It has to do with making phone numbers big. I always have to make phone numbers big on my screen before I can dial them. I can't see the small print well enough to call anyone without doing it that way. The enlarged phone number feature in Address Book and Bento are among my favorite features.
The Leopard version of Mail (the Mac email program) has the built in ability to click on a button and automatically add address and phone number information to your Address Book.
You have another option as well. You just simply choose to enlarge a phone number while still in the email message itself. You don't have to add information to your Address Book if you are sure you don't need further contact information for an individual or a company.
Just click on the arrow in the first image and hold down your mouse. You get the following menu options and select large type.
The phone number will jump up on your screen in very large type and stay there until you click with your mouse somewhere outside the typed area, at which point it will simply go away.
It is a quick and easy way to contact someone.
Speaking of Macworld - I will be blogging from there every day about what I see, the products I like, and what this year's event is like. I will be focusing on what I think will be of interest to beginners. Macworld starts on January 6, 2009.
Nancy
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( 3 / 54 )Updating your software is really an important element of making the most effective use of your Mac.
Apple makes it easy for you to keep your Apple branded software updated -- things like your particular operating system (Tiger, Leopard, etc.), iWork apps (Keynote, Numbers, Pages), iCal, iChat, IPhoto, Safari, iTunes, iMovie, GarageBand, Quicken, etc. You will be periodically notified when updates are available and you would be wise to install those updates as soon as is convenient for you because there is always a good reason for them.
Sometimes it is security issues, sometimes it is to fix bugs, and sometimes it is to provide improvements of some kind.
If you have not already done so, you should take a moment to go into your System Preferences (Apple Menu > System Preferences > Software Update) and indicate with a check mark how frequently you want your computer to check for available updates (daily, weekly, monthly). I also elect to put a check in the box next to "Download important updates automatically". Those options are under the "Scheduled Check" tab. There is also a tab called "Installed Updates" that gives you a list of all the updates that have been installed on your machine recently.
This update service is only for your Apple branded applications. Updating anything else is up to you. Some of your applications will allow you to indicate that you want to be notified when updates are available. For others you simply need to check the web site and see if anything is available.
I tend to do this whenever my operating system is updated, such as when it went from 10.5.4 to 10.5.5. It serves as a reminder to quickly hit the web sites of those applications that I use frequently to see if I need to download any updates.
As I said, there are always reasons for updates.
Nancy
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( 3 / 43 )For three weeks I have been getting ready for this meeting. At last everything is ready. I can relax. I don't have to leave for an hour. I have plenty of time to get dressed.
Oh no! I forgot the script for the Installation of Officers. It's on my computer somewhere. I haven't needed since last December. What did I name that document? It should be filed in the folder with all the other MUG business stuff. Why can't I find it? Where would I have put it? Can I make up a new one? I don't have time, plus the board already approved the one I have.
Calm down. It is time for the Command + F search.
While in Finder, hold down the Command + the F key and you will get the search window that will conduct a search in much more depth than Spotlight because it gives you the option of taking your search down as many layers as necessary.
I started out by doing a word contents search for "Induction". I got 250 responses. At that point I took advantage of the option to refine my search. By clicking on the + button (see the arrow in the illustration) I opened an additional set of criteria that reduced by options to 157. A third search reduced them to 41.
At this point, I realized that my document was not turning up and I needed to start over with a new search. I changed from "Induction" to "Board" and found my document in seconds.
My panic mode was controlling my brain. Thank goodness for the deep search capabilities that saved me in spite of myself.
My problem was that I was not doing a proper match. The title of the document was not mentioned within the document content.
The Command + F search is one of the hidden goodies of OS X. Unless you are extremely organized you will be glad you have it.
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( 3 / 69 )My friend Craig asked me to send him a folder of holiday icons for a project we are working on. I said sure and I dropped the folder into an email and sent it on its way. He wrote back and said the folder was empty. When sending something like icons I needed to zip the file first.
OK. So how do you do that on a Mac I asked. Fortunately, it is quite simple.
Right click on the folder. Depending on which version of OS X you using you either find an option to "Archive" or "Compress" the items in the folder. If your folder is named Holiday Icons and you are using Leopard your option will read "Compress Holiday Icons".
That lets you know that everything inside the folder will be zipped. A new folder will be created and saved adjacent to the original folder. The new folder will have .zip after the name.
Now you can drag that new folder into an email document and send it on its way.
Nancy
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( 2.8 / 56 )My mother always told me to go look up a word that I didn't know how to spell. It always drove me crazy. I'm a really poor speller. I spent lots of time at the dictionary.
The Mac world offers so many more options. For instance, you can highlight a word, right click on it and a window will pop up. If you have spelled the word correctly you will be given the option of looking it up in the dictionary. Did you really use the correct spelling of "too". If you didn't, you will be offered some alternate spelling choices.
There is another option available to you if you are using an Apple application (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, TextEdit, etc.) This is fast and is really helpful for those of us who really don't have a clue. I get to stand at the front of the line.
Type the first few letter of the word, the one's you are most sure are correct. Keep the cursor at that point and hold down the Option and Escape keys. A window will open that gives you a whole list of possible words. If the word you want to use is there, scroll down to it, release the mouse button, and the word fills in for you and you can keep going with the rest of your sentence.
I have tried this in Adobe CS3 and Microsoft Office and it does not work in either. I haven't tried it in anything else.
Nancy
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