mac OS X offers, it’s a lot easier to keep your MacBook Pro Desktop neat and tidy than it is a real desktop.

Setting the Finder Desktop Icon Preferences

Utilizing the Sidebar and Toolbar

Working with the Dock

Using the Launchpad

Configuring the Dashboard

Managing Your Desktop with Mission Control

Using Applications in Full Screen Mode

Configuring Notifications

Working with Displays

Setting the Finder Desktop Icon Preferences

By default, icons for the MacBook Pro hard drive, external hard drives, DVDs, CDs, and servers appear on the Desktop. This is okay if that is your preference, but they unnecessarily take up space on the Desktop because you can get to them more easily by opening a Finder window and using the sidebar.

The folders and files you see on the Desktop are determined by the contents of the Desktop folder, which is located within your Home folder. If you don’t want a folder or file taking up space on your Desktop, move it into a different folder within your Home folder. In addition to having a neater appearance, this also helps you work more efficiently because it’s easier to find folders and files if they’re here rather than scattered on your Desktop.

Perform the following steps to show or hide Desktop icons:

1. Choose Finder →Preferences. The Finder Preferences dialog appears.

2. Click the General tab if it isn’t already selected.

3. Deselect the check boxes for the icons that you don’t want to see on your Desktop. For example, to hide the icon for the MacBook Pro internal hard drive or any external hard drive connected to it, deselect the Hard disks check box. As you deselect the check boxes, the related icons disappear from your Desktop.

To set the size, grid spacing, text size, and other options for the Desktop, click on the Desktop so that no Finder windows are selected. Choose View →Show View Options, and use the resulting dialog to configure these settings for your Desktop. The title of this dialog indicates the object for which you are configuring the view options, so it should be Desktop. You can use this same command with any folder to set its view options.

Utilizing the Sidebar and Toolbar

Much of the time that you are working on your Desktop will involve Finder windows. Two areas of Finder windows that you will use frequently are the sidebar and the toolbar. You can use these features as they are, but you can also customize them to make your Desktop space more efficient.

Using and configuring the sidebar

The Finder’s sidebar makes it easy to get to specific locations. It comes with a number of default locations, but you can add items to, or remove them from, the sidebar so that it contains the items you use most frequently.

The sidebar is organized into sections, as shown in Figure 1.1. Favorites are the locations on your MacBook Pro that you visit most frequently. The sidebar includes a number of default locations here, but you can customize this section so that it reflects the places you visit the most. Shared items are locations you are accessing on a network, such as a shared hard drive. Devices includes hard drives and disk images that are mounted on your MacBook Pro.

1.1 Use the sidebar to quickly move to the items that you want to view in a Finder window.

Using the items on the sidebar is simple (which is why it’s so useful). Simply click the icon with which you want to work. What happens when you click depends on the kind of icon it is. The following are the potential outcomes:

All My Files. When you click this icon, all of the files you’ve worked with appear in the Finder window. You can use the view and browse tools to access any file you need.

AirDrop. When you click this icon, any Mac (running Mac OS X 10.7 or higher) with which your MacBook Pro can communicate that also has Wi-Fi on appears with the icon of its current user (given that the user has her own AirDrop folder selected). You can send files to other users by dropping them on the related icon and they can share files with you in the same way.

Applications. If the icon is for an application, the application launches.

Documents. Clicking a document’s icon opens the associated application, and you see and work with the document’s contents.

Folder. When you click a folder, you see its contents in the Finder window.

Shared folder or drive. When you select a shared network resource, you see either the tools you can use to log in to it or (if your MacBook Pro is configured to automatically log in to the resource) its contents.

Devices. When you select a device, its contents are displayed in the Finder window.

Search. If you click a search icon, the search runs and you see the results in the Finder window.

Each type of sidebar item has a distinctive icon, making what it represents easy to distinguish.

