One way to right click on a Mac is to press the Ctrl (or Control) key when you tap the mouse button, or the trackpad. Don't confuse the Ctrl key with the Alt (or Option) key. The Ctrl key on a Mac is not the one next to the space bar, it's at the far end of the keyboard, on either the right or left side.
While the likes of Mail, iTunes and Safari are set as the default applications on your Mac - meaning they launch automatically when you open an email, audio file or web link - it's easy to give these duties to other apps of your choosing.
How to Open DOCX Files with Pages in Mac OS X
- Open the Pages app in Mac OS X (found in /Applications/ folder)
- Pull down the “File” menu and choose “Open” (or “Import” depending on the version of Pages)
- Navigate to and select the target . docx file you want to open in Pages and choose to open that from the file browser.
Change individual default apps
- Go to app settings. Under Settings, locate “Apps” or “App Settings.” Then choose the “All Apps” tab near the top.
- Choose the app. Find the app that Android is currently using by default.
- Reset default settings. On the App's settings, choose Clear Defaults.
- Select a new default app.
How to Make Preview Your Default PDF Viewer
- Right-click on a PDF file.
- Select "Get Info" from the list that appears. A new window will appear on your screen.
- Click the drop-down box beneath "Open With" and select "Preview." Click the "Change All" button just beneath the drop-down list to make Preview your default PDF viewer.
How to change the default Mac app for specific file types
- Right-click on a file that uses the file type you'd like to change the default for.
- Click on Get Info in the pop-up.
- Click Open With if the section isn't already expanded.
- Click the dropdown and choose an app.
- Click Change All
Type "file associations" from the Windows 8 Start screen, click "Settings" and select "Make a File Type Always Open in a Specific Program" from the search results. If you're currently in Desktop mode, press the "Windows" key to access the Start screen.
In addition to viewing the apps, iTunes can display and modify the app arrangement on your iPhone's home screen.
- Connect the iPhone to your Mac with its USB docking cable.
- Start the iTunes application on the Mac.
- Click on the icon for your iPhone on the left column of the iTunes screen.
Tips & tricks to speed up a Mac
- Close unnecessary apps.
- Use Activity Monitor to identify memory hogs.
- Edit preference panes.
- Stop programs from opening at startup.
- Find out how much space is free.
- Sort out your syncs.
- Move your photos.
- Move your music.
Open an app
Click the Launchpad icon in the Dock, or pinch closed with your thumb and three fingers on your trackpad. Then click an app to open it. You can also type an app's name to find the app in Launchpad, then press the Return key to open it.On a Macintosh, the Alt key is called the Option key. It is not used to enter numeric character codes. Instead, keyboard letters and numbers are used. The diagram below shows the special characters a US Mac keyboard will produce when the Option key is pressed.
Basic: Visit the /Applications/ Folder in OS X to See Installed Mac Apps
- From the OS X Finder, hit Command+Shift+A to jump to the /Applications folder.
- Pull down the View menu and choose “List” to scroll through an easy to read list of all apps in the Applications folder.
How to organize apps into folders in Launchpad on Mac
- Open launchpad.
- Click and hold on the app you wish to put in a folder until it starts wiggling.
- Drag the app on top of another app you wish to put into the same folder until a white box appears around both apps.
- Let go.
How to Quit Open Applications in OS X
- Click on the name of the program just to the right of the Apple icon at the top left of the screen.
- Select Quit [program name] at the very bottom of the drop-down menu.
- Use the keyboard shortcut Command-Q to close the program, as an alternative.
Press the Shift+Control+Option keys at the left side of the keyboard and the Power button, and hold them all down. Release all four buttons at the same time, and then press the Power button to turn the Mac on.
Command-H: Hide the windows of the front app. To view the front app but hide all other apps, press Option-Command-H. Command-M: Minimize the front window to the Dock. To minimize all windows of the front app, press Option-Command-M.
Open the app switcher, then (while still holding down cmd press tab until the darkened box is over the app you want to focus. While still holding down cmd , press h Then, release the keys.
Enter Split View
- Hover your pointer over the full-screen button in the upper-left corner of a window. Or click and hold the button.
- Choose ”Tile Window to Left of Screen” or ”Tile Window to Right of Screen” from the menu.
- Click a window on the other side of the screen to begin using both windows side by side.
Cut, copy, paste, and other common shortcuts. Command-X: Cut the selected item and copy it to the Clipboard. Command-C: Copy the selected item to the Clipboard. This also works for files in the Finder.
Enable or disable fn (function) or action keys mode
- Press and hold the Power button for at least five seconds to turn off the computer.
- Turn on the computer and immediately press the f10 key repeatedly to open the BIOS Setup Utility.
- Press the right or left arrow key to select the System Configuration menu.
Ctrl keyboard shortcuts
| Ctrl | Press the Ctrl key by itself does nothing in most programs. In computer games, Ctrl is often used to crouch or go into a prone position. |
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| Ctrl+Tab | Switch between open tabs in browsers or other tabbed programs. Ctrl+Shift+Tab will go backwards (right to left). |
| Ctrl+U | Underline selected text. |
Inserting Text with a Shortcut Key
- Define your AutoText entry as you normally would.
- Choose Customize from the Tools menu.
- Click on the Keyboard button.
- Position the insertion point in the Press New Shortcut Key text box.
- Press the shortcut key you want to use.
- In the Categories list scroll down and select AutoText.
Make sure you are in 'Finder'. If necessary, press Apple + Tab to cycle through the open applications until you return to 'Finder'. Click on the 'Apple' icon on the menu bar or press Ctrl + F2. Click on 'System Preferences', as shown in Fig 1, or press the down arrow key to highlight it and then press Enter.
