Automator: Select only one file out of many files in a folder. Script needed?

When wanting to randomly choose from a group of files, to send the contents thereof as an email, while ensuring the content from each file is used only once, requires maintaining a list of filenames from which the content has already been sent. There are quite a few different ways this list can be created, accessed and maintained.

Staying away from Automator and using AppleScript for the entire process, the easiest would be as an AppleScript property variable, however an AppleScript property variable gets reset if the script is recompiled in Script Editor and or saved again after it's been originally saved.

This is not necessarily a problem, if once the script has been properly configured to meet the needs and is functioning properly during testing, it is then saved as an application and not modified or saved again after the initial run of it having been saved as an application. If that might be an issue, then the list will need to be saved as a disk file. (Personally, I'd choose to use the disk file.)

Saving the list of filenames from which the content has already been emailed as a disk file can also be done in a number of ways. You essentially need to pick one of the possible ways and code it accordingly.

The following AppleScript code examples, shows two ways to accomplish the overall task. The first, using an AppleScript property variable and the second using a disk file, to maintain the list.

Note: In one of my comments, I asked "Do the files have to be Rich Text or can they be Plain Text?", and the reason for this is, as Plain Text the file would not need to be opened in the GUI to retrieve the contents, where as with Rich Text it would need to be opened in .e.g. TextEdit to retrieve the contents. Not having to do it through the GUI is faster and visually less obtrusive. Also, if this is done in Automator using the Get Contents of TextEdit Document action, it retrieves the contents as plain text anyway. So, it is actually advantageous to use Plain Text files over Rich Text to begin with. These examples are coded to use Rich Text and TextEdit, with a modification shown afterwards if using Plain Text.

In the first example AppleScript code, there are some variables which you'll need to set:

thisFolder - The location of the folder containing the 100 files.
theRecipientName - The Name of the Email Recipient.
theRecipientAddress - The Email Address of the Email Recipient.
theSubject - The Subject of the Email Message.

In the second example AppleScript code, in addition to the variables shown above:

theAlreadySentListFilename - The location and name of the file containing the filenames from which the content has already been sent.

The remainder of the script is coded in a manner (tokenized) to work with these variables and others set within the script. Also, the tell application "Mail" block of code is coded to send the message automatically, however it has been commented out, until testing is done and or if not wanting to automatically send. Uncomment accordingly.

To use this script, in Script Editor, create a new document and save it as an application in /Applications, naming it as, e.g. 100 Messages to Send.app.

Next, copy and paste the example AppleScript code below into the 100 Messages to Send.app in Script Editor and hit the Compile button on the Toolbar.

Modify the variables, mentioned earlier above.

Save the app and test from within Script Editor.

Once done with testing, hit the Compile button on the Toolbar to reset the theAlreadySentList AppleScript property variable to an empty list, then save and close the 100 Messages to Send.app so as not to reset the theAlreadySentList AppleScript property variable once production mode begins.

First example AppleScript code:

--  ### Folder Path Variable

--  # Set the location of the folder containing the 100 files.
--  # NOTE: All 100 files must be in the same individual folder.

set thisFolder to (path to documents folder as text) & "100 Messages to Send"

--  ### Mail Variables

set theRecipientName to "John Doe"
set theRecipientAddress to "johndoe@domain.com"
set theSubject to "Hello World"
--  # Leave the following as 'missing value'.
set theMessageContent to missing value

--  ##### DO NOT modify below this line unless necessary. #####

--  ### Some Other Variables

--  # The property variable  'theAlreadySentList',  is a list of
--  # filenames from which the messages have already been sent.
--  # The value of this property is maintained so long as
--  # this script is not save again or recompiled after it
--  # has been originally saved for the first time.

property theAlreadySentList : {}
global thisFile

--  ### Handler

on chooseRandomFileFrom(thisFolder)
    tell application "Finder"
        set thisFile to some file of container thisFolder
    end tell
    return thisFile
end chooseRandomFileFrom

--  # Get the count of entries in the 'theAlreadySentList' list.
--  # This is used to display a message and break the 'repeat' loop
--  # once all 100 messages have been sent.

set theCount to (count of theAlreadySentList) as integer

--  # Choose a file at random.

set thisFileName to name of chooseRandomFileFrom(thisFolder)

--  # Evaluate the sent status of 'thisFileName' and respond accordingly.

repeat -- 200 times -- # Uncomment if you want a failsafe out of the 'repeat' loop.
    if theCount is equal to 100 then
        display dialog "All 100 messages have already been sent!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1
        exit repeat
    else if thisFileName is in theAlreadySentList then
        --  # Choose another file at random.
        set thisFileName to name of chooseRandomFileFrom(thisFolder)
    else
        --  # This file has not been used yet, process accordingly.
        set end of theAlreadySentList to thisFileName
        tell application "TextEdit"
            open thisFile
            activate
            delay 1 --# Adjust as necessary. Time must be given for the file to open before proceeding.
            set theMessageContent to text of front document
            close front document
        end tell
        tell application "Mail"
            activate
            set theMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {visible:true, subject:theSubject, content:theMessageContent}
            tell theMessage
                make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {name:theRecipientName, address:theRecipientAddress}
            end tell
            -- delay 1 --# Adjust as necessary. Uncomment to use this command.
            -- send theMessage --# Uncomment to use this command.
        end tell
        exit repeat
    end if
end repeat

In this second example AppleScript code, a disk file is used to store the list of filenames from which the content has already been sent as an email message.

To use this script, in Script Editor, create a new document and save it as an application in /Applications, naming it as, e.g. 100 Messages to Send.app. This is done so you can add a plain text file to the application bundle to use for the list of filenames already sent. (I prefer to keep related support files within the application bundle.)

Having saved the document as an application, now open the application bundle (in Finder, right-click Show Package Contents) to Contents/Resources/ and create the, e.g. Sent Messages Filename List.txt file as an empty file, and then close the application bundle.

Next, copy and paste the example AppleScript code below into the e.g. 100 Messages to Send.app in Script Editor and hit the Compile button on the Toolbar.

Modify the variables, as mentioned earlier above.

Save the app and test from within Script Editor.