You can show or hide the contents of each section. Point to the section’s title and click Hide. The section is collapsed so you only see its title. Click Show to expand a section. Follow these steps to customize the sidebar so that it has the content you want:

1. Choose Finder →Preferences. The Finder Preferences window appears.

2. Click the Sidebar tab, shown in Figure 1.2.

1.2 You can determine the kinds of resources available on the sidebar by setting the appropriate preferences.

3. Select the check box for each item that you want to appear on the sidebar, and deselect those that you don’t want to appear.

4. Close the Finder Preferences window.

5. Open a Finder window.

The Favorites section is the only one that you can manually configure. The content of the other sections is determined by the Preferences settings, to what your MacBook Pro is connected on the network, and the mounted devices or disk images. If you drag an icon onto something in the other sections, it may be copied there instead (such as when you drag an icon onto a disk’s icon).

6. To remove an item from the Favorites section of the sidebar, perform a secondary click on it (the default action is Control+click, but as covered in Chapter 5, you can configure a trackpad gesture for this), and then choose Remove from Sidebar. The icon disappears. Of course, when you remove something from the sidebar, it’s not removed from the computer. It remains in its current location on your MacBook Pro, but is no longer accessible from the sidebar.

7. To add a folder to the sidebar, drag it from a Finder window or Desktop onto the Favorites section. As you move the folder onto the sidebar, a blue line appears at the location to which you’ve moved it.When you’re over the location in which you want to place the folder, release the trackpad button. The folder’s icon is added to the sidebar, and you can use it just like the default items.

8. To add a file (document, application, etc.) to the Sidebar, select the item’s icon and press +T. The item’s icon is added to bottom of the Favorites section, and you can use it just like the default items.

9. To change the order of items in the sidebar, drag them up or down the list. As you move an item between others, they slide apart to show you where the item you are moving will be. (You can only move items within their sections.)

To move a file to a folder on the sidebar, open a Finder window so it shows the item you want to move. Drag the item’s icon onto the sidebar folder in which you want to place it. To copy the file, hold the key down while you move the file’s icon. If you drop items onto a shared item on the sidebar, it is copied instead of moved. Hold the key down to actually move the item.

Using and configuring the toolbar

The toolbar appears at the top of the Finder window and contains buttons and pop-up menus that you can use to access commands quickly and easily. You can configure the toolbar so that it contains the tools you use most frequently. When you open a Finder window, the toolbar appears at the top.

The following default tools appear on the toolbar (as grouped from left to right):

Back/Forward buttons. These move you along the hierarchy of Finder windows that you’ve moved through (just like the Back and Forward buttons in a web browser).

View buttons. You can change the view of the current window by clicking one of the View buttons. For example, to see the window in List view, click the second button in the View group (its icon has horizontal lines).

Action pop-up menu. This menu contains a number of useful contextual commands. These are the same as those that appear when you perform a secondary click on an item.

Arrange menu. This menu enables you to arrange the contents of the window. For example, you can group items by name, date last opened, size, and so on. Choose None to remove the arrange settings.

Share menu. Use this menu to share a selected item; the options you see depend on the type of item you have selected. Options can include Email, Message, AirDrop, Flickr, and so on.

Search bar. You can search for items on the Desktop by typing text or numbers into the Search bar. As you type, items that match your search term appear in the Finder window.

Perform the following steps to place the tools you prefer on your toolbar:

1. Open a Finder window.

2. Choose View →Customize Toolbar. The Toolbar Customization sheet appears, as shown in Figure 1.3.

3. To remove a button from the toolbar, drag its icon from the toolbar onto the Desktop. When you release the trackpad button, the selected button disappears in a puff of smoke. The button continues to be available on the sheet if you want to add it again later.

4. To add a button to the toolbar, drag it from the sheet and drop it on the toolbar at the location in which you want to place it. When you release the trackpad button, the selected button is added to the toolbar.

5. On the Show menu, choose how you want the buttons on the toolbar to appear. Your options are: Icon and Text, Icon Only, or Text Only.

6. When you finish customizing the toolbar, click Done. The Toolbar Customization sheet closes and you see your customized toolbar.

1.3 Use the Toolbar Customization sheet to define and organize the tools on your toolbar.

To return the toolbar to its default state, open the Toolbar Customization sheet and drag the default set of buttons onto the toolbar.

