Mac Kung Fu, 2nd Edition

Squeeze every drop of juice from OS X with over 400 quick and easy tips, tricks, hints and hacks in Mac Kung Fu: Second Edition . Exploit secret settings and hidden apps, push built-in tools to the limit, radically personalize your Mac experience, and make “it just works” even better. In addition to core OS X technologies, this significantly revised and expanded update to the best-selling first edition dissects new OS X Mountain Lion tools such as iCloud, Notifications, Reminders, and Calendar.

Mac Kung Fu: Second Edition will blow your mind with secret hacks never before made public and little-known tricks that will change the way you work forever. From big tasks through everyday jobs, this book will improve your productivity and refine your workflow. You’ll customize and manage the OS X interface, boost the power of built-in apps, efficiently handle the filesystem, implement important security tricks, and much more.

Working with files in iCloud? We have tips to help. Managing program windows on your desktop? Hacks will make life easier. Creating reminders or notes? Use our tricks to make the process more productive. Emailing, tweeting, browsing, printing, word processing, testing and exploiting hardware, working with photos, movies, and documents… There’s no area Mac Kung Fu: Second Edition doesn’t touch upon, making it a unique and utterly necessary addition for any Mac lover’s bookshelf.

Each tip is deliberately short and readable, often detailing things even Mac Geniuses don’t know, and you can dip in and out whenever you want. Most tips take less than a minute to complete, yet the results last for a lifetime of better computing.

What You Need:

A Mac running OS X Mountain Lion and above.

Table of Contents

Tip 1. Make Launchpad Bigger (or Smaller)
Tip 2. Turn Off Irritating “Rubber-Band” Scrolling
Tip 3. Stop Scrollbars from Disappearing
Tip 4. Make Your Mac Speak with Siri’s Voice
Tip 5. Supertip: Dictate Like a Pro
Tip 6. Get Rid of Files​—​Securely
Tip 7. Auto-answer FaceTime Calls
Tip 8. Instantly Add Movies and Music to iTunes
Tip 9. Be a Messages App Keyboard Wizard
Tip 10. Store Absolutely Any File in iCloud
Tip 11. Use a Secret, Alternative Cut and Paste
Tip 12. Correct Misspellings or Typos Without the Mouse
Tip 13. Create iCloud Folders
Tip 14. See What Folders You’ve Accessed Recently
Tip 15. See Bluetooth Signal Strength
Tip 16. Switch to Black Menus in Full-Screen Mode
Tip 17. Create Reminders Ultra-Quickly
Tip 18. Right-Click to Share Anything
Tip 19. View Safari’s Google History
Tip 20. Open a Link Displayed in Terminal
Tip 21. Get Back “Save As”
Tip 22. Quickly Navigate Launchpad
Tip 23. Turn Off Notifications with a Single Click
Tip 24. Increase Settings in Micro-Increments
Tip 25. Access (and Back Up) All iCloud Documents
Tip 26. Sleep Your Mac with a Remote
Tip 27. Restart a Jammed Finder
Tip 28. Quickly Get Documents into (and out of) iCloud
Tip 29. Master Quick Look’s Full-Screen Feature
Tip 30. Put Notes and Sticky Notes on Top
Tip 31. Don’t Delete Files When Copying
Tip 32. Add Your Choice of Search Engine
Tip 33. Forward Only a Mail’s Attachment
Tip 34. Quickly Add to Safari’s Reading List
Tip 35. Get Complex Multiple-Display Setups
Tip 36. Turn a Movie Into a TV Show
Tip 37. See Where You’re Browsing in Terminal
Tip 38. Ultra-Quickly See an App’s Open Files
Tip 39. Use Half-Star Ratings in iTunes
Tip 40. Switch Locations in Terminal via Drag and Drop
Tip 41. Timestamp Zip Filenames
Tip 42. Copy Better in Mail
Tip 43. Instantly Rename Safari Bookmarks
Tip 44. Spruce Up Terminal
Tip 45. Turn Off Trash Sound Effects
Tip 46. Get Handy When Formatting Text
Tip 47. Get Photo Stream Pictures via Finder
Tip 48. Avoid Notifications
Tip 49. Use Fancy Text in Mail Signatures
Tip 50. Install Any App Without Being Blocked
Tip 51. Browse Back via the Keyboard in Safari
Tip 52. Quickly Switch Audio Output (Including AirPlay)
Tip 53. Stop Apps from Auto-Quitting
Tip 54. Turn Off “Smooth Scrolling”
Tip 55. Save Safari Tabs When Quitting
Tip 56. Jump to the Top of Your Emails
Tip 57. Type Weird Characters Ultra-Quickly
Tip 58. Turn Your Mac Into a Surveillance Camera
Tip 59. Modify Messages’ Look and Feel
Tip 60. Use Your Own Choice of Notes Font
Tip 61. Duplicate a File with One Click
Tip 62. Share Google Links
Tip 63. Master Notification Center
Tip 64. Switch Time Machine Disks
Tip 65. Share Reminders and Calendars
Tip 66. Update Your Profile Pic
Tip 67. See Your Mac’s Serial Number
Tip 68. Use a VIP Mailbox
Tip 69. Supertip: Get the Most from Reminders
Tip 70. Turn Off Java
Tip 71. Notify from the Command Line
Tip 72. Stop the Dock from Getting Broken
Tip 73. Control QuickTime Player Using Keys
Tip 74. Let OS X Create Passwords
Tip 75. Prefer Plain-Text Emails
Tip 76. See a Big Long List of Your Contacts
Tip 77. Type into PDFs
Tip 78. Play Ripped DVD Backups
Tip 79. Link to Emails in Notes/Stickies/Docs
Tip 80. When Did I Make That Sticky?
