Yosemite: A Take Control Crash Course Scholle Sawyer McFarland This book is for sale at http://leanpub.com/yosemite-atccc This version was published on 2014-10-25 * * * * * * * * * * © 2014 Sawyer McFarland Editing ISBN for EPUB version: 9781615424443 ISBN for MOBI version: 9781615424443 Table of Contents Read Me First Introduction Yosemite Quick Start What’s New in Yosemite? Take Control of Yosemite’s Look Cut Clutter with Finder Tabs Get Organized with Finder Tags Find More Faster with Spotlight Keep Current with Notification Center Update Your Safari Smarts Do More with Mail Keep Connected with Messages Stay Up to Date with Calendar Navigate iCloud Drive Move Easily between Devices with Handoff Turn Your Mac into a Speakerphone Share Files with AirDrop Avoid Problems with User Accounts Get Help from OS X Recovery About This Book About the Author About the Publisher Copyright and Fine Print Read Me First This ebook was published in October 2014 by TidBITS Publishing Inc. It was written by Scholle Sawyer McFarland and edited by Tonya Engst. This book helps you with Apple’s newest operating system, OS X 10.10 Yosemite. It focuses on Yosemite’s new features while including a hand-picked selection of key tips for getting the most out of your Mac. It also covers a few built-in apps that have interesting changes in Yosemite—Safari, Mail, Messages, and Calendar. Yosemite: A Take Control Crash Course, version 1.1.1 Copyright © 2014, Sawyer McFarland Editing. All rights reserved. Formats and Updates If you purchased this ebook, use the link in Ebook Extras, near the end, to download a new copy of the PDF, EPUB, or Mobipocket version. If you downloaded this ebook from the Take Control Web site, it has been added to your account. If you bought it elsewhere, you can add it to your account; see Ebook Extras. Tip: You can read about putting Take Control ebooks on various devices and computers on our Device Advice page. About the Links All blue text in this book is hot, meaning you can click (or tap) it, just like a link on the Web. Some links, like the Ebook Extras link just above, take you to a Web page. Other links go to a different part of the book. If you click a link that takes you to a different part of the book, you can return quickly to your previous spot if your ebook reader offers a “back” feature. For example, if you use iBooks to read the EPUB version of this book, click the “Back to” link at the lower left. Or, if you use Preview on the Mac to read the PDF version, choose Go > Back or press Command-[. Sharing a Chapter We encourage you to share any chapter in this book with a friend, relative, or colleague who would benefit from the info—sharing is entirely free. Each chapter ends with special link buttons for sharing via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and email. Click the desired button to share a Web link to that chapter. For Twitter and LinkedIn, the suggested text includes a useful tip. Commenting on a Chapter Click the Disqus icon at the end of a chapter to view the Web version and enter your comment or question. You can read and reply to other comments there as well. The author may not reply to every comment or question, but we will read everything and use the comments to identify areas of confusion. If a chapter worked especially well for you, let us know about that, too. Unhelpful comments will be deleted. Note: For help with menus, paths, and other basic topics, check out Read Me First: A Take Control Crash Course, available for free on the Web or as a standalone ebook in PDF, EPUB, and the Kindle’s Mobipocket format. Introduction There are two kinds of technology users: Those who wait eagerly for the release of each new operating system and those who dread having their computers change on them yet again. Whether you’re thrilled to learn about OS X 10.10 Yosemite’s new features or simply want to make sure you know what you need to know, this crash course will give you the essentials. My assumption is that you’ve figured out whether your Mac can run Yosemite, you’ve loaded the OS on your system, and now you’re ready to go. For detailed help with upgrading, see Take Control of Upgrading to Yosemite. Together we’ll hit all the highlights, from Yosemite’s new look to features that let you share information easily between Macs, iPhones, and iPads. If you’re primarily curious about the new features Apple added to the operating system and your favorite built-in apps, skip straight to What’s New in Yosemite? to find the chapters that interest you the most. Since it’s only been a year since 10.9 Mavericks was released, my guess it that you probably missed a few of its useful, but not so obvious, tricks. With that in mind, I’ve included information about two of my favorites, Finder Tabs and Tags. Finder Tabs let you cut down on window clutter; they’re so simple and