macOS Monterey For Dummies

Bob LeVitus, better known as Dr. Mac, has been writing on all things Mac since 1996. He’s a regular contributor to technology publications and has penned over 90 how-to books on macOS, iPhone, iPad, Office for the Mac, and GarageBand.

• 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 Monterey 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 14A few things you should definitely not do with your Mac 15Point-and-click 101 16Not Just a Beatles Movie: Help and the Help Menu 18Chapter 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 39Contextual (shortcut) menus: They’re sooo contextual! 39Recognizing disabled options 41Navigating submenus 42Under the Apple menu tree 43Using keyboard shortcut commands 44Chapter 3: What’s Up, Dock? 45A Quick Introduction to Your Dock 46The default icons of the dock 47Trash talkin’ 49Opening 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 75Deleting aliases 76Hunting down an alias’s parent 76The View(s) from a Window 76Moving through folders fast in Column view 77Perusing in Icon view 79Listless? Try viewing folders as a list 79Hangin’ in the Gallery (view) 81What’s next on the (View) menu? 82Finder on the Menu 84The actual Finder menu 84Like a road map: The current folder’s pop-up menu 87Going places with the Go menu 88Customizing Finder Windows 90Adding folders to the sidebar 90Setting Finder preferences 90Digging for Icon Data in the Info Window 93Chapter 5: Delving Even Deeper into Monterey’s Desktop and Finder 97Cleaning Up Your Desktop Automatically with Stacks 97Managing your Stacks 100Quick Actions: Now Playing All Over Monterey 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 Monterey Tricks 107Shooting screens 107Dynamic desktop images 109Part 2: How Stuff Works 111Chapter 6: Having It Your Way 113Introducing System Preferences 113The Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences Pane 115The Desktop tab 116The Screen Saver tab 117The General System Preferences Pane 118Adjusting the Keyboard, Mouse, Trackpad, and Other Hardware 121The Keyboard System Preferences pane 122The Mouse System Preferences pane 126The Bluetooth System Preferences pane 127The Trackpad System Preferences pane 127The Sound System Preferences Pane 129Changing sound effects 129Choosing output and input options 130Chapter 7: Opening and Saving Files 131A Quick Primer on Finding Files 132Understanding the macOS Folder Structure 132Understanding nested folders 134From the top: The Computer folder 135Peeking into the Applications folder 136Visiting the Library folders 136Let it be: The System folder 137There’s no place like Home 137Your personal library card 139Saving Your Document Before It’s Too Late 141Stepping through a basic save 142Save As versus Duplicate: Different names for the same result 148Open, Sez Me 150With drag-and-drop 152With a Quick Look 152When your Mac can’t open a file 153With the application of your choice 154Chapter 8: File and Folder Management Made Easy 157Organizing Your Stuff in Folders 157Files versus folders 158Organizing your stuff with subfolders 158Creating new folders 160Navigating with spring-loaded folders 161Smart folders 162Shuffling Files and Folders 164Moving files and folders 165Selecting multiple icons 166Playing the icon name game: Renaming icons 167Renaming multiple icons at once 168Compressing files 168Getting rid of icons 168The Incredible iCloud+ (and iCloud Drive) 169Chapter 9: Comprehending the macOS Clipboard 171Introducing the Clipboard 171Copying Files and Folders 173Pasting from the Clipboard 175Monterey’s Universal Clipboard 175Part 3: Getting Things Done 177Chapter 10: Five Terrific Time-Saving Tools 179With a Quick Look 180Share and share alike with the Share menu 181Slide into Slideshow (full-screen) mode 182Spotlight on Finding Files and Folders Faster 183Using the Find command 184Using the Spotlight menu and its keyboard shortcut 186Blast Off with Mission Control 187The Mission Control pane: It’s painless 187Hot corners are hot stuff! 