Take Control of Preview
Take Control of Preview

Author: Josh Centers

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2023-05-24

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1990783287

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Discover Preview’s hidden features for editing images and manipulating PDFs! Version 1.3, updated May 24, 2023 Apple's Preview app is bundled with every Mac and yet many Mac users have only a shallow understanding of what it's capable of. Mac experts Adam Engst and Josh Centers have plumbed Preview's depths to create a cheerful, colorful book that explains dozens of techniques for importing, viewing, editing, and converting images in Preview. It also puts you in control of reading, annotating, manipulating, and encrypting PDFs.n Packed with real-world examples and tips, the book teaches you how to bring files into Preview from a camera, iOS or iPadOS device, or scanner (or just from the Finder). Once you discover Preview's surprisingly capable collection of image-editing tools, you'll soon be editing imported photos by tweaking the exposure, color saturation, sharpness, and more. You can even mark up your images with circles, arrows, and text, plus numerous other shapes. In the second part of the book, Adam and Josh focus on PDFs in Preview, describing how to configure Preview to make reading PDFs as fluid as possible. Since so many paper forms now come in PDF, the book shows you how to fill out PDF-based forms, complete with quick insertion of your digital signature. Those who read digital textbooks or who collaborate on documents will learn to annotate PDFs with highlights, notes, and bookmarks. You'll even learn how to create PDFs from a scanner, the clipboard, and the Print dialog. Finally, Adam and Josh cover various ways protect your PDFs, including encrypting them, restricting permissions, and redacting portions of them. Preview is a veritable Swiss Army Knife. Don't miss out on the many ways it can make your life easier, including these capabilities: • Import photos from your iPhone or iPad. • Scan paper-based documents and images. • Add a scanned page to an existing PDF. • Take a screenshot that includes the pointer. • Open hundreds of images in a single window. • Trash unwanted images with a keystroke. • Duplicate, rename, and move images without leaving Preview. • Play a manually arranged slideshow of images or PDF pages. • Resize and change the resolution of images. • Crop out undesirable content. • Identify people, landmarks, and objects in images. • Mark up screenshots with shapes and text labels. • Magnify a portion of an image with a loupe. • Add text captions and speech bubbles to photos. • Tweak the white point and black point in photos. • Make photos sepia or black-and-white. • Edit a photo while comparing it to its original version. • Export to any of numerous formats, including HEIC. • Put thumbnails, table of contents, notes, or bookmarks in your sidebar. • View search results by rank or page order. • Copy text and images from a PDF, and copy text from any image. • Highlight text just like you would in a college textbook. • Add notes to highlighted text and as freestanding objects. • Review notes in the sidebar or Annotations inspector. • Create bookmarks to pages you want to revisit quickly. • Annotate a PDF with customizable shapes and arrows. • Fill in PDF forms, whether or not they’re interactive. • Create and insert a digital version of your signature into PDF forms. • Add, remove, and rearrange pages in a PDF. • Rotate PDF pages that were scanned at the wrong orientation. • Encrypt PDFs so they can’t be opened without a password. • Set restrictions on who can perform various actions on a PDF document. • Redact sensitive information from a PDF.

