This hint requires that you have the Apple Developer Tools installed in order to use the Property List editor.
In the Finder navigate to the /Applications folder and right click on iTunes and select 'Show Package Contents.' Once Contents is open the path is Contents/Resources/English.lproj/TextStyles.plist. Right click on TextStyles.plist and open it with the Property List Editor.
In the plist locate 9003 and click the arrow next to it.
You will see three lines of settings on the 'font' row. I changed the font to LucidaGrange-Bold and on the 'size' line I changed the size from 13 to 18. Note that you need root-level permissions to save the changes.
I now have iTunes with a bold and larger font just the way I like it. I'm a musician and use iTunes to make my band's set lists. I just take a screen capture of the list and print it in Preview.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one, but did look at the plist to see that the 9003 is the correct place. As always, editing the .plist file may break code signing and potentially cause problems updating. Make a backup copy of the unmodified version (via Time Machine or other means) before doing this. There may be a way to do this change with a 'defaults write' command, and if someone has that command please put it in the comments.]
Having recently needed to convert a large pile of .ods and .xlsx to .xls for uniformity, I created the following AppleScript. To make it, I tried using Automator to record actions, but couldn't edit the list of actions recorded to make it generic, rather than specific to the document that was on top.
However, I found that if you select a number of recorded actions from inside the 'recorded actions' box in Automator and drag them into the empty space below the command, it will generate an AppleScript of those actions.
I was also having problems with the action timing out during the switch and open save dialog. I fixed this by deleting the on error event, so that the command would continue to try until the timeout elapsed. That seemed to work.
Here's the script:
on run {}
-- Click "NeoOffice" in the Dock.
set timeoutSeconds to 0.3
set uiScript to "click UI Element \"NeoOffice\" of list 1 of application process \"Dock\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
-- Press ⇧⌘S
delay 0.2
set timeoutSeconds to 1
set uiScript to "keystroke \"s\" using {shift down, command down}"
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
-- Make a selection from the popupbutton.
delay 0.2
set timeoutSeconds to 1
set uiScript to "click pop up button 1 of group 1 of window \"Save\" of application process \"NeoOffice\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
-- Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls)
delay 0.2
set timeoutSeconds to 0.2
set uiScript to "click menu item \"Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls)\" of menu 1 of pop up button 1 of group 1 of window \"Save\" of application process \"NeoOffice\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
-- Click the "Save" button.
delay 0.2
set timeoutSeconds to 0.2
set uiScript to "click UI Element \"Save\" of window \"Save\" of application process \"NeoOffice\""
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
-- Press ⌘W
delay 0.2
set timeoutSeconds to 0.2
set uiScript to "keystroke \"w\" using command down"
my doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
end run
on doWithTimeout(uiScript, timeoutSeconds)
set endDate to (current date) + timeoutSeconds
repeat
try
run script "tell application \"System Events\"
" & uiScript & "
end tell"
exit repeat
on error errorMessage
if ((current date) > endDate) then
end if
end try
end repeat
end doWithTimeout
I was having big problems with Outlook 2011: it was taking longer and longer to launch (up to a couple of minutes), and then being generally sluggish in use.
What I initially did was this: after ensuring my email was synced with Exchange, and nothing stored locally (in 'On My Computer' folders), I used Microsoft Database Utility to create a new identity, which rebuilt my local copy of all my email. This sped things up considerably - although not as fast as I really wanted - but introduced another problem: that searching in Outlook wasn't working. This is a problem that evidently a lot of people suffer from, and the usual solution is to re-index the drive, or the Identity folder. But in my case, searching from the Spotlight icon on the Mac's menu bar was giving results (just not when searching in Outlook) so clearly the Spotlight (mdutil) part was working fine.
As a last act of desperation, after quitting Outlook I renamed the identity (which was called 'New Identity 04/04/2011') to 'Main Identity' and relaunched. BOOM! Launching took about two seconds, AND searching was working again!
So, create a new identity, rename it to 'Main Identity', and you should get a whole new, speedy Outlook.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one, although I recall doing similar things with Entourage, usually when the database had become large.]
In the Finder, Option-Clicking the disclosure triangle for a folder while in list view will reveal or close all its contents. In iTunes, Command-Clicking on just one Playlist Folder will do the same, but for all Playlist Folders in the iTunes sidebar.
Elsewhere in iTunes, this can be helpful when preparing to sync only selected content to an iPod, iPhone or iPad because iTunes defaults to showing all Playlist Folders expanded.
When a device is connected, the Music section for selecting which playlists to sync -- this is in the main part of the iTunes window, not the sidebar -- displays all Playlist Folders with their contents revealed. Here, too, a Command-Click on one Playlist Folder will close all of them.
[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. I don't use Playlist Folders myself so this behavior is new for me.]
It seems the Shift-click slow-motion effect was carried into Keynote '09.
