Mac Tips & Lessons
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macOS Classes5 Lessons
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New in macOS Sequoia3 Lessons
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Getting Started with the Mac13 Lessons
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14+ Tips for Getting Started with a New Mac (and older Macs)
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How to tell which macOS you are using
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Getting Around your Mac
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Working with Finder Windows
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Accessing Folders and Navigating Folders
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A Look a the Folder Hierarchy of the Mac
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Using Keyboard Shortcuts
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Notifications and the Notification Center
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Searching with Spotlight Search
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System Preferences Overview
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Mac Quick Look Demystified: Preview Files with Ease!
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Quickly access Mac system settings with Menu Bar or Dock
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Learn Cut, Copy, and Paste on Mac
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14+ Tips for Getting Started with a New Mac (and older Macs)
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Menu Bar Lessons for the Mac4 Lessons
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Dock Lessons for the Mac11 Lessons
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Automatically Hide the Dock
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Open Recent Documents from a Closed app with the Mac's Dock
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Open an App's Recent Documents through the Dock on the Mac
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Change the Position of the Dock
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Working with Applications in the Dock
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Documents and Folders in the Dock
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Customizing the Dock
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Add Printers to the Mac's Dock
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3 Easy Tips for Organizing your Folders in the Mac's Dock
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Unlock Hidden Settings for the Dock
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How to Add Folders to the Mac Dock
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Automatically Hide the Dock
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Finder Lessons for the Mac24 Lessons
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Opening an Enclosing Folder from a Finder Window
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Adding a Folder to the Sidebar in a Finder Window
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Cycle through your Open Finder Windows
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Set What Folder A New Finder Windows Shows
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Finder Window View Options
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View Unopened Documents with Quick Look
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Arranging Files and Folders
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Actions and Tasks
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Finder Windows as Tabs
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Customizing the Sidebar
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Customize the Finder Window Toolbar
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Show the Path Bar in a Finder Window
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Keep Folders on Top
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Show the Status Bar in Finder Windows
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Set what is searched in a Finder Window
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Hide your Hard Drives from the Desktop
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Add Documents to a Finder Window Toolbar
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Resizing Finder Window Columns
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Copy the location of a File or Folder as Pathname
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Set what your Finder Windows Open To
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Show the Mac's Clipboard in a Window
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Create a PDF from Multiple Images with Quick Actions on the Mac
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The ultimate guide to the Mac's Finder: 24+ tips included!
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Need help Organizing Your Mac? Master Smart Folders Today!
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Opening an Enclosing Folder from a Finder Window
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Manage Applications on the Mac24 Lessons
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Easily Open the Applications Folder
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Apps and Significant Energy
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Set which Applications Open at Login
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Add the Applications Folder to the Dock
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Close Windows when Quitting Apps
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5 Ways to Find and Open your Applications on the Mac
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Finding your Applications Folder
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Switching between Open Applications
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Hiding Open Applications
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Launchpad and Applications
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Opening Applications with Spotlight Search
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Installing Applications
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Removing or Uninstalling Applications
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Applications in Full-screen Mode
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Finding an App’s Preferences or Settings
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Open Apps with the Launchpad Icon
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Use Keyboard Shortcuts to Switch between Open Apps
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Shrink Apps to Prevent the MacBook Pro Notch from Obscuring App Controls
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Prevent In-App Rating & Review Notifications
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How to Check App Version History on Your Mac
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How to Use Multiple Desktops with Spaces
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Switch between open apps with the Mac's App Switcher
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Enhance your Mac experience by Installing iOS apps
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Add a Signature to a Document
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Easily Open the Applications Folder
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Manage Files and Folders on the Mac30 Lessons
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Selecting Documents and Folders
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Working with Save Dialog Boxes
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Deleting Files and Folders
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Copying, Moving, and Grouping Files
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Move Selected Files into a New Folder
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Specifying Applications for Documents
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4 Ways to Open a File on the Mac
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3 Ways to Force Quit an App on the Mac
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4 Ways to Edit Finder Window Sidebars on the Mac
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Create A New Folder with Selected Files on the Mac
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Using Spring-loaded Folders
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Compressing Files and Folders
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Convert and Compress Images with Quick Actions
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Viewing Document Information
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Renaming Files in Batches
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Tagging Files and Folders
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Set What App a Document Opens With
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Open Windows Media or WMV Files
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Tips for finding your Downloads Folder
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See Folder Sizes in a Finder Window
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Duplicate Documents with Stationery Pad on the Mac
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Reverse the Print Order of your Document
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Creating PDFs on a Mac: Two Easy Methods
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Save Time and Effort: How to Select Multiple Files on Your Mac
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How to Easily Zip and Unzip Files on Your Mac
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Learn how to use Find and Replace on the Mac
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Rename Multiple Files on the Mac
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How to Manage Storage on Your Mac - Easy Tips & Tricks!
