Welcome to Mac-Student Edition

Quick Reference Guide

Revised 6/21/2011

Table of Contents
Elements of the Mac OS X desktop and Finder, and their Windows Explorer equivalent ................................................... 4 The Dock .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Dock elements ............................................................................................................................................................. 6 Adding and removing items from the Dock................................................................................................................... 7 Expos ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Expos key ................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Dock Expos..................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Dock Expos elements ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Dock Menus ..................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Stacks .............................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Fan..............................................................................................................................................................................10 Grid.............................................................................................................................................................................10 Grid Stack elements ....................................................................................................................................................10 The Finder.......................................................................................................................................................................11 Applications, files, and folders.........................................................................................................................................15 Find stuff fast ..................................................................................................................................................................19 The Menu bar .................................................................................................................................................................20 The Desktop ....................................................................................................................................................................21 System Preferences ........................................................................................................................................................22 Optimize Your Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad ......................................................................................................23 Customize Your Keyboard .......................................................................................................................................23 Optimize Your Mouse ..............................................................................................................................................23 Optimize Your Trackpad ..........................................................................................................................................24 Change Your Screen Resolution ...............................................................................................................................25 Change Your Sounds ...............................................................................................................................................26 Customize Your Keyboard Shortcuts ........................................................................................................................26 Change Your Computer's Sleep Habits .....................................................................................................................27 Set the Sleep Time ..................................................................................................................................................28 Schedule Sleep or Shut Down ..................................................................................................................................28 Change Your Language ............................................................................................................................................29 Set Your Media Preferences ....................................................................................................................................29 Change Your Date and Time ....................................................................................................................................30 In Windows, I used to......................................................................................................................................................31 The Key to Keyboards .....................................................................................................................................................36 The Command key ......................................................................................................................................................36 Eject Button ................................................................................................................................................................36 Backspace vs. the Delete key .......................................................................................................................................36 Keyboard Shortcuts .....................................................................................................................................................37 Ten Essential Keyboard Shortcuts ...........................................................................................................................37 Using the Multi-Touch Trackpad .....................................................................................................................................37

Welcome To Mac
If you just made the switch from a Windows computer to a Mac, this guide will help you through some of the differences you'll encounter when using your new computer. If you need help getting familiar with the Mac interface and how to do certain tasks, you'll find the answers here.

For visual reference, here's a quick guide to the lay of the landMac Desktop-wise.

The Basics: Switching from Windows to Mac

Although it may feel like you're entering a brand new world with your Mac, you'll be happy to know that many interface elements may feel similar to Microsoft Windows. For example, you still have a desktop and windows, you still access many functions from menus, you can still use keyboard shortcuts to accomplish tasks quickly, and more. In Windows, you use Windows Explorer to manage your files. In Mac OS X, you use the Finder to manage your files. The following guide shows how the Finder in Mac OS X v10.6 (Snow Leopard) is similar to the Windows Explorer. You can search for files, copy files, move files, or delete files. You can also see file server connections, inserted DVDs, and other mounted file storage devices.

Elements of the Mac OS X desktop and Finder, and their Windows Explorer equivalent
Here is a sample Mac desktop and Finder window (in Cover Flow view mode in Mac OS X v10.6), labeled so we can compare it to Windows. Some of the following Mac OS X features may not be available in Windows.

1. Apple menu - Similar to the Start menu in Windows; used to access functions such as Software Update (equivalent to Windows Update), System Preferences (equivalent to Control Panel), Sleep, and Shut Down. 2. Menu bar - This is always at the top of your screen. It contains the Apple menu, active application menu, menu bar extras and the Spotlight icon. The Finder menu has items such as Finder Preferences, Services, and Secure Empty Trash.

3. Finder window close, minimize and zoom buttons Just like in Windows, but on the left. Note: Closing all application windows in Mac OS X does not always quit the application as it does in Windows. In Mac OS X, every application menu has a Quit option that can also be invoked by using the Command-Q key combination. 4. Finder window View buttons Equivalent to the options contained in the View menu of Windows Explorer. Icon view - Similar to Windows Icons view mode, used to display the contents of your folder as a series of icons. Snow Leopard includes live icon previews that you can use to thumb through a multipage document or watch a QuickTime movie. List view - Similar to Windows Details view mode, used to display your folder in a spreadsheet-style manner. Each folder can be expanded by clicking on the disclosure triangle just to the left of the folder. You can easily sort by file name, date modified, and so forth. Choose Show View Options from the View menu to add / remove attribute columns. You can change the sorting from ascending order to descending order and back again by clicking on the attribute column title. Column view - Used to display the hierarchy of your hard disk where each column represents a folder. Cover Flow view - Used to display the contents of your folder just like the Cover Flow used in iTunes. You can see live previews of images, documents and movies, and can thumb through documents and movies. 5. Quick Look button - Click it to view a Quick Look preview of the file you have selected. 6. Action Menu - Similar to right clicking an item in Windows Explorer, it will give you quick access to Finder functions for highlighted items, such as Get Info, Move to Trash, and Services. 7. Search Field - Similar to Windows Search, start typing a word or phrase and Spotlight will search your Mac for any matches. 8. Hide / Show Finder window toolbar & sidebar - Click it to hide or show the Finder window toolbar and sidebar. 9. Spotlight icon - Similar to Windows Search, click it to bring up the Spotlight search field, where you can search for anything on your Mac. 10. Back / Forward buttons - Just like in Windows Explorer, as you move to different places in the Finder window, you can use the back button to return one step back and the forward button to go forward. 11. Sidebar - Similar to the Task Pane in Windows Explorer, items are grouped into categories: Devices, Shared, Places, and Search For. The top portion has Devices and Shared that display whatever is connected to your Mac, such as a hard disk, iDisk, network share points, an SD memory card, or DVDs. The middle portion has Places which contains quick access to your desktop, Home folderthe folder named after your user account name, Applications, and Documents. The bottom portion has Search For which contains quick access to Smart Folders that will find any file on your Mac that was used Today, Yesterday, Past Week and document types like All Images, All Movies, All Documents. 12. Cover Flow content - Shows you a live preview of your files, where you can page through a document or watch a QuickTime movie. 13. The Finder application icon - Similar to Windows Explorer, click it to bring the Finder to the foreground or open a Finder window if none are already opened. 14. The Dock - Similar to the Windows Taskbar, it has quick access to the Finder and your most frequently used applications, folders, and files. With a single click the application, folder, or file opens. 15. Trash - Similar to the Recycle Bin, deleted items are kept here until you empty the Trash. You can also eject DVD's, SD memory cards, or external drives connected to your Mac by dragging them to the trash (discs will physically eject when you do this, other devices can be disconnected after doing this).
5

The Dock
The Dock is that bar of icons that sits at the bottom of your screen (by default) and gives you quick access to your applications and files. When you click an icon on the Dock, the associated application, file, or folder opens. It also displays which applications are currently running, and holds any minimized windows similar to the Windows taskbar. It's also the place to find the Trash icon. For your convenience, you can add your own applications, files, and folders to the Dock by simply dragging the icon to it. To open an item that's in the Dock, just click its icon. For example, if you want to listen to some music, click the iTunes icon. When an application is running, the Dock displays a small dot beneath the application's icon. To make any currently running application the active one, click its icon in the Dock to switch to it (notice how this also changes the application menus in the menu bar). The Dock keeps applications on its left side, while folders and windows are housed on its right. If you look closely, you'll see a vertical line that separates them. If you want to rearrange where the icons appear within their line limits, just drag a docked icon to another location on the Dock and drop it.

