Screenshots in OS X. 2 Different Ways.

While writing this blog, I often times will need to take pictures of what I'm doing to demonstrate how something needs to be done.  These pictures — known as screenshots — are easy to take, although the process for taking them is not obvious in any way.  In OS X,  there are two different built-in ways to take screenshots.


The first is the program Grab, which can be found in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder on the root of your hard drive.

Grab does nothing more than attempt to "grab" what's happening on the screen.  Note that Grab only works for still pictures.  If you want to record motion, you'll have to use Quicktime, which I'll go over in a future blog post.


Once you open Grab, it just sits there waiting for you to tell it what to do.  Go over to the Capture menu item, and select it.  You'll see the following:

The capture menu of Grab.

There are 4 different kinds of screenshots you can take with Grab.  The first is "Selection," which allows you to select a portion of the screen to capture.  Once you have made your selection, Grab instantly takes the picture as soon as you release the mouse button.  Use this option if only need to select a small section of the screen.  The "Window" menu item allows you to capture entire windows, and nothing else.  "Screen" takes a picture of the entire screen (everything that's currently visible), and "Timed Screen" waits ten seconds to take a picture of the entire screen.  Timed Screen is useful if you need to get something ready before taking the screenshot, as in the screenshot above.  I needed to get a picture of the Capture menu, but needed to have it open to take a picture of it.  Timed Screen helped me do that.


The other way of taking screenshots in OS X doesn't require you to open any program.  Press Command-Shift-3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen (exactly like "Screen" above), and Command-Shift-4 to take a screenshot of just a selection ("Selection").  When you do Command-Shift-4, your cursor will turn into crosshairs, and you can then select whatever portion of the screen you want to capture.  A neat trick here, is that after you press Command-Shift-4, if you then press the Spacebar, your cursor will turn into a camera.  This is the equivalent of the "Window" option above.


There you have it: screenshots in OS X.  Simple.

Where are you? How to find the location of an open document.

There's nothing more frustrating than working on a file, and not knowing where it is in your filesystem.  Sure, you probably know how to save files to a location you specify, but what if you are already working on a file, and need to know where it is?


An example of this might be a mail attachment you've downloaded.  Someone sends you a file that you need to modify, and then you need to send it back.  You open it, work on it and save it, without knowing exactly where you've put it!  It's happened to me before countless times.


Or, maybe you are using the "Open Recent" menu option provided by many programs.  You open the file, work on it and save it, but you have no idea where on your hard drive the file lives.  It's there somewhere, and it's already open!  Where is it?


OS X has a simple way to show you where a document is, no matter what program you are using.


Simply hold down the Command key, and click on the document's icon in the title bar of the current window you are working on.  If you are not working on a document (say, if you are browsing the web) no icon will appear in the window's title bar.  If you are working on a document however, you will see something like this:

If you are working on a document, an icon will appear in the window's title bar.

Hold down the Command key when you click on the icon to see a path to the file.  

Ready for the really cool part?  The menu that displays the filepath is clickable!  Yup.  Once the menu is open, select any one of the folders to instantly open that folder in the Finder.  Once the folder is open, you can manipulate the file as you see fit.  You can even move an open document to another folder, and OS X will keep track of it for you in real-time.


This feature is insanely useful, and something I use all the time.  You'll never need to go hunting for an open document ever again!

Quicksilver — Act without doing

One of my favorite programs for OS X is Quicksilver.  Quicksilver is the first program I install on any Mac I buy, and I feel helpless when I use a Mac it's not installed on; that's how ingrained Quicksilver can become into your workflow.  It's a simple little program that is extremely powerful once you dig into it.  Let's take a look.


There are many uses for Quicksilver, but lots of people use it simply as an application launcher, which is mainly how I use it.  It's simple to set up, and easy to use.


Once it's installed on your system, you need to decide how you want to use it.  Basically, you hit "trigger" keys, and Quicksilver springs forward, waiting for your next command.  It's always running in the background, and uses very few resources.   Here's what the interface looks like:

The Quicksilver basic interface.

Once invoked, Quicksilver waits for you to type what you are looking for.  If you want to launch Chrome for example, you would simply type "chrome."  I'll bet Quicksilver won't let you get that far though.  Quicksilver is smart enough to try to guess what it is you're looking for, and will present that guess in the window as you type.  Hit the Return key to launch the program that is shown in the Quicksilver interface.  