Take Control of Your Apple Account
Take Control of Your Apple Account

Author: Glenn Fleishman

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2024-09-20

Total Pages: 117

ISBN-13: 1990783589

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Prevent (or solve) problems with your Apple Account! Version 1.0, published September 20, 2024 The center of the Apple world is your Apple Account. This little identifier ties up your access to iCloud; to purchased and streaming music, TV, and movies; and to all your devices. While an Apple Account is essential, Apple has made it difficult to navigate the many features associated with it—and particularly to troubleshoot and resolve problems that crop up. This book answers dozens of questions and guides you through solutions. It also explains how to use security, recovery, and other features tied to your Apple Account. Everything Apple relies on your Apple Account. It’s a key that unlocks a long list of Apple products and services on any of numerous devices. iCloud uses an Apple Account, as does Apple Music; the App Store; the Music, TV, and Books apps; and more. An Apple Account protects your personal information, including email and iOS/iPadOS backups; helps you find a lost iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch; and can even unlock your Mac. So it goes without saying that if something goes wrong with your Apple Account, you could be in for a world of hurt. Unfortunately, things go wrong with Apple Accounts all the time. Fortunately, Glenn Fleishman, a veteran technology journalist and the author of Macworld’s “Mac 911” column, is ready to help with expert advice on how to manage your Apple Account—including how to prevent, solve, or work around most common problems! This book is fully up to date with all the changes released by Apple in 2024 connected to your Apple Account—including the change of name from Apple ID to Apple Account—as well as for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS 15 Sequoia, watchOS 11, tvOS 18, and other Apple products and services. In this book, Glenn answers questions like: • What all is my Apple Account used for? • How does my iCloud account relate to my Apple Account? • What’s two-factor authentication and how do I manage it—and not get locked out of my account? • Should I invest in hardware security keys to up the protection of my Apple Account account? • Are there other mechanisms I can use to ensure that I can recover an Apple Account in the event of a problem? (Spoiler: yes!) • What should I do if I have two or more Apple Accounts or iCloud accounts? • Will I lose access to all my Apple media purchases if I move to another country? • Can I share an Apple Account with someone else? • What does an Apple One subscription offer and how does it interact with Family Sharing and iCloud+ storage tiers? • Is there an explanation for how code-based and hardware-based second factors protect my account and how they differ from passkeys? (Yes!) • What exactly should I do if I think someone is hacking my Apple Account account? • How can I recover a forgotten Apple Account password? • What happens if I’m assaulted or drugged and someone gains access to my iPhone passcode and resets my Apple Account? (Sadly, a too real, if uncommon, problem.) • What steps should I take if Apple locks me out of my account? • If I lose access to an email address associated with my Apple Account, what can I do? • What Apple Account changes in recent versions of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS do I need to know about? • How can I use Family Sharing to share data and purchases within my family? • What types of subscriptions can I manage with my Apple Account, and how? • Which payment methods can I associate with my Apple Account, and how do I manage them? And that’s just the beginning. Glenn has packed a remarkable amount of concise problem-solving information into this comprehensive book. Read it before you encounter Apple Account problems to minimize your risk, and if you’ve already encountered a problem, read it to find the best path to a rapid solution.

Take Control of FaceTime and Messages, 3rd Edition
Take Control of FaceTime and Messages, 3rd Edition

Author: Glenn Fleishman

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2024-10-15

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1990783619

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Master Apple's video, audio, and text messaging tools! Version 3.0, updated October 15, 2024 Dig into FaceTime, Messages, and Phone from the basics through the most advanced and interesting features available, including screen sharing, group calls, and sending rich messages in Take Control of FaceTime and Messages. This comprehensive book will answer every question and reveal useful features you never knew existed.n FaceTime, Messages, and Phone form the core of video, texting, and calling tools for Apple devices. In this book, Glenn Fleishman lays out your options to best understand, use, and customize these apps. Start by mastering (or reviewing) the basics of each app, then move into group calls and texts, using rich media, maintaining your privacy, and adding whimsy to conversations. Covers iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS. The book covers all three apps (and the many ways in which they interact) extensively, showing you: • What's new in the FaceTime, Messages, and Phone apps (updated for macOS Sequoia 15.1, iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, watchOS 11.1, and tvOS 18.1) • How to master the basics of the FaceTime, Messages, and Phone apps • Essential settings and preferences for these apps • Ways to share your screen (or let someone share theirs with you) in both FaceTime and Messages, and when to use which • How to have fun and get creative with Message Effects, Camera Effects, stickers, and hashtag images • How Apple secures live audio, video, and texting • Strategies and tools to identify and block unwanted phone calls and messages • How to use Apple Intelligence features in the Messages and Phone apps You’ll learn about FaceTime capabilities such as: • How to use FaceTime for audio or video calls with one person or a group of up to 32 people • Why you might want to use a FaceTime Link, and how it can extend FaceTime to Windows and Android users • How to work with audio input and output devices in FaceTime • How to use enhanced audio (Mic Mode) and video (Portrait Mode) effects in FaceTime calls on supported devices • How to place and receive FaceTime calls on an Apple TV using Continuity Camera • How to use SharePlay, which lets parties carry on a FaceTime conversation while enjoying synchronized video, audio, or screen sharing • How to use gestures to create animated video effects • How to replace your background in video calls Find out things you never knew about Messages, including: • Why some conversations in Messages use iMessage (blue bubbles for individuals, gray bubbles for businesses) while others use SMS/MMS/RCS (green bubbles), and the differences between them • All about advanced Messages features, such as nested replies and person-to-person Apple Pay • Why Messages isn’t just for text, but also for audio messages, Digital Touch effects, animations, and more • How to use satellite features to send and receive iMessages when you're outside cellular range • Simple ways to create events and reminders from Messages conversations • What to do when group chats get out of control—managing notifications, using mentions, and understanding the differences between SMS and MMS chats • How to view transcriptions of audio messages Make better use of the Phone app: • How to make phone calls (including emergency calls) from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch • What the “verified” label on incoming phone calls means • How to use Live Voicemail to see the message a caller is leaving in real time