Dock elements
1. The Application icons - Finder is always leftmost. All the other icons are Application icons of your choice. 2. Bright dot - Indicates open (running) applications. 3. Dock size adjuster - Click and dragging up to grow the Dock or dragging down to shrink the Dock. Tip: Control-click or right-click it to bring up its Dock menu, where you can adjust or open Dock Preferences. 4. Folders, minimized windows, documents and Trash - Clicking a folder will expand it to the stack of your choice (a fan stack in this example). See the stacks section below for details. By default you have a stack for your Application, Documents and Downloads folders. To bring any currently running application to the foreground, click its icon in the Dock (the active application's name appears in the menu bar to the right of the Apple logo). If you minimize a Finder or application window (by pressing Command-M, for example), the window gets minimized to the right side of the Dock. Click the window's icon to make it appear again.

The Dock keeps applications on its left side with the Finder always being leftmost, while to the right side are folders, documents, minimized windows and the Trash is always rightmost. If you look closely, you'll see the Dock size adjuster that separates them. (If you've moved your Dock to the side of the screen, Finder is always the top icon and Trash is always the lowest icon.) If you want to rearrange where the icons appear, just drag a icon to another location on the Dock and drop it. When you quit an application whose icon resides in the Dock (such as Safari or Mail), the dot disappears, but the icon remains. When you quit an application whose icon doesn't reside in the Dock (for example, if you just finished playing Chess but don't keep a Chess icon in the Dock), its icon disappears from the Dock.

Adding and removing items from the Dock

If you want to add an application, file, or folder to the Dock, just drag its icon from any Finder window (or the desktop) and drop it on the Dock; the icons in the Dock will move over to make room for their new neighbor. The resulting icon that appears in the Dock is an alias that points to the original item. If you drag an application or file onto the Dock, you'll be able to open it anytime by simply clicking its docked icon. To remove an item from the Dock, drag its icon off the dock. The Finder and Trash icons cannot be removed. The original item that the Dock icon pointed to is not deleted when you do this. If you drag a folder onto the Dock, a Stack will show the folder's contents when you click the folder icon in the Dock. See the below section's Stacks information for details.

Expos
Expos lets you view all open windows with a single keystroke. Expos un-shuffles overlapping windows on your desktop into an organized tile view, so you can quickly locate and switch to any window or get to any file on the desktop. If you like to work with many applications and documents at the same time, you probably spend time each day poking through your open windows just to uncover the one you need at the moment. With one keystroke, Expos instantly tiles all your open windows, scales them down, and neatly arranges them, so you can see whats in each one. You can navigate from one tiled window to the next, and youll see its title displayed in the bottom center of the window. When you find the window you need, simply click it. Every window then returns to full size, and the window you clicked--whether its a folder, a PDF, a QuickTime movie, a Pages document, or anything else-becomes the active window.

Expos key
F3 - With recent Apple External USB keyboards and built-in portable keyboards (such as on MacBook Pro computers), the F3 key activates Expos (with earlier keyboards, the F9 key does this by default

Here are some other Expos key commands: Control-F3 - Shows all windows of the Application you are in, regardless of what space it resides in. This is the same as Dock Expos (see below). (Use the F10 key on earlier keyboards.) Command-F3 - Hide all windows and show your desktop. (Use the F11 key with earlier keyboards.)

Dock Expos
New in Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard is Dock Expos--a quick and intuitive way of seeing all of the windows for an application. When you click and hold an active application icon on the Dock, Dock Expos shows you a thumbnail of every open window for an application, regardless of the Space your application windows reside in or minimized application windows. Just click the Window tile you would like to work on and it will instantly appear.

Dock Expos elements

1. Application window that is highlighted - To select it as the active window, click it or press the return key. Tip: Press the Spacebar to zoom in and out of a full size preview of the window. 2. Source application icon for Dock Expos - Highlighted with a "spotlight" effect to let you know which application's windows are being shown.
8

Tip: If this is not the application you want in Dock Expos, simply click the dock icon of the open application you do want or use command tab to rotate to your desired application and Snow Leopard will instantly shift Dock Expos's focus to that application. There is also a dock menu from the open application, where you can Quit or Hide the application. Hovering your pointer over the Options choice will show these three options:
o o

Keep in Dock - When selected, the icon will remain in the Dock when the application has quit. Click it to cycle this on/off. Open at Login - When selected, the application is added to your Login Items list. When you log in to your account (or when Mac OS X automatically logs in), the application will automatically open. Click it to cycle this on/off. (You can also adjust Login Items in Users preferences, in System Preferences.) Show in Finder - This will open the folder where the application resides on your Mac and select the application.

3. Application window that is minimized. 4. Minimized window divider line - Present only if your application has minimized windows; above the line are windows that are not minimized, below are minimized windows.

Dock Menus
Dock menus appear when you Control-click or right-click an icon in the Dock. All application, folder, and file Dock menus have an "Options" sub-menu containing these options: 1. Keep in Dock / Remove from Dock a. Keep in Dock - When checked, the icon will remain in the Dock when the Application has quit. Clicking it cycles the check status on and off. b. Remove from Dock appears in the Dock Menu of an inactive application that is set to "Keep in Dock" or on a folder / file. 2. Open at Login - When checked, the Application is added to your Login Items list found in your user account system preference. When you log into your account, the application will automatically open. Clicking on it will cycle it being on or off your Login Items list. 3. Show in Finder - This will open the folder where the Application resides on your Mac and highlight the Application.

Stacks
A stack is a Dock item that gives you fast access to a folder. When you click a Stack, the files within spring from the Dock in a fan or a grid, depending on the number of items (or the preference you set). Snow Leopard starts you off with three default Stacks: one for Applications, one for downloads, and the other for documents. The Applications stack will show all of your Applications and the Utilities folder, so you can quickly open apps or utilities. The Downloads Stack contains files you download from Safari, Mail, and iChat, and the Documents Stack is a great place to keep things such as presentations, spreadsheets, and word processing files. You can create as many Stacks as you wish simply by dragging folders to the right side of your Dock. Tip: Within the Stack, you can click and drag on the icons in your fan or grid stack to another folder, the Trash, an external disc icon, your desktop, or other locations.
9

Fan
Fan Stacks shows a portion your folder content and arrange the icons so that the closest icon to the Dock is based on the order of the "Sort by" option you have selected. For example, if you select the "Sort by" option of "Date Added", the Fan Stack will expand showing the icons of the most recently added items closest to the Dock. This is the default setting of your Downloads folder, making it easy to open, copy or move your latest download.

Grid
Grid Stacks will show the folder content as a matrix of icons arranged by your "Sort by" option. In Snow Leopard, Grid Stacks are now scrollable and allow you to navigate folders. You can click a folder in the Stack to open that folder. An arrow button will appear in the upper left of the Stack you just opened. Click it to go back to the folder you came from. If there are more icons that can be shown, a scroll bar will appear.