Working with the Dock

The Dock is an important part of your Desktop space. By default, it appears at the bottom of the Desktop, but you can control many aspects of its appearance, including where it is located and, to a great degree, how it works. The Dock is organized into two general sections. The area to the left of the application/document separation line (the white, dashed line that looks like a highway divider a few icons to the left of the Trash icon) contains application icons. The area to the right of this line contains icons for documents, folders, minimized Finder or application windows, and the Trash/Eject icon.

When folders appear on the Dock, they become stacks by default. When you click a stack, it pops up into a fan or appears as a grid (depending on how many items are in the folder), as shown in Figure 1.4, so that you can work with the items it contains. You can disable this feature for any folder so that it behaves more like a normal folder (more on that shortly).

1.4 Clicking a folder’s icon on the Dock causes its contents to either appear in a grid or fan out, depending on how many items it contains and your preferences.

You can perform all of the following functions from the Dock:

See running applications. Whenever an application is running, you see its icon on the Dock. If the related preference is set (more details on this a bit later), a small, glowing blue light is located at the bottom of every running application’s icon. Application icons also provide information about what is happening with those applications. For example, when you receive e-mail, a badge on the Mail application’s icon changes to indicate the number of messages you have received since you last read messages.

Open applications, folders, minimized windows, and documents quickly by clicking the related icon.

Quickly switch among open applications and windows by clicking the icon for the item you want to bring to the front.

Be alerted about issues. When an application needs your attention, its icon bounces on the Dock until you move into that application and handle the issues.

Control applications and switch to any open windows within one. When you perform a secondary click on the icon of an application, a pop-up menu appears. When the application is running, this menu lists commands, as well as all of the open windows related to that application. When the application isn’t running, you see a different set of commands (such as the Open command) that you can use to open the application.

Customize its appearance and function. You can store the icon for any item (applications, folders, and documents) on the Dock. You can control how the Dock looks, including its size, whether it is always visible, where it is located, and which applications, folders, and documents appear on it.

Two icons on the Dock are unique and are always there: The Finder and the Trash. When you click the Finder icon (anchored on the left end of a horizontal Dock or at the top of a vertical one), a Finder window opens (if one isn’t already open). If at least one Finder window is open, clicking the Finder icon brings the Finder window you used most recently to the front.

The Trash icon is where all folders and files go when their time is done. When the Trash contains files or folders, its icon includes crumpled paper so that you know something is in there. When you select an ejectable item (such as a DVD), the Trash icon changes to the Eject symbol. You can drag a disc, drive, volume, or any other ejectable item onto that icon to eject it.

Unless an application is permanently installed on the Dock (in which case, the icon remains in the same position), the icon for each application you open appears on the right (or bottom) edge of the application area of the Dock. Unlike open applications, open documents don’t automatically appear on the Dock. Document icons appear on the Dock only when you manually add them or minimize a document’s window. When you open an application’s menu in the Dock (by performing a secondary click), you see a list of all open windows within that application.

When you minimize a window, it is pulled by default into the Dock using the Genie Effect. You can change this so that the Scale Effect is used instead. You can also change where the minimized window goes. Minimized windows are marked with the related application’s icon in the lower-right corner of the Dock icon so you can easily tell from which application the windows came. If you prefer, you can configure the Dock so that minimized windows move into the related application’s icon instead of becoming a separate icon on the Dock.

When you hide an application, its open windows do not appear on the Dock. The hidden application’s icon continues to be marked so that you know it is running. You can open a hidden application’s Dock menu to jump into one of its open windows.

When you quit an open application, its icon disappears from the Dock (unless you have added that application to the Dock so that it always appears there). Minimized windows disappear from the Dock when you maximize them or when you close the application from which they came.

Configuring and using Dock icons

The Dock becomes even more useful when you organize it to suit your preferences. You can move icons around, add or remove applications, and add your own folders and documents to it to make them more easily accessible.

To move between applications quickly, press +Tab or +Shift+Tab. The Application Switcher appears. Click an icon to move into the associated application, or keep pressing +Tab or +Shift+Tab to cycle through the list. When you release the keys, you move into the selected application.

