Marrathon.com - Dave Marra's Web Site!

Marrathon.com - Dave Marra's Web Site!

Marrathon.com - Dave Marra's Web Site!

Marrathon.com - Dave Marra's Web Site!

Quickly change your sound input and output settings

In Mac OS X Snow Leopard, Option-click the volume slider in the menu bar to change sound input and output settings without opening System Preferences.

Show group membership for a contact in Address Book

After selecting a contact in Address Book, press the Option key to highlight all of the groups in which they are a member.

Draw a line connecting two objects in Keynote

In Keynote '09, to draw a line connecting two or more objects on a slide, select each object you want to connect, then do Insert > Connection Line.

Open multiple Inspector windows in iWork

In an iWork application, Option-click any button on top of the Inspector to open a new Inspector window for that button.

Quickly sleep or restart your Mac

To quickly sleep or restart your Mac using just your keyboard, press once on its power button then type "s" to sleep, or "r" to restart.

Fast forward or rewind playback in iTunes

When playing something in iTunes, press Command-Option-right or left arrow to fast-forward or rewind five seconds.

Change a scheduled event to an all-day event in iCal

To change an event scheduled for a specific time in iCal to an all-day event, Control-click it and select "Make All-Day Event" from the pop-up menu.

Enable proofreading in Pages '09

In Pages '09, to enable the options for proofreading your writing, to check for grammar, formatting and context errors, do Edit> Proofreading.

Rename a region of a GarageBand project

In GarageBand, to rename a selected region, do Control> Show Editor then double-click the region's name at the top of the Editor.

Quickly locate an item downloaded in Safari

In the Downloads window of Safari, click on the magnifying glass to the right of a completed download to go to that item in the Finder.

Control a movie playing on a slide in Keynote

In Keynote, when playing a QuickTime movie inserted on a slide, press "k" on your keyboard to pause the movie, "j" to rewind and "l" to fast forward.

Show iMovie projects in full-screen

In iMovie '09, press Command+6 to show the currently-selected project in full-screen. To exit full-screen, press the Escape key.

Convert any document to PDF and send it via Mail

In any program's Print dialog box, click PDF > Mail PDF, to convert the document to a PDF and attach it to an outgoing Mail message.

Use the Spotlight menu as a calculator

Instead of launching Calculator when you need to solve a math problem, simply type your equation into the Spotlight menu to get the answer.

Quickly rotate a photo in iPhoto

In iPhoto, to rotate a photo, click on it to select it then type Command-R. To rotate it in the opposite direction, type Command-Option-R.

Use Easy View mode in a GarageBand piano lesson

In a GarageBand '09 "Learn to Play" piano lesson, press "E" on your Mac keyboard for "Easy View" mode, showing the note names in the score and on the keyboard.

Open all links in a Bookmarks Bar folder in Safari

In Safari, Command-click on a folder in your Bookmarks Bar to open all of its bookmarks, simultaneously, as individual tabs.

Show the Search sidebar in Pages

To show the Search sidebar in Pages, allowing you to search throughout a document for all occurrences of words and phrases, go to View> Search.

Put your Mac to sleep using just your keyboard

To instantly put your Mac to sleep, without touching your mouse, simply press Command and Option and the Eject key on your keyboard.

Quickly add iMovie event clips to the project timeline

In iMovie '09, click on an event clip to select it, then press "e" on the keyboard to automatically place the clip into the project timeline.

Make text lower case in TextEdit

In TextEdit, to make text lower case, select it and choose Edit> Transformations> Make Lower Case.

Use Spotlight to search for exact phrases in documents

In the Finder, use Spotlight to search for an exact phrase within documents by putting the phrase in quotes when doing a Spotlight search.

Quickly edit the title of an event in iCal

To quickly edit the title of an existing event in iCal, press the Option key while double-clicking the event, then enter its new title.

Email a PDF document from Preview

When viewing a PDF document in Preview in Snow Leopard, you can email the file to a colleague via File> Mail Selected PDF Document.

Turn off the yellow alignment guides in Keynote

In Keynote '09, press and hold the Command key while dragging an object to temporarily turn off the built-in yellow alignment guides.

Pair your Mac to a specific Apple Remote

To configure your Mac to respond only to a signal from a specific Apple Remote (vs. any of them), go to System Preferences> Security> General> Pair.

Do a Spotlight search for names from Address Book

In Address Book, Control-click a contact and choose "Spotlight" from the pop-up menu to search for files containing their name on your Mac.

Change the playback speed of a QuickTime movie

When playing a movie in QuickTime X on a Mac with a multi-touch trackpad, do a two-finger swipe across the movie to change its playback speed.

Adjust the date and time of a photo in iPhoto

In iPhoto, to change the date and time when a photo was taken, select it and do Photos> Adjust Date and Time.

Examine files in the Trash before emptying it

To examine a file in the Trash before you empty it, click once on the file to select it then press the Spacebar to preview its contents using Quick Look.