macosxhints.com System tips

Put Mac to sleep with Drafts on iOS

Thu, 23 May 2013 07:30:00 -0700

Agile Tortoise's Drafts is a nifty tool for writing texts and doing things with them on an iOS device. I use it mostly for the more comfortable writing environment, and send texts as emails or tweets, but there's an entire sub-culture that's been hacking Drafts to do many things. (Check out the Drafts actions directory.)

David Sparks posted an interesting use of Drafts (credited to Milosz Bolechowski; I couldn't find the original on his site), together with noodlesoft's Hazel - a tool that automates tasks on your Mac - to put a Mac to sleep. In essence, Hazel looks for a file named "MB sleep" in a the Drafts folder in his Dropbox folder; when it finds that file, it puts the Mac to sleep wit ...

Easy way to open new Finder window in same folder as frontmost window

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:30:00 -0700

You recently published a hint explaining how to open a new Finder window in the same folder as the frontmost window, using an AppleScript. Here is an easy way to do the same thing: no Applescript, no special apps needed.

In the Finder, make sure the Path Bar is visible (View > Show Path Bar). The current path is then displayed at the bottom of each Finder window.

As with any other folder icon in the Finder, Command-double-clicking on any icon in the Path Bar will open a new window to that folder.

The current folder is always displayed last in the Path Bar (even if the Path Bar is to short to display all the names), so Command-double-clicking on the last icon in the Path Bar will always open a new window to the current folder.

AppleScript to open new Finder window in same folder as frontmost window

Fri, 10 May 2013 07:30:00 -0700

A user at Stack Exchange asked an interesting question recently : how can you open a new Finder window in the same folder as the frontmost window? When you open a new Finder window (Command-N in the Finder), it opens to the folder you've set in the Finder's General preferences. There may be some situations when you want to duplicate the current window, such as when you're moving files around among sub-folders in a specific folder.

Another reader, Lauri Ranta, posted a simple AppleScript, that you can use together with a keyboard shortcut, to do just this. When you run the script, it creates a new window at the same location as the frontmost window. Here's the script:

tell application "Finder"
    try
        target of window 1
        make new  ...

Use the Finder toolbar Back button to jump to previously visited folders

Mon, 06 May 2013 07:30:00 -0700

I can't find a hint for this on the site, and it's probably not new, but I only just stumbled on this. The Finder toolbar, by default, has Previous and Next buttons that let you navigate back and forth in folders. If you click the Previous button, you'll go back, one window at a time, to all the folders you've visited in that Finder window. But if you click and hold that button, you'll see a list of all the folders you've visited, and can jump to any of them by selecting one. This is a good way to get to a folder you've used but that's far from where you are in the file system.

Change OS X cursor size

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0700

The Accessibility pane of System Preferences holds a number of interesting adjustments you can set to make your Mac easier to use. One of them is the ability to change the size of the cursor; the pointer you see on your screen.

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility, then click on Display. Drag the Cursor Size slider from Normal (smallest) toward Large. Find the size you want to use, and close the preference pane.

I have a 27" Thunderbolt Display, and I find the normal-sized cursor a bit small, so I've set mine to be a bit larger. You may find this to be a useful tweak as well.

Note that some applications may not use the changed setting. Feel free to post in the comments any apps that don't inherit this setting.

Delete Time Machine backups from the command line

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0700

You may know that you can enter Time Machine through the GUI and delete a backup. In some cases, under Mountain Lion, this results in an error, with a message saying "The operation can't be completed because backup items can't be modified."

In some cases, deleting backups from the Finder won't work; you also may not be able to use the rm command to delete these backups, because they are handled in a special way. Finally, even if all goes well, you may want to delete backups on a remote Mac's Time Machine disk.

There is an executable accessible from the command line that lets you delete these backups. To use this with Mountain Lion, run the following command:

sudo /System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Helpers/bypass rm -rfv /Volumes/[disk]/Backups.backupdb/[path]

This command works with Lion:

sudo /System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Contents/MacOS/bypass rm -rfv /Volumes/[disk]/Backups.backupdb/[ ...

Create "sticky" Time Machine exclusions

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 07:30:00 -0700

You can exclude certain files and folders from your Time Machine backups from the Time Machine pane in System Preferences; you can also do this from the command line. Run this command:

sudo tmutil addexclusion [path]

where [path] is a file or folder. For example, if I want to exclude my Downloads folder from Time Machine backups, I would run the following:

sudo tmutil addexclusion ~/Downloads

The tmutil addexclusion command has an interesting property: it's sticky. When you do this, the item you exclude remains in the Time Machine exclusion list even if you move it, which is not the case when you exclude items from the Time Machine preference pane. If you use the above command with the -p flag, then it will not be sticky, and will be the same as an exclusion you add from the GUI.