Grid Stack elements

1. Return to parent folder arrow. Click it to return to the parent folder.

2. Scrollbar Present only when there are more icons to show.

10

You can customize a Stack by right-clicking or control-clicking on the stack. The customize menu will include the following options: Sort by - You can select to have items sorted by Name, Date Added, Date Modified, Date Created, or Kind. Display as - Displays the icon in the Dock as the folder's actual icon or as a stack of icons of the folder contents. View content as - Determines what Stack type is used when you click the icon (see the below section about Stacks for details):
o o o

Fan - Shows folder content in the Fan stack, organized by your sort option. Grid - Shows folder content in the Grid stack, organized by your sort option. List - Shows the folder contents as a list, organized by your sort option. Each sub-folder will open another list and so on, until you reach the end of the directory structure. To open an application or document, simply click it. Automatic - This lets Snow Leopard determine the best view content option. When there are a few items, the Fan stack is used. Once you have loaded your folder with enough items, Snow Leopard will change your view content type to the Grid stack.

The Finder
In Microsoft Windows, you may be used to clicking the Start menu to get to what you want. On a Mac, you usually use the Finder to access what you need. The Finder lets you organize, view, and access practically everything on your Mac, including applications, files, folders, discs, SD memory cards, and shared drives on your network. The desktop is the space where you see file, folder, and volume icons. Anytime you double-click the hard disk icon on the desktop, which functions somewhat like My Computer in Windows, you open a Finder window which allows you to navigate through all the contents on your hard drive. You can also make the Finder active by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock, The Finder is represented by a blue smiling face icon on the Dock. When you connect a hard disk, DVD or SD memory card to your Mac, its icon shows up on the desktop and Finder window sidebars. The Finder functions somewhat like Windows Explorer. When you open a Finder window, you'll see a sidebar on the left that provides quick access to the Applications folder, your Home folder (your user directory, shown as a house icon in the sidebar), and several folders that it contains, including Documents, Pictures, Music, and Movies, in the bottom portion. You'll also see your hard disk volume and a Network volume in the top portion. When you mount a server or volume (such as connecting an external hard drive or iPod), or insert a disc, their respective icons may also appear in the top portion of the sidebar. When you select (click) any icon in the sidebar, its contents display in the window's right pane. For example, if you select your Home folder (the "house" icon), you'll see several folders in the right pane, some of which are shown in the screen shot below. If you select the Network volume, you will see the computers connected to your network. If you select, for example, a CD in the sidebar, you'll see its contents in the right pane. Alternatively, you can also double-click a mounted volume, disc, or hard disk volume on the desktop to open a Finder window that lists its contents too.

11

Elements of the Finder

This is a sample of what a Finder window looks like (in Cover Flow view mode):

1. Apple Menu - Access items such as Software Update, System Preferences, Sleep, and Shut Down. 2. Menu bar - Contains the Apple menu, active application menu, menu bar extras and the Spotlight icon. The Finder menu has items such as Finder Preferences, Services, and Secure Empty Trash. 3. Finder window close, minimize and zoom buttons. 4. Finder window View buttons: o Icon view - Used to display the contents of your folder as a series of icons. Snow Leopard introduces live icon previews that you can use to thumb through a multipage document or watch a QuickTime movie.
o

List view - Used to display your folder in a spreadsheet-style manner. Each folder can be expanded by clicking on the disclosure triangle just to the left of the folder. You can easily sort by file name, date modified, and so forth. Choose Show View Options from the View menu to add / remove attribute columns. You can change the sorting from ascending order to descending order and back again by clicking on the attribute column title. o Column view - Used to display the hierarchy of your hard disk where each column represents a folder. o Cover Flow view - Used to display the contents of your folder just like the Cover Flow used in iTunes. You can see live previews of images, documents and movies, and can thumb through documents and movies.
12

5. Quick Look button - Click it to bring up a Quick Look preview of the file you have selected. See the Quick Look section below for more details. 6. Action Menu - Quick access to Finder functions for highlighted items, such as Get Info, Move to Trash, and Services. 7. Search Field - Start typing a word or phrase and Spotlight will search your Mac for any matches. See the Finder Preferences section below for information about how to set your default search. 8. Hide / Show Finder window toolbar & sidebar - Click it to hide or show the Finder window toolbar and sidebar. 9. Spotlight icon - Click it to bring up the Spotlight search field, where you can search for anything on your Mac. 10. Back / Forward buttons - As you move to different places in the Finder window, you can use the back button to return one step back and the forward button to go forward. 11. Sidebar - Items are grouped into categories: Devices, Shared, Places, and Search For The top portion has Devices and Shared which contains whatever is connected to your Mac, such as a hard disk, iDisk, network share points, SD memory card, or DVDs. The middle portion has Places which contains quick access to your Desktop, Home folderthe folder named after your user account name, Applications and Documents. The bottom portion has Search For which contains quick access to Smart Folders that will find any file on your Mac that was used Today, Yesterday, Past Week and document types like All Images, All Movies, All Documents. 12. Cover Flow content- Showing you a live preview of your files, where you can page through a document or watch a QuickTime movie. 13. The Finder application icon - Click it to bring the Finder to the foreground and open a Finder window if none are already opened. 14. The Dock - Quick access to the Finder and your most frequently used applications, folders, and files. With a single click the application, folder, or file opens.. 15. Trash - deleted items are kept here until you empty the Trash. You can also eject DVD's, SD memory cards and drives connected to your Mac by dragging them to the trash. Note: Snow Leopard introduces the Put Back option for files in the Trash. See the below for details.
Finder Preferences

Finder preferences let you configure file labels, search locations, Finder window sidebars, and hide or show hard disk icons on the desktop. To open Finder preferences choose Preferences from the Finder menu, or press Command-, (The Command key and the Comma key). In the General tab you can configure what kind of items appear on your desktop. For example, you can have your internal hard disk appear on the desktop or not. Your hard disk will appear in the Finder windows sidebar. If no Finder window is open, you can open a new one by clicking the Finder icon on your Dock. In the Label tab you can assign special titles to your labels. For example, you can customize the labels to be a priority level or a project name. This can make for easy Spotlight searches based on your priorities and projects. In the Sidebar tab you can customize the kind of devices that will appear on your Finder window sidebars (changes affect all Finder window sidebars). In the Advanced tab you can set the initial search locations in your Finder windows search field (item 7 above).
13

Search this Mac - Will have the search results pertain to any file on your Mac. Search the Current Folder - Will have search results restricted to the folder you have open and its subfolders. Use the Previous Search Scope - Will have search results based on the last customization search you performed.
Enhanced Icon View

As with Cover Flow and Quick Look, you can thumb through a Document or watch a QuickTime movie right in the Finder window in icon view. If you have a multipage PDF document, you will see a "book binding" graphic on the left side of the PDF icon. If you hover your mouse pointer over a multipage document and you will see arrow buttons that let you thumb through your document. If you hover your mouse pointer QuickTime movie, you will see a play button. Click it to watch the movie play. The button becomes a pause button to pause playback.