Shift-click the 'Skip' button in the Keynote icon toolbar and the selected slide in the thumbnail list will slowly flatten out and fold down.
[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. It's a nice little touch. I had to manually add the 'Skip' button to the Keynote toolbar, which you do by going to View » Customize Toolbar….]
iTunes Genius Mixes are nice. They group common music together in a playlist and the songs usually work well together. But there are problems. There is no easy way to tell exactly what songs you may get stuck with on a playlist. Plus, the Genius Mix list will keep playing, even if it has exhausted all songs available to it.
This means that users, especially those with smaller libraries, may hear the same songs pop up repeatedly, especially if they listen to the same Genius Mix for a long period. This hint is designed to better tailor playlists from Genius Mixes and eliminate duplicates.
For those of us that have downloaded FaceTime for Mac from the Mac App Store and have seen a dialog box with the following text: 'An Internal FaceTime error has occurred. There was a problem with FaceTime. You need to quit and open FaceTime again.'
In doing an investigation as to why FaceTime was not launching (which has been going on since the beta), I came up with this solution to the vexing problem, and here's what you need to do: Go to /Applications, then Right (or Ctrl)-click on FaceTime.app and choose 'Show Package Contents.' Then open the Contents/LaunchAgents folder, and copy the file called com.apple.imagent.plist to your ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder.
There is another file that you need to copy to your ~/Library/LaunchAgents folder as well, but that file on some Macs may or may not be installed. That file is called com.apple.apsd.plist. If that file is not located in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, you may have to download it.
You can do a search for the file on Google or your favorite search engine. After it's downloaded, rename the file com.apple.apsd-ft.plist and put this file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents and launch FaceTime.
If you see your camera light turn on and see your face, just sign in with your Apple ID or MobileMe account and you're all set.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. If anyone has a further explanation of what is going on here, and why the .plist files are not installed in ~/Library/LaunchAgents to begin with, please post it in the comments.]
Lots of times, to get just the right look for your website, you want to use a font that is considered 'unsafe,' meaning unless someone viewing your page has that same font installed, the browser will pick some other default font to take its place. This obviously is undesirable. There are definitely more sophisticated and better ways to use non-web safe fonts, but if you want something easy and quick in iWeb, here's one thing you can do that's very easy and doesn't require any CSS or HTML code or widgets.
For any text using an unsafe web font, just rotate the text box marginally and iWeb will convert it to an image file so that your font appears as-is in any web browser. I asked if anyone noticed that the text was rotated and no one ever noticed.
There are two ways (that I know of) to rotate a text box. In either case, you first must click on the text box so that the corners have little white squares over them. Then hover your mouse over the corner while holding the command key, click and drag. The other option is to use the inspector. Under the tab that looks like a ruler, you can enter the number of degrees to rotate the font. I use this since it's easier to rotate an undetectable fraction (like 0.1 degrees).
I did this in iWeb 3.x. Of course, if you do this with a lot of text, then you're making your page bulky to download, so I only use it for fancy headings. Note, I have seen some buggy behavior with browsers not completely loading the images which (oddly enough) causes text to switch places. Hitting reload has always resolved this for me.
Songs created with the iPad version of GarageBand can not be opened with the Mac version (at least not at the time of writing). I've found a kludgy workaround that will allow you to open at least part of your project on your Mac.
Basically you just need to edit the version number embedded in the project file. I've posted the full step-by-step details to my blog.
Here are the steps:
Right-click a project and select 'Show Package Contents.'
Find the projectData file and open it with the Plist Editor (or a text editor if you don't have the Developer Tools installed).
Find the version key with the value 45000 and change that to 40000.
Save the file.
That's it! The project will now open, albeit with a bunch of warning messages and certain things (some instruments and loops) may be missing. But recorded audio, track settings, etc. should all be there.
[crarko adds: I haven't tested this one. Hopefully Apple will have that update out soon.]
Arguably the most useful part of the Office suite, Remote Desktop Connection is available as a free, separate download from Microsoft. The standard installation process will automatically install a bunch of background stuff that you arguably don't need, for instance, the auto-updater, crash reporter, and office dock package. Following this simple hint will allow you to install RDC without the added bloat and annoying auto-update popups.
Ctrl+click or right click on the RDC Installer package and choose 'Show Package Contents.'
Drill down to /Contents/Packages. You will see four installer packages. Copy the Office2011_en_rdc.pkg installer to your desktop.
Unmount (eject) the disk image and run the installer you just copied.
Everything should work normally, with the exception of no extra processes running in the background. This hint is obviously most useful to users wanting to run RDC, but not the full Office suite, and especially to sysadmins wishing to operate with RDC in a cleaner environment.
[crarko adds: I tested this, and it works as described. The current version of RDC is 2.1, which was a slight update for me.]