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Ever Wondered How to Rename Mac Files? Top 7 Tips Here!
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11 Easy Ways to Optimize Your Mac's Desktop Experience
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Selecting Documents and Folders
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General macOS Lessons21 Lessons|1 Quiz
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Have your Mac Learn Spelling
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Close Notifications with a Swipe
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Working with the Today View
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Using Siri
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Using Mission Control
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Add Virtual Desktops with Spaces on the Mac
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Sharing Files with AirDrop
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iCloud Options
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Take a Screenshot of your Display
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Add Emojis as Text
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View All Open Windows as Thumbnails
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Copy, and Paste and Match Style
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Type Special Characters with the Keyboard Viewer
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Set where Screenshots are Saved
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Add a Timer to Screenshots
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Hide all your open windows to show the Mac's Desktop
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Turn on Do Not Disturb Temporarily
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Using Split View
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The Mac’s Magic Shortcut to Trashing Files and Photos Quickly
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10 Little Known Tips for the Mac
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Keyboard Navigation on the Mac
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Have your Mac Learn Spelling
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Preferences or Settings for the Mac34 Lessons
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Organize and Hide System Preference Panes
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General Preferences
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Working with Printers and Scanners
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Share Connected Printers with other Macs
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A Quick look at Sound Preferences
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A closer look at Internet Accounts
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Creating User Accounts
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Set an Animated Emoji for your Mac User Profile
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Customize the Date and Time in the Mac's Menu Bar
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Adding Parental Controls
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Change the Cursor Size
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Show the Date in the Menu bar
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Change the Clock in the Menu Bar from Digital to Analog
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Set the Scroll Bar to Always Show in a Window
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Create a New user Account
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Text Replacement
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Quickly Look up Information with the Trackpad
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Shortcuts for opening System Preference Panes
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Rename your Mac
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Searching your System Preferences
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Set the Default Browser on the Mac
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Reduce the Transparency in the Menu Bar and Dock
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Open Preference Panes from the Dock
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A closer look at Wi-fi Settings
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Using Hot Corners
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Select what macOS Updates you want to install
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Create Keyboard Shortcuts for Menu Items
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Use Keyboard Navigation to Move Focus
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Enable Fast User Switching to Switch between User Accounts
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Use Touch ID to Switch between Users on the Mac
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How to Zoom into your Mac's Display for Easier Reading
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How to Extend Your Mac Display to Your iPad
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Disabling Showing the Notification Center from the Trackpad
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Can Force Click Boost Your Productivity on your Mac? Find Out How!
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Organize and Hide System Preference Panes
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Troubleshooting Lessons for the Mac16 Lessons
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Finding Help for your Mac
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Backing Up with Time Machine
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Restoring Files with Time Machine
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Erase a Hard Drive
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Force Quit an App on the Mac
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Restart or Relaunch the Mac's Finder
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Force Quit Apps from the Apple Menu
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Putting it All Together
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Automatically delete items in the Trash after 30 Days
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Troubleshooting Bluetooth Connections
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Manage Storage Space with macOS Monterey and Earlier
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Reclaim Local Mac Storage Space by Removing iCloud Drive Downloads
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Disable Unused Sharing Options on Your Mac If You’re Not Using Them
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Forget Wi-Fi Networks that are Troublesome
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View memory usage in Activity Monitor on Mac
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Erase All Content and Settings on a Mac
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Finding Help for your Mac
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New in macOS Mojave12 Lessons
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Dark Mode Appearance
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Dynamic Desktop Pictures
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View Recent Apps in the Dock
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Gallery View for Files in Finder Windows
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macOS Software Updates in System Preferences
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Desktop Stacks for Files on the Desktop
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Keep Desktop Folders on Top of Files
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View File Metadata
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Quick Actions and Markup Files
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Continuity Camera from your iPhone or iPad
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New Privacy Options
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New Screenshot Options
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Dark Mode Appearance
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New in macOS Catalina19 Lessons
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See which apps will no longer work with macOS Catalina
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See which apps are 32-bit
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Opening Recent Folders from the Dock
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Reorganized System Preferences
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New Window Management Options
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New Screen Time Preferences
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New Music App
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New TV App
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New Podcasts App
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Manage your iOS Devices through the Finder
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What's New in the Photos App
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What's New in the Notes App
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What's New in Safari
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What's New in the Mail app
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New FindMy App
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New Catalyst Apps
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New Security and Privacy Features
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New Redesigned Reminders App
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Use an iPad as a second Display with Sidecar
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See which apps will no longer work with macOS Catalina
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New in macOS Big Sur15 Lessons
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What hasn't changed with macOS Big Sur
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Notification Center
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Allow Wallpaper Tinting in Windows
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Filtering Mail Messages
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New Control Center
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A look at the Finder Window Toolbar
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New with Desktop Pictures
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Play Startup Sound
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Drag and Drop Controls to the Menu Bar
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Battery Usage Preferences
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Change the Date & Time in the Menu Bar
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Do Not Disturb location in macOS Big Sur
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See what is Now Playing
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It’s Time to Consider Upgrading to macOS 11 Big Sur
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How to Reveal the Proxy Icon in Big Sur
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What hasn't changed with macOS Big Sur
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New & Updated in macOS Ventura12 Lessons
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How to Manage your Open Windows with Stage Manager
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New Setup Options and Filters in Focus on the Mac with macOS Ventura
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View Forecasts and More in the New Weather App on the Mac
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Add Multiple Stops to Routes in the Maps App with macOS Ventura
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Create Templates for Reminders Lists with macOS Ventura
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Maximizing Your Storage on macOS Ventura: A Guide to Managing Space
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Discover the New Clock App on MacOS Ventura
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How to Keep Scroll Bars Always Visible on Mac (macOS Ventura)
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Manage App Store and Streaming Services Subscriptions through the Mac
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Save time typing text and Emojis on your Mac with Text Replacement!