By using the Icon Size slider located to the left of the Finder window resize control, you can adjust the size of your icons all the way up to 512-by-512 pixels (which is four times larger than Mac OS X v10.5).
Restoring deleted items to their previous location

If you put an item into the Trash from your Desktop or Finder window, you can restore it to where it was before it was placed in the Trash (if you haven't emptied the Trash yet). Open the Trash (item 15 above) by clicking on it in the Dock. Select the item(s) to move back, then choose Put Back from the File menu. Or, you can Control-click or right-click the item and choose "Put Back" from the contextual menu.
14

Removable sidebar headers

If you prefer a minimal sidebar, you can remove all items under a sidebar header (Devices, Shared, Places, Search For). The sidebar header will then disappear. To restore the sidebar header, simply drag an item onto the sidebar that would be contained in the sidebar header. The sidebar header will return and contain the item you dragged over. For example, dragging the documents folder to the sidebar returns the Places header.
Sortable search results

After performing a search by entering a word or phrase in the Finder window search field (item 7 above). You can then sort the results by clicking the Action Menu (item 6 above) and choosing the desired "Arrange By" option. Note: You can add / remove "Arrange By" options by using the "Show View Options" Action Menu item.
Getting around

The hard disk icon in your Finder window's sidebar represents your computer's hard drive (typically called Macintosh HD). You can access everything on your Mac by clicking this icon in the sidebar to open it, and then opening any subsequent folders to navigate to whatever you're looking for. At the top level, you'll see the Applications, Library, System, and Users folders, plus a few others. Both the Library and System folders contain system-level files--you shouldn't add anything to, or remove anything from, these folders unless you fully understand what you're doing. The Applications folder contains applications installed on your Mac. It also includes the Utilities folder with applications that are designed to support different functions of your Mac (such as Disk Utility and System Profiler). The Users folder houses all the content for each user account on your Mac; each user has a separate Home folder that's named after his or her user account name. The active account's Home folder, the user who's currently logged in to the computer, displays a small house as its icon instead of a folder. Each Home folder contains a series of subfolders--Desktop, Documents, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, Public, and Sites. When you put stuff on your desktop, technically it's being stored in your user account's Desktop folder, even though to you it appears "on" your desktop. When you bring music into iTunes, your music files get stored in the iTunes folder in your user's Music folder. Likewise, iPhoto stores pictures in the Pictures folder and iMovie stores movies in the Movies folder. You can get quick access to your user account folders from any Finder window sidebar by clicking the house icon.

Applications, files, and folders

All those little icons that you see on your Finder windows, desktop, and Dock all mean something, but what? What's the difference between a file and an application? What's the difference between a photo file and a music file, or a text file?
Applications

An application is basically a computer program (that is, software) that gives users the tools to accomplish specific tasks. For example, you're probably using Safari right now to read this webpage (Safari is a webbrowsing application). If you want to send and get email, you need an email application such as Mail. Want to type up a resume? Use a word-processing application, such as Pages (part of Apple iWork) or even TextEdit (part of Mac OS X).

15

Your Mac's applications are stored in the Applications folder. Here's a look at some.

To open an application, either double-click its icon in a Finder window (applications are normally installed in the Applications folder), or click it in the Dock (if it's there). Depending on the application, it may display an interface window, palettes, tool bar, or other interface components, or it could display nothing at all until you open a file or create a new one. To quit an application, choose Quit from its application menu (for example, choose Quit iTunes from the iTunes menu if you want to quit iTunes). Keep in mind that closing a window (by clicking the round, red button) will typically not quit the application. Either choose Quit from the application menu or use the keyboard shortcut: Press the Command key (the one with the Apple logo) and the Q key simultaneously (Command-Q).
Files and file formats

A file is an electronic collection of information that requires an application to use. For example, if you write a resume in TextEdit and save it, you'll create a text file. When you use iTunes to download music from the iTunes Store, you get audio files. When you download photos from a digital camera to your Mac, you're copying over image files. Files come in many types and formats. Here's a small sample of some of the files you'll find on your Mac.

Each type of file (whether it's text, audio, image, movie, HTML, project code, zip compressed, or something else) can come in a different file format. For example, music that you download from the web could be MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, AIFF, WAV, or other audio file format; most music-playing applications will support multiple audio file formats for compatibility. That way, you don't have to pay close attention to the types of files you're downloading.

16

Files require an application to use. If you want to read someone's resume, you need an application that understands the type of file at hand (if the file is a Microsoft Word document, you can use Word or Apple Pages; if it's a PDF document, you can use Preview). If you want to look at your photos, you need an application that can display them (such as iPhoto or Preview). If you want to read a webpage, you need Safari or some other web-browsing application to interpret the HTML code into familiar language. When you double-click a file, an application opens along with it to support the file. You can also open a file by dragging its icon onto an application's icon on the Dock. It doesn't have to be the application that created the file; it just needs to be one that understands the file type and format. For example, if you download a movie file from the Internet and double-click it, QuickTime will open and display the movie in its QuickTime Player window. More than likely, QuickTime was not the application that created this file, but it is one that can play it. More than one application can support any given file. For example, if you downloaded an MP3 music file, you can probably play the file in iTunes, QuickTime Player, in a Finder window, or a TextEdit document. To close a file, just click the round, red button in the upper-left corner of its window. Keep in mind that closing a file will not necessarily quit the application too. To quit an application, choose Quit from the application menu or press Command-Q.
Folders

Folders on your Mac function just like tangible folders in the real world without the wear and tear. Basically, you use them to organize your applications and files.

Folders' appearances may differ a little from each other depending on what they contain. Your Home folder (the house icon named after your user account name) contains several subfolders, such as Music, Pictures, and Movies, to help keep all your files organized by type. The Applications folder contains all your applications, the System folder contains all the files that makes your Mac a Mac, and the Desktop folder contains all the stuff that's currently on your desktop.

17

If you want to add more folders to set up an organizational scheme, here's how to create a new folder: 1. Make the Finder active (click the desktop, click inside any Finder window, double-click the hard drive, or click the Finder icon in the Dock). 2. From the File menu, choose New Folder; a new "untitled folder" icon appears on the desktop. 3. Name your folder by simply typing a name in the highlighted text box below the folder icon. You can now drag any files, folders, and applications that you want into your new folder, or drag the folder into any other folder to establish a hierarchy. Or, you can simply press the Shift-Command-N key combination.
Get Info

If you're interested in finding out some information about any particular file, application, or folder, command your Mac to Get Info. Here's how. The Get Info command lets you view more information about a selected file, folder, or application.

1. Select any file, folder, or application by clicking once on its icon. 2. From the File menu, choose Get Info (or press CommandI). An Info window opens. 3. The window lists several info categories (such as General, More Info, Preview, and Ownership & Permissions); these items are marked with a disclosure triangle. 4. If a category has its information displayed, the triangle will be facing downwards. If the disclosure triangle is pointing to the right, click it to display the information. Click the General disclosure triangle to see its contents. 5. The General pane displays some file type information for your chosen item, including its kind, size, where it's located, the date it was first created, and the last date it was modified. 6. When you're done scoping things out, close the window (click the round, red button in the upper-left corner).

18

Find stuff fast

Mac OS X 10.4 and later includes Spotlight to help quickly find files on your computer or any mounted volume. If you need to find something, just type what you're looking for in any search field in any windowor click the Spotlight icon in the upper-right corner of your screen. Not only will Spotlight start finding files the moment you start typing in the Spotlight search field, it'll display files, folders, and applications whose names match your search criteria, as well as files that contain your criteria within them, such as in text documents, applications, emails, calendars, and more. For example, if you type "sandra", Spotlight will locate emails that have this name, as well as documents that contain the text "sandra" in them. Here's how to use Spotlight to find what you need.