[kirkmc adds: Updated to correct an error in the post. I've removed the comments that pointed out the error. Sorry!]

Change volume and brightness in quarter-step increments

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 07:30:00 -0700

You can use modifier keys, together with F keys, to change volume and brightness by quarter increments. To do this, press Option-Shift-F1 or Option-Shift-F2 to change the brightness by quarter steps. For volume, press Option-Shift-F11 or Option-Shift-F12 to change by quarter steps.

[kirkmc adds: This isn't new; we have a hint about this when it returned to Mac OS X 10.7.4; it had existed prior to 10.7, but was removed in the early versions of Lion. But it seemed useful to remind readers about this, and point out that it works for both volume and brightness.]

Quick Look files in Open window

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:30:00 -0700

If you wish to view files in an Open window, you can use Quick Look. Just select a file and press the space bar to view it. (This works only with those files that Quick View can display.) You can also move around and view other files using the arrow keys.

[kirkmc adds: I had assumed this would already have been on the site, but I only found this hint which offers a workaround. So I wonder when this was added to OS X.]

Control Time Machine from the command line with tmutil

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:30:00 -0700

The ability to control Time Machine from the Time Machine preferences in System Preferences is quite limited. You can choose exclusions, turn Time Machine on or off, and force backups, but that's about it. Fortunately, a command-line tool, tmutil provides much more control over Time Machine. The man page for tmutil says the following:

"tmutil provides methods of controlling and interacting with Time Machine, as well as examining and manipulating Time Machine backups. Common abilities include restoring data from backups, editing exclusions, and comparing back-ups."

For example, you can compare backups to see what has changed from one backup to another, inherit a backup (which you can do from the Time Machine menu, when you set up a new Mac and want to use a backup from an older Mac), or set up fixed-path exclusions (excluding items at a specific file path).

Check man tmutil to see all that you can do with this comma ...

Have Spotlight results show Dictionary words just below Top Hit (or anywhere you want)

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:30:00 -0800

If you use Spotlight to look up Dictionary definitions, you may find it annoying that they show up near the bottom of the list. While you can change the order of most Spotlight categories from the Search Results tab of the Spotlight pane in System Preferences, Dictionary isn't in that list.

However, there is a hack, involving some simple editing of the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.spotlight.plist file. A recent post on Stack Exchange explains what to do. You open the file with Xcode, then add a Dictionary item, which will allow you to move the Dictionary category to where you want in the Spotlight results. See the post linked above for full details, or see this blog post in Chinese explaining the procedure.

Add folders of wallpaper to Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 07:30:00 -0800

If you like to use different wallpaper on your desktop, you might want to add folders of graphics you've collected to be selected at random. You can do this by opening the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane, then clicking on the Desktop tab, clicking on + and navigating to your folder. But there's a quicker way: just drag the folder to the Folders section of the sidebar. You can add one or more folders here quickly.

H/t OS X Daily.

Scripts to disable and enable password for lock screen after sleep or screen saver

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:30:00 -0800

Here is two small scripts that I use to set and unset the password prompt when I lock the screen, or put my Mac to sleep. It is a nuisance to have to unlock the screen by entering the password, when at home. But I wouldn't leave my Mac anywhere without it.

I have called them setScreenPassword and unsetScreenPassword. I call them from QuickSilver, and you could use another launcher to do the same. The nifty thing about Quicksilver in this matter, is that if I activate it, I can see that I have turned on setScreenPassword, as it displays the last command before I start typing again.

I prefer to see the box in the System Preference pane get clicked, and unclicked. I have an old MacBook Pro, so I have added the delay of 0 so you can see where to add increments of 0.2 seconds, until you see the check box gets checked, or unchecked.

...

Make home Library sub-folders available to Spotlight

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 07:30:00 -0800

Here's one approach to making items in your home Library folder searchable in Spotlight.

Spotlight searches exclude items that exist in the user's home Library folder (now hidden by default). There are some items that normally reside in the home Library folder that I want to be available for my Spotlight searches. Rather than trying to find a hack to defeat the system's exclusion of the home Library folder for Spotlight, I use a method that doesn't require crossing the boundaries of what the OS permits users to do.

I simply select folders, the contents of which I would like to appear in Spotlight searches, such as Scripts and Favorites, move them up a level to the home folder, then create a symbolic link to the moved item to serve as a substitute for it in its original location. I'm including source for an AppleScript droplet that I use to automate this process. If your Library folder is already open (one way to open it is to hold down the Option key then selec ...