Once done with testing, clear the entries from the Sent Messages Filename List.txt, so it's an empty file when running the app for the first time in production mode.

Second example AppleScript code:

--  ### Folder Path Variable

--  # Set the location of the folder containing the 100 files.
--  # NOTE: All 100 files must be in the same individual folder.

set thisFolder to (path to documents folder as text) & "100 Messages to Send"

--  ### Mail Variables

set theRecipientName to "John Doe"
set theRecipientAddress to "johndoe@domain.com"
set theSubject to "Hello World"
--  # Leave the following as 'missing value'.
set theMessageContent to missing value

--  ### Sent Messages Filename List Location Variable

--  # Set the location and name of the file containing the
--  # filenames from which the content has already been sent.

set myPath to POSIX path of (path to me as string)
set theAlreadySentListFilename to myPath & "Contents/Resources/Sent Messages Filename List.txt"

--  ##### DO NOT modify below this line unless necessary. #####

--  ### Some Other Variables

global thisFile
global theAlreadySentList
set theAlreadySentList to {}

--  ### Handlers

on buildListFromDiskFile(thisDiskFile)
    set thisContent to do shell script "cat " & quoted form of thisDiskFile
    repeat with thisParagraph in paragraphs of text in thisContent
        set end of theAlreadySentList to (thisParagraph as text)
    end repeat
end buildListFromDiskFile

on chooseRandomFileFrom(thisFolder)
    tell application "Finder"
        set thisFile to some file of container thisFolder
    end tell
    return thisFile
end chooseRandomFileFrom

--  # Load data from disk file for: 'theAlreadySentList'

buildListFromDiskFile(theAlreadySentListFilename)

--  # Get the count of entries in the 'theAlreadySentList' list.
--  # Used to display a message once all 100 messages have been sent.

set theCount to (count of theAlreadySentList) as integer

--  # Choose a file at random.

set thisFileName to name of chooseRandomFileFrom(thisFolder)

--  # Evaluate the sent status of 'thisFileName' and respond accordingly.

repeat -- 200 times -- # Uncomment if you want a failsafe out of the 'repeat' loop.
    if theCount is equal to 100 then
        display dialog "All 100 messages have already been sent!" buttons {"OK"} default button 1
        exit repeat
    else if thisFileName is in theAlreadySentList then
        --  # Choose another file.
        set thisFileName to name of chooseRandomFileFrom(thisFolder)
    else
        --  # This file has not been used yet, process accordingly.
        --  #
        --  # Add the filename to the list.
        do shell script "echo " & thisFileName & " >> " & quoted form of theAlreadySentListFilename
        --  # Get the content of the Rich Text file.
        tell application "TextEdit"
            open thisFile
            activate
            delay 1 --# Adjust as necessary. Time must be given for the file to open before proceeding.
            set theMessageContent to text of front document
            close front document
        end tell
        --  # Create the Mail Message (and Send it).
        tell application "Mail"
            activate
            set theMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {visible:true, subject:theSubject, content:theMessageContent}
            tell theMessage
                make new to recipient at end of to recipients with properties {name:theRecipientName, address:theRecipientAddress}
            end tell
            -- delay 1 --# Adjust as necessary. Uncomment to use this command.
            -- send theMessage --   # Uncomment to use this command.
        end tell
        exit repeat
    end if
end repeat

NOTE: If you are going to use Plain Text files instead of the Rich Text files, then the entire tell application "TextEdit" block of code can be replaced with the following two lines of code:

set thisFile to POSIX path of (thisFolder & ":" & thisFileName)
set theMessageContent to do shell script "cat " & quoted form of thisFile

You can also change the comment above it, --   # Get the content of the Rich Text file., swapping Rich with Plain.


Automator to remove all text before hyphen ( - )?

You can use the do shell script from within AppleScript to invoke a standard UNIX CLI such as awk, sed or grep. In this case since you merely want to find all occurrences of *- from the beginning of your string, I'd enlist sed to do this.

Something like this will remove everything up to the first dash (-):

set output to do shell script "echo " & quoted form of input & " | sed 's/.*-//'"

Example

Say we had this AppleScript:

set input to "001-10312233_033"
set output to do shell script "echo " & quoted form of input & " | sed 's/.*-//'"
log "input:  " & input
log "output: " & output

This sets your example string as the variable input. The 2nd line then takes the variable input and echoes the variable to the sed command | sed 's/.*-//'. This will strip everything (.*) up to the first dash, (-), encountered, and replaces it with nothing (//) in sed.

The last 2 commands with the log merely echo the 2 variables, input & output.

Here's the whole thing in action:

$ cat regex.sh
#!/bin/bash

osascript <<END
set input to "001-10312233_033"
set output to do shell script "echo " & quoted form of input & " | sed 's/.*-//'"
log "input:  " & input
log "output: " & output
END

Make sure the script regex.sh is executable:

$ chmod + regex.sh

And we run it like this:

$ ./regex.sh
input:  001-10312233_033
output: 10312233_033


Debian is probably your best choice. The problem is that the Flash Player situation would be worse on Linux than on Mac OS X. There is no official Flash Player for Linux PPC. There are some alternatives, though, described in this article. This page has an extremely detailed guide on installing Debian for PowerPC. Also, this page describes which macs are compatible with Debian PPC. Oh, and yes, MintPPC would work.


There's no button to clear the text formatting. The fastest way is to cut the text, go to the correct formatting (either manually or by moving the insertion point such as by pressing backspace), then pasting using Edit → Paste and Match Style.


Messages applescript not working under Mountain Lion?

I believe that the Applescripts need to be called in Preferences > Alerts. Select an event and then select "Run an Applescript Script:"

See if that helps.


2011 13" Macbook Pro shows a green charging light but battery was draining and now it won't respond to SMC Reset

Unless you have had the battery replaced in the last few years it’s most likely dead. You can use a couple of different apps(Battery Health, Coconut Battery), or even the built in System Info screen to see the charge cycles and condition of the MacBook's battery.

I helped a friend with almost the same identical problem on a system of the same vintage, and it was the battery that was dead. No matter how many times he reset the SMC, it never helped.