But what if it guesses wrong?  No worries.  Type what you are looking for, and if Quicksilver doesn't guess what you are looking for correctly, simply wait.  After a few seconds, a menu will appear below the basic interface listing everything that it could find that matches the letters you typed.  

Quicksilver tries to find all everything that matches your search term.  In this example, I typed "snap," as seen in the title bar of the white window, as well as underlined in the name in the grey box.  Quicksilver updates in real-time.

By default, the Quicksilver trigger keys are Option and Spacebar.  You can change these keys to anything you want in Quicksilver's preferences.


Notice how in the above example, Snapz Pro X is highlighted in Quicksilver, and to the right it says "Open"?  This is a visual representation of what Quicksilver is going to do for you.  But what if you want to get to that box on the right?  Can Quicksilver do anything besides launch applications?  Absolutely!


To get to the other box in the Quicksilver interface, type what you are looking for (the program or document to be acted upon) and once it's been found, hit the Tab key.  Now press any arrow key.  Huzzah!  All new options that you can do to the file or program in the first tab!

Quicksilver is no one-trick pony.

From the second tab, you can do things like reveal the program (or document) in the Finder, move it, copy it, paste it and more!  All that without having to stop what you are doing, go to the Finder, double-click through folder after folder to get to what you are looking for.  Quicksilver is always on, and always available from any program.  Hit the trigger keys, and Quicksilver is ready to go.


There's plenty more Quicksilver can do; so much that you could almost write a book about it.  Explore the program, and you will most likely find a way to make it work for you.


Direct link to Quicksilver download here.

The Application Switcher — Move between applications in a keypress

People who watch me use my computer are sometimes amazed at how quickly I can get around the system.  When switching between applications, I can get to where I need to be in a hurry.  How do I do this?  I use the keyboard.


Today I'm going to explain some of the more overlooked ways of moving around the system, as well as introduce you to the first piece of software I install on my computer, Quicksilver.  


First things first, let's take a look at switching between applications.  Of course you can use Mission Control, but that involves having to take your hand off of the keyboard (unless you've set it up to be activated by a key-command).  I prefer using Command-Tab.  Simply press the Command and Tab keys, and you will see the Application Switcher pop up on your screen (make sure to continue to hold down the Command key to keep it on your screen).


You can use the mouse to select the application you'd like to switch to, but that kind of defeats the purpose.  After all, you don't want to take your fingers off of the keyboard if you don't have to.  Instead, hit Tab again, and the selected icon will move to the right.  Continue hitting Tab to cycle to the right.  If you want to go left, while still holding down Command, either hit Shift-Tab, or hit the Tilde key, which is above the Tab key.  You can also use the arrow keys to cycle right or left.


As soon as you let go of both the Command key, you will be switched to whatever application is currently highlighted.  There are tons of ways this is useful, and once you get used to using the Application Switcher, you'll wonder how you lived without it.


But wait!  There's other stuff the Application Switcher can do!  Hit Command-Tab to bring up the Application Switcher window, select a program with open, visible windows, and while continually holding down Command, hit the H key.  All of the windows of that program vanish.  But fear not, they're not gone, they are just hiding, as hitting the H key while a program is selected in the Application Switcher hides all of its windows.  If you want to see the windows again, simply switch to that program.  This can be useful if you have a ton of windows open, and you want to focus on just one application, without having to minimize all of that programs open windows.


You can even quit programs from the Application Switcher by selecting a program and (again, while continuing to hold down the Command key) hitting Q.  Careful with this, as even though OS X will ask you to save any unsaved work, web browsers will close without a second thought, taking any and all open tabs with it.  


And there's one more trick you should know about, and this one allows you to switch directly to windows within a program.  Once you open the Application Switcher and cycle to the program you want to use, hit either the Up or Down arrow keys to see all of the open windows for that program.  The downside is that you have to use your mouse to select which window you want to use, but if you know what you are looking for, this can be a huge timesaver.  


And there you have it.  Move between applications using nothing but your keyboard, so you don't have to go fumbling around with your mouse.  Simple and elegant.

Feedback: How to change the modifier keys on your keyboard

Some people who have switched from a PC to a Mac complain about the fact that Windows uses Control (CTRL) as a modifier key to get things done, while a Mac uses the Command key.  For example, in Windows, to copy something you press Control-C, but on a Mac you press Command-C.  There's not a big difference, except for the fact that the keys are in different places, and after doing something the same way for many years, you build up muscle memory that can be difficult to change.  You might instinctively reach down with your ring finger to copy something instead of your thumb.  How frustrating!  


