Pick of the Week - Nov 10
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Path Finder 5 - A feature-laden Finder replacement
Path Finder 5 - A feature-laden Finder replacement
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Use your laptop for a tracing backlight.
Feb 17, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: alanh
I needed a darkened version of a sketch I made, but I didn't want to go scan it and darken it. I decided to make a copy the old fashioned way -- trace it.
However, the lamp wasn't bright enough, and I didn't have access to a backlit desk. Then it hit me; my laptop has a backlight, a very bright backlight in fact. How to use your screen as a light box:
[crarko adds: I've used an iPhone as a flashlight, but would not have thought of using a laptop as a light table. Clever idea.]
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10.7: Move messages to favorite mailboxes
Feb 17, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: earthsaver
I discovered a keyboard shortcut for moving messages to favorite mailboxes: Command+Control+number.
OS X Lion added a Favorites Bar to Mail where the user can keep frequently accessed mailboxes. The Command+1, +2, etc., shortcuts that used to work in 10.6 for Inbox, Outbox, Drafts, etc., are now associated with these favorites in order from left to right. While reaching for a different shortcut, I just discovered an undocumented shortcut for moving selected messages to one of these favorite mailboxes. Just add Control to the shortcut. For example, Drafts is in the third position on my Favorites Bar, so Command+Control+3 moves a selected message to Drafts. The only requirement is that the destination is a regular (not smart) mailbox. [crarko adds: A very handy shortcut.]
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10.7: Spelling correction using only the keyboard
Feb 17, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Zonker.in.Geneva
After much searching, I have finally found a way to correct misspelled words without using the full Spelling interface and without using the contextual menu, as that requires using the mouse.
I use the keyboard as much as possible. I much prefer it to using the mouse. I don't claim to know all the shortcuts but the ones I know, I use all the time. And for some time, I've been looking for a way to correct spelling for cases when auto-correct doesn't work. I thought it should have been easy to do. The only way I knew how to do it was right-clicking the misspelled word, which brings up a contextual menu the top of which shows suggestions followed by other options such as 'Ignore spelling,' 'Learn spelling,' and so on. But this is no shortcut and requires using the mouse. After all this time with Lion, I've finally found an answer. Yes, Lion has auto-correct, but it can be switched off or you might click Escape before it can auto-correct and now the word on the screen is misspelled. So, here's what to do:
[crarko adds: I tested this in TextEdit, and it works as described.]
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iOS 5: Deleting music on the device
Feb 16, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: abi1i
I've always wondered how to delete music off of an iOS device running 5.0.x, which can be a pain what with iCloud downloading music to your iOS device, and then adding the same song a second time when syncing with iTunes.
When in the Music app on the iOS device just swipe like you would for deleting basically anything on an iOS device and you'll get the option to delete the song. If you have a bunch of songs you want to delete this will take some time to to but at least now you wouldn't have duplicates thanks to the new features of iCloud downloading the song and then iTunes syncing another copy of the song on the same device. [crarko adds: The standard method for deleting line items in iOS comes to music.]
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Force folders in the Dock to open in Finder
Feb 16, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: dcottle
I keep frequently used folders and devices in the dock. The default behavior for clicking or using Dock focus then return is either the accordions, or with the command key opening the enclosing folder, neither of which I find very useful.
Solution: Create aliases (which I collect in one folder, also for easy access), and place them on the dock. Clicking or return when focused opens the folder. [crarko adds: Simple, but useful. A similar technique was used for a long time to simulate portions of the classic Apple menu, before people really adjusted to using the Dock.]
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iOS: Temporarily hide a mail/calendar account at will
Feb 15, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Coumerelli
I have (somewhat reluctantly) configured my iPhone to receive my work email. This account uses Exchange (Active Sync). But when I'm home on the weekends or away on vacation I really, REALLY do not want to have my work email in my face.
The solution? Go into the iPhone's Settings » Mail, Contacts, Calendars » [Email Account] And turn 'Mail' Off. All of that account's email mailboxes disappear from my iPhone, never to alert me of what I have coming to me on Monday morning. But when I turn it back on, it's all right there - right where I left off. Very handy. The same can be done for Calendars. I have not tested it with Contacts, but that may work, too. [crarko adds: This works with any system where the primary data repository resides on the server; Exchange, IMAP, CalDAV. Just be patient while the app resynchronizes the data. I've use this as a troubleshooting technique, but this hint is also a clever idea.]
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10.7: Adjust Mail's delay for marking items read in conversation view
Feb 15, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: jlukas
By default, Mail will mark a message in a conversation read after a short delay. To adjust the short delay (for example, to remove it), use the following command (replacing 0 with the desired time in seconds):
defaults write com.apple.Mail MarkAsReadDelay 0 To revert to the default: defaults delete com.apple.Mail MarkAsReadDelay As far as I can tell, there isn't a way to affect the delay for single messages. [crarko adds: Nice.]
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Change Safari's default search engine
Feb 14, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Anonymous
This hint describes a way to change one of Safari's built-in search engines (Google/Yahoo/Bing) into a custom one, without the use of any plugins/add-ons/extensions. It involves carefully editing one of Safari's binary (much like the previous hint.)