As a side note, Apple recommends that you cycle the battery fully at lest once a month to avoid potential problems that can occur form charging the battery to soon in a battery discharge cycle.  So if you are always plugging into power when you have only 30% of your battery drained, you could be shortening the life of the battery.


Mac Pro loses network connection after wake from sleep since Yosemite upgrade

It appears to be a common issue until ~ OS X 10.10.3. I'd say your only option is to upgrade when it comes out or do a clean install of 10.10.2 and see if that works out for you. I can understand that you'd rather not do a clean install but it does actually solve a lot most of the time.


Magic Mouse Not Very Smooth When Physically Moving It Around

I have a five year old magic mouse that's still going great.

I had the same problem with the mouse feet wearing down  to the point where the battery cover was making contact with the desk. It became gritty and not very pleasant to use. I then coated the feet with teflon tape and also covered the worn spot on the battery cover. The tape is extremely thin and won't affect tracking. It feels like the mouse is new. The tape is durable - I haven't had to change it yet and the roll contains enough tape to do a LOT of mice.

The tape I used is ½ inch wide. I applied it as follows:

Remove battery cover and measure the length of the feet. Cut a strip of tape the same length.
Start from inside the battery cover by aligning the tape to the vertical part of the feet (at this point the tape should be perpendicular to the bottom of the mouse case. Use your fingernail or something like a toothpick to seat the tape to the fee.
Gently roll the tape around the feet and under the 'v' between the feet and the mouse case. Again, your fingernail works great for this.
Use a single edge razor blade or exacto knife the trim the excess tape.

Enjoy your 'new' mouse.


Is there a way for me to open a .xdi file?

If you absolutely have to use a Mac to open the xdi file, and you have Parallels or some other virtual environment that can run Windows, you can install WinArchiver and open the file that way.

As far as I know there is no utility for Mac that can open xdi files because they are created using WinArchiver which is a Windows only app.


Terminal returns not found for most commands Mac OSX

$PATH should contain these folders: /usr/bin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/sbin.

Try editing ~/.bash_profile, ~/.profile, or ~/.bash_login (with for example /usr/bin/open ~/.bash_profile -a TextEdit) and commenting out any lines that modify the path.

If that works, you can add a line like export PATH=/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:$PATH to ~/.bash_profile.


What's the best way to place 4 pictures on a A4 sheet using the mac?

You can do this using Preview. Here's how I do it (on Lion, but I'm pretty sure it was much the same on Snow Leopard).

Select the 4 images in Finder
Open with Preview
Select the 4 images in the Preview sidebar
From the menubar, select File > Print...
Change the dropdown half-way down the page to "Layout"

Change "Pages per sheet" to 4 (you should now see the 4 images together on the single sheet on the left)

Select "Save as PDF..." from the PDF dropdown in the bottom left

You can also customise the paper type, layout direction and approximate scale of each picture to whatever suits best.


How to disable accidental trackpad input in Yosemite?

I changed "Click" to "Firm" in the menu.

System Peferences > Trackpad > Point & Click

It seems to have helped.


How to backup data from one external drive to another (one-way)

I've just bought another 5TB external disk (Seagate backup plus portable), where I always would like to have a 1-1 copy of the whole date from the first disk.

It’s not a sound strategy to back up a backup.

I write about this in much more detail in another related answer, but to summarize here, you should have distinct backup jobs, not copies of existing backups.

Having an “identical copy” of a drive is good for redundancy and the correct tool for that job would be a product that implements RAID where the drives are mirrored.  Manually (meaning non-RAID) syncing drives falls short of being a good backup solution because if there are issues with the original backup (i.e. file corruption), the same issue is replicated to the other drive making the backup useless.

Syncing is a tool best used when you need to have files accessible in/from different locations and are typically not being simultaneously accessed (changed).

What you should do with your current setup is continue to use the MyBook for your daily backup and then create a new backup job that does a differential (only what has changed) backup when you plug in the Seagate.


How to access Safari 7.0.6 with Sierra 10.12.1 OS

In Safari 10, bookmarks are stored in ~/Library/Safari/Bookmarks.plist. I'm assuming they were stored the same way in v.7

You can open the file as text in BBEdit or TextWrangler, or use some sort of XML editor and extract the bookmarks from there.

The file doesn't neatly list the bookmarks for easy viewing. The bookmarks are embedded in xml code and will need to be extracted. Fortunately, the bookmark URL is just a text string. Here's a sample of a single bookmark for www.themachelpdesk.com:

                    <dict>
                        <key>ReadingListNonSync</key>
                        <dict>
                            <key>neverFetchMetadata</key>
                            <false/>
                        </dict>
                        <key>URIDictionary</key>
                        <dict>
                            <key>title</key>
                            <string>MHD</string>
                        </dict>
                        <key>URLString</key>
                        <string>http://www.themachelpdesk.com/</string>
                        <key>WebBookmarkType</key>
                        <string>WebBookmarkTypeLeaf</string>
                        <key>WebBookmarkUUID</key>
                        <string>606385FA-CF10-11DA-B301-000D93547AFA</string>
                    </dict>


My NTFS formatted external Toshiba drive is unreadable since update to Yosemite OS X 10.10.1

Connect your HDD to Windows computer and check&fix it (it is under properties of that drive).

After that reformat the drive to HFS+ if you want to use it with Time Machine.
NTFS is not supported filesystem for Time Machine why did you started to use it in the first place?


Short version: I have an old Mac with old-spec USB ports that only supply a limited amount of power to the connected device. That's enough to drive the circuitry (hence the console report) but not enough to spin up the physical disk. Of course, this is not a problem with thumb drives.

Solution: connect the drive through a powered hub, to provide the extra juice that's not coming from the Mac. It's possible that an older powered hub wouldn't work. Fortunately, current models are quite cheap.

This is arguably a duplicate of this question, where the problem is the same. But it's an old question, a bit of a mess, and the best solution offered (use a special cable to feed extra power) is not practical for most people.


Lion - override windows resizing restrictions for certain applications

I was hopeful that "moon" with it's custom resize window options would work, but if you set a custom window size lower than whatever iTunes doesn't want to go than, it ignores it and uses the iTunes minimum anyway.  It's looking like a "no"


Any proper list of Mac firmware versions (Boot ROM versions) and the corresponding macOS version?