You can access Spotlight from its menu bar icon or in any Finder window 1. Spotlight is available system-wide. To access it, click the Spotlight icon in the upper-right corner of your screen (or press Command-Space Bar) and type what you're looking for in the resulting field, or type your search criteria in the search field in any Finder, System Preferences, or application window that supports it. For example, you can type ".jpg" if you want to find all JPEG images on your Mac, or type a friend's email address and a couple keywords to locate a particular email from your friend about the subject matter you specified. 2. The moment you start typing, Spotlight begins to show you what it has found, organizing your results by category (including Applications, Documents, Images, and PDF Documents). The more you type, the more refined your results will be. Tip: You can use the Spotlight pane of System Preferences to arrange the order of these categories and specify categories which will appear. 3. If there are a lot of results, Spotlight won't display everything in the menu or window. If you want to see everything, click Show All to open a Finder window that shows all results. 4. From within the Finder window, you can click one of the buttons below the window toolbar to tell Spotlight where and what to search. For example, click This Mac to search everywhere on your Mac, or click your user account name to have Spotlight search everything in your home folder.
19

Also, you can click Contents for your search to include the contents of the files, or click File Name to have your search apply only to the File Name of your files. 5. To open an item in the results list, just select it if you're viewing the Spotlight menu, or double-click the item if you're looking at results in the Finder.

The Menu bar

See that semi-transparent bar that spans across the entire width of your desktop at the top of your screen? That's the menu bara vital component of Mac OS X. The menu bar hosts many functions and commands to complete your tasks at hand.

When you need to accomplish a task, you can access just about any application's functions, commands, and more from the menu bar. The menu bar contains some words that represent the menus for the active application. The menu bar also contains a few icons on its right side that represent menus for other features on your Mac, such as Spotlight (the magnifying glass icon) and sound volume (the speaker icon). When you click a menu, it displays a sheet (the actual menu) full of menu items. To perform a task or command that's listed in a menu, just select the item and your Mac will perform the action.
What's on the menu?

The menu bar menus will change as you switch applications. For example, when the Finder is active, you'll see the following menus across the menu bar: the Apple logo, Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, and Help. When you click the Window menu, its menu displays the following menu items: Minimize, Zoom, Cycle Through Windows, and Bring All to Front. (Depending on whether or not you have any Finder windows open, your Window menu may contain a few more items.) Tip: If you're unsure of which application (including the Finder) is active, look at the word to the right of the Apple logo in the menu bar. If a menu item is dimmed (the text isn't black), then that particular item isn't applicable at that moment. For example, if you currently don't have any Finder windows open and you make the Finder active, all of the items in the Window menu will be dimmed because you need to have a Finder window open in order to perform any of the Window menu commands. If you have a window open, some or all items in the Window menu will be available, depending on whether a window is currently selected. Because we didn't have anything in our Trash, the Empty Trash commands are dimmed in this example.
20

Every application you use will have a set of menus with menu itemssome more than others. You'll notice that many applications share the same common commands, such as Save, Select All, Copy, Paste, and Undo. Most applications also use their own set of specialized commands. For example, iTunes (the music-playing application included with Leopard) features Controls, Visualizer, and Advanced menus that contain many functions and commands for controlling iTunes play. Some menus contain submenus. For example, in the Finder, the View menu has the menu item "Arrange By," which has a right-facing triangle to its right. When you move your arrow over Arrange By, its submenu opens with more items to choose.
Cleaning your desktop

To help get you familiar with how menus and menu commands work, here's how to clean up your desktop using Finder menu commands. 1. To tidy up your files and folders so that they all line up in nice, neat rows, click on the desktop to make the Finder active. 2. From the View menu, choose Clean Up. 3. If you want to organize files and folders by name, kind, or other criteria do this: From the View menu, choose Arrange By, then choose Name or Kind or another choice in the submenu.

By choosing Name, all items on our desktop were rearranged in alphabetical order, to make finding things easier.

The Desktop
The Mac desktop functions pretty much just like your Windows one: You can put stuff on it, change its picture, and more. However, one of the big differences is that it also provides access to all mounted disks (such as an external hard drive), mounted servers, and inserted discs (CDs and DVDs). Unlike accessing your computer's various drives like you did in My Computer, your Mac displays connected volumes, mounted disks, and inserted discs directly on the desktopyou'll see the icons appear once you make the connection or insert the media.

21

System Preferences
On Windows, you used the Control Panel to customize various settings. On a Mac, you use System Preferences for this. To open System Preferences, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu. Besides changing the look and feel of your Mac interface, you can also let your Mac know how you prefer to work. You can set both system-wide preferences and application-specific preferences. For example, to configure settings for the TextEdit application, open it from your Dock or the Applications folder, then from the TextEdit menu, choose TextEdit Preferences. Other application preferences can be configured in similar fashion. The System Preferences pane controls system-wide settings ("global" settings), and is available from the Apple menu at the upper-left corner of the screen. System Preferences lets you to adjust things like your screen resolution, keyboard and mouse control, sound, and more. Read on for more information about using System Preferences.

System Preferences lets you tweak your system System Preferences displays the various components you can tweak to your liking. For example, if you want to set up a printer, click "Print & Fax" to display its preference pane from which you can add and configure your printer. Similarly, if you want to add another user account to your computer, use the Accounts preferences pane. Need to configure your network settings? Click Network and change what you need. Below are specifics on how to: Optimize Your Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad Change Your Screen Resolution Change Your Sounds Customize Your Keyboard Shortcuts Change Your Mac's Sleep Habits Change Your Language Set Your Media Preferences Change Your Date and Time
22

Optimize Your Keyboard, Mouse, and Trackpad

We all type, point, and click differently. That's why it's important to make sure that you optimize your keyboard and mouse or trackpad, if you're using a MacBook or MacBook Pro for your movements. Here's how to do this.
Customize Your Keyboard

1. 2. 3. 4.

From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences. In the System Preferences window, click Keyboard. Click the Keyboard tab. These controls allow you to set the keyboard sensitivity for how fast you type. To control how quickly a key types its character repeatedly when held down, move the Key Repeat Rate slider left to slow down the rate, or right to speed it up. You can use the text field in the middle of the window to test your setting. 5. To control how long you can hold down a key before it starts repeating, move the Delay Until Repeat slider left to allow a longer delay or right to shorten it. 6. If you want to reassign the modifier keys on your keyboard (Control, Option, Command, and Caps Lock), click Modifier Keys. In the dialog that slides down, you can change which modifier is assigned to what key, or disable a key altogether. For example, if you keep hitting Caps Lock by accident and wind up typing in ALL CAPS, choose No Action from the Caps Lock Key pop-up menu. Click OK when finished. 7. If you're using a MacBook or MacBook Pro and want to use the F1-F12 keys on your keyboard to control other application features, select the checkboxyou'll need to press the Function (fn) key along with any F1-F12 key to perform a key's default hardware function.
Optimize Your Mouse