No sweat.  It's possible to easily change the modifier key layout in OS X Lion.  Here's how:


Go into your System Preferences and select the Keyboard preferences.

Once opened, look down in the bottom right-hand corner for the button labeled "Modifier Keys".

Click the button, and a new window will pop out as follows:

From here, you can change the layout of which key operates as which.  This can get a little confusing, but as long as you know which key is which, that's all that matters.

If you want the Control button on your keyboard to act as the Command button (which would be most "Windows-like"), change the Control option in the right column to Command, and the Command option in the right column to Control.  Or is you'd prefer to use the Option key as the Command key, switch those two.  If you have any problems, or want to go back to the default settings, click the Restore Defaults button on the left.

The important thing to remember is that you want at least one key for each modifier key.  OS X will let you set up two Command keys and no Control key for example.  This is not recommended, as you never know when you might need to use one of those keys.

If you have any other questions, comments or suggestions for topics, email me at  

josh.lifeaspixels@gmail.com.  And don't forget to follow us on Facebook!

AirDrop — Not just for wireless!

This post is meant for those of us with a bit more experience with the Command Line Interface.  If you aren't familiar with the command line in OS X, this post will still be useful to you, but take note that you should be very careful when using the command line.  Although nothing in this post is harmful to your computer, what we are about to do is unsupported by Apple.  I'm confident that there's nothing here that will damage your computer, but the point is, if you get into some trouble, or if this feature stops working for some reason, don't bother calling Apple for help.
  
AirDrop is a very cool and simple way to share files wirelessly with other Macs.  But what about computers that are hooked up to your network with a wired interface like Ethernet?  Not to worry, as you can trick OS X into using AirDrop with those Macs too.


(It is also important to note that these commands should be performed on the Mac with the wired connection.)


Go into the Terminal.app (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal... or type Command-Shift-U in the Finder to open the Utilities folder) and type the following:


defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 1


Hit return.  Now it's time to restart the Finder.  This can be achieved with the following command in the Terminal:


killall Finder


The Finder will restart, and the Mac with the wired connection can now use AirDrop.  If you want to turn off AirDrop on your wired Mac, change the 1 in the above command to a 0 as follows:


defaults write com.apple.NetworkBrowser BrowseAllInterfaces 0


Restart the Finder again with killall Finder and you should be back to your default configuration.

AirDrop — Wirelessly share files with zero configuration

Now that you've learned the basics of file sharing, it's time to take a look at a neat feature unique to OS X 10.7 Lion called AirDrop.


AirDrop lets you share files with another Mac running 10.7 with nothing else required aside from having a wireless card turned on for both your Mac, and the Mac you want to send the files to.  You don't even need to be on the same network!  AirDrop does all of the configuration for you, and people "just appear" when you turn AirDrop on.


You will find AirDrop in the sidebar of your Finder windows.  Below, AirDrop is selected in my Finder window:

The icon next to AirDrop changes to a circular sweeping motion when AirDrop is actively looking for other computers.

If you don't see AirDrop in your sidebar, first make sure you are in the Finder, then go to your Finder Preferences to make sure that AirDrop is checked.  Click on Finder in the menubar, and then click on Preferences.  If you want to use a keyboard shortcut to do this, you can simply press the "Command" and comma keys.   You will see the following window:

AirDrop must be checked under "Favorites" if you want to see it in your sidebar.

Once AirDrop is checked, go back to your Finder window, and click on its icon in the sidebar.  The icon will jump into motion, and it looks like a RADAR, sweeping the surrounding area for other Macs running 10.7 Lion (again, this is a REQUIREMENT).

My wife's Mac has been located!

  Once it finds one (or more) Macs, you can copy files to that Mac by dragging files onto the icon representing that Mac.  A dialog box will pop up asking if you would like to send the file to the targeted Mac.  Click "Send" and a window will popup on the receiving Mac, asking that user to verify the transfer.  

The receiving user has the option to decline any and all file transfers.

This last step is important, because otherwise not only could you drop files onto other people's computers without their knowledge, but they could do the same to you, which is a security risk.  The AirDrop connection is encrypted, so there's no need to worry about anyone snooping in on what you're copying.


Once the file transfer is complete, the person on the receiving end can find the file(s) in their Downloads folder within their User folder.  It couldn't be more simple!