macOS Big Sur For Dummies

Bob “Dr. Mac” LeVitus has written the “Dr. Mac” column for the Houston Chronicle since 1996. A devoted Mac enthusiast, he has written or cowritten a long list of how-to books about macOS, iPhone, iPad, Office for the Mac, and GarageBand. He’s also a regular contributor to various tech publications.

• Introduction 1About This Book 1Foolish Assumptions 3Icons Used in This Book 3Beyond the Book 4Where to Go from Here 4Part 1: macOS Basics 5Chapter 1: macOS Big Sur 101 (Prerequisites: None) 7Gnawing to the Core of macOS 8A Safety Net for the Absolute Beginner (or Any User) 10Turning the dang thing on 10What you should see on startup 11Shutting down properly 15A few things you should definitely not do with your Mac 16Point-and-click 101 17Not Just a Beatles Movie: Help and the Help Menu 19Chapter 2: Desktop and Windows and Menus (Oh My!) 23Touring Finder and Its Desktop 24Anatomy of a Window 25Top o’ the window to ya! 27A scroll new world 29(Hyper)active windows 30Dialog Dealie-Boppers 32Working with Windows 34Opening and closing windows 34Resizing windows and window panes 35Moving windows 35Shuffling windows 36Menu Basics 38The ever-changing menu bar 38Contextual (shortcut) menus: They’re sooo contextual! 39Recognizing disabled options 41Navigating submenus 41Under the Apple menu tree 42Using keyboard shortcut commands 44Chapter 3: What’s Up, Dock? 45A Quick Introduction to Your Dock 46The default icons of the dock 47Trash talkin’ 48Opening application menus on the dock 51Reading dock icon body language 53Opening files from the dock 54Customizing Your Dock 54Adding dock icons 54Removing an icon from the dock 57Resizing the dock 58What should you put on your dock? 58Setting your dock preferences 60Chapter 4: Getting to Know Finder and Its Desktop 65Introducing Finder and Its Minions: The Desktop and Icons 66Introducing the desktop 66Bellying up to the toolbar 68Figuring out what an icon is 71Identifying your Finder icons in the wild 72Aliases Are Awesome! 73Creating aliases 74Deleting aliases 75Hunting down an alias’s parent 75The View(s) from a Window 76Moving through folders fast in Column view 76Perusing in Icon view 78Listless? Try touring folders in List view 78Hangin’ in the Gallery (view) 80What’s next on the (View) menu? 81Finder on the Menu 83The actual Finder menu 83Like a road map: The current folder’s pop-up menu 86Going places with the Go menu 86Customizing Finder Windows 89Adding folders to the sidebar 89Setting Finder preferences 90Digging for Icon Data in the Info Window 93Chapter 5: Delving Even Deeper into Big Sur’s Desktop and Finder 97Cleaning Up Your Desktop Automatically with Stacks 97Managing your Stacks 100Quick Actions: Now Playing All Over Big Sur 101Getting the most out of Markup 101Trimming video without launching an app 104Do It Quicker with Finder Quick Actions 105Creating PDFs without launching an app 105Creating custom Finder Quick Actions 106Four More Cool Big Sur Tricks 107Shooting screens 107Dynamic desktop images 109Recently used apps in the dock 109Mentions of Gallery view 110Part 2: How Stuff Works 111Chapter 6: Having It Your Way 113Introducing System Preferences 113The Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences Pane 116The Desktop tab 117The Screen Saver tab 118The General System Preferences Pane 119Adjusting the Keyboard, Mouse, Trackpad, and Other Hardware 122The Keyboard System Preferences pane 122The Mouse System Preferences pane 128The Bluetooth System Preferences pane 129The Trackpad System Preferences pane 129The Sound System Preferences Pane 131Changing sound effects 132Choosing output and input options 132Chapter 7: Opening and Saving Files 133A Quick Primer on Finding Files 134Understanding the macOS Folder Structure 134Understanding nested folders 136From the top: The Computer folder 137Peeking into the Applications folder 138Visiting the Library folders 138Let it be: The System folder 139There’s no place like Home 140Your personal library card 141Saving Your Document Before It’s Too Late 143Stepping through a basic save 145Save As versus Duplicate: Different names for the same result 151Open, Sez Me 153With drag-and-drop 154With a Quick Look 155When your Mac can’t open a file 155With the application of your choice 156Chapter 8: File and Folder Management Made Easy 159Organizing Your Stuff in Folders 159Files versus folders 160Organizing your stuff with subfolders 160Creating new folders 163Navigating with spring-loaded folders 