Take Control of Apple Mail, 6th Edition
Take Control of Apple Mail, 6th Edition

Author: Joe Kissell

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2024-01-18

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 1990783244

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Master Mail in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS! Version 6.1, updated January 18, 2024 Use Apple Mail more effectively! Email expert Joe Kissell explains what's new with Mail for macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, and how to best set up your Gmail, iCloud, IMAP, and Exchange accounts. He then shows you how to take Mail to the next level with plugins and automation, manage your incoming email, customize Mail, and solve common problems. Take Control of Apple Mail is your complete guide to Apple's Mail app. In this book, Joe explains core concepts like special IMAP mailboxes and email archiving, reveals Mail's hidden interface elements and gestures, and helps with common tasks like addressing and adding attachments. He also offers tips on customizing Mail, including a nifty chapter on how simple plugins and special automation can dramatically improve the way you use Mail. Joe also covers finding that message in the haystack with Mail's natural-language search, improving the messages you send, how digital signatures and encryption work in Mail, and—perhaps most important—an award-winning strategy for avoiding email overload. You’ll quickly find the information that’s most important to you, including: • Key changes in Mail for Sonoma, Ventura, iOS 17/iPadOS 17, and iOS 16/iPadOS 16, such as automated handling of two-factor verification codes, link tracking protection, discontinuation of plugin support in favor of extensions, unsending messages, scheduling messages to send later, following up on messages awaiting replies, reminding yourself about important messages in your Inbox, getting notifications for missing attachments and recipients, and more • How to take advantage of the new Mail privacy features Mail Privacy Protection and Hide My Email • Getting through your email faster with gestures • Using advanced search techniques to find filed messages • Using third-party add-ons to significantly enhance how you use Mail • The whys and hows of sending attachments • Using markup features to embellish, and even sign, outgoing attachments • Defeating spam with the Junk Mail filter—and what to do if you need more firepower • Understanding special mailboxes like Sent, Drafts, and Junk • Using notifications to stay apprised of incoming messages • Taking charge of email organization with rules and other measures • Backing up and restoring email • Importing email from other apps, older versions of Mail, or another Mac • Deciding whether you should encrypt your email, along with detailed, real-world steps for signing and encrypting messages • Taking Mail to the next level with AppleScript and Automator • Key skills for using Mail in iOS and iPadOS, such as working with incoming and outgoing messages, using attachments, and configuring accounts • Fixing problems: receiving, sending, logging in, bad mailboxes, and more Although this book primarily covers Mail in Sonoma, Ventura, Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, iOS 17/iPadOS 17, and iOS 16/iPadOS 16, the majority of it is also applicable to earlier versions.