To add an application’s icon to the Dock, simply drag it from a Finder window and drop it onto the location on the Dock where you want it to be stored, as shown in Figure 1.5. (Application icons must be placed on the left side of the dividing line.) When you add an application icon to the Dock, an alias to it is created. As with the default application icons, you can click an icon to open the application and perform a second click to open its Dock menu.

The Dock has two icons that you can’t move at all: The Finder and Trash/Eject. Other than these two endpoints, you can change all of the other Dock icons as much as you like. You can’t change the location of the dividing line, though; it moves to the left or to the right based on the number of icons on either side of it.

1.5 Because I frequently use Firefox, I’ve added its icon to my Dock.

You can rearrange the application icons installed on the Dock by dragging them to the location where you want them to reside. Just as when you install a new icon, when you move an existing icon between two others, they separate so that you can place the icon you’re moving where you want it.

You can remove an application icon from the Dock by dragging it up onto the Desktop and releasing the trackpad button. When you do this, the icon disappears in a puff of digital smoke and no longer appears on the Dock. Because the icons on the Dock are aliases, removing them doesn’t affect the applications that they represent.

You can add multiple items to the Dock simultaneously by holding down the key while you select each item you want to add, and then dragging them there.

When you place a folder’s icon on the Dock, it becomes a stack. A stack has some special characteristics, which is why it isn’t just called a folder (however, you can configure a stack to behave like a folder). Two stacks are installed on your Dock by default: Downloads and Documents. You can add any other folders to the Dock just as you would an application; simply drag and drop the icons where you want them. (Remember that folders and documents have to be placed on the right side of the dividing line.) You can also reorganize stack icons by dragging them around on the Dock and (as you probably guessed) you can remove them from the Dock by dragging their icons onto the Desktop.

Stack icons sometimes take on the icon of the most recent file that has been placed into them. For example, if you last downloaded a disk image file, the Downloads stack icon is the one for a disk image. When you place an image into your Pictures folder and have that folder installed on your Dock, its icon is a thumbnail of the last image you placed in it.

When you click a stack icon, its contents fan onto the Desktop if there are only a few of them, or open into a grid if there are many. You can access an item on the fan or grid by clicking it. You can open the folder’s contents in a Finder window by clicking Open in Finder.

As mentioned earlier, you can also configure how an individual stack’s icon behaves by using its contextual menu. Perform a secondary click on the stack icon and its menu appears, as shown in Figure 1.6.

1.6 Stacks have many configuration options.

All Dock settings are specific to each user account (see Chapter 2). One user’s Dock settings do not affect another’s.

The following options are included on the menu:

Sort by. Choose the attribute by which you want the items in the stack to be sorted. For example, choose Date Added to have the most recently added content appear at the bottom of the fan (if the stack is set to fan, of course).

Display as. Select Stack to have the icon look like a stack or Folder to replace the stack icon with the folder’s icon. The only difference is that when you select Folder, you always see the folder’s icon on the Dock, as opposed to the icon of the most recently added item, which is what you see when Stack is selected.

View content as. Select Fan to see the default fan layout for the stack (until it contains too many items, at which point it uses the grid instead). Select Grid to have the folder’s contents appear in a grid. Select List to display the contents in a list that looks similar to a mini-Finder window, as shown in Figure 1.7. This is useful for folders that contain subfolders because you can select a folder to move into it on another hierarchical menu. Select Automatic to have the Mac OS select the most appropriate view based on the folder’s contents.

1.7 When you view a folder icon as a List, it behaves like a Finder window in Columns view.

Options. Choose Remove from Dock to remove the icon from the Dock. Choose Show in Finder to open a Finder window showing the folder’s contents.

Open. Choose this command to open the folder on the Desktop.

Another type of Dock icon is for windows you have minimized. You can move a minimized window icon within the folder side of the Dock, but its location is only temporary (it remains there only until you maximize or close the window). If you drag a minimized window from the Dock, it snaps back to the Dock. You remove minimized windows from the Dock by moving into or closing them.