163Smart folders 164Shuffling Files and Folders 167Moving files and folders 167Selecting multiple icons 169Playing the icon name game: Renaming icons 170Renaming multiple icons at once 171Compressing files 171Getting rid of icons 172The Incredible iCloud Drive 172Chapter 9: Comprehending the macOS Clipboard 175Introducing the Clipboard 175Copying Files and Folders 177Pasting from the Clipboard 179Big Sur’s Universal Clipboard 179Part 3: Getting Things Done 181Chapter 10: Five Terrific Time-Saving Tools 183With a Quick Look 184Share and share alike with the Share menu 185Slide into Slideshow (full-screen) mode 186Spotlight on Finding Files and Folders Faster 187Using the Find command 187Using the Spotlight menu and its keyboard shortcut 190Blast Off with Mission Control 191The Mission Control pane: It’s painless 191Hot corners are hot stuff! 194Mission Control’s Spaces from 30,000 feet (an overview) 194Getting around in space(s) 197Taking Control of Essential Settings 198Launchpad: The Place for Applications 200Chapter 11: Organizing Your Life 203Keeping Track with Calendar 204Navigating Calendar views 204Creating calendars 205Deleting a calendar 206Creating and managing events 207Reminders: Protection Against Forgetting 210Getting started with Reminders 210To do or not to do: Setting reminders 211Sharing lists and assigning reminders 213Everything You Need to Know about Notification Center 213Tweaking Notification settings 214Widget management 101 216Using Notification Center 217Use Notes for Making Notes 218Tracking Productivity with Screen Time 221Chapter 12: Are You Siri-ous? 223What Siri Can Do for You 224Working with Siri 226Making Siri Your Own 226Chapter 13: Maps Are Where It’s At 229Finding Your Current Location with Maps 229Finding a Person, Place, or Thing 230Views, Zooms, and Pans 231Maps and Contacts 233Time-saving Map Tools: Favorites, Guides, and Recents 234Favorites 234Guides 235Recents 235Smart Map Tricks 236Get route maps and driving directions 236Get walking directions 237Get directions for public transportation 237Get traffic info in real time 238Flyovers and look arounds 238Do more on the Info sheet 240Chapter 14: Apps Born in iOS 241Taking Stock of the Market with Stocks 241Adding and deleting stocks, funds, and indexes 243Details, details, details 244Charting a course 244Read All about It in News 245What are your interests? 246How News works 247Managing your news 247Recording Memos with Voice Memos 248Recording a voice memo 248Listening to a voice memo 249Naming a voice memo 249Trimming a voice memo 250Controlling Lights, Locks, and More with Home 251Part 4: Getting Along with Others 253Chapter 15: (Inter)Networking 255Getting Connected to the Internet 256Your Internet service provider and you 257Plugging in your Internet-connection settings 258Browsing the Web with Safari 259Owning your toolbar 261Using the Safari sidebar 263Searching with Google 267Protect yourself from malice (and ads) 269Checking out Help Center 270Audio and Video Calls with FaceTime 270Chapter 16: Dealing with People 273Collecting Your Contacts 273Adding contacts 274Importing contacts from other programs 276Creating a basic group 276Setting up a smart group (based on contact criteria) 277Deleting a group or smart group 279Sync + Contacts = your contacts everywhere 279Chapter 17: Communicating with Mail and Messages 281Sending and Receiving Email with Mail 281Setting up Mail 282A quick overview of the toolbar 283Composing a new message 284Sending email from the Contacts app 286Checking your mail 288Dealing with spam 289Mailboxes smart and plain 289Changing your preferences 292Sign here, please 293Mail rules rule 294Take a (Quick) look and (Slide) show me some photos 296Markup and Mail Drop 297Communicating with Messages 299Chit-chatting with Messages 300Chapter 18: Sharing Your Mac and Liking It 303Introducing Networks and File Sharing 304Portrait of home office networking 305Three ways to build a network 307Setting Up File Sharing 309Access and Permissions: Who Can Do What 311Users and groups and guests 311Creating users 312macOS knows best: Folders shared by default 317Sharing a folder or disk by setting permissions 318Useful settings for permissions 322Unsharing a folder 324Connecting to a Shared Disk or Folder on a Remote Mac 325Changing Your Password 328Changing your account password on your Mac 329Changing the password of any account but your own on your Mac 329More Types of Sharing 330Sharing a screen 330Sharing the Internet 