Take Control of Find My and AirTags, 3rd Edition
Take Control of Find My and AirTags, 3rd Edition

Author: Glenn Fleishman

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2024-09-20

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 1990783570

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Track your stuff, find your friends, and safely share your location Version 3.0, updated September 20, 2024 Take Control of Find My and AirTags takes you inside Apple’s Find My ecosystem, a robust, privacy-protecting way to track your things, share your location (and see others’ with their permission), and aid in recovery lost and stolen devices. Find My lets you and someone else arrange to meet and see your live, updated ETA; figure out where you left your iPad (was it on a flight?!), and know that your bicycle remains firmly in place where you locked it.n Find My lost the “iPhone” moniker long ago, as the app and system of location tracking hardware, software, and infrastructure became “Find My Everything.” The current ecosystem encompasses people, Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch), Apple and Beats audio hardware, and low-power, long-life trackers. Apps can be used in iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS, and on iCloud.com. Take Control of Find My and AirTags takes you through the many parts of Find My so you can configure and refine how you and your stuff is tracked and shared. The book looks at three different kinds of tracking: • People: Learn how to share your location safely, follow others who let you, and send and receive notifications about arrivals and departures. (Also, prevent being tracked when you don’t want to be.) • Devices: See the whereabouts of your and Family Sharing group members’ devices and audio hardware. Get to know the ins and outs of enabling Find My and taking remote actions, from playing a sound to wiping your data from a device. • Items: Find out how AirTags make use of the crowdsourced network of other people’s Apple devices to help you find a lost or forgotten purse, backpack, or even car, and about third-party devices licensing the technology from Apple. Learn how to share your items with up to five other people. Also get to know the dangers of people using Find My tech for stalking. The book explains how to identify the risk, deter unwanted tracking from happening, block it if you find it—and report it to law enforcement or get other help. This edition includes detailed information about the Apple and Google industry initiative for Android, iOS, and iPadOS that lets Android, iPhone, and iPad users get notified about unknown trackers on either Apple or Google’s tracking systems that are traveling with them. The book also digs into how Family Sharing interacts with personal and device location sharing and finding, and how to help other people find their lost stuff if they don’t have one of their own Apple devices handy. The book focuses on the latest Apple operating systems: iOS 18/iPadOS 18, macOS 15 Sequoia, and watchOS 11. However, it looks back as far as iOS 16/iPadOS 16 and macOS 14 Monterey for nearly every feature—and sometimes back even years before those releases—so you can best use your mix of Apple devices of all vintages. Here’s more of what you can find in this book: • Start sharing AirTags and other items with up to five other people. • Find out the difference between device-based Find My tracking and the Find My network. • Figure out if your Apple or Beats audio hardware can be tracked just over Bluetooth nearby or via the Find My Network. • Lost a single earbud? Apple may have you covered by playing a sound out of it or providing nearly pinpoint tracking. • Experience the joy of playing a sound over the internet or nearby to help find a missing device or item. • See the place in Apple’s ecosystem for third-party Find My tracking from nearly a dozen companies that make bike, bag, and general stuff trackers, some with extra alarms. • Spot Google and Apple trackers following you that aren’t yours and aren’t shared Apple Find My items. • Control and monitor the way you let others track your whereabouts. • Get to know presence, the way you define which of your devices indicates where you are to other people. • Learn about the capability to track an iPhone or iPad even after it’s been erased! • See how Messages simplifies and improves location sharing and maps. • Dig into Apple’s efforts to prevent Find My from being used for stalking and unwanted tracking, including audio alerts and other behavior. • Discover buried controls for configuring exactly how Find My updates your device’s location, including when power runs low. • Develop an understanding of your Apple Watch’s three distinct Find My to use them effectively on the go. • Understand Activation Lock, which protects devices from being reused even if someone has erased them, and Find My Lock, which keeps Find My items from being reset and taken over. • Help family members find lost and stolen gear through Find My’s Family Sharing support.