189Mission Control’s Spaces from 30,000 feet (an overview) 190Getting around in space(s) 192Taking Control of Essential Settings 193Launchpad: The Place for Applications 194Chapter 11: Organizing Your Life 197Keeping Track with Calendar 198Navigating Calendar views 198Creating calendars 199Deleting a calendar 200Creating and managing events 201Reminders: Protection Against Forgetting 203Getting started with Reminders 204To do or not to do: Setting reminders 205Sharing lists and assigning reminders 206Everything You Need to Know about Notification Center 207Tweaking Notification settings 207Widget management 101 209Using Notification Center 210Getting focused 210Use Notes for Making Notes 211Take a Quick Note with Quick Note 215Tracking Productivity with Screen Time 215Chapter 12: Are You Siri-ous? 217What Siri Can Do for You 217Working with Siri 219Making Siri Your Own 220Chapter 13: Maps Are Where It’s At 223Finding Your Current Location with Maps 223Finding a Person, Place, or Thing 224Views, Zooms, and Pans 225Maps and Contacts 227Time-saving Map Tools: Favorites, Guides, and Recents 228Favorites 228Guides 229Recents 230Smart Map Tricks 230Get route maps and driving directions 230Get walking directions 231Get directions for public transportation 232Get traffic info in real time 232Flyovers and look arounds 232Do more on the Info sheet 233Chapter 14: Apps Born in iOS 235Taking Stock of the Market with Stocks 236Adding and deleting stocks, funds, and indexes 237Details, details, details 237Charting a course 238Read All about It in News 239What are your interests? 239How News works 240Managing your news 240Recording Memos with Voice Memos 241Recording a voice memo 241Listening to a voice memo 242Naming a voice memo 243Trimming a voice memo 243Automating Repetitive Tasks with Shortcuts 244Controlling Lights, Locks, and More with Home 245Part 4: Getting Along with Others 247Chapter 15: (Inter)Networking 249Getting Connected to the Internet 250Your internet service provider and you 251Plugging in your internet-connection settings 251Browsing the Web with Safari 253Owning your toolbar 254Using the Safari sidebar 255Checking out Help Center 260Chapter 16: Dealing with People 261Collecting Your Contacts 261Adding contacts 262Importing contacts from other programs 263Creating a basic group 264Setting up a smart group (based on contact criteria) 266Deleting a group or smart group 266Sync + Contacts = your contacts everywhere 267Audio and Video Calls with FaceTime 268About SharePlay 269Chapter 17: Communicating with Mail and Messages 271Sending and Receiving Email with Mail 271Setting Up Mail 272A quick overview of the toolbar 272Composing a new message 274Sending email from the Contacts app 276Checking your mail 278Dealing with spam 279Mailboxes smart and plain 280Changing your preferences 282Sign here, please 283Mail rules rule 284Take a (Quick) look and (Slide) show me some photos 286Markup and Mail Drop 286Communicating with Messages 288What the heck is an iMessage? 289Chit-chatting with Messages 289Chapter 18: Sharing Your Mac and Liking It 293Introducing Networks and File Sharing 294Portrait of home office networking 295Three ways to build a network 297Setting Up File Sharing 299Access and Permissions: Who Can Do What 300Users and groups and guests 300Creating users 302macOS knows best: Folders shared by default 306Sharing a folder or disk by setting permissions 307Useful settings for permissions 311Unsharing a folder 314Connecting to a Shared Disk or Folder on a Remote Mac 314Changing Your Password 318Changing your account password on your Mac 319Changing the password of any account but your own on your Mac 319More Types of Sharing 320Sharing a screen 320Sharing the internet 321And yet more ways to share 322Part 5: Getting Creative 323Chapter 19: The Musical Mac 325Apple Music and iTunes Match Rock! 326Introducing Music (the App Formerly Known as iTunes) 327Working with Media 330Adding songs 330Listening to Radio 332All about Playlists 334Creating a regular playlist 334Working with smart playlists 336Working with the Genius playlist 