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3 Ways to Remove the Background in a Photo
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Stop Apps from Launching when your Mac Starts Up
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How to Manage your Open Windows with Stage Manager
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Favorite Features in macOS Sonoma9 Lessons
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Make Your Favorite Websites Act Like Apps with macOS Sonoma
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macOS Sonoma: Screensavers & Wallpapers
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Click your Wallpaper to Show the Desktop
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Add Widgets to your Mac's Desktop
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My 3 Favorite New Features in Reminders with macOS Sonoma!
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iCloud Passwords for Chrome: Seamless Access to Your Passwords
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Make your next Zoom Presentation stand out with Presenter Overlays
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Turn off Click Wallpaper to Show Desktop
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Build your own Apple Passwords app in 5 minutes! A Step-by-Step Guide
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Make Your Favorite Websites Act Like Apps with macOS Sonoma
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New in macOS Monterey6 Lessons
Customize Do Not Disturb with Focus Modes on the Mac
Learn how to set which people and apps you want to receive notifications from by creating Focus Modes on the Mac.
With Focus modes, what we are able to do is customize Do Not Disturb. We can set different focus modes based on what we are doing. With each focus mode, we can set who and which app we want to receive notifications from. We can also have our Mac enter a Focus automatically based on time, location, or app usage. Focus was introduced in macOS Monterey. Se how to create different focuses in this video for the Mac.
Video TranscriptionI can also have this turned on automatically when I open up the books app. With schools here, what this will do is turn on when I go to the local school that I helped buy, it’s based on geolocation. And it will only allow notifications from the Google Apps and my close friends and family who had sleep here. I received no notifications, except from my close family, such as my wife. And this is set for when I go to bed. It’s based on time. So as you can see, we can customize our different do not disturbed by creating focus modes. So how do we do this? How do we set this up? Well, we need to go to our System Preferences. So I’m going to go up to my Apple menu here. And then we go over to our System Preferences. Under our System Preferences, we need to go to our notifications preference pain, it is now called notifications and focus. So I select this. And then what we do is we go up under focus here, when I click on focus, you’re gonna see I do have my Do Not Disturb, I still have my standard Do Not Disturb.
And this works the same way as it did before. But in addition to that, what I’m able to do is customize any one of these focus modes, or even create my own here. When we select a focus mode, let’s go over to reading here. When we select this, we can see which people I am allowing notifications from So Beth is the only one that I’m allowed notifications from. And then I also can see which apps I’m allowing notifications from. And then our third key to making this all work is when do we want it to turn on we can have it turned on automatically when an app opens. So in this case, it’s going to turn on automatically when books open. And then when I closed books, it’s going to turn back off. Of course, I can always turn it on manually by going up to reading here, or when I go up to my control center. And then we go over to where my Do Not Disturb is when I click on this, I can set reading here.
When I do that, we can see that reading has turned down. And now I’m only going to be able to receive notifications from my wife and from the books app. To turn it back off, all we do is just go back up to our control center. And then you’re going to see it’s in reading mode, what I do is I click on the icon. If I do not click on this icon here, what it’s going to do is bring me back to where I can see all of my focuses, I just want to turn it off. So the easiest way of doing that is just going over to the icon here. And when I click on the eye icon, it turns it off. I click on the icon again, it turns it on, I want to switch focuses, I go over to the right click on this here, not the icon. And now I can switch focuses. So let’s go ahead and turn this off here, click on the icon, and it is off. Now let’s go and take a look at how we can create a focus. So let’s say I wanted to create a new focus actually, let’s go and recreate my reading focus. What I do is I click on the minus here to delete a focus. That’s what I’m going to do. So I’m gonna delete this and delete it. Now I want to recreate it. I go down to the plus here, and then I click on plus. Now from here we have a number of different on I’m going to call templates. I can go and select reading here and it’ll create a reading focus and then I can customize it. That’s what we’re going to do. But I also want to show you that you can customize your own when we customize our own. What we’re able to do is set what the name of it is here, what the color of the icon is. And then I can also set what the glyph For icon is,
now I’m going to go with the reading focus. So we’re gonna go back over to my template here. And then we go over to reading, when I select one of these, we cannot customize it. So if you want to call it a custom name, maybe you want to use custom here, I’m just gonna go with reading here. And now we can see we have my reading focus. So I have that new focus, but it’s not going to do anything yet. The next thing I need to do is I need to set who I am allowing notifications from. So I’m going to go over to people here. And then what we do is we click on the plus. And we select who we want to have notifications from.
So I’m going to go with Beth here. And I add her in there. So now I’m going to receive notifications from Beth, what about the apps? Well, being that I’m using the books app, what I would do is I want to have notifications come from that books app. So I go over to apps here. And then I click on the plus again, just like with books, and I select my app, I’m going to go with books, I can select multiple apps. So if you had the Kindle app, what you could do is select the Kindle app in here as well. So when I click on Add, and now we have books in there, and we also have birth for my people. We do have some options here. When I click on Options, what I’m able to do is allow time sensitive notifications. What are these? Well, these are notifications that are based on time like from the calendar app, you may still want to receive those maybe you have an event or a reminder in your Reminders app or in your calendar app that you want to receive, even though you’re reading, maybe it’s to take some medication, or to go to an event, even though you’re reading, you still want to have that notification.
Well, as long as there’s a time in it. What this will do when I allow this, it will allow those notifications to come through. I usually recommend leaving this on time sensitive notifications are okay, you don’t want to receive any other notifications. If they’re not based on time, I won’t receive them. But time based notifications you may want to receive. I can also set if I want to allow calls from favorites. Now right now, I’m only going to allow calls from Beth. But you can also have it from favorites in your contacts. You can also select if you want to have it from one of your groups. When I click on this, I can select on one of my groups in the Contacts app. If you do not want to receive calls, then what I do is I turn this off, I’m going to leave this off for this focus. And then our last one here is allow repeated calls, I like to leave this one on. So if someone calls me it’s not going to come through, but if they call me again, within three minutes, then it will go through. So someone calls me twice within three minutes, it will go through.
So now what I’m going to do is click on OK. The next thing we need to do is we need to set when it is turned on right now I could turn it on by clicking on the slider here, or by going to my control center here. But I want to do this automatically, I want to have it turned on when I open up the books app, I start reading the focus turns on I stopped reading the focus turns off. To do that what we do is we go down to where we have turned on automatically, we have a few different options here. I click on the plus here. And we can set if we want it to be time based at a specific time. If we want it to be location based, when I’m at a specific location, like with the school, I have it. So where I’m at the school, when I’m at the school, the school focus turns on. And then we have at base, this is what we’re going to go. So I’m going to select app based here. And then I just select the books app. And again, I could select the Kindle app as well, if I had it on here, click on Add. And now it’s all set. I’ve just created that focus. If I want to share this with my other devices, I can do that as well. I usually recommend leaving this on as well. So now if I open up the books app on my iPad or my iPhone, it’ll turn the focus mode on on all of my devices. So now I have it all set. Let’s go ahead and close this and open up the books app, I go down to my doc here. And then I click on it when I click on it, let’s not click on it yet. When I click on it, when I go to my control center, you’re going to see that the reading focus is going to be turned on here. So let’s go ahead and click on this to open it up. And now my reading focus is turned on. How do I know that? Well, when I go up to my control center here, you’re going to see that my reading is turned on. I did not turn this on. Now let’s go and quit the books app.
I go up under books here and we go to quit and when I do and then if we go back over to our control center here, you’re going to see that I am no longer in my reading focus. It turned off automatically. If I were to open up the books app again. This would go back into the reading focus. And again, it would share that same focus mode with all of my other devices because I have it set to shared. So that’s how we can create and use focus modes. On the Mac. Basically, it’s a customized version of Do Not Disturb, we can set who we want to receive notifications from, and which apps we want to receive notifications from. And then we can set when that focus mode is started, we can have it be location based, we can have it based on an app. And then we can also have it based on time. And then of course, we can always turn it on manually by going to our control center. We set this all up in our System Preferences under notifications and focus, just go to the focus tab. And then from there, what you’re able to do is create an edit your focuses. You can set who you want to receive notifications from, which apps you want to receive notifications from and how that notification or that focus is started. So that’s how we use focus modes on the Mac. Again, this was introduced with Mac OS, Monterey, so if you have an earlier version of Mac OS, you will not be able to use focus modes.