Take Control of Podcasting
Take Control of Podcasting

Author: Andy Affleck

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2020-09-17

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 1947282603

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Create your own podcast on a Mac, iPhone, or iPad Start podcasting or take your podcast to the next level with start-to-finish guidance from Andy Affleck. You’ll learn tricks of the trade as you assemble your hardware and software, make recordings, edit and mix the audio, and encode and publish your shows. This book covers all the steps needed to make a podcast using a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Create your own podcast—or improve an existing podcast—using your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch! This book walks you through every step of the process, from choosing equipment and software through recording, editing, mixing, and polishing. Once your audio is in the can, you’ll find real-world advice and steps for encoding and publishing your episodes. This book replaces and updates Andy’s earlier title, Take Control of Podcasting on the Mac, with up-to-date instructions and complete coverage of iOS and iPadOS devices. The book includes more than dozen sound samples from various combinations of mics, positions, filters, and processing, so that you can hear the differences before you buy any special gear. Take Control of Podcasting provides the help you need for creating podcasts on a Mac, iOS, or iPadOS device: • Plan your podcast. Decide on a topic and format, decide on a production schedule, learn common terms and techniques, and think about monetization strategies. • Choose the right mic, headphones, and other equipment. Pick out audio gear while considering your budget and studio (or mobile!) needs. Plus, you’ll learn if you should buy additional audio hardware, like a breakout box or mixer, and find an explanation (with photos) of the main cable types that you’ll come across. • Pick audio software. Apps discussed at length include GarageBand for Mac and iOS/iPadOS, Audacity, Audio Hijack, Ferrite Recording Studio, and Voice Record Pro. Apps that are discussed briefly include Amadeus Pro, Ecamm Call Recorder, Fission, Izotope RX Elements, Loopback, Sound Studio, SoundSoap, and The Levelator. The book also mentions using Zoom, FaceTime, and Skype for interviews and remote recording, as well as various web-based podcasting platforms. • Learn key recording tips. Find advice about how to prepare for and conduct a successful interview, plus get a few essential tips for using a mic well. • Record in the studio or the field. Get step-by-step recording directions for GarageBand for Mac and iOS/iPadOS, as well as Audacity, Ferrite Recording Studio, Voice Record Pro, and Audio Hijack. • Record online interviews. Follow the book’s steps for recording an interview online through services such as Skype and FaceTime. • Edit and mix your audio. Find directions for removing unwanted noises and pauses, adding professional polish, and generally editing and mixing a recording. • Encode your podcast files. Before you send your podcast episode out on the internet, you’ll want to save it in the right format and add tags. • Get syndicated with RSS. Understand what should be in a podcast’s RSS feed. • Be a publisher! Get ideas for blog services that can host your podcast and related blog posts, and find directions for publishing your podcast in Apple’s iTunes Store and setting up a WordPress.com blog for podcasting. • What do other podcasters do? Find out about the gear and techniques used by podcasters Chuck Joiner (MacVoices), Jason Snell (The Incomparable), Louis Trapani (Doctor Who: Podshock), and Kirk McElhearn (The Committed). • Join a community. The book includes a link to a website Andy created to help podcasters share tips and get advice.

Take Control of Notes
Take Control of Notes

Author: Josh Centers

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2023-12-13

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1990783260

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Unlock the potential of Apple’s Notes app! Version 1.7, updated December 13, 2023 This book tells you everything you need to know about Apple's Notes app for iOS, macOS, and the web, from basic features like formatting to advanced features like scanning documents, password protecting notes, making sketches, and managing attachments.n Apple’s Notes has come a long way since it was first introduced with the iPhone as a simple note-taking app, but many users are still unaware of its expanded capabilities. Now available on Macs, on iOS/iPadOS devices, and on the web at iCloud.com, Notes has become a surprisingly powerful tool for writing, sketching, organizing, and sharing information of all kinds. In Take Control of Notes, Josh Centers provides a quick but thorough guide to this deceptively simple app, showing you how to master its many tools—and avoid or work around its limitations. Among many other things, you'll learn how to: • Choose where to store notes (iCloud, IMAP, or a device) and whether or how they sync • Import notes from other apps and services • Apply and modify character-level and paragraph-level formatting in a note • Make lists (including checklists and lists with multiple levels of indentation) • Work with tables in notes • Encrypt notes with a password • Add photos, videos, audio, maps, and other content to your notes • Scan printed documents into Notes and save them as PDF attachments • Draw and sketch using your finger or an Apple Pencil • Share notes with other users, and add @-mentions • Use the Quick Note feature in macOS and iPadOS to start a note from anywhere • Organize your notes into folders, tag notes, and search their contents