There is a blog from hoakley under "The Eclectic Light Company" webpage that tries to list the most recent firmware versions for different Macs and also tells with what OS update you can get them:

"Which EFI firmware should your Mac be using? (version 3)"

There are also two earlier versions of that page:

"Which EFI firmware should your Mac be using? (version 2)"
"Which EFI firmware should your Mac be using?"


Is iTunes uploading my music to the "cloud"?

No, it means that song is available for download from the "cloud" to your local drive: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203564


You get mail from cron whenever a cron command fails. In such cases you can use

crontab -l

to see which commands cron executes. From there you have two options

Run EDITOR=nano crontab -e to edit your crontab and remove the offending line
Fix the error in the script (/Users/sandeep/Library/cootie.pl/cootie.pl in your case)


Windows appear in odd places in Yosemite

Might be worth trying to login as another user, either creating a new user, or using the guest account to see if it happens there also, if it does not. It would suggest the issue is with the preferences in your user account, especially if it only happens in some apps, you can look to clear their caches and preferences. However if it continues, I would suggest backup and reinstall the operating system.


How do I remotely wake my Mac over Wi-Fi?

Use an Apple Airport or other router that implements Bonjour sleep proxy (optional step)
Configure your Mac to allow wake from Wi-Fi in the power adapter section of Energy Saver
Use Remote Desktop or an equivalent tool to send the Wake-on-lan (WOL) packet to your router that will then deliver it to your sleeping Mac.


I can see my APN settings in:

Settings -> Mobile Data -> APN Settings

Perhaps your carrier locks this down?


Which alternatives to OpenSSL do I have to calculate a SHA-256 hash?

shasum

You can just use shasum:

shasum -a 256 FILE.txt

The shasum is the name of the command.
The -a option means algorithm.
The 256 specifies use of the 256-bit algorithm.


Can a VirtualBox Windows 7 virtual machine be installed on a USB hard disk?

Yes, it's possible.

First you need to create the virtual machine, after you completed the wizard don't start the VM but go to the menu Machine -> Show in Finder

Copy the 3 files (VM Name.vbox, VM Name.vbox-prev, VM Name.vdi) to your external hard disk.

After select the VM inside virtualbox and go to menu Machine -> Remove... and click the button Delete all files

After go to menu Machine -> Add.. and select the VM file you copied before.

Now the VM is inside virtualbox and runs from your external hard disk.


When should an iPhone or MacBook Battery be replaced?

The simple answer to your question is to replace the battery when you feel your device needs to have the battery replaced. In other words, if your device no longer functions as long as you need on battery power, then it's time for you to consider replacing the battery (or the device).

You don't specify the exact models of your devices, but any MacBook produced in recent years has a battery rated at capable of 1,000 charge cycles. Also, clicking on the Battery icon in the menu bar will indicate its health and, if necessary, whether you need to service or replace it.

In terms of iPhone batteries, they're rated at capable of a maximum of 500 charge cycles. Apple has also confirmed that a future iOS software update will provide users with info about the health of their battery, allowing them to determine if the condition of their battery is affecting their iPhone's performance.


I have found this extremely elaborate post by "sapintel" on the Apple Support forums. Actually, inspecting the open files and ports as described here has shown me that iTunes is in fact opening and closing files, so it may just be a progress bar issue.

How to fix Step 2 and Step 3 Errors in iTunes: Music Media Formats, and Checking Firewall Blocks.

Step 1, 2, or 3 Hangs: Problems with Media Formats.
If you have heterogenous media formats in your music files, some of them will FAIL iTunes match, causing it to hang. This is a software error in iTunes match, which should mark the files as "Not eligible" instead of remaining stuck in an endless loop. These errors never occur if all the songs in the music library are unprotected AAC 256 kbps music files encoded by iTunes 10.5.1.

There are two basic ways to upgrade your song media formats to iTunes 10.5.1 AAC encoding - encode all of them at once, or do them selectively. In either method, you must delete the original version from iTunes and your file system. If you previously loaded them to iCloud, get rid of them there also.

You will be able to see a hung file in OS/X under Activity Monitor → iTunes → Inspect Process → Open Files and Ports. In Windows you will have to use standard Task Manager inspections.

In my iTunes library, I found that certain AAC (*.m4a) files which were encoded in before 2011 were stuck, and *.m4p Protected AAC files.

You may convert all files which were not encoded at 256 kbps AAC with a right-mouse click. Find them:

1) individually in iTunes as you discover them in Open Files and Ports trace, or
2) by creating a sort smart playlist that matches their pattern. For example, a playlist with bit-rate < 256k.

After converting them, you MUST delete the previous file(s) from your iTunes library, move the actual file to trash, and delete the trash. Archive the files if you wish. If any of them were already matched to iTunes Match, you must delete them there also.

After getting rid of older media formats, your Open Files and Ports window should no longer show any music file open in your iTunes library.

If you have converted your music library and Step 3 is still stuck with no file open, it is likely a Firewall problem. Check the last line in Open Files and Ports, and use the information in the last rows to check your firewall settings. The upload port is shown in this form, 192.168.1.1:53089 → 72.21.214.201:https. If you see this type of row, but nothing is being uploaded, a firewall or other issue is blocking that port.

In my case the block was created by my broadband modem settings. Check with the installation guide for your modem - typically they can be managed by a http:// address such as http://192.168.1.254/. Change the firewall settings as needed.


Why are all dependencies forced in Homebrew FFmpeg 4.1?

Issue 31510: Remove all options

See Remove all options from Homebrew/homebrew-core formulae #31510:

  Options in formulae don't produce a good user experience because they have to be built from source, we don't test them in CI and each combination of options provides a new chance for new failures to occur. We should seek to (eventually!) remove all options from formulae in Homebrew/homebrew-core in favour of enabling as much non-exclusive functionality as possible in a given formula for widely used options or encouraging the community to maintain their own custom options in a tap (e.g. https://github.com/denji/homebrew-nginx/blob/master/Formula/nginx-full.rb). As an absolute last resort if we need to depend on the same formula multiple times with different options (e.g. #13133) we can consider vendoring formulae using resource blocks or even duplicating formulae.

