Mac Kindergarten

Previously we looked at how we can find menu items only by their name with the help of the search feature of the Help menu item, available in every application.

Today we will find out how we can use a feature of Butler to imitate us, pressing keys on the keyboard. Doing so, will allow us to open menu items that you can’t create a shortcut for, using the built-in methods of creating keyboard shortcuts, described in this post.

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Opening a file in Finder is pretty simple…if you know, how to do it. Especially switchers try to use the enter/return key. But this will only let you rename the file, instead of opening it.

While in Finder, press either command-down arrow or command-O. Both keyboard shortcuts work equally well, use the one that is more comfortable to you.

Command-down arrow will also open folders, so you can drill down a folder structure, using this keyboard shortcut. Command-up arrow will let you go to the parent directory of the current file or folder.

Take a look at this post, to review the special keys on your Mac keyboard.

Standardized replies, phone and mail contact information, text snippets … There is a lot of text we have to write over and over again.

There is no need for that. Butler’s custom pasteboards come to save you. Write no more!

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Every time when you open or save a file, you have to navigate the directories to get to the place where it belongs to. It can take some time until you reach the folder in question or pick an item from a long list of files.

Well, not on a Mac… (more…)

We already looked at Butler as an application and bookmark launcher. We also used it to create a multi item clipboard.

Today the exploration of Butler goes on. We will learn how to use its Hot Corner feature to remote control iTunes with the mouse.

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Stacks are a great feature for stuff you need to access quickly. They also help to reduce the clutter on your Desktop, putting downloaded files into a neat Download folder.

Today we will look at some keyboard magic to enhance your Stacks experience.

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Stacks, as introduced here, also react to your keyboard input. So, if you have your Stack open, just type the beginning letters of an item of this Stack and it will get highlighted.

1) Click on a Stack.

2) Type the first letters of the item you wish to select.

3) Press return to open the selected item.

You can also use the arrow keys to highlight an item of a Stack.

Note: This works in every display mode of a Stack - no matter if you view it in Fan, Grid or List mode.

Even in the times of excessive mouse usage, the keyboard still remains the quickest way to work on your computer (PC and Mac). In the following we will present a couple of essential keyboard shortcuts.

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As you start to get more comfortable using your Mac, keyboard shortcuts provide a great way to do things quickly.

Mac OS X has great support for keyboard shortcuts. For now, we will only look at the most basic ones.

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