Take Control of PDFpen, 3rd Edition
Take Control of PDFpen, 3rd Edition

Author: Michael E. Cohen

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2021-05-03

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 1954546033

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Edit and enhance your PDFs easily with PDFpen 13! Version 3.0, updated May 3, 2021 This book tells you how create, edit, and enhance PDF documents on your Mac with PDFpen 13 and PDFpenPro 13, and on the go with PDFpen for iPad & iPhone.n These days, an ever-increasing amount of “paper”—contracts, tax forms, bills, reports, and more—comes into our lives as PDF files. We generate this virtual paper too, since it’s so much easier to save a document as a PDF and send it to a colleague via email than it is to print and send via fax or email. To read, edit, and manipulate all these PDFs, you need the appropriate tools and skills. Given the high price of Adobe Acrobat DC Pro, many Mac users have turned to Smile’s affordable PDFpen apps to help them sign PDF forms, handle scanned documents, make changes in existing PDFs, create new PDFs from a variety of sources, and to export PDFs to other file formats (including Word and Excel). With Take Control of PDFpen, you’ll learn how to do all these tasks and more on your Mac with PDFpen or PDFpenPro or on the go with PDFpen for iPad & iPhone. If you haven’t used PDFpen before, this free book is an excellent way to find out what it has to offer. TidBITS members can save 20% on all Smile products purchased through the Smile cart, including PDFpen 13 and PDFpenPro 13. To learn more, visit the Membership Benefits page. To access the coupon code, make sure you've logged in and click through from the Your Member Benefits page. Take Control of PDFpen begins with a guide to purchasing options: PDFpen versus PDFpenPro, from Smile versus the Mac App Store, and the advantages of the iOS/iPadOS version. Next, you’ll meet PDFpen with an overview of the PDF format and a tour of the interface. With the basics out of the way, highlights of what you’ll learn to do include: • Add and remove pages, and combine pages from multiple files into one PDF. • Mark up a PDF with highlights, comments, editing marks, and more. • Compare two different parts of a PDF with the Split View. • Edit a PDF by fixing typos, adding text, formatting text, and redacting confidential text. • Scan a document into a PDF, and make the text editable with OCR—with single or multiple documents. • Add photos or scans to a PDF quickly with Continuity Camera and an iOS/iPadOS device. • View and work with OCRed text in the OCR layer (PDFpenPro only) • Add clickable links, headers, footers, page numbers, and images. • Annotate a document with lines, shapes, text, and callouts. • Make a clickable table of contents (PDFpenPro only). • Add a watermark to each page of a PDF. • Password-protect a PDF. And (PDFpenPro only), prevent others from printing or editing a PDF. • Turn a PDF into a formatted Microsoft Word document, or (PDFpenPro only) export it in Excel or PowerPoint format. • Reduce the size of your PDFs. • Create blank PDFs with stationery. • Add a digital signature with DocuSign (PDFpenPro only). And, you’ll find directions for working with PDF forms: • Fill out forms with ease. • Add a handwritten signature. • Apply a digital signing certificate. • Print just form entries on a pre-printed form. • Create an interactive PDF form (PDFpenPro only) that can collect data and send it to you via email or the web. You can add an interactive signature field, which makes it easy for the form to be signed online. An appendix describes the useful AppleScripts that ship with PDFpen. This ebook was created in collaboration with Smile, with PDFpen's developers tech editing the book.