You can explore the history of the ffmpeg formula to see other changes to the dependencies and options.


Problem installing iCloud Drive app in iOS 11

This keep happening with some users over the time. Most likely some issues at the Apple's servers end.

In case this issue is reported when you are fully confident that your device has the capability to run the said app, the most likely explanation is a temporary glitch from Apple's end.

The recommended approach here is to wait for some time and try again.

The iCloud Drive app in iOS 11 and later is superseded  by a new app called Files by Apple.

Files app support connecting to multiple storage sources with iCloud Drive connected by default.

iCloud Drive app is still available on the App Store for older devices running iOS 10. Files app is only available for iOS 11 and later.

Since both the (similar) apps need to remain available on the App Store for supporting iOS 10 and 11, this approach has been taken where the Files app is supported only on devices running iOS 11 and later, while iCloud Drive app is restricted from getting installed on iOS 11.


How to change the Mail "Archive" folder for email account/s?

I found the answer here.

Close Mail;
Go to /Users/<username>/Library/Mail/V2/MailData/;
Edit Accounts.plist (make a backup just in case);
Find the key-string pair:
<key>ArchiveMailboxName</key>
<string>Archive</string>
Change the <string> tag value to your desired archive folder name, e.g. [Gmail]/All Mail or All Mail depending on your account folder naming scheme.
Save the file;
Reopen Mail

The Archive folder(s) will now apear with their own icon on the left pane and not as regular folders.

You can also add an archive button to the toolbar.


How to replace retina MacBook Pro rubber feet?

You can follow the instructions in the Apple Support document, MacBook Pro: Bottom case foot replacement DIY instructions.

There is absolutely no need to shell out money to replace the entire bottom panel. However, the article explicitly mentions that the DIY replacement kit is not available for MacBook Pro with Retina display computers. The procedure shared appears quite straightforward.

As apparent from the article, glue can be used to stick the feet to the bottom panel. On the other hand, this Youtube video gives a good demonstration of how to remove the bottom panel and place the bottom feet the recommended way.

I have had a similar situation with my Late 2013 15" retina MacBook Pro. I have used glue to paste the falling off feet to the back panel.


In europe you can always return things bought online for 14 days. Your scratch will change that of course, best call Apple to ask about it.

I had a mac that had a dent on arrival once. I went to my local apple authorized repair center and they were apple changed the part for no charge.


ECG App not appearing on Apple Watch (Region: INDIA)

Make sure that you also update your iPhone to the latest version of iOS as well. The ECG feature is on the iPhone and it needs to be enabled there 1st.

Set up the ECG app

Open the Health app on your iPhone.
Follow the onscreen steps. If you don't see a prompt to set up, tap Browse > Heart > Electrocardiograms (ECG) > Set Up ECG App.
After you complete set up, open the ECG app to take an ECG.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208955


They are listed beside each sound.

If we look at AirDrop for example, iOS will list: Pulse (Default).

All sounds will have this (Default) suffix attached to them.


Restoring from IPSW. Unable to connect to gs.apple.com (error 3014)

Enter DFU Mode, and then try a restore. Method:

First, plug the iPad into your computer, and then power it off. Make sure iTunes is running on your PC.

Now press and hold both the Power button and Home button simultaneously, until you see the Apple logo. Now let go of the Power button while still holding down the Home button. iTunes can now associate with the device and is told that the iPad is in Recovery Mode.

Finally, simply Restore your iPad to the ipsw file that you downloaded (or just restore, whatever your choice is).

Just in case you didn't know, in order to restore an iOS device to a certain backup/ipsw file located on your Windows computer, shift-click the Restore iPad ( / iPhone / iPod) button in iTunes and find & pick the file manually.

(Note: There is a tool I know of called Cydia Impactor. There's actually a desktop version of it as well. Unfortunately, however, it apparently only works with iOS 8.3 and 8.4 in the jailbreak version of the tool.)


Retrieve data from iPhone 5 after activating new phone

Make a backup of your old iPhone to iCloud, if you have wifi available, or iTunes, connecting your iPhone with a cable to your computer.
Then reset your new iPhone —provided there is no new information or data because resetting it will erase everything— and when asked choose    "Restore from iCloud Backup" or "Restore from iTunes Backup", depending on the case. Chose the latest backup available, and you're set.

More detailed steps can be found here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201269


Unrepairable error in disk structure in Onyx

Have you tried booting into single user mode (hold down Cmd-S at startup) then at the prompt executing the command fsck -fy until no errors appear? When you're done, type reboot at the prompt.


My screen isn't working, how can I connect to an external monitor?

Yes, you can plug an external monitor into the Mini DisplayPort port (the Thunderbolt 2 port) on the MacBook Air. You'll need a Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, if your monitor supports DisplayPort.

For other monitors, you'll need an adapter, such as a Mini DisplayPort to DVI, VGA or HDMI adapter.


iCloud notes deleted after I turned off Notes for Mail on my iPhone

Have you tried turning notes sync back on?
Go to Settings > iCloud and turn Notes back on. This may give you your notes back.


Mobile Safari opens tab with window.scrollY set to large negative number, only Smart Banner visible

This appears to be a bug in mobile Safari. I was able to replicate this bug using a demo iOS app. Full details are here: https://github.com/than/Mobile-Safari-Smart-Banner-Viewport-Bug

Video of the bug in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEILZ9uyH4g


This may be third-hand information, from this page of specs, but:

  Apple reports that this Xserve supports "any combination of SATA or SAS Apple Drive Modules: up to 2.25 TB using three 750 GB 7200 RPM SATA drive modules; or up to 900 GB using three 300 GB 15,000 RPM SAS drive modules."


Import certificates into the System Keychain via the command line

To import a trusted certificate use the terminal command
sudo security add-trusted-cert -d -r trustRoot -k /Library/Keychains/System.keychain <certificate>

This will add a trusted certificate to the System.keychain. You should modify the options and paths to suit your situation. See the man page for security for more information.
↬ Rich Trouton, Adding new trusted root certificates to System.keychain


How do I determine which app is trying to invoke Google Chrome?

Two places come to mind immediately.

Start up Safari and make sure Google Chrome isn't the default browser.
Clean up your launch services database.