Your Mouse preferences settings may differ, depending on what kind of mouse you're using. 1. Open System Preferences and click Mouse to display these preferences. 2. Click the Mouse tab. These controls let you set the mouse sensitivity to control how fast the arrow flies across your screen when you move your mouse, and adjust for your double-click reflexes. Other controls may be available, depending on the type of mouse you're using. 3. To control how fast the arrow moves across your screen when you move the mouse, move the Tracking Speed slider left to slow it down, or right to speed it up. 4. To set your computer's reaction to your double-click speed, move the Double-Click Speed slider left if you tend to click slower, or right if you've got an itchy trigger finger. 5. If your mouse has a scroll wheel, you can set its scroll speed using the Scrolling Speed slider. You can also change the mouse's primary button if you're using something other than an Apple single-button mouse.
23

Optimize Your Trackpad

If you use a trackpad, you can change the way it works and responds in several ways. For example, you can change how fast the onscreen pointer moves when you move your finger across the trackpad. The options available to you depend on the computer youre using. For example, you can use three fingers to swipe only on some computers. To change the way your trackpad works: 1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Trackpad. (On some computers, first click Keyboard & Mouse, and then click Trackpad.) 2. Change any of the following options (depending on the computer youre using, youll see only some of these options): Double-Click Speed: Drag to set how fast you need to click the trackpad button to double-click. If you want to double-click quickly, drag the slider toward Fast. Dragging: Select to drag by tapping the trackpad, and then placing your finger on the trackpad while moving it. To stop dragging, lift your finger. Drag Lock: Select to drag by tapping the trackpad, and then placing your finger on the trackpad while moving it. To stop dragging, tap the trackpad again. Ignore accidental trackpad input: Select if you dont want anything to happen when you accidentally touch the trackpad. Ignore trackpad when mouse is present: Select if you dont want to use the trackpad when you have a mouse connected to your computer. Pinch Open & Close: Spread your finger and thumb apart and together on the trackpad to zoom in and out of pictures and other items. Rotate: Rotate two fingers on the trackpad to rotate images and other items on the screen. Secondary Click, One Finger: Select to display an item's shortcut menu by placing one finger on the trackpad, and then clicking. To control where on the trackpad you must place your finger for a secondary click, choose Bottom Right Corner or Bottom Left Corner from the pop-up menu.
24

Secondary Click, Two Fingers: Select to display an items shortcut menu by placing two fingers on the trackpad, and then clicking. Scrolling Speed: Drag to change how fast you can scroll. Three FingersSwipe to Navigate: Slide three fingers left or right across the trackpad to move to the previous or next item. Four FingersSwipe: Slide four fingers up or down on the trackpad to use Expos. Slide four fingers right or left across the trackpad to switch between open applications. Tap to Click or Clicking: Select to click by tapping the trackpad. Tracking Speed: Drag to set how fast the pointer moves when you move your finger across the trackpad. The faster you set the tracking speed, the farther the pointer travels when you move your finger. "Use two fingers to scroll" or Scroll: Select "Use two fingers to scroll" to scroll by moving two fingers up and down on the trackpad. Select "Allow horizontal scrolling" to scroll horizontally by moving two fingers from side to side on the trackpad. If you see the Scroll checkbox, select it to scroll in both directions. Zoom while holding or Screen Zoom: Select to zoom the screen while holding down the modifier key you specify. Click Options to change the way zooming works. To zoom in, hold down the modifier key and move two fingers up on the trackpad. To zoom out, hold down the modifier key and move two fingers down on the trackpad.
Change Your Screen Resolution

You may want to use a high resolution so you can see more files, folders, desktop items, and view graphics at the best possible resolution. Or you may prefer a smaller resolution. Here's how to adjust your screen resolution. 1. Open System Preferences and click Displays to display its preferences. 2. Click the Display tab; your display's supported resolution settings are listed in the Resolutions pane, from the lowest to the highest resolution. 3. Select any of the choices to change the resolution. A lower resolution gives you less desktop space to display windows and interfaces, but these will also appear larger. A larger resolution maximizes your screen space, letting you see more of a photo or document, and can help you manage applications whose interface elements span multiple windows. 4. To adjust your screen's brightness, move the Brightness slider left to make it dimmer, or right to make it brighter.

25

Change Your Sounds

1. Open System Preferences and click Sound to display its preferences. 2. To change the alert sound, it plays when your Mac wants to get your attention, click the Sound Effects tab, and select a sound in the top list. 3. If you want to hear sound effects play when you do other things in the Finder, such as when you drag stuff to, or empty, the Trash, or remove items the Dock, select the "Play user interface sound effects" checkbox. 4. To change the overall volume of sound effects, move the "Alert volume" slider left to turn the volume down, or right to turn it up. 5. To adjust the overall volume of your Mac, move the "Output volume" slider left to quiet things down, or right to crank it up. If you'd rather have your Mac be quiet, select the Mute checkbox. 6. To adjust the sound balance for your internal or external speakers, click the Output tab, select your speaker device from the list, and move the Balance slider left to skew the stereo sound mix to the left channel, or right to hear more from the right channel.
Customize Your Keyboard Shortcuts

Your Mac has plenty of functions and commands that can be triggered by a simple keyboard shortcut, pressing two or three keys simultaneously to perform an action. Look in any menu. For example, click the File menu in the menu bar, and you'll see a list of functions and commands, as well as a two- or three-character code to their right. These are keyboard shortcuts. Most shortcuts are made up of one or two modifier keys (Command, Option, Control, or Shift) and another key. Here's what modifier keys represent:

You don't have to stick with the keyboard shortcuts that are already assigned for your Mac. You can customize many of the functions with your own key combinations.
26

You can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly perform tasks on your computer by pressing keys on your keyboard. You can disable or change many of the computers global keyboard shortcuts, which are shortcuts that work the same in most applications (for example, taking a picture of the screen by pressing Command-Shift-3). Changing or disabling a shortcut may be useful if, for example, one of the global shortcuts is used by a specific application for a different purpose. In this case, you can either disable the shortcut that you do not need, or assign it a different key combination. Note: You can create keyboard shortcuts only for existing menu commands. You cannot define keyboard shortcuts for general purpose tasks such as opening an application or switching between applications.

To change global keyboard shortcuts: 1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, and then click Keyboard. 2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts. 3. Select the action in the Description list that you want to change. 4. Double-click the characters in the Shortcut column, and press the new key combination that you want to use. You cannot use each type of key (for example, a letter key) more than once in a key combination. 5. Quit and restart any applications youre using for the new keyboard shortcut to take effect. To disable a shortcut, deselect the checkbox next to its description in the list. If you want to return all the shortcuts to their original key combinations, click Restore Defaults.
Change Your Computer's Sleep Habits

To conserve energy, all Macs have the ability to sleep. That is, when you haven't used your computer for a set amount of time, the computer enter a low-power mode until you wake it by using it. Sleep doesn't turn off your computer; it merely puts it into an inactive state that consumes less power. Waking your Mac from sleep is faster than waiting for your Mac to start up after a shutdown.
27

This is especially helpful for conserving battery life on MacBook and MacBook Pro computers. But sometimes you may need to alter your computer's sleep settings, such as when you're burning a DVDif you're not interacting with your Mac during this time, it could go to sleep during the process. Or, you may want to have your Mac go to sleep earlier than scheduled. Here's how to change sleep preferences.
Set the Sleep Time