331And yet more ways to share 332Part 5: Getting Creative 333Chapter 19: The Musical Mac 335Apple Music and iTunes Match Rock! 336Introducing Music (the App Formerly Known as iTunes) 337Working with Media 340Adding songs 341Listening to Radio 343All about Playlists 344Creating a regular playlist 344Filtering your library 346Working with smart playlists 347Burning a playlist to CD 348Looking at the Genius playlist 348Chapter 20: The Multimedia Mac 351Playing Movies and Music in QuickTime Player 351Watching TV 353Using the Books App 354Buying an e-book or audiobook 355Shopping for e-books without Apple 357Reading an e-book 358Finding and Listening to Podcasts with the Podcasts App 360You’re the Star with Photo Booth 361Viewing and Converting Images and PDFs in Preview 363Importing Media from a Camera or Camcorder 365Chapter 21: Words and Letters 369Processing Words with TextEdit 370Creating and composing a document 370Working with text 371Adding graphics to documents 374Font Mania 375Types of fonts 376Managing your fonts with Font Book 376Chapter 22: Publish or Perish: The Fail-Safe Guide to Printing 379Before Diving In 380Ready: Connecting and Adding Your Printer 380Connecting your printer 381Setting up a printer for the first time 381One last thing: Printer sharing 383Set: Setting Up Your Document with Page Setup 384Print: Printing with the Print Sheet 386Printing a document 386Choosing among different printers 387Choosing custom settings 387Saving custom settings 390Preview and PDF Options 390Part 6: Care and Feeding 393Chapter 23: Features for the Way You Work 395Finally, a Dark Mode 396App Shopping, Improved 397Using Your iPhone as Your Mac’s Camera or Scanner 399Talking and Listening to Your Mac 402Keyboard System Preferences pane: You talk and your Mac types 402Commanding your Mac by voice 404Listening to your Mac read for you 406Automatic Automation 409Script Editor app: Write and edit AppleScripts 409Automator app: Automate almost anything 410A Few More Useful Goodies 413Accessibility System Preferences pane: Make your Mac more accessible 413Battery and Energy Saver System Preferences panes: For energy conservation and sleep 415Bluetooth System Preferences pane: Where Bluetooth lives 416Ink System Preferences pane: Visible to pen-input tablet users only 417Automatic Login in the Users & Groups System Preferences pane: Don’t bother with the login screen 417Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac 418Boot Camp Assistant app: Run Windows on your Mac really 418AirPlay Mirroring 419Handoff 420Chapter 24: Safety First: Backups and Other Security Issues 421Backing Up is (Not) Hard to Do 422Backing up with Big Sur’s excellent Time Machine 422Backing up by using the manual, brute-force method 426Backing up by using commercial backup software 427Why You Need Two Sets of Backups 428Non-Backup Security Concerns 429About viruses and other malware 429Firewall: Yea or nay? 431Install recommended software updates 433Protecting Your Data from Prying Eyes 434Blocking or limiting connections 434Locking down files with FileVault 434Setting other options for security 435Chapter 25: Utility Chest 439In the Applications and Utilities Folders 439Calculator 439Activity Monitor 441Disk Utility 442Grapher 447Keychain Access 447Migration Assistant 449System Information 450Terminal 450Capturing Your Screen 451Big Sur screen-shooting 101 452Big Sur screen-shooting options 453Big Sur screen recording 454Chapter 26: Troubleshooting macOS 457About Startup Disks and Booting 457Finding or creating a startup disk 458They call it a prohibitory sign for a reason 458Recovering with Recovery HD 460Step 1: Run First Aid 460Step 2: Safe boot into Safe mode 461Step 3: Zapping the PRAM/NVRAM 462Step 4: Reinstalling macOS 463Step 5: Things to try before taking your Mac in for repair 463If Your Mac Crashes at Startup 464Optimizing Storage 465Part 7: The Part of Tens 467Chapter 27: Ten Ways to Speed Up Your Mac Experience 469Use Those Keyboard Shortcuts 470Improve Your Typing Skills 471Change Your Resolution 471Purchase a Faster Mac 473Add RAM 473Add a Second Display 474Use Your iPad as a Second Display 474Upgrade to a Solid-State Drive (SSD) 475Get More Storage 476Subscribe to My Free Newsletter 477Chapter 28: Ten Great Websites for Mac Freaks 479The Mac Observer 480Macworld 480TidBITS 480iMore 481AppleWorld.Today 481The Wirecutter 481Apple Support 482Other World Computing 482dealmac/dealnews 483Working Smarter for Mac Users 483Index 485