Changing the Dock’s appearance and behavior

The Dock offers several behaviors you can change to suit your preferences. The following steps walk you through how to change various aspects of the Dock’s appearance:

1. Choose Apple menu →System Preferences.

2. Click the Dock icon. The Dock pane appears.

3. Drag the Size slider to the right to make the default Dock larger, or to the left to make it smaller. This sets the size of the Dock when no applications that aren’t installed on it are open and no windows are currently minimized. The Dock changes size automatically as you open applications and minimize windows.

When your MacBook Pro is connected to an external display, the Dock always appears on the primary display.

4. Select the Magnification check box if you want to magnify an area of the Dock when you point to it. Drag the Magnification slider to the right to increase the level of magnification, or to the left to decrease it.This can make identifying items easier, especially if many items are on the Dock or when it is small.

5. Select the position of the Dock on the Desktop by clicking Left, Bottom (default), or Right.

6. On the Minimize using pop-up menu, select Genie Effect to pull windows down to the Dock when you minimize them, or Scale Effect to shrink them down into the Dock.

7. If you want to be able to minimize a window by double-clicking its title bar, select the Double-click a window’s title bar to minimize check box.

8. If you prefer windows that you minimize to move onto the related application’s icon instead of to a separate icon on the right side of the dividing line, select the Minimize windows into application icon check box. With this setting enabled, you must open the application icon’s menu and select a minimized window to move back into it, or move back into the application and use its Window menu to choose the minimized window (unless the minimized window is also the application’s active window, in which case you move into it directly).

9. By default, application icons bounce as the application opens. If you don’t want this to happen, deselect the Animate opening applications check box.

10. If you want the Dock to be hidden automatically when you aren’t pointing to it, select the Automatically hide and show the Dock check box. If you set the Dock so that it is hidden except when you point to it, you can use more of your display. When this behavior is enabled and you point to the Dock’s location, it pops onto the Desktop and you can use it. When you move off the Dock, it is hidden again.

11. To show the glowing dot icon under running applications, select the Show indicator lights for open applications check box. These lights are useful because they help you more easily identify open applications when you glance at the Dock (remember, when applications are hidden, you don’t see any of their windows).

You can turn Dock Hiding on or off by pressing Option++D.

Using the Launchpad

If you’ve used an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you already know how to use the Launchpad on the Mac because it works in exactly the same manner as the Home pages on those devices. The Launchpad provides one-click access to your applications, and you can organize the Launchpad to make it work efficiently for you.

One difference between the Home pages on Apple mobile devices and the Launchpad is that only application icons can be stored on the Launchpad, whereas on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, you can also store web page icons.

Click the Launchpad icon on the Dock (it is located just to the right of the Finder icon by default) or perform a three-finger pinch (three fingers pinched against your thumb) on the trackpad. This preference is enabled by default on the Trackpad pane of the System Preferences application. The Launchpad then fills the Desktop and you see icons on the current page, as shown in Figure 1.8. To move to a different page, drag two fingers on the trackpad to the left or to the right. As you drag, the page flips to the next or previous page.

1.8 The Launchpad provides easy access to all of your applications.

You’ll notice that the Dock remains visible if it isn’t hidden, or becomes visible if it is hidden when the Launchpad is open. You can also use the Application Switcher while the Launchpad is displayed.

To open an application, click its icon. The Launchpad closes and you move into that application. Click on a folder to access the applications stored within it. The folder then expands and you see the icons it contains, as shown in Figure 1.9. Click the icon you want to use. To close the Launchpad without opening an application, click on it (but not on an application’s icon), perform a three-finger unpinch gesture on the trackpad, or press Esc.

1.9 To access an app stored in a folder, click the folder’s icon, and then click the application’s icon.

The Launchpad is actually an application. Therefore, you can add its icon to the sidebar, open it by double-clicking its icon in the Application folder, and so on.

By default, the Launchpad contains icons for all of the Mac OS X default applications. When you download and install applications from the Mac App Store application or from the Desktop, those icons are automatically added to the Launchpad. You can organize the icons on your Launchpad to make accessing them easier and faster.