337Burning a playlist to CD 338Chapter 20: The Multimedia Mac 341Playing Movies and Music in QuickTime Player 342Watching TV 343Using the Books App 344Buying an e-book or audiobook 345Shopping for e-books without Apple 347Finding and Listening to Podcasts with the Podcasts App 348You’re the Star with Photo Booth 349Viewing and Converting Images and PDFs in Preview 351Chapter 21: Words and Letters 353Processing Words with TextEdit 354Creating and composing a document 354Working with text 355Adding graphics to documents 358Font Mania 359Types of fonts 360Managing your fonts with Font Book 360Chapter 22: Publish or Perish: The Fail-Safe Guide to Printing 363Before Diving In 364Ready: Connecting and Adding Your Printer 364Connecting your printer 365Setting up a printer for the first time 365One last thing: Printer sharing 368Set: Setting Up Your Document with Page Setup 368Print: Printing with the Print Sheet 370Printing a document 370Choosing among different printers 371Choosing custom settings 371Saving custom settings 374Preview and PDF Options 374Part 6: Care and Feeding 377Chapter 23: Features for the Way You Work 379Finally, a Dark Mode 380App Shopping, Improved 381Using Your iPhone as Your Mac’s Camera or Scanner 383Talking and Listening to Your Mac 386Keyboard System Preferences pane: You talk and your Mac types 386Commanding your Mac by voice 388Listening to your Mac read your screen 389Automatic Automation 392Script Editor app: Write and edit AppleScripts 392Automator app: Automate almost anything 394A Few More Useful Goodies 396Accessibility System Preferences pane: Make your Mac more accessible 396Battery and Energy Saver System Preferences panes: For energy conservation and sleep 398Bluetooth System Preferences pane: Where Bluetooth lives 399Ink System Preferences pane: Visible to pen-input tablet users only 400Automatic Login in the Users & Groups System Preferences pane: Don’t bother with the login screen 400Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac 401Boot Camp Assistant app: Run Windows on your Mac really 401AirPlay and AirPlay to Mac 402Handoff 403Universal Control 404Chapter 24: Safety First: Backups and Other Security Issues 405Backing Up is (Not) Hard to Do 406Backing up with Monterey’s excellent Time Machine 406Backing up by using the manual, brute-force method 409Backing up by using commercial backup software 410Why You Need Two Sets of Backups 411Non-Backup Security Concerns 412About viruses and other malware 412Install recommended software updates 414Protecting Your Data from Prying Eyes 415Blocking or limiting connections 416Locking down files with FileVault 416Setting other options for security 417Chapter 25: Utility Chest 419In the Applications and Utilities Folders 419Calculator 419Activity Monitor 421Disk Utility 422Keychain Access 427Passwords System Preferences pane 429Migration Assistant 429System Information 430Terminal 430Screenshot 431The best keyboard shortcut to memorize 432Monterey screen-shooting options 433Monterey screen recording 434Chapter 26: Troubleshooting macOS 435About Startup Disks and Booting 435Finding or creating a startup disk 436They call it a prohibitory sign for a reason 436Recovering with Recovery HD 438Step 1: Run First Aid 438Step 2: Safe boot into Safe mode 439Step 3: Zapping the PRAM/NVRAM 440Step 4: Reinstalling macOS 441Step 5: Things to try before taking your Mac in for repair 441If Your Mac Crashes at Startup 442Managing Storage 442Part 7: The Part of Tens 445Chapter 27: Ten Ways to Speed Up Your Mac Experience 447Use Those Keyboard Shortcuts 447Improve Your Typing Skills 448Try a Different Keyboard 449Change Your Resolution 450Purchase a Faster Mac 450Add RAM 451Add a Second Display 451Use Your iPad as a Second Display 452Upgrade to a Solid-State Drive (SSD) 452Get More Storage 453Chapter 28: Ten Great Websites for Mac Freaks 455The Mac Observer 456Macworld 456TidBITS 456iMore 457AppleWorld.Today 457The Wirecutter 457Apple Support 458Other World Computing 458Apple’s Refurbished and Clearance Store 459Six Colors 459Index 461