Tip 81. Use Facebook Chat
Tip 82. Preview Widgets
Tip 83. Create a “Drives” Stack
Tip 84. Calculate All File Sizes
Tip 85. Quickly Switch Calculator Modes
Tip 86. Add Your Contacts’ Websites to Safari
Tip 87. Import Twitter or Facebook Contacts
Tip 88. Email Web Pages in a Simple Layout
Tip 89. Quickly Send Files to an iPhone or iPad
Tip 90. Use Time Machine with iCloud
Tip 91. Find Docs by Zooming
Tip 92. Share via Twitter or Facebook with a Keystroke
Tip 93. Stop iCloud from Being the Default
Tip 94. Export in More Formats via Preview
Tip 95. Supertip: Get the Most from QuickTime Player
Tip 96. Subscribe to Useful Calendars
Tip 97. Turn Off Annoying Special Effects
Tip 98. Start Apps Without the Mouse
Tip 99. Select Text In Quick Look
Tip 100. Resize Windows Easily
Tip 101. Get to the Dock in a Full-Screen App
Tip 102. Play Sounds When Certain Mail Arrives
Tip 103. Migrate from Outlook to Calendar
Tip 104. Stop iTunes from Adding Track Numbers
Tip 105. Switch Desktop Space Ultra-Quickly
Tip 106. Protect USB Memory Sticks
Tip 107. Find Out Where Your Wallpaper Lives
Tip 108. Summarize Any Document
Tip 109. Activate Stacks and Mission Control by a Gesture
Tip 110. Quickly Create a List of Files
Tip 111. Supertip: Take Control of Scrolling
Tip 112. Turn a Small Keyboard into a Big One
Tip 113. Fix Ugly Fonts
Tip 114. Type Symbols and Diacritical Characters
Tip 115. Rename Hundreds of Photos
Tip 116. Personalize Every Icon
Tip 117. Bring Widgets to the Desktop
Tip 118. Discover Software Version Numbers
Tip 119. Use a Screensaver as a Desktop Background
Tip 120. Add Folders of Wallpaper Images
Tip 121. Put Notebooks in Deep Sleep
Tip 122. Fix a Slow Boot
Tip 123. Know Exactly Where You Are
Tip 124. Tweak Launchpad Visual Effects
Tip 125. Create “Crazy” Emails
Tip 126. Secure All Your Files Against Hackers
Tip 127. See Every Wi-Fi Detail
Tip 128. Make Launchpad a Personalized App Launcher
Tip 129. Supertip: Get the Most from Spotlight
Tip 130. View a Quick Calendar
Tip 131. Add Magical Links for Email, Messages, Web, and More
Tip 132. Stop Notes from Being Yellow
Tip 133. Simulate an iPhone or iPad
Tip 134. Control Start-up Apps
Tip 135. Watch CPU Load and Activity
Tip 136. Create Doc Templates and Boilerplate Text
Tip 137. Create an Event from an Email or Web Page
Tip 138. Keep Your Mac Wide Awake
Tip 139. Stress Test Your Mac’s Memory
Tip 140. Create an Install and Recovery Stick
Tip 141. Recover Crashes and Lock-Ups
Tip 142. Share Your Contacts with Others
Tip 143. Set Your IM Status—Even If Messages Isn’t Running
Tip 144. Change Fonts Used in Finder