Since you have already done #1 - redoing it won't likely matter but your safari pref file storing this setting could be corrupt.

Item 2 needs more explanation - Use Finder to right click on a text or html file - if you still see Chrome in the Open With... dialog you might want to manually rebuild the launch services database.


I have thousands of pictures in my iPhoto library. How do I transfer them to iCloud Drive?

I enable iCloud Photo Library and let the entire library be stored primarily in iCloud. That's far more useful for me than having the flat files backed up.

You could export them and store the exported files, but I use Time Machine or anther tool, (Carbon Copy Cloner and SuperDuper! are amazing. Are backup is nice for backing up to general cloud), if you need to back other things up too and not just the photo files.

You get lots of other benefits by enabling iCloud Photo library and exporting the library to flat files loses some of those benefits and features.


How do I change the icons and labels in the MacOS boot manager?

Rename “EFI Boot” in Startup Manager:
Open up a Terminal and use the following commands:
diskutil list - use this to find the Windows EFI partition
sudo diskutil mount disk0s1 - whereas "disk0s1" is your EFI partition
sudo bless --folder /Volumes/EFI/EFI/Boot --label Windows - whereas "Windows" is your label of choice
Rename “Macintosh HD” in Startup Manager
Similar to above, but:
sudo bless --folder /System/Volumes/Data --label MacOS - whereas "MacOS" is your label of choice
Missing/Wrong Boot Manager Icon
Reboot in recovery mode (command+R at boot) and use a terminal to run
csrutil disable
… which disables SIP protection
For Mac side:
sudo cp /System/Library/Extensions/IOStorageFamily.kext/Contents/Resources/Internal.icns /System/Volumes/Preboot/.VolumeIcon.icns
This will change the Mac/Macintosh HD boot icon to the default internal drive icon, but you can just copy whatever .icns file you wish to that location.  See other posts for info on making your own .icns files.
For Windows side:
sudo diskutil mount disk0s1 - Whereas disk01 is the name of your Windows EFI partition from above
sudo cp /System/Library/Extensions/IOStorageFamily.kext/Contents/Resources/Internal.icns /Volumes/EFI/.VolumeIcon.icns
Don't forget to enable SIP protection again, if you wish, by booting back into recovery mode and using:
csrutil enable


Built-in WebDAV client able to connect via HTTPS with client certificate?

This question on the apple discussion board suggests that it is not possible through Finder, but works in Firefox.


Is there a Time Machine-equivalent cloud backup solution for macOS?

CrashPlan (here) or self-host and use Arq (here).


iTunes can not find music anymore after changing IP address of NAS

As I can't comment on post so it comes as an answer:

Are your iTunes library accessing the NAS as a shared library or as imported files?

If it's imported files the "file location" stored in your iTunes library still contain the old IP. Changing all of these will take forever and I do not know if there is any application or plugin that can batch-change them. Deleting all files and importing them again might be the easiest solution to your problem.

You can see the songs location in the Get info -> Summary -> "Where:"


Any way to have CPU temperature in the menu bar?

Temperature Monitor was last updated in 2009. So maybe it is not compatible with your OS.

I recently abandoned the fantastic MenuMeters (free) for iStat Menus 5, since the later provides even more info on practically all Mac sensors. Hardware Monitor and System Monitor are also capable of showing sensor information in the menu bar.


How can i have numbers from 2 columns match and return a third result?

So, this is how you can use index() with match() in column B to get the result from column E, it won't replace the contents of column A unless you do something with vba.


How to remove bluetooth device by clicking "x" when there is no "x"?

The answer (for me at least) was very simple: bluetooth needs to be on in order for the "x" to appear when the bluetooth device is hovered over. It's that simple: turn bluetooth on.


How to make show all music option reappear in the Music app?

To show all music, you will want to go to:

Settings -> iTunes & App Store

In there, under "Show All" set Music to On


Google Maps on iPhone wont update map orientation as I cycle

Tap the 'North Up' symbol, then the next view will go back to Head Up.
[I can't check 'live' as I'm sitting at my compy, but that works for static route lists.]


Reinstall Cups after unloading/removing its LaunchDaemon

Here are the commands I ran to solve this issue:
sudo launchctl stop org.cups.cupsd
sudo mv /etc/cups/cupsd.conf /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.backup
sudo cp /etc/cups/cupsd.conf.default /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
sudo mv /etc/cups/printers.conf /etc/cups/printers.conf.backup
sudo launchctl start org.cups.cupsd

Then I've reset the Printing System as suggested here:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT203343
Then simply add your printers again.


Log everything in OSX (not just what I see in console)

What you can see in logs are what applications write there. All Apple software writes to the Apple logger database. You can see this and what is written to syslog and files in Console.app. The only easy way to read the database is via Console.app. Note that you might need to start Console.app under an admin user to see all the entries.

Not all you are asking for like "applications asked for which resource" is logged by the application so this information is not normally available.
What can be done to get more information is use some Unix tools like lsof to get a snapshot of what files and sockets are open or Apple development tools like dtrace, googling for examples gave this blog which has scripts to record what files are used by which processes.


How to add icons to the Opera browser's toolbar?

From Opera Help pages:

Customize toolbars

You can change the appearance of a toolbar by adding items, changing where or when it displays, changing the style and wrapping, or returning to its defaults. To do this, Ctrl-click the toolbar and select "Customize". The toolbar is highlighted by a yellow border and you can start customizing the toolbar in the following ways:

To add an item, such as a button or search field, select "Appearance" and in the resulting dialog, click "Buttons" and drag a new button from the list for any toolbar to the highlighted toolbar.
To change where the toolbar displays in the browser, select "Appearance" and change the Placement setting.
To change the style of the toolbar, for example, to use text rather than buttons or images, select "Appearance" and change the Style setting.
To change the wrapping of the toolbar, select "Appearance" and change the Wrapping setting.
To set the toolbar to display only when it is needed, select "Appearance" and check "Show only when needed". This is especially useful for the navigation bar.
To undo any changes you made and reset a toolbar to the default setting, select "Reset Toolbar to Its Defaults".
To remove an item from a toolbar, select "Remove from Toolbar".
To change the order in which toolbar buttons or icons appear, drag-and-drop the buttons or icons.
To change the size of the buttons on all toolbars, select Tools > Appearance > Skin and in the "Icon Size" field, select the percentage to scale the buttons.