To change the location of icons on the Launchpad, open it and drag the icon you want to move. You can change its location on the current page, or drag it off the screen to the left or right to move it to another page (you have to linger at the edge of the screen until the page changes). As you move one icon between others, they shift to make room for the one you are moving. When the icon is over the location you want, release it.

To create a new folder, drag one icon on top of another. Launchpad creates a new folder and tries to name it according to the type of applications you place together. The folder opens and you see the icons stored there. To change the folder name, select it. When it is highlighted, type its new name, as shown in Figure 1.10.

1.10 You can organize icons on your Launchpad in folders.

You can place icons within existing folders by dragging them on top of the folder in which you want to place them. You can also reorganize icons within folders by dragging them around when the folder is open. To remove an icon from a folder, drag it outside of the folder window until the folder closes. To delete a folder, drag all of its icons outside of it; when you remove the second to last icon, the folder disappears (folders can’t contain just one icon).

You can remove applications (if they aren’t default Apple applications, that is) by clicking and holding an icon. After a moment, the icons begin to jiggle and the Remove button (x) appears. Click the Remove button and then click Delete at the prompt. Removing an application from the Launchpad also deletes it from your MacBook Pro, so make sure that you don’t want it before completing this action. To return the Launchpad to normal without deleting an application, click outside of any application icon.

To remove applications that you didn’t download from the App Store, run the application’s uninstaller or drag it to the trash, and then empty it.

Configuring the Dashboard

The Dashboard is an application that is a collection of mini-applications called widgets. By default, the Dashboard application is always running, so its widgets are always available to you.

The following is a list of the default ways in which you can activate the Dashboard:

Press Fn+F12 (default).

Click the Dashboard icon on the Dock.

Open the Dashboard Dock icon menu and choose Show Dashboard.

Double-click the Dashboard’s icon in the Applications folder.

Open Mission Control and move all the way to the left.

Perform a three- or four-finger swipe all the way to the left.

Double-click a widget’s icon.

When you activate the Dashboard, the widgets that are configured to open when it is activated appear, as shown in Figure 1.11. You can then use those widgets or see their information.

1.11 When you open the Dashboard, you get instant access to a set of widgets.

When you finish using widgets, deactivate the Dashboard again by pressing Fn+F12, performing a three- or four-finger swipe, pressing Esc, or by clicking the right-facing arrow in the lower-right corner of the window. All of the widgets disappear, the Dashboard closes, and you return to your Desktop.

Setting the Dashboard keyboard shortcut and hot corner

You can set a keyboard shortcut that you press and a hot corner to which you can point, to open or close the Dashboard. Perform the following steps to configure these:

1. Open the System Preferences application.

2. Click the Mission Control icon. The Mission Control pane appears.

3. Click the Hot Corners button. The Hot Corners sheet appears.

4. To set a hot corner, use the pop-up menu located next to each corner of the Desktop thumbnail at the top of the pane. Select Dashboard for the corner you want to make the hot corner. Click OK and the sheet closes.

5. To change the Dashboard keyboard shortcut, use the Show Dashboard pop-up menu to choose the function or modifier keys you want. You can also use the menu to the right of the Show Dashboard pop-up menu to set the shortcut to be a secondary or middle mouse-click.

Customizing the Dashboard

One of the nice things about the Dashboard is that you can configure the exact set of widgets that you want to use and how they appear on the screen. Follow these steps to customize your Dashboard:

1. Activate the Dashboard. The widgets that are currently configured to open appear.

2. Click the Add (+) button in the lower-left corner of the screen. The widget page opens and you see all of the widgets installed on your MacBook Pro. At the bottom of each icon, you see the name of the widget, as shown in Figure 1.12. Widgets are shown in alphabetical order from left to right and top to bottom.

1.12 Click the Add (+) button to open this page and see all of the widgets you have installed on your MacBook Pro.

Each time you add a widget, a new version of it is added to the Dashboard. This is useful for widgets that you configure with specific information, such as a location, like the Weather widget.