1. Open System Preferences and click Energy Saver to display its preferences. 2. Click the desired tab (Battery settings vs. when you connected to a power adapter.) 3. Move the sliders for both the computer and display to change the times in which they go to sleep. 4. Click the Options tab. 5. Select any other options you want, such as wake options, in the panel.
Schedule Sleep or Shut Down

You can also automate when your Mac goes to sleep and wakes up, or shuts down and starts up. If you want to put your Mac on a set schedule:

1. In Energy Saver preferences, click Schedule. 2. In the dialog, select the "Start up or wake" checkbox. 3. Choose a scheduled interval from the top pop-up menu, for example Every Day or Weekdays. 4. Set a wake up or start up time in the field to its right.
28

5. Select the bottom checkbox and from the pop-up menu to its right, choose either Sleep to have your Mac automatically sleep and wake on schedule, or Shut Down to make your Mac automatically shut down and start up on schedule. 6. Choose a scheduled interval from the next pop-up menu, for example Every Day or Weekdays. 7. Set a sleep or shut down time in the field to its right. 8. Click OK.
Change Your Language

Your Mac is set to display the language for the country in which you bought the computer. In other words, if you bought your Mac in the United States, your Mac is set to English. If you bought your Mac in France, your Mac understands French. But if you prefer to use a different language, you can.

If you bought your Mac in the U.S. but English isn't your preferred language, you can switch what language your Mac speaks via drag-and-drop. 1. Open System Preferences and click International to display its preferences. 2. Click the Language tab. 3. In the Languages pane, drag your preferred language to the top of the list. 4. Restart your Mac or log out and log back in to apply the language throughout your system.
Set Your Media Preferences

When you insert a CD or DVD into your Mac, we told your Mac what it should do. For example, when you insert a music CD, iTunes automatically opens so you can listen to it. When you insert a DVD, DVD Player opens so you can kick back and watch. But you don't have to stick with our assumptions. You can tell your Mac what you want it to do when you insert a prerecorded CD or DVD, or a blank disc.

29

You can tell your Mac which applications, scripts, or actions to take when you insert media 1. Open System Preferences and click CDs & DVDs to display its preferences. 2. The top two pop-up menus let you decide what your Mac should do when you insert a blank CD or DVD. By default, both menus are set to "Ask what to do"; this action opens a dialog. You can change it to open your choice of application, open Disk Utility, run a script, or simply ignore it. 3. The bottom three pop-up menus let you choose what your Mac should do when you insert a music CD, picture CD, or video DVD, respectively.
Change Your Date and Time

Your Mac has the ability to automatically set the correct date and time, or you can choose to set these manually. You can also decide how you want the time and date to display on your Mac. Here's how to set these preferences.

1. Open System Preferences and click Date & Time to display the preferences. 2. Click the Date & Time tab. 3. If you always want your Mac to set the date and time automatically, select the "Set Date & Time automatically" checkbox, choose your location from the pop-up menu to the right, and skip to step 7. A network connect is required. 4. To set things manually, or if you don't have a network connection, deselect the "Set Date & Time automatically" checkbox. 5. To manually set the date, click on the month, day, or year in the field above the calendar to select it,. Either use the up or down arrows to change the value, or type in the information. Or, click on the correct date in the calendar graphic, to change the month use the left and right arrows. 6. To set the time, click on the hour, minute, seconds, or AM/PM in the field above the clock to select it. Either use the up or down arrows to change the value, or type in the information. Or, click and drag the hands on the clock graphic to the correct time. 7. Click the Time Zone tab and either click your approximate location on the map or choose the city closest to you from the Closest City pop-up menu. 8. To change the way the clock displays on your Mac, click the Clock tab. In this pane, you can select whether to display the time and date in the menu bar, and whether it will be displayed in digital format, or as an analog clock face. Seconds display and additional options are available. Tip: You can customize various aspects of any application by choosing Preferences from the application menu.

30

In Windows, I used to...

You're probably used to doing certain tasks on your Windows computer in particular ways. This section shows you how to accomplish the same tasks on a Mac. On Windows, I used to... On a MacBook... Right-click my mouse to Place two fingers on the trackpad and click button for secondary access commands or click. perform actions in a shortcut menu. Note: You can also right click by holding down the control key as you click. Press the Backspace key to Press Delete key to backwards delete. For Mac notebooks, press delete or the Delete key to the Function (fn) and Delete key to forward delete. forward delete Use My Computer to see Double-click your hard drive icon on the Desktop to see content and access everything on and access all the software on your computer. my computer.

You can also use Spotlight to quickly and accurately locate anything on your computer.

Use the Start menu and the taskbar to access programs, folders, and files.

Use the Dock to access applications or your favorite items. To add aliases to your favorite items, drag and drop them to the right side of the Dock. To add your favorite applications, drag and drop them to the left side of the Dock. You can drag the icons off the Dock at any time to delete the aliases. Use the Finder to find applications, files, or folders on your computer. To open a new Finder window, click the Finder icon on the Dock or double-click your hard drive icon on the Desktop. See and access content on any mounted disk, mounted volume (external hard drives and flash drives), or discs (CD or DVD) by double-clicking the appropriate icon that appears on the Desktop when the device or media is connected or inserted. Use these keys as alternatives: Shift key Control key Option key Command key Delete key

Use Windows Explorer to find programs, files, and folders on my computer.

Use My Computer to access content from various drives, such as a hard drive or a CD-ROM. Use these keys as shortcuts: Shift key Control key Alt key Windows key Backspace key

31

On Windows, I used to... Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to terminate unresponsive programs.

On a MacBook... Press Command-Option-Escape (Esc) to force quit unresponsive applications. Once you press these keys, select any application from the Force Quit window and click Force Quit. You can also Force Quit by Control-clicking the item on the Dock and select Force Quit.

Click the close box to close windows.

Click the close button (the round, red one in the upper-left corner) to close windows.

Click the close box to exit programs.

From the application menu, choose Quit Application name, or press Command-Q, to quit an application.

Click the minimize box to minimize windows to the taskbar.

Click the minimize button (the round, yellow one in the upper-left corner) to minimize windows to the Dock. You can also use Command-M as a shortcut.

32

On Windows, I used to... Click the maximize box to maximize my window.

On a MacBook...

Click the zoom button (the round, green one in the upper-left corner) to expand your window.

Press a button to eject discs or disks.

Drag the disc, disk, or volume icon to the Trash (it turns into an Eject icon) to eject or unmount items. Or, in the Finder window click the Eject icon next to the volume to unmount it.

You can also press the Eject key on your keyboard (in the upperright corner) to eject a CD or DVD. Press the Control (Ctrl) key for keyboard shortcuts (such as Ctrl+C to copy). Press the Alt key as a modifier, or to type special characters. Perform various functions from window menus. Press the Command key for keyboard shortcuts (such as Command-C to copy). Press the Option key as a modifier, or to type special characters (such as ). Perform various functions from menus in the menu bar at the top of your screen. The contents of the menu bar changes, according to the current active application. Store files and content in the Documents and Pictures folders in your Home folder. To access your Home folder, double-click your hard drive icon on the Desktop, then double click the Users folder, and doubleclick the house icon that bears your user name in the resulting window's sidebar. You also have folders to store your music, movies, and more.

Store and access files in My Documents and My Pictures folders.

33

On Windows, I used to... Access Properties to set application, folder, or file options. Move unwanted files and folders to the Recycle Bin.