1st Gen MacBook Air Charger: Will it work with Late 2010 MBA?

Yes, this will still work. The situation you want to avoid is using the incorrect wattage.


No. Skype is developed by Microsoft and Apple wants to promote Facetime. I really wish there was way though because I hate the Skype interface but have to use it frequently for my job.


Connecting to Cisco AnyConnect VPN without stored certificate or shared secret

I believe that the AnyConnect client can be used to connect to a number of different types of VPN offered by Cisco.  The process you describe above leads me to believe that you are connecting to an SSL-VPN. SSL-VPN does not require the use of a shared secret for the first layer of encryption.  Instead the client and the server auto-negotiate that first layer encryption using SSL.  You are then asked for credentials and a group membership.  The remainder of your VPN session is uniquely encrypted following Authentication.

You could script the connection so that instead of having to enter your credentials each time, you can store them in your keychain, and simply initiate the connection from the shell, or other script.  I did so a few years ago here:  http://www.wellingtonnet.net/code/2014-02-04/cisco_anyconnect_client_mac.html

I have noticed that with each update of AnyConnect, I have had to tweak this script, so use it as an example and go from there.  It has been about a year since I last needed to connect via AnyConnect.


How do I show the total ratio on uTorrent on a mac?

uTorrent all-time statistics are not available in the Mac version at the time of writing. If you want to raise the issue with the developers, the Feature Request area on the uTorrent forum seems to be a good place to post a request.


Does the time machine backup include the backups of my iPhone?

Time Machine makes a backup of everything in your computer, and since your iPhone backup is in your computer, it will back it up too.

To make sure, you can locate your iPhone backup in your Mac and then open your Time Machine drive and look for the same files in the corresponding location, and see if they have been copied.

According to https://support.apple.com/bg-bg/HT204215, your iPhone backups are located by default in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/. Open that location in your Mac, have a look at how many files are there, how much space they take, etc. Then, once your Time Machine backup is done, open the backup drive, go to the current backup's folder, navigate to the same route (it should be Users/(your username)/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/) and see if you have the same files. This way you'll be sure.

EDIT: be warned: if you delete the files in your Mac, the next time you use Time Machine it will delete them in the most recent version of your Time Machine backup too (though it will keep them in your previous version).


Can't install inkscape on Yosemite with homebrew

Update 2017:

The preferred method to install Inkscape with homebrew in 2017 is:

brew update
brew cask install xquartz
brew cask install inkscape

Previous Answer:

Inkscape is a cask that you need to tap first before installing.

I tried a few of the suggestions given on this page, and the only thing that worked for me is a minor variation to jherran's answer:

$ brew search inkscape
$ brew tap homebrew/gui
$ brew install inkscape

At that point, I got the response Installing inkscape from homebrew/homebrew-x11 and the installation completed successfully. The result from the brew search command has changed a few times so be on the guard for it to change again and just tap the correct reply from the search command if it's not homebrew/gui next time you search.


Trying to fit iMac 27 Late 2013 memory into iMac 27 Late 2009

Specs say that the 27" late-2013 RAM is 204-pin PC3-12800 while the late-2009 RAM is 204-pin PC3-8500. When you physically compare the RAM carrier boards, are they identical in height, width, thickness and indexing guide slot locations?

Red arrows are index guide slots.


Voicemails not being intercepted by Google Voice

I believe you must setup Google voicemail for every unique device. Have you tried deactivating and reactivating Google voicemail for your phone? This can be done through the Google Voice website under Settings: http://google.com/voice?pli=1#phones.


Macbook Air OS X 10.8.4 Trackpad Pinch Zoom not working in Firefox 23.0.1

You can restore the zoom feature by changing the values of the related prefs on the about:config page.

browser.gesture.pinch.in -> cmd_fullZoomReduce
browser.gesture.pinch.in.shift -> cmd_fullZoomReset
browser.gesture.pinch.out -> cmd_fullZoomEnlarge
browser.gesture.pinch.out.shift -> cmd_fullZoomReset
browser.gesture.pinch.latched -> false


Will deleting Clash of Clans on an old device affect progression on a new device?

You can delete Clash of Clans from the old phone and it won't affect Clash of Clans on the new phone.

You should create your own Game Center ID to play on the old phone. This will ensure your games don't interfere with her games. See http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4314 for steps to create a Game Center account if you don't know how to do this.


Multiple Apple TV connections to one iTunes Library

I don't see any reason why there would be a programmed limit since OS X server can serve hundreds of computers from the same share and to intentionally break the n'th connection would be poor form to program if there weren't a way to set that limit.

Photo sharing is very low bandwidth compared to HD video streaming, so you should not have any problem with 16 large images - even if they change once a second since a video stream is basically 24 fps and I've had more than three Apple TV stream from the same library on a MacBook Air without running into network bandwidth or IO contention issues.


Syncing iPod to computer 2 without erasing new music

senuti is the tool I usually recommend in these cases.

On the other hand, can't you just transfer the music from Computer 1 to Computer 2 directly?


How to have locatedb created / updated automatically?

When you run that command, launchd will update the database every week automatically. On my system, the plist is set to run every Saturday at 3:15am.

Edit from OP: Yes, works, note: Also it ran once when submitted, so for me, within a few minutes I was able to use locate.  the update process runs in the background so you may have to wait a few minutes before locate then works (You'll get the "The locate database ... does not exist" message until then).


Yosemite - Screen saver options - no default showing

Choose a Style on the left, then choose a source from the drop menu in the centre...

Thickness, Colour & Speed sounds like the setup options for Flurry...


How do I undo an import into macOS calendar?

It sounds like your calendar event was generated from Google Calendar as an event which 'repeats itself' a number of times. If that is the case, and if you have imported this event in a calendar which you have linked to a Google account, you should be able to open it from Google Calendar and remove the event from there, including all the recurrencies of the event. When you do so, you can choose not to notify others of these deletions.