Go to /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Safari.framework/Versions/A/ and save the file named 'Safari' somewhere safe. If something goes wrong while editing, it's just a matter of copying that back (tested myself). Do the same for this file /Users/USER/Library/Safari/Configurations.plist.signed. Open 'Configurations.plist.signed' with any text editor and erase everything in it, making it blank. Save it, and then right-click to 'Get Info,' and tick the 'Locked' box. Now for the binary I recommend a hex editor, I used the free HexFiend.). Open the /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Safari.framework/Versions/A/Safari with your tool of choice. If you search google/yahoo/bing you'll find several strings, I decided to edit the Bing one because It was the one with the least amount of strings to edit, and as my new search engine I choose DuckDuckgo. Search for: www.bing.com/search?q={searchTerms}&form=APMCS1 And replace with: https://duckduckgo.com/?q={searchTerms} Note that you have to replace the old string with one of the same length, otherwise Safari will crash, and since the new one is shorter, add blank spaces to the end. It's a bit easier if using a hex editor. Search for: 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 77 77 77 2E 62 69 6E 67 2E 63 6F 6D 2F 73 65 61 72 63 68 3F 71 3D 7B 73 65 61 72 63 68 54 65 72 6D 73 7D 26 66 6F 72 6D 3D 41 50 4D 43 53 31 68 74 74 70 73 3A 2F 2F 64 75 63 6B 64 75 63 6B 67 6F 2E 63 6F 6D 2F 3F 71 3D 7B 73 65 61 72 63 68 54 65 72 6D 73 7D 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 Search for: 68 74 74 70 3A 2F 2F 61 70 69 2E 62 69 6E 67 2E 63 6F 6D 2F 61 73 6A 73 6F 6E 2E 61 73 70 78 3F 71 75 65 72 79 3D 7B 73 65 61 72 63 68 54 65 72 6D 73 7D 26 66 6F 72 6D 3D 41 50 4D 43 53 32 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 [crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Be certain you have known good backups of any of these files that you edit, and also be aware that the next time the System or Safari is updated, there may be issues.]
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One fix for non-functioning SuperDrive
Feb 14, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Anonymous
The SuperDrive on my MacBook Pro (circa 2007, rev. D I think), experienced a long, slow decline in its performance, and finally it stopped working altogether.
When I say 'stopped working,' I mean that it wouldn't recognize a disc: I'd insert the disc, it would spin around a little, make some chugging noises, but then spit it back out. I think it starting doing this for CDs sooner than it did for DVDs (more powerful laser?), but I can't recall for certain. I don't do much with discs, and since it's a 4.5 year old laptop, I never got it serviced, which predictably landed me in a bind. Anyway, that's when I stumbled across a solution: You take a clean cloth (like a lens cloth for cleaning eyeglasses), drape it over something slim like a business card or a smooth plastic gift card, and plum the depths of your drive in an attempt to clean the lens. Supposedly it's just inside the left boundary, but I plunged my improvised cleaner in everywhere I could, as deep as I could get it. I didn't use a brutal amount of force, but I wasn't particularly gentle either. Result: now my drive works. Fair warning: I'm sure it's possible to somehow do horrific damage to something in your drive. If you have the time, patience, and money, I encourage you to take your non-functioning drive to a professional. But if you like to try to fix expensive hardware yourself, then this hint is for you. All the credit for this goes to Anar's post here. [crarko adds: I suppose as a last resort, if a drive cleaning kit doesn't help, you could try this. Just be careful.]
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Mount and unmount external drives easily via AppleScript
Feb 13, '12 07:30:00AM • Contributed by: Swordfish
I like to eject my external drives because they slow down my mac when they spin up, but I want to have an easy way to access them if I need to. I wrote a little AppleScript that will toggle the mount status of the drive (if it's mounted, it will eject, if it's unmounted, it will mount).
To run the script, use the script menu at the right of the menu bar, or bind it to a hot key using a Quicksilver-type app. Be sure to change 'YourDiskNameHere' to the name of the volume you're working with. The script can be easily adapted to only eject, or only mount the drive. You can also tweak it to display a Mount/Unmount dialog if you wish.
set diskName to "YourDiskNameHere"
tell application "Finder"
if disk diskName exists then
eject disk diskName
else
tell current application
set deviceLine to (do shell script "diskutil list | grep \"" & diskName & "\" | awk '{ print $NF }' }'")
if deviceLine = "" then
display dialog "The disk \"" & diskName & "\" cannot be found." buttons {"OK"} default button 1 with title "Error" with icon caution
end if
set foundDisks to paragraphs of deviceLine
repeat with i from 1 to number of items in foundDisks
set this_item to item i of foundDisks
if this_item contains "disk" then
do shell script "diskutil mountDisk /dev/" & this_item
end if
end repeat
end tell
end if
end tell
[crarko adds: Seems to work fine. Note: A minor correction to the script was made per request of the author, based on a simplification given in a comment below.]
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