useful, you won’t believe you haven’t been using them all along. Finder Tags, on the other hand, let you tag your files so that they’re easier to find later. Start using them today and you’ll always be able to find the file you need even in messiest of file systems. Finally, we’ll look at the least you need to know to prepare yourself for trouble: like ways to set up user accounts to avoid problems and how to run Recovery mode when your computer is on the fritz. Sharing is wired into this ebook, so whenever you run across a tip you love, pass it on! Just use the links at the end of each chapter to send it to friends and colleagues or broadcast it via social media. By the time you’re done with this Crash Course, you’ll know which OS X features fit the way you work and you’ll be ready to jump in and start using them right away. Yosemite Quick Start What’s the least you need to know to use OS X 10.10 Yosemite effectively? This book will fill you in. Most chapters focus on new features, but I’ve thrown in a few notable—and particularly useful—features added in 10.9 Mavericks that you’ve probably overlooked. We’ll also examine built-in Apple apps—like Safari, Calendar, and Mail—to see how their changes might benefit you and the way you work. The list below shows how the topics in the book hang together. Click any link to jump to a chapter. What’s Changed Yosemite brings a radical new look, new features, and updated apps to the Mac. For a quick overview of all the changes see What’s New in Yosemite? Finder Fundamentals The updated interface: Learn more about Yosemite’s fresh new face in Take Control of Yosemite’s Look. Finder Tabs: Introduced in 10.9 Mavericks, this feature can turn a mess of Finder windows into tidy tabs. Read Cut Clutter with Finder Tabs. Finder Tags: Whether you litter your Desktop with files or you sort all your files into folders, Finder tags (introduced in Mavericks) are flexible tools that can help you find what you seek. See Get Organized with Finder Tags. System-wide Tools Spotlight: Yosemite’s Spotlight can help you root out more than just files and apps. Read all about it in Find More Faster with Spotlight. Notification Center: Learn how to tame notifications and about Yosemite’s iOS-like updates to the Notification Center in Keep Current with Notification Center. iCloud Drive: Discover how to share data between your devices in Navigate iCloud Drive. More ‘Continuity’ features: iCloud Drive is just one several new Continuity features that Apple has added to Yosemite and iOS 8. These tools make it easier to move between your Apple devices. They also allow you to use a feature of one device (like making a phone call) on another. Find out more in Move Easily between Devices with Handoff, Turn Your Mac into a Speakerphone, and Share Files with AirDrop. Updated Apps Safari: Perhaps the most changed of the apps, Safari packs Spotlight integration and much more. See Update Your Safari Smarts. Mail: Mail’s two big new features, Mail Drop and Markup, let you Do More with Mail. Messages: Message adds the capability to send short recorded audio and read SMS and MMS messages on your Mac. See Keep Connected with Messages Calendar: Calendar now learns from you. Discover how in Stay Up to Date with Calendar Troubleshooting Essentials When trouble strikes, do you know what to do? We explore basic strategies both for getting out of trouble and avoiding it in the first place in Avoid Problems with User Accounts and Get Help from OS X Recovery. What’s New in Yosemite? Yosemite brings a bright, streamlined new look to OS X, changing some basic design elements, updating key apps, and integrating aspects of the OS X and the iOS experiences. Use the links in this chapter to jump straight to the new feature you’re most interested in. The Look If you have an iPad or iPhone running iOS 7 or 8, Yosemite’s new look might look a wee bit familiar ①. ① The Dock and its icons, once shiny and 3D (top), are now flat and stylized (bottom). I explain how to Take Control of Yosemite’s Look in the next chapter. Revamped Apps and System-wide Tools All of OS X’s major apps and utilities have been changed to fit Yosemite’s new look, and most of them have useful new features as well. Here’s a look at what’s new, in order of importance: Spotlight: Apple’s search technology moves boldly beyond your files to cull answers from a wider range of sources, including movie listings, maps, news headlines, and more. You’ll also find it easier to preview information in Spotlight without ever opening an app. Read all about it in Find More Faster with Spotlight. Notification Center: Notification Center now keeps you up-to-date with two tabs full of information. In the iOS-like Today view, you can see more than just the day’s meetings and weather when you add Apple and third-party widgets. See Keep Current with Notification Center.