Increase volume on Apple Cinema Display

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:30:00 -0800

I have a 27" Thunderbolt Cinema Display, and I use its built-in speakers for the output of alert sounds. (In System Preferences > Sound > Sound Effects, you can choose this.) But the volume wasn't very loud, even though I had set the Alert volume slider to its maximum setting. I'd been trying to figure out why, because when I listen to music, the alert volume - and a sound I use to alert me when VIP e-mails arrive - isn't loud enough to be heard.

So I remembered that Audio-MIDI Setup has a number of tweaks for system sound settings. This app is found in /Applications/Utilities. When I opened it, and clicked on Display Audio, the two volume sliders (right and left channels) were nowhere near the maximum volume, so I raised them, and now I can hear my system beeps and other sounds.

So if you have problems with the volume of any audio outputs, you might want to check Audio-MIDI Setup and see if it can fix the issue.

See Cover Flow framerate

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 07:30:00 -0700

I stumbled on this useless but curious "defaults write" trick for the Finder that displays the frame rate when you flip through files in Cover Flow. I've only tested it in Mountain Lion.

The following will show the cover flow frame rate (as frames per second) within the Finder alongside each filename when flipping through files. On my system I get around 58 FPS consistently; try and beat that! I'm interested to see how retina MacBook Pros do, and, as such, this could be a useful if non-scientific benchmarking trick:

defaults write com.apple.finder IKImageFlowShowFrameRate 1;killall Finder

To get rid of it:

defaults delete com.apple.finder IKImageFlowShowFrameRate;killall Finder

[kirkmc adds: I, too, get 58 fps on my Mac mini, the same on my retina MacBook Pro. (Actually, it looks like it peaks at 58.87.) This suggests that there's something in the system that is limiting it, or that it simply can't g ...

Create custom keybindings

Thu, 06 Sep 2012 07:30:00 -0700

If you'd like to easily type some non-standard glyphs, adding a custom keybinding might prove useful.

The keybindings file is located in ~/Library/KeyBindings/ (You will probably have to make this directory and then add a file named "DefaultKeyBinding.dict".]).

The syntax for these keybindings are:

"[keycombination]" = ("insertText:", "&#092;[unicodenumber or actual character]");

Example:

"~*" = ("insertText:", "&#092;U0215"); /* the times-symbol "�" */

In this "Keycombination" field:
@ = cmd key
$ = shift key
~ = option key
^ = ctrl key
# = keys on number pad

More on the keybinding syntax at http://xahlee.info/kbd/osx_keybinding_key_syntax.html.

[kirkmc adds: We've also got a 2006 hint that goes in ...

Disable Go to Folder in Finder's Go menu

Wed, 05 Sep 2012 07:30:00 -0700

You may be familiar with the Go > Go to Folder menu item in the Finder. You can use this to go directly to any folder in your Mac's file system. But on some Macs, you may not want users to be able to access that menu item. For example, Macs in public places - such as schools or libraries - or Macs that your kids use. OS X Daily recently posted a method for hiding this menu item. Run the following command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitGoToFolder -bool true ; killall Finder

Not only will the menu item be gone, but the Command-Shift-G shortcut that brings up the Go to Folder dialog will no longer work.

Want to get it back? Just run this command:

defaults write com.apple.finder ProhibitGoToFolder -bool false ; killall Finder

Note that this command does not prevent access to the user's Library folder; if you press the Option key while displaying the Go menu ...

View multi-page previews of Word files on Finder icons

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:30:00 -0700

Mountain Lion has added the ability to view multi-page previews of Word documents when you hover your cursor over the icon, as has been possible with PDFs since Lion.

To see a preview, hover your cursor over a Word document. You'll see two arrow icons on the document icon; you can click to the right or left to view different pages.

However, in Icon View, these previews only display if the icons are 64 pixels or larger. They display in Column View, and in Cover Flow View, no matter what size the icons are in the top of the Cover Flow View window.

Auto-delete a DMG file when ejecting a disk image

Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:30:00 -0700

While the Mac App Store is great, I still find myself downloading .dmg files and installing plenty of third-party software. I often forget to delete .dmg files after I've installed applications. Here's a script to automatically move the .dmg file to the trash when you eject the disk image.

To use this script, select the mounted volume in the Finder (or in the "Devices" section of the Finder sidebar), and trigger this script via your favorite macro app instead of ejecting the disk image normally.

tell application "Finder"
	set selection_list to selection
	if (count selection_list)  ...