On a MacBook... Use the Info window to set application, folder, or file options. To open an Info window, select an item and choose Get Info from the File menu (or press Command-I). Drag unwanted files and folders to the Trash in the Dock. To empty the Trash, choose Empty Trash from the Finder menu (or press Shift-Command-Delete in the Finder). You can also click on the file that you would like to delete and use Command-Delete as a shortcut. Select any file, folder, or application and press the Enter key to display the name in a text box. Rename the item as anything you like by typing over the text.

Rename documents by clicking Rename this file in the File Tasks menu.

Make shortcuts to an item by dragging and pressing Alt or make a copy by dragging and pressing Ctrl.

To make an alias to an item, click it once and from the File menu choose Make Alias (or press Command-L). Or, drag the item and press the Command key and the Option key, a black arrow will appear, drop the item to make an alias. To make a copy of an item, select it and from the File menu choose Duplicate (or press Command-D). Or, drag the item and press the Option key, a green Add circle will appear, drop the item to make a copy.

Use the Performance control panel to check system performance. Use Windows Messenger to chat with buddies.

Use Activity Monitor (in the Applications > Utilities folder) to check system performance. Use iChat to chat with buddies. iChat allows you to chat with anyone who has an AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) or .Mac address (you don't need to be a .Mac member to have one, go here to learn more). Use iPhoto to view and edit pictures, iMovie to edit your home movies, and iTunes or QuickTime Player to listen to tunes. iTunes also allows you to rip music from CDs, buy music from the iTunes Store, burn CDs, and more. Your Mac also comes with GarageBand to compose your own music and iDVD to make your own DVDs (if your Mac has a DVD burner), and iWeb to create your own website.

Use Microsoft Photo Editor (or My Pictures) to view and edit pictures, Windows MovieMaker to edit my home movies, and Windows Media Player to listen to tunes.

34

On Windows, I used to...

On a MacBook...

Use the Print Scrn key to take pictures of my screen.

To capture the entire desktop, press Command-Shift-3. The screen shot will be automatically saved as a file on your desktop. To copy the entire desktop, press Command-Control-Shift3. The screen shot will be placed on your clipboard for you to paste into another program. To capture a portion of the desktop, press Command-Shift-4. A cross-hair cursor will appear and you can click and drag to select the area you wish to capture. When you release the mouse button, the screen shot will be automatically saved as a PNG file on your desktop. (The file is saved as PDF in Mac OS 10.3 and earlier.) To capture a specific application window, press CommandShift-4, then press the Spacebar. The cursor will change to a camera, and you can move it around the screen. As you move the cursor over an application window, the window will be highlighted. The entire window does not need to be visible for you to capture it. When you have the cursor over a window you want to capture, just click the mouse button and the screen shot will be saved as a PNG file on your desktop. (The file is saved as PDF in Mac OS 10.3 and earlier.) Add Control to the two shortcuts above to place the screen shot on the clipboard instead of saving it to the desktop.

Use the Control Panel to customize various settings.

Use System Preferences to customize various settings.

To open it, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu or from the Dock. Then click an item that you'd like to configure. Use Network Connections Use Network preferences to configure (and troubleshoot) to configure network network settings. settings. To open Network preferences, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Network.

35

On Windows, I used to...

On a MacBook...

Use Printers & Faxes to set up my printer and fax tasks.

Use Print & Fax preferences to set up your printer and fax tasks. To open Print & Fax preferences, choose System Preferences from the Apple menu, then click Print & Fax. Use System Profiler to get hardware and software information about your computer. From the Apple menu, choose About This Mac, then click More Info.

Use Device Manager to get information about my computer.

The Key to Keyboards

Apples keyboard layouts look very much like standard Windows keyboards. The biggest difference is in the two keys on either side of the spacebar. On a PC, the keys closest to the spacebar are labeled Alt; the next ones over sport a Windows logo. On a Mac, the keys closest to the spacebar have an icon () that looks like a fourbladed propeller or electric fan. The Mac world calls them the Command keys; they both have the same function. The next one over is the Option key..

The Command key () is used in almost all keyboard shortcuts. Its one of the most important things to know about the Mac. Eject Button Another key that may not be familiar to PC users is at the upper-right on Apple keyboards. Its the eject button for the CD/DVD drive. You see the same symbol on the eject button on home electronic devices.

Backspace vs. the Delete key

With Windows the typical behavior is that the delete key deletes the character to the right of the cursor. In Windows there is another key, located in exactly the same spot on the keyboard, that says Backspace and this deletes the character to the left of the cursor. On your MacBook keyboard, the one and only delete key deletes the character to the left of the cursor, just the same as the Backspace key. To get the same type of functionality with the Mac delete key that youd expect on a Windows keyboard, you need to hold down the fn key on the MacBook keyboard. By holding this down and then pressing the delete key you get the expected delete of the character to the right of the cursor action.

36

Keyboard Shortcuts
PCs have two kinds of keyboard shortcuts. For some, you hold down the Ctrl key and a letter key; for others, you press the Alt key and type one letter from each menu item nameoften, but not always, the first letter. Mac keyboard shortcuts are like the first type, but you use the Command key () instead of the Ctrl key. Ten Essential Keyboard Shortcuts

Replacing the Ctrl key press with the Command Key () also applies to most Ctrl key shortcuts in programs such as Microsoft Office.

Using the Multi-Touch Trackpad

Unlike typical trackpads, the Multi-Touch glass trackpad on the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro is a button in itself; you can click almost anywhere on the trackpad. The Multi-Touch trackpad also provides access to multiple gestures using two, three, or four fingers. Learn more about some of the useful keyboard and trackpad tips and shortcuts. Tracking For more accurate tracking, navigate the cursor with one finger at a time on the trackpad. For comfort, you can rest your thumb near or along the bottom of the trackpad, much like the thumb position from previous trackpads. If this is your preferred finger position, rest your thumb along the bottom edge of the trackpad. The glass multi-touch trackpad can sense when your thumb is resting on the edge of the pad. Note: Resting your thumb on the trackpad (above the bottom edge) may result in accidental gestures such as scrolling, zooming or rotating. To ensure accurate tracking and gestures, make sure you are not hovering other fingers closely above the tracking surface. This can cause the trackpad to react as if there are multiple fingers being used. To ensure accurate finger gesturing response, use fingertips or slightly curled fingers. Secondary clicking Secondary clicking or right-clicking lets you access shortcut menu commands To secondary click, simply click with two fingers on the trackpad. Or use Trackpad preferences to set up a secondary click zone in the bottom left or right corner of the trackpad. You can also secondary click by holding down the Control key while you click.

37

Two finger scrolling Two-finger scrolling lets you drag to scroll quickly up, down, or sideways in the active window. This option is on by default.

Application-specific gestures The following trackpad gestures work in certain applications. When you perform these gestures, slide your fingers lightly on the surface of the trackpad. Two-finger rotating Two-finger rotating lets you rotate photos, pages, and more.

Two-finger pinching Two-finger pinching lets you zoom in or out on PDFs, images, photos, and more.

Screen Zoom Magnifies an area of the screen. Do a 2 finger scroll UP while holding the control key to zoom in, 2 finger scroll DOWN while holding the control key to zoom back out. Click Options on the trackpad system preferences screen to customize the behavior of this feature. Three-and Four finger swiping

38