In the latest version of iTunes (version 11), you can use Command + 1 through Command + 7 to switch the view between different sections of your iTunes library.
Cmd + 1 = Music
Cmd + 2 = Movies
Cmd + 3 = TV Shows
Cmd + 4 = Podcasts
Cmd + 5 = iTunes U
Cmd + 6 = Books
Cmd + 7 = Apps
These shortcuts will only work if the corresponding sections of your iTunes library are enabled in the General pane of your iTunes preferences.
While it's not obvious, you can use the MiniPlayer with full screen mode in iTunes 11.
Switch out of full screen mode, set iTunes to show on all desktops via the Dock, open the MiniPlayer as a separate window (Window > MiniPlayer), then click the full screen button on the main window.
I currently have the MiniPlayer sitting in the upper-right corner of my 17" MBP's screen so that I can quickly access it while working on my 27" LED Cinema Display with iTunes running fullscreen in the background.
[kirkmc adds: This works as described. However, if you have the MiniPlayer set to float above other windows (in the iTunes Advanced preferences), then it won't display when you switch to iTunes. This makes sense, of course, because you don't need it when there.
Also, this is the only way to get the MiniPlayer to work across spaces, if you use them. If iTunes is not in full-screen mode, then the MiniPlayer only displays in iTunes' space.]
Up Next, the feature in iTunes 11 that (sort of) replaces iTunes DJ, where you could queue up songs for a listening party, or just for your work day, offers many ways to add music. But if you want to add songs quickly to Up Next, here are two ways you can do so.
First, just drag an item from the iTunes library onto the iTunes LCD, the display at the top of the window that shows what's playing. This can be a single song, an album, or a playlist. The iTunes LCD will show a blue border when you bring the item over it, and the Up Next icon will flash with art of the item you have added.
The second way is to press the Option key and hover your cursor over an item. The track number next to its name will change to a + icon. Click that icon to add it to Up Next. (Thanks to David Chartier for this one.)
In month view in Calendar, if you double-click, you can enter a name for an event. By default, however, Calendar makes this an all-day event. You have to double-click the new event, then set the time. If you end the name of the event with a time, such as "6 pm," it then enters that as the start time. For example, double-clicking on November 30th, then quickly typing "Dinner with Paul 6pm" enters the event at 6pm on the 30th.
[kirkmc adds: Yes, this is good. I wish this worked in BusyCal, the calendar program I use.]
1. Go to: qrstuff.com
2. Select "Contact Details"
3. Select vCard & fill in your info
4. Click DOWNLOAD
This QR code will add your contact info to people's address books if they scan it. You can create QR codes that can do lots of things. For example, you can create codes that will direct people to follow you on Twitter, like a page on Facebook, or compose an email to you.
[kirkmc adds: Another hint from robleach. I haven't tested this.]
Have you ever been reading a web page and find you have to leave, but would like to continue reading on your phone? Here's a handy bookmarklet you can use to transfer the URL to your phone:
Copy this to a new bookmark. I named mine "Send to Phone." It pops up a little window with the URL of your current web page encoded as a QR code. Simply scan it directly off your computer screen with your phone's QR code reader and off you go! (I don't claim credit for this bookmarklet; I found it at http://www.masukomi.org/projects/qr_bookmarklet/.)
[kirkmc adds: Submitted by robleach; one of three hints submitted together. The others will follow.]
Sometimes, such as early this week, Apple's iMessages servers go down. If so, and you try to send iMessages, you may want to resend those messages as standard text messages or SMSs. OS X Daily had a nice hint about how to do so easily. After you've sent the iMessage, if you see that it's not delivered, or if you simply want to use a belt-and-suspenders approach to make sure your recipient gets your message, just tap and hold on the blue bubble containing the message text, then choose Send as Text Message. It will get sent as a text message, and you can tell this by the green text bubble.
For this to work, you have to have your contact's phone number in their card. However, if you only have an email address for that contact, tapping and holding the text bubble shows Send to Email Address. In my tests, this failed every time, so I'm not exactly sure how this is supposed to work. (I assume that it would try and send the message as an email…) If anyone can get this to work, please post in the comments.