Take Control of Shortcuts, 2nd Edition
Take Control of Shortcuts, 2nd Edition

Author: Rosemary Orchard

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2023-01-30

Total Pages: 147

ISBN-13: 1990783007

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Automate your iPhone, iPad, or Mac! Version 2.1, updated January 30, 2023 Automation is no longer just for advanced computer users! Apple's Shortcuts app lets anyone with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac automate day-to-day tasks, from the simple to the complex. This book is a complete introduction to Shortcuts, covering every aspect of building, installing, debugging, running, syncing, and sharing shortcuts. It also includes step-by-step recipes for creating numerous useful shortcuts yourself. Apple's Shortcuts app brings extensive automation capabilities to your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, using a drag-and-drop, fill-in-the-blanks interface much like Automator—but much more powerful. It lets you perform sequences of tasks, including ones that span various apps, with just a tap, a click, or a voice command—or even automatically when certain conditions are met. Shortcuts can save you time and effort, help you accomplish previously complicated tasks, and let you customize your device to better meet your needs. Apple finally brought Shortcuts to the Mac in macOS 12 Monterey. (The book now includes coverage of macOS Ventura, iOS 16, and iPadOS 16.) But for all its utility, Shortcuts is not self-explanatory, so it can be challenging to figure out its quirks and create effective, time-saving automations. That's where Take Control of Shortcuts comes in. Written by automation expert Rosemary Orchard, this book opens the world of automation to users at every level. With Rosemary's help, you'll learn how to: • Navigate the Shortcuts app: Understand the user interface (on each platform) and terminology, then install and run your first shortcut. • Run shortcuts: Discover many different ways to run a shortcut, from tapping or clicking an icon to using Personal or Home automations, Siri, and Apple Watch. • Build shortcuts: Start with simple, one-step shortcuts and work your way up to complex shortcuts with input, output, variables, conditionals, loops, and more. Debugging advice is also included. • Install and sync shortcuts: Download and install shortcuts others have written, sync your shortcuts across your devices, and share them with other people. Then, to both illustrate the main principles you've learned and give you practical tools to get you started, Rosemary walks you step by step through the creation of 25 sample shortcuts, most which you can also download and install using links in the book. Examples include: • Event templates • A daily overview • Converting and sharing images • Adding a song to a playlist • Logging expenses • Turning on lights automatically when you get home • Disabling rotation lock just for YouTube on an iPhone • Reminding you about upcoming deadlines 15 minutes after you arrive home • Automatically setting seasonal scenes for HomeKit lights The book also discusses how Shortcuts can use REST APIs to talk to various web services (with detailed examples), and numerous complementary apps that work in conjunction with Shortcuts. Whether you're completely new to automation or already have significant programming experience, you'll find plenty of useful information in this friendly, practical guide.

Take Control of Managing Your Files, 2nd Edition
Take Control of Managing Your Files, 2nd Edition

Author: Jeff Carlson

Publisher: alt concepts

Published: 2023-05-23

Total Pages: 113

ISBN-13: 1990783279

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Take the pain out of dealing with files and folders Version 2.0, updated May 23, 2023 Your Apple devices contain an overwhelming number of files and folders, and as these items accumulate, they create more work for you. Does your file management system involve throwing everything on the desktop and then pawing through it laboriously when you need to find something? Do you even have a system? There’s a better way. This book helps you organize, search, and clean up the files on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, providing practical steps and realistic strategies to save time, reduce clutter, and decrease stress.n Apple users have fantastic tools at their disposal for using, creating, and editing files of all kinds, but few of us have any real strategy for naming, organizing, or tagging those files—making them increasingly difficult to find later on. In this book, veteran technology author Jeff Carlson helps you make sense of what could be millions of files on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad so that you can spend less time hunting for things and more time doing useful work (or having fun). Jeff starts by helping you set appropriate file management goals and develop overall strategies that fit your needs and preferences. Then he gets into the details of how to use the Finder (on a Mac), the Files app (in iOS and iPadOS), and third-party tools to make sense of your files and folders and easily find what you're looking for. This book covers topics such as: • How to keep important items in sync among your devices • Choosing when to use internal storage vs. external storage (such as an external hard drive, a NAS, or the cloud) • Whether and how to use iCloud Drive to sync your files, including Desktop and Documents folders • How to create shortcuts to your favorite files and folders • Understanding how the macOS folder hierarchy works • The best ways to use the desktop • What you should consider when creating a folder hierarchy • Why and how to use tags to categorize files • How you can automatically sort, rename, and file items on your Mac • Ways you can collaborate with others on the same files and folders • When to consider third-party information management apps (such as DEVONthink) • How to find files and folders with Spotlight in macOS, iOS, and iPadOS • Alternative search tools you might want to consider • How to work your way through a long backlog of unsorted (or poorly sorted) files • Techniques for encrypting sensitive files (and other data) • Ways to free up storage space If you're struggling with file management, this book will help you get a grip on the process—and get your devices to do more of the hard work for you.