Many widgets (such as the Weather and World Clock) require an Internet connection to work. Others, such as the Calculator, do not.

3. To add a widget to your Dashboard, click its icon. You move back to the Dashboard and see the widget you added.

4. Move the widgets around the screen until they are where you want them to be when you activate the Dashboard.

5. Close any widgets that you don’t want to open when you activate the Dashboard by clicking the Remove (-) button at the bottom of the Dashboard. Then, click the widget’s Close button (the x in the upper-left corner of each widget’s window). The widget disappears from the Dashboard but remains on the widget bar.

6. Click the Remove (-) button when you’re finished.

Configuring widgets

To see if a widget has configuration options, move the pointer over it. If it has options, the Info button (usually a lowercase i that is sometimes in a circle)appears, as shown in Figure 1.13. The location of the Info button varies and, sometimes, it is hard to see, so look closely when you hover over a widget.

On some widgets, it isn’t necessary to hover over them to see the Info button.

1.13 Configure a widget by clicking the Info button. In this example, it’s in the lower-right corner.

When you click the Info button, the widget’s configuration tools appear, as shown in Figure 1.14. You can use these to make the widget work or look the way you want it to. When you are finished, click Done and the widget is updated accordingly. You should always check out the Info options for any widgets that you use because they can probably make them even more useful to you.

1.14 You can configure the stocks that the Stocks widget tracks for you.

Installing more widgets

The Dashboard includes quite a few widgets, but there are thousands available on the Apple widget website that you can download and install. Follow these steps to get and install new widgets:

1. Open the Dashboard.

2. Click the Add (+) button.

3. Click the More Widgets button. Your default web browser opens and takes you to the Apple widgets web page, shown in Figure 1.15.

4. Browse or search until you find a widget you want to try.

5. Download the widget. In most cases, the widget is downloaded directly. After it downloads, you’re prompted to install it. If this is the case for you, skip to step 7.

If you don’t have Gatekeeper set to allow applications to be installed from anywhere, the widget you are trying to download may be blocked. You can temporarily disable the Gatekeeper while you install a widget. See Chapter 13 for more information.

6. If the file is downloaded to your Downloads folder, move to and open it. Widget files have the file extension .wdgt. If you don’t see this extension, you might have to double-click the file you downloaded to expand it.

1.15 Got widgets?

7. Click Install at the prompt. The widget is added to the widgets page.

8. Add and configure the new widget to access it from your Dashboard.

Creating your own web widgets

To create a widget like those you see on the Apple widget website, you have to do some basic programming. However, you can create your own widgets by capturing parts of websites.

To create web widgets, you must be using Safari as your web browser.

Follow these steps to create a widget from a website:

1. Open Safari.

2. Move to a web page containing information or tools that you want to capture in a widget.

3. Choose File →Open in Dashboard. A selection box and capture toolbar appear, as shown in Figure 1.16.

1.16 Use the selection box to choose the part of the web page that you want to capture in a widget.

4. Make the selection box enclose the part of the page that you want to be a widget by dragging the box to the general area you want to capture. Next, click the trackpad button to lock the selection box, and then drag its resize handles to enclose the exact part of the page you want.

5. Click the Add button on the toolbar. The Dashboard opens and the part of the page you selected becomes a widget, as shown in Figure 1.17.

1.17 I captured a section of a webpage as a widget so I can move back to it easily.

6. Click the new widget’s Info button.

7. Use the resulting tools to select a theme. The theme determines the border of the widget.

Depending on how the web page is constructed, you may see certain parts of it selected as you move over them. If these parts are the widget you want to create, it’s a good idea to allow this automatic selection to achieve the best results.

8. If the clip has audio and you want it to play only while the Dashboard is open, select the Only play audio in Dashboard check box.

9. Click Done.

10. Place the widget on your Dashboard.

The web capture selection tool captures a defined portion of the web page, based on what you select. If the structure of the web page changes, it might shift what’s shown in the widget. You then must re-create the widget to fix any problems. You can remove a web widget the same as other widgets. Unlike the others, though, when you close a widget you’ve captured, it’s gone forever.