Have you ever had trouble finding an application's preference file? It isn't always easy, as the name of the .plist file sometimes isn't even close to the app's name. Here's an easy way to make it show itself.
Open the /Library/Preferences folder in your user account. (In Lion or later, from the Desktop, hold down the Option key and select Go > Library to access your user account.) Set the window to list view, then click the Date Modified tab at the top so they are listed by the newest files first.
Some apps will update their .plist file every time you use the program. Otherwise, open the app and make any type of change in its preferences and save. Go back to the Preferences window and see which .plist file jumps to the top of the list.
[kirkmc adds: Good common sense. I've used this many times over the years, and I couldn't find it in past hints.]
Mail and spell checking in general will fix a lot of typos and spelling errors automatically as you type, but it fails to correct common key sequence issues. Sometimes words are an actual word, but not something 99% of people would write. It also sometimes doesn't fix short spelling errors. Fixing things like "i," "suer", "tis," "fi," "eb," "si," "ti," and "int eh." Symbol and text substitution is your friend and picks up when spell checking doesn't.
I write a lot of e-mails; often hundreds a day providing support to customers. Not form e-mails, but actual human e-mails. Mail has pretty good auto-correction for spelling errors, but it doesn't handle key sequencing errors where the space key gets hit just before the ending letter of a word, or when letters come out just slightly out of sequence form typing fast. I constantly found myself proofreading for weird auto-corrected words, fixing the red underlined unknown things Mail didn't fix, and fixing missed capitalization mistakes such as "i" and "THanks." I searched and searched, trying to figure out how to remove words from dictionary, when I suddenly realized I could override the dictionary. Until now, I just see people telling you how to make shortcuts to type longer texts and such, but it's more useful to me to have it fix my typos so I can write my text faster.
Open System Preferences, click on Language & Text, then on the Text tab to see the Symbol and text substitution list. Using this, I can fix common spelling sequence typos automatically, and have made my typo error rate almost 0%.
Here are some examples that Mail didn't auto-correct:
i > I
em > me
hte > the
ym > my
tis > its
ont hem > on them
suer > user
fi > if
od > do
beb > Ben
apss > pass
si > is
eb > be
sue > use
Whent he > When he
int eh > in the
ont he > on the
ont eh > on the
ti > it
tot he > to the
trya > try a
a nd > and
Try this, and you may find that the common errors you make are automatically corrected.
This Service adds any unique words you look up in the OS X Dictionary app to a TextEdit document that is- saved on your desktop, so that you can review, or repeat them later. Then you can use the same service to look up those words that you have logged already; they won't be added to your log file.
The service is seamlessly integrated with the Dictionary service on your Mac. It is even installed on the same keyboard shortcut: Command-Control-D.
The only limitation is that it only works with selected text, so if you are looking up a word by hovering the cursor over it, in, say, Preview or Safari, then you'll have to choose More in the lower right corner of the Dictionary sheet that pops up to view the full Dictionary window. Then you'll have to press Command-Control-D once more, to "log" the word into the text file (the search word turns up selected in the Dictionary window.)
Avoid the above limitation by selecting the word before Command-Control-D. If you select the word before pressing Command-Control-D, then everything is handled automatically.
Since English is not my native language, this is something I have been wanting for years. So it is mostly made for non-native English speaker, but may also be useful for native anglophones.
How to install:
Open Automator
Choose service and don't check anything
Search for the Run AppleScript action, and add it to your Service
Paste in the script below, replacing everything that is by default in the Run AppleScript action
Save the Service as dictLogger
Quit Automator
Open the Keyboard preferences of the System Preferences pane
Find the service under "Services" and install it with the keyboard shortcut Command-Control-D
After you have successfully looked up a word, look into the file "DictLogger.txt" that should be on your Desktop if everything is working
Select a word in "DictLogger.txt", to see that it works from here
If you use some app other than TextEdit for .txt files, be sure to set the default app of this file to TextEdit, if you want it to open with TextEdit. I don't guarantee that every other text editor will work, though I think it will work with TextWrangler and BBEdit
