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How to Adjust Mail Drop Minimum File Size Threshold for Mac Mail

May 6, 2015 - 12 Comments
Using Maildrop for Mac Mail app in OS X

Using Mail Drop allows you to send larger files over email than typically allowed by uploading the sent file to iCloud from Mail app in OS X, and then passing the link to download that file onto the recipient. The default MailDrop threshold for mail attachments is 20MB before kicking in and offering the service, … Read More

How to Reset Launchpad Layout in Mac OS Catalina, Mojave, Sierra, OS X El Capitan & Yosemite

May 5, 2015 - 36 Comments
Launchpad without Blur

Launchpad serves as a quick way to open applications on the Mac from a familiar iOS-like icon grid interface. If you’ve customized the way these app icons and arranged in Launchpad, you may decide you’d like to start from scratch and reset their order to how things appear when you first get a Mac. Resetting … Read More

Make the Window Resizing Animation Speed Instant in Mac OS X

Jan 6, 2015 - 26 Comments
Speed up Window Resize Animations in OS X

When you hit the green maximize button to resize windows on a Mac or send things into full screen mode, a fancy visual animation shows the redrawing of the window size as the active window expands outwards. While this looks great and many users will be happy with the default resizing animation time in OS … Read More

Make Chrome Use the Default Print Window in Mac OS X

Dec 19, 2014 - 8 Comments
Chrome custom print window in Mac OS X

If you’re a majority Chrome browser user in Mac OS X you’ve probably noticed that when printing from the web browser, a custom print preview window opens up that looks quite different from the default print window on a Mac. Some users may like the alternate Chrome print preview option with it’s larger viewport and … Read More

Check & Modify AutoCorrect Settings from the Command Line in OS X

Dec 18, 2014 - 5 Comments
defaults write commands in Mac OS X

Spelling autocorrect features tend to be divisive, with Mac users usually either loving it or hating it. Most Mac users know they can easily turn off autocorrect through an OS X system preference change, but the System Preferences are only accessible from the graphical interface of a Mac. If you’re wanting to automate the enabling … Read More

Enable Dark Menu Mode with a Keyboard Shortcut in Mac OS X

Oct 24, 2014 - 7 Comments
iMac

Dark Mode impacts the appearance of the Dock and Menu Bar in Mac OS X, turning both from their grey on white defaults to a higher contrast white text against black background dark alternative. The effect is sort of iOS-like, but it also makes a great addition to the Increase Contrast feature on a Mac … Read More

Enable Dark Mode in OS X Yosemite Beta with a defaults Command

Jun 19, 2014 - 10 Comments
Dark Mode in Yosemite beta

Mac users running OS X Yosemite Beta 2 can get a glimpse at the upcoming “dark mode” feature that was mentioned briefly during the Yosemite overview presentation during WWDC 2014. Essentially, dark mode turns many user interface elements of OS X Yosemite into significantly darker variations of themselves, swapping out whites and light grays for … Read More

Stop the Power Button From Turning Off the Mac Display in OS X Mavericks

Apr 9, 2014 - 12 Comments
MacBook Pro and MacBook AIr power button on the keyboard

The Power button on newer MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models has been turned into a button on the actual keyboard, located directly above the Delete key. For the most part, this isn’t an issue, but with the introduction of OS X Mavericks, tapping on that Power button no longer prompts the Sleep / Restart … Read More

How to Set a Screen Saver to Run at the Login Window of Mac OS X

Mar 7, 2014 - 10 Comments
Set a login window screen saver in Mac OS X

The Macs default boot login screen is fairly boring by default, and though it can be spruced up with custom wallpaper, another option is to set a screen saver to run at the login window of OS X. This requires using a defaults command string entered at the command line, which then makes the screen … Read More

Turning On Mac Touch-To-Click Support from the Command Line

Jan 31, 2014 - 13 Comments
Enabling touch clicking from the command line of OS X

Touch-based clicking is an alternate input form that uses trackpad (or Magic Mouse) taps as a click. For most Mac users, turning on tap-to-click is best done from Mac OS X System Preferences, but advanced users who require more control, automation, or remote enabling of the feature can also enable tap-to-click through the command line … Read More

Change How Long Notification Banners Persist for in Mac OS X

Jan 29, 2014 - 21 Comments
Notifications banner in OS X

Banner notifications pop up on the side of the screen in Mac OS X and disappear on their own within a few seconds. Some users may find that banner persistence time to be either too long or too short, and that is what we’re going to focus on changing here, giving you some control over … Read More

How to Place the Dock in a Corner of the Screen in Mac OS X

Dec 5, 2013 - 7 Comments
The Dock of OS X

Want to have the Mac Dock in the corner of the screen? The Mac OS X Dock sits centered along the bottom of the screen on every Mac by default, and most users probably assume that moving the Dock to a new location is limited to centering on either the left or right side of … Read More

Re-Theme OS X with Flat White Windows & Retro Mac Pinstripes

Nov 20, 2013 - 14 Comments
White theme in Mac OS X

The general appearance of Mac OS X has remained mostly the same for several major OS X releases now, but earlier versions of the operating system had a brighter whiter look for window frames and panels, with some pin striping thrown in there. If you’re tired of the newer darker modern theme that exists throughout … Read More

How to Enable a Hidden Debug Menu in Photo Booth for Mac OS X

May 23, 2013 - 1 Comment
Photo Booth debug menu and frame rate shown

Photo Booth is the goofy picture taking application in OS X that can take normal shots or apply a bunch of weird effects to distort faces. It’s not the most complex app in the world and that’s by design, but if you like to dig into things a bit more than the average Mac user, … Read More

Keep Track of Defaults Write Commands Used in Mac OS X Automatically

Apr 3, 2013 - 11 Comments
used defaults write commands list

If you like to tweak Mac OS X with a lot of defaults write commands from the terminal, you already know how hard it can be to keep track of them. Sure you can query command history for specific command syntax, and you can always use grep to find executed defaults commands, but there’s a … Read More

Speed Up Mail App on Older Macs By Turning Off Image Attachment Previews

Mar 5, 2013 - 2 Comments
Mail without an Image Attachment Preview

Anytime an image or PDF is attached to an email in the Mac OS X Mail app, you will be presented with a preview of that picture or document. Likewise, if someone emails you photos those images are then drawn on screen within that email as previews. While this is a great feature for most … Read More

Add Weather & Other Dashboard Widgets to the Desktop in Mac OS X

Jan 18, 2013 - 12 Comments
Turn off Dashboard as a space

A fun way to customize the Mac desktop is to add floating widgets for things like weather, ski conditions, stocks, and time. These widgets are actually from Dashboard, a largely forgotten feature of Mac OS X that can be made useful again by bringing them more to the forefront of your desktop experience. This is … Read More

Stop the Help Viewer Window from Hovering Over Everything Else in Mac OS X

Dec 13, 2012 - 9 Comments
Disable Help window floating above other windows

The Help Menu in OS X is an underused but great resource when trying to learn about new Mac apps, and it can even function as a keyboard-based action launcherto quickly access app features. If you’re using the Help Viewer to actually read help documentation though, you may have noticed that the windows default behavior … Read More

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