by on September 25, 2009 2 Comments

Mac OSX Services Speed up Common Tasks

Services, a feature introduced in the early days of OSX is unknown to many Mac users. However, learning about Services will take your understanding of OSX to the next level.

Services are a way for applications to communicate with each other. These services allow you to use a set of features from one application while using another. For example, the Mail service in the Finder opens the Mail application so that you can email a file directly from the Finder without opening the Mail application separately. This is a handy way to send file attachments.

In this video from C|Net, OSX Services and the Services Menu are introduced.

by on June 23, 2008 1 Comment

Rearrange menu bar icons

Here is a quick video showing you how icons in the menu bar can be moved and removed.

If you want to move the icons, hold down the command key while dragging the icons with your mouse. To remove an icon simply drag it to the desktop. Restoring an icon to the menu bar is handled by the application that provides the icon (i.e., the Time Machine preferences has an option to show an icon in the status area.)

by on June 23, 2008 Leave a Comment

Using the Finder menu bar

When I first made the transition from Windows XP to OSX I was a bit confused about the Finder menu. To a Windows XP user, the Finder menu had the features of the start menu, an application menu and the tray notification area rolled into one. The menu bar is broken into two areas, on the left side are application menus, on the right side is a notification area.

The application menu shows the menu of the currently active application. When no application is running, the bar displays the Finder menu. If you are used to Windows XP this may take some getting used to. Windows XP application menus are typically displayed inside the running application window. If you are running an application and want access to the Finder menu, just click on the desktop.

The icons on the right side of the menu bar typically indicate the status of running programs. This is very similar to the tray notification area used by the Explorer in Windows XP. Applications can place an icon in this area to provide you with valuable feedback. Icons in this area also can have their own menus attached to them to allow quick access to common application functions.