About This Mac Quicktips

When viewing a document (PDF, image, etc.) in Preview.app, pressing CMD-Delete will throw the current document into the trash.

A very handy way to quickly rid yourself of a photo or PDF that you downloaded that isn’t what you thought it should be.

stevenf:

This terminal command will turn every file in the current directory into a zip file of itself (removing the original file):

for item in *; do zip -m "${item}.zip" "${item}"; done

I recently used it to shave 20 GB off a collection of uncompressed disk images.

Quite honestly the shortcut key I use the most throughout my day is when presented with a ‘Save’ dialogue box (i.e. when you go to save your Photoshop, Word, etc. document for the first time)

Simply pressing Command-D will change the currently selected directory to your Desktop. Saving files to the desktop (temporarily!) makes it easy to use, particularly if you’re going to be emailing, Twittering or Facebooking an image or document right away and not really saving it for long term use.

Command-D, enter a file name, Return and you’re done.

The Command key is the one next to your spacebar that has the word “Command” on it, or as is the case on earlier Mac keyboards, has the Apple logo.

(As an aside, ever wonder why that symbol is called “Command?” It’s a symbol for an interesting feature in a Swedish campground.)

Let’s say you want to take a screenshot of the latest app you are running on your iPhone or iPad (maybe to show off a high score in Carcassonne - great game btw!) to send to a friend or upload to your blog. Here’s how:

1. Press the ‘Home’ button and at the same time press the ‘On/Off’ button. No need to hold them down for very long (1 second is enough).
2. The screen should flash white briefly.
3. Now startup the Photos app
4. Inside the ‘Saved Photos’ album you should see your screenshot waiting for you.

Now you can email it to yourself or the next time you sync with iTunes it will pull the screenshot into iPhoto (or whatever photo application you are using on your Mac).

In order to move apps around your iPhone/iPad screen, you just have to press and hold on any app for 2 seconds (try not to move your finger) until the apps start shaking and some of them (non-Apple apps) get a little ‘X’ in the top left corner - you can stop pressing now:

Now press and hold on on the app you want to move and slide it to the location you want the app to be. Other apps will slide out of the way as you slide the app around.

Once the app is where you want it to be, press the Home button to lock the apps back into location.