If the widget isn’t exactly what you want it to be, open the Info panel and click Edit. You can resize the widget’s window to capture the part of the page you want to appear.

Managing Your Desktop with Mission Control

Mission Control is a tool that enables you to see and access anything on your Desktop. You can also create multiple Desktops (or spaces) that contain different collections of open windows. To activate Mission Control, click its icon on the Dock or swipe four fingers up the trackpad (the default gesture; see Chapter 5 for more information). You then see the thumbnails for the following items at the top of the screen, as shown in Figure 1.18:

Dashboard

Your spaces, named as Desktop X (where X is a sequential number)

Applications open in Full Screen mode

1.18 Mission Control shows all of the open windows on your Desktops.

In the center part of the window, you see all of the windows open in the applications within the current Desktop. Windows are organized by application and you see the application’s icon and name with its group. The Dock appears in its default location and you can use it just as you would when working outside of Mission Control. Mission Control also enables you to manage windows on a specific Desktop.

Managing windows on a Desktop

As you work on documents, move to websites, check your e-mail, choose tunes to listen to, and all of the other things you do on your MacBook Pro, you can accumulate a lot of open windows on your Desktop. This makes it easy to multitask so that you don’t have to stop one activity to start another. The downside, though, is that it’s easy to lose track of where the specific window you want is located, or you might have a hard time getting back to the Desktop.

Mission Control helps you manage screen clutter from open windows with the following three modes:

Hide all open windows

Show an application’s windows

Show all windows on the current Desktop, all Desktops, the Dashboard, and Full Screen apps

Each of these modes has a specific use and you access them in slightly different ways.

Hiding all open windows

Hiding all open windows is useful when the Desktop on which you are working is so cluttered, you have a hard time finding anything. To clear away all of your windows in one sweep, press the keyboard shortcut (in most cases, the default is Fn+F11; I cover how to set this later in this chapter). All of the windows are moved off the screen, leaving an uncluttered Desktop. If you look carefully at the shaded edges of the Desktop shown in Figure 1.19, you see the edges of the windows that have been moved off to the side.

1.19 Where, oh where, have all of my windows gone? If you look carefully at the shaded edges of the screen, you’ll see them.

You can return your Desktop to its cluttered condition by pressing the keyboard shortcut (usually Fn+F11) again, or by clicking anywhere in the shaded borders of the Desktop. The windows slide back onto the visible part of the Desktop where you can use them again.

Showing application windows

When you are working with multiple windows in the same application, it can be tough to get back to a specific window if you can’t see all of them at the same time. Press the keyboard shortcut (Control+down arrow, by default) or swipe down with four fingers (the default gesture) to see all open windows for the current application, as shown in Figure 1.20.

1.20 When you have many windows open in an application, Mission Control makes it easy to move into a specific one.

At the top of the screen, you see the windows that are currently open on the Desktop. Under these, you see the windows that are hidden or those that you worked with previously that are now closed (such as documents you have edited). To move into a window, click it; it is highlighted in blue when you move over it. The window becomes active (if it is for a closed document, the document opens) and moves to the front so that you can use it. The rest of the open application windows then move to their previous positions.

When you have all of the windows for an application showing, press Tab to quickly move through them. You can also press +Tab to open the Application Switcher bar, which shows all open applications, and then press +Tab to move to the application on which you want to focus. When you release the key, the windows for the selected application appear.

Showing all windows

In this mode, you see Mission Control, as shown in Figure 1.21, which shows your Desktops, applications running in Full Screen mode, and the windows open in the active Desktop. The details of using Mission Control in this mode are provided later in this chapter.

1.21 In this mode, Mission Control enables you to access any open window and the Dashboard.

Using Desktops

As you use your MacBook Pro, it’s likely that you’ll develop sets of tasks that you work on at the same time. For example, you might use Word to create text and a graphics application to write a book. These kinds of activities invariably involve a lot of windows. While you can use Mission Control to manage all of the open windows for an application, it’s not very efficient because you can only focus on one window at a time, so it can still take some work to get to the windows you want to use.