Tip 145. Stress Test Your Mac’s CPU
Tip 146. Find Files by Tagging Them
Tip 147. Bring Back the Library
Tip 148. Add Cool Visual Effects to Stacks
Tip 149. Always See File Info
Tip 150. Create One-Click Shortcuts
Tip 151. Quickly Move Toolbar Icons
Tip 152. Delete iCloud Files (Without Going Insane)
Tip 153. Shrink PDF Files
Tip 154. Turn On Key Repeat
Tip 155. Save Text Snippets
Tip 156. Hide Files
Tip 157. Supertip: Make Better Screenshots
Tip 158. Set Movie Thumbnails
Tip 159. Create a Clever Color Picker
Tip 160. Back Up Without a Time Machine Disk
Tip 161. Make the Dock Really, Really Small
Tip 162. Get a Better Stack List
Tip 163. Supertip: Make Finder Your Hub
Tip 164. Hide Every Single Window
Tip 165. Work Better with Column View
Tip 166. Maximize iTunes Windows
Tip 167. See All Your Mac Knows About Somebody
Tip 168. Print Wall Calendars
Tip 169. Keep a Folder Update Log
Tip 170. Start Terminal in an Instant
Tip 171. Enable Apache and PHP
Tip 172. Change Preview Markup Colors
Tip 173. Download Files Fuss-Free
Tip 174. Hide a File from Spotlight
Tip 175. Create Groups of Contacts
Tip 176. Calm a Bouncing Dock Icon
Tip 177. Spawn New Finder Windows
Tip 178. Pool Printers for Quick Printing
Tip 179. View Photo or Movie’s Hidden Info
Tip 180. Supertip: Be a Quick Look Power User
Tip 181. Print via Drag and Drop
Tip 182. Be Ultra-Accurate with Spotlight
Tip 183. Jump Between Views in Finder
Tip 184. Reset Hardware Settings
Tip 185. Force-Open a Document
Tip 186. See What Free Disk Space There Is
Tip 187. Find Forgotten Passwords
Tip 188. Get the Size of Multiple Files
Tip 189. Manage Projects with Colors
Tip 190. Make Movies, Screencasts, and Podcasts
Tip 191. Print from Finder
Tip 192. Add an Eject Button
Tip 193. Access Hidden Menu Options
Tip 194. Instantly Search Google
Tip 195. Enhance Your Login Picture with Visual Effects
Tip 196. Make the Mouse Cursor Big
Tip 197. View a Cover Flow of Calendar Events
Tip 198. Supertip: Application Switching
Tip 199. Lock Files for Safety
Tip 200. Correct Your Mac’s Dictionary
Tip 201. Make the Volume Ultra-Quiet
Tip 202. View Application Icons Close-Up
Tip 203. Hack Dashboard/Mission Control Backgrounds
Tip 204. View Tech Info When Logging In
Tip 205. Send Somebody a Listing of your Forthcoming Events
Tip 206. Boot via an Apple Remote
Tip 207. Organize Mail by Color Schemes
Tip 208. Stop Automatic File Opening
Tip 209. Create Encrypted Archives for All Computers
Tip 210. Look Up Words Instantly
Tip 211. Turn Off Download “Quarantining”
Tip 212. Where Does This File Live?
Tip 213. Cut Rather Than Copy Files
Tip 214. Avoid the Spring-Load Wait
Tip 215. Print Envelopes
Tip 216. Turn Off Drag and Drop
Tip 217. Quickly Upload Files Using Safari
Tip 218. Map an Address You’ve Been Sent
Tip 219. Install Apps on All Your Macs
Tip 220. Move the Cursor When Using Page Up/Page Down
Tip 221. Jump Around Open/Save Dialog Boxes
Tip 222. Regain Control of a Crashed Mac
Tip 223. Turn a Clipboard Image into a File
Tip 224. Leap Around the Desktop via the Keyboard
Tip 225. Make Email Desktop Shortcuts
Tip 226. Check Your Mac’s Warranty
Tip 227. Secure Your Mac by Locking It
Tip 228. Switch Which App Edits a File You’re Working On
Tip 229. Supertip: Take Control of PDFs
Tip 230. Edit Movies
Tip 231. Eject a Stuck CD/DVD Disc
Tip 232. Cue Through Movies Using Your Fingertips
Tip 233. Take a Picture of the Screen
Tip 234. Ignore a Software Update
Tip 235. Generate Font Samples
Tip 236. Send iMessages from Within Contacts
Tip 237. Instantly View a Command’s Man Page
Tip 238. Autocomplete Words
Tip 239. Make the Dock Show Only Running Programs
Tip 240. Create a “Recent Items” Stack
Tip 241. Personalize the Mission Control Highlight
Tip 242. Fix Broken Passwords
Tip 243. Turn Off the Desktop
Tip 244. Get Quick Access to System Preferences
Tip 245. Temporarily Toggle Dock Magnification
Tip 246. Remove System Preferences Icons
Tip 247. Speed Up Slow PDFs
Tip 248. Turn Off Mail Sounds
Tip 249. Supertip: Take Control of Zip Files
Tip 250. Take Better Snapshots
Tip 251. Select Text like a Pro
Tip 252. Create Cool Dock Stacks
Tip 253. Clean Caches for Smooth Running
Tip 254. Turn the Numeric Keypad into a Launcher
Tip 255. Open a Terminal Window Where You’re Browsing
Tip 256. See Mini-Calendars in the Calendar App
Tip 257. Install Only Printer Drivers and Not Their Add-Ins
Tip 258. Reveal the Desktop
Tip 259. Avoid Trackpad Confusion When a Mouse Is Used
Tip 260. Send Somebody an App Link
Tip 261. Copy Calculator Results
Tip 262. Bookmark Images and PDFs
Tip 263. Manually Manage Software Updates
Tip 264. Add Blank Spaces to the Dock
Tip 265. Work with Background Windows
Tip 266. Find Files Created Today or Yesterday (and More)
Tip 267. Download Any File via Safari
Tip 268. View Two Weeks of Appointments
Tip 269. Scrap the Mac Start-up Chime
Tip 270. Supertip: Be a Mission Control Power User
Tip 271. Switch Between App Windows
Tip 272. Zoom Into the Desktop
Tip 273. Quickly Rename a File
Tip 274. Sleep Hard Disks Sooner
Tip 275. Force a File to be Found via Spotlight
Tip 276. Turn Off New Time Machine Disk Requests
Tip 277. Add Your Own System Sounds
Tip 278. Bulk Shrink, Rotate, or Flip Pictures in Preview
Tip 279. Know When It’s Read-Only
Tip 280. Quickly Email Text or Pics
Tip 281. Quickly Create a New Sticky Note
Tip 282. Open Finder When Saving or Opening Files
Tip 283. Rename Sidebar Folders
Tip 284. Choose Music—Via a Screensaver
Tip 285. Know Whether a PDF Is Multipage at a Glance
Tip 286. Grab Photos and Movies from Your iPhone/iPad
Tip 287. Copy Web Pages to Disk
Tip 288. Recycle Your Apple Hardware (and Get Paid!)
Tip 289. Make Calendar Appointment Times Shorter
Tip 290. Make Your Mac Speak
Tip 291. Get the Most from the Mac Dictionary App
Tip 292. Scroll Finder Windows Better
Tip 293. See Numbers in Huge Type for Easy Jotting
Tip 294. Always See Expanded Save Dialogs
Tip 295. Check Your Grammar as You Type
Tip 296. Cancel Dialog Boxes Instantly
Tip 297. Supertip: Tweak the Dock’s Look and Feel
Tip 298. Add Sketches to PDFs
Tip 299. Prune the Right-Click Menu
Tip 300. Quit Finder
Tip 301. Undo File Operations
Tip 302. Make a New Folder from Some Files
Tip 303. Align Desktop Icons When Dragging
Tip 304. See OS X Animations in Slow Motion
Tip 305. Know Which Apps Are Hidden in the Dock
Tip 306. Cancel Drag and Drop Mid-Move
Tip 307. Make Time Machine Forget a File
Tip 308. Use Multiple Twitter Accounts
Tip 309. Connect to Stubborn Shared Folders or Servers
Tip 310. View Another Country’s App Store
Tip 311. Record Your Terminal Work
Tip 312. Avoid Cluttering Network Shares with .DS_store Files
Tip 313. Access a Secret Dock Visual Effect
Tip 314. Get Better Trackpad Right-Clicking
Tip 315. Convert Images into a PDF
Tip 316. Make Only One Program Window Visible at a Time
Tip 317. Add the Trash to Finder
Tip 318. Save a Movie’s Audio
Tip 319. Save PDFs Automatically to a Folder
Tip 320. Copy and Paste Without the Formatting
Tip 321. Create Secure Notes
Tip 322. Make Use of Boot-Time Options
Tip 323. Make a “Quit All” App
Tip 324. Upgrade RAM
Tip 325. Start GUI Apps from the Command Line
Tip 326. Quickly Turn Emails into Docs
Tip 327. Search Spotlight from Terminal
Tip 328. Enable the Root User
Tip 329. Wake Your MacBook If the Power Is Attached
Tip 330. Pass Command-Line Output to GUI Apps
Tip 331. Supertip: Turn Off OS X Features
Tip 332. Use Option or Command for Shortcuts
Tip 333. Use a Gesture to See App Windows
Tip 334. Change Alias Destinations
Tip 335. Re-create the Dock from Scratch
Tip 336. Reorder the “Menulets”
Tip 337. Wake Troublesome Macs
Tip 338. View the True Size of an Image
Tip 339. Convert Audio and Video Files
Tip 340. Extend Quick Look’s File Knowledge
Tip 341. Use a Hidden Stacks Animation
Tip 342. Google Highlighted Text
Tip 343. Use a Secret Gesture to Switch Spaces
Tip 344. Find Out Where a File Came From
Tip 345. Create a Login Message
Tip 346. Use the “Linen” Background on the Desktop
Tip 347. Start Time Machine at the Command Line
Tip 348. Repair Disk Problems
Tip 349. Tear Off Tabs
Tip 350. Move Time Machine to a Larger Disk
Tip 351. Let Spotlight Search More Files
Tip 352. Supertip: Optimize Screen Sharing
Tip 353. Diagnose Network Problems
Tip 354. Create Font Families
Tip 355. Speed Up Making SSH/SFTP/FTP Connections
Tip 356. Add Your Signature to Docs
Tip 357. Speed Up Mail
Tip 358. Search for System Files
Tip 359. Set the Default Operating System
Tip 360. Dump a Snapshot of Your Mac
Tip 361. Search for Carriage Returns and Tabs
Tip 362. Work Better in Sunlight
Tip 363. Be Clever in Open/Save Dialog Boxes
Tip 364. Make Terminal Delete Words Like Other OS X Apps
Tip 365. Whiz Around Save As Dialogs
Tip 366. Accessing iCloud Without a Mac
Tip 367. Browse Old Time Machine Disks
Tip 368. Explore Within a Website Using Safari
Tip 369. Reorder Finder Sidebar Headings
Tip 370. Switch Tabs Quickly
Tip 371. Quickly Adjust Preferences for Any App
Tip 372. Grab Files from Your Mac While Miles Away
Tip 373. Move Back and Forward in Apps
Tip 374. Play Games
Tip 375. Run X11 (XQuartz) Apps Full-Screen
Tip 376. Get Cool Wallpapers from Screensaver Packages
Tip 377. See What Disk Space Is Taken Up by Media
Tip 378. Switch Dashboard Back to Overlay Mode
Tip 379. Tweak iTunes Visualizations
Tip 380. Add Finder to Launchpad
Tip 381. Create an Instant Wired Network Between Macs
Tip 382. Use Full-Color Emoticons
Tip 383. Supertip: Be a TextEdit Power User
Tip 384. Migrate from Windows to Mac Without Losing Data
Tip 385. Shrink and Expand Fonts in Docs and Emails
Tip 386. Use Safari While Booted to the Recovery System
Tip 387. Expand QuickTime Player’s Knowledge of File Types
Tip 388. Read Apple Manuals for Your Products
Tip 389. Use a Non-Apple Keyboard with Your Mac
Tip 390. Connect to Network Shares at Login
Tip 391. Invert a Selection of Files
Tip 392. Open Duplicates of Dashboard Widgets
Tip 393. Cue Second-by-Second in Movies
Tip 394. Turn a Website into an App
Tip 395. Use Quick Look to Skim Sites
Tip 396. Create a New Folder Anywhere
Tip 397. Grab Files from FTP Servers Using Finder
Tip 398. Turn Off the Caps Lock Key
Tip 399. Make Keyboard Lighting Work
Tip 400. See the Condition of Your Battery at a Glance
Tip 401. Magnify Sections of Photos or PDFs Easily
Tip 402. Tell Your Mac to Do Things
Tip 403. Use Three Fingers and Revolutionize Your Mac Use
Tip 404. Use AirDrop Even on Incompatible Macs
Tip 405. Supertip: Get Some Must-Have Mac Apps