Sometimes a battery change will solve the problem


How to reset your keyboard on OS X 10.10.4

You would have to open up your mac and unplug the keyboard cord power up the mac and then plug it would be a hard reset


MacBook Pro 2015 Keyboard and trackpad not detected once booted into operating system

I had the same issue and was able to fix it. For everyone having this issue, try solution from here:
Press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the built-in keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds. If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.


Software to generate photo gallery HTML with download links

I use Jalbum. It's very practical and has tons of features and skins.
You can find it here : http://jalbum.net/en/


Cannot pause downloading mojave from launchpad

This topic is quite old, but I found out that connecting my VPN will abort the download. All already downloaded data is then lost.

Maybe this is helpful for others with the same problem.

BR
Cryptos


Can I add a password hint to an encrypted disk image?

No, this is not possible currently. You can put such information in the Spotlight comments accessible from Get Info in Finder.


Inserting blank lines into RTF file with AppleScript

You can use this Cocoa-AppleScript:

-- Cocoa-AppleScript-- you need these lines in your script
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions

on insertTextInRTFFile(f) -- the parameter must be the posix path of an existing file, example  --> "/Users/someName/Desktop/xyz.rtf"
    set myText to linefeed -- the text to insert in the rtf (a blank line as example)
    tell current application
        set fileURL to its (NSURL's fileURLWithPath:f)
        set myOption to its (NSDictionary's alloc()'s initWithObjectsAndKeys_(its NSRTFTextDocumentType, its NSDocumentTypeDocumentOption, missing value))
        set {attrString, docAttrib, err} to its ((NSMutableAttributedString's alloc())'s initWithURL:fileURL options:myOption documentAttributes:(reference) |error|:(reference)) -- get the attributed string from the RTF file
        if attrString is missing value then error err's localizedDescription() as text -- not a RTF file or not a valid path

        -- it use the string in the 'myText' variable to create an attributed string
        set firstline to its ((NSAttributedString's alloc())'s initWithString:myText attributes:(attrString's attributesAtIndex:0 effectiveRange:(missing value))) --  create an attributed string with the style of the first character
        set lastline to its ((NSAttributedString's alloc())'s initWithString:myText attributes:(attrString's attributesAtIndex:((attrString's |length|()) - 1) effectiveRange:(missing value))) --  create an attributed string with the style of the last character
    end tell
    attrString's insertAttributedString:firstline atIndex:0 -- insert an attributed string (blank line) at the top
    attrString's appendAttributedString:lastline -- insert an attributed string (blank line) at bottom
    set rtfData to attrString's RTFFromRange:{0, attrString's |length|()} documentAttributes:docAttrib -- create the data from an attributed string
    rtfData's writeToFile:f atomically:true -- write the data to the RTF file
end insertTextInRTFFile

After your script will have written to the RTF file:
 just call the insertTextInRTFFile() handler with the posix path of the RTF file as parameter.


Will reducing the number of or disabling spaces improve performance?

I checked it out in Instruments and I could barely notice a different in the activity monitor instrument, probably because I am looking at CPU and RAM bound items.
There obviously is going to be a higher load on the GPU than if there were no spaces at all, but I doubt its drawing everything in all spaces at all times, and like Martin said, it all depends.

The real possibility is that with so much extra space that you run many other programs which in one space you would find cluttered and would have automatically closed them due to aesthetic reasons.


Not sure if this is what you're referring to but I prefer a more distinct border around icons in Safari and found this works for me in Yosemite.

System prefs>Accessibility>select "Increase contrast" & set Display contrast to Normal.
(note that this selection automatically selects "Reduce transparency)

While this does not change color,it does distinguish the icon borders.
Makes it easier on my old eyes!


text width in textedit or another program

If I understand you correctly, you want your text to increase in height but not in width. The typical text editor/word processor doesn't support this, there are at least two options you could investigate on

Get a proper word processor (Pages, LibreOffice, MS Word) and either pick or install a font which matches your need
Get a drawing app which allows you to stretch images (a lot of them do) from the App Store


How do local TimeMachine backups work exactly?

I also thought that the Local Snapshots were supposed to merge into your Time Machine backups but it seems, in my experience, that they don't. You can see both when you're in Time Machine and "About This Mac" shows that they still exist after multiple backups to an external harddrive. I do think that they are supposed to merge with themselves the way that Time Machine backups do, to save space, merging into daily and weekly backups instead. As far as Finder is concerned, the space is not used. Looking in the info bar at the bottom of a Finder window showing your root drive will show that you have more space than something like iStat Nano will show on Dashboard. I think this is because the backups are supposed to be expendable. If your computer really needs the space I assume that it will get rid of some of its snapshots to make room.
We may see that in the future they merge back into regular Time Machine backups as Lion matures more.
It's also worth noting that I don't think they count as real 'backups' in the sense that you can't restore to them the same way you can restore to a time machine backup from the Recovery HD. They are really meant to help you recover a file instead of your whole filesystem.


As you know those are Adobe ICC profiles, thus made by Abode to support they suite of Graphics products.

Some ICC's are specific to a Adobe product you are using and come as part of the installation package.

To find those ICC profiles, look in the original installation package.

In some cases you might see a problem where the ColorSync Utility claims a profile cannot be fixed.

ColorSync utility - Verify and Repair:

In cases where the ColorSync fails to repair a ICC profile, you will need to go to the profile in the Finder, get information on it, and ensure your username is added in the Sharing & Permissions section with both Read and Write privileges.

You can also use Terminal to find them.

find /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/ -name "*.icc" -exec sips --verify {} \;

When done, re-run the repair routine, and hopefully that will allow the profile to be fixed.

Or again use Terminal to try to Repair them:

find /Library/ColorSync/Profiles/ -name "*.icc" -exec sips --repair {} \;

Here is some more reading material.


How do I view the transaction list for my debit card on Apple Pay?

BoA does have the mobile banking app.

  Mobile Banking Alerts

  Stay on top of your accounts

  AlertsFootnote 1 are customizable and can keep you informed of just
  about everything that happens with your account. Stay in the know
  about direct deposits, personal information changes, bill due dates
  and more. Even find out when your account balance gets low so you can
  make a deposit to help avoid overdraft charges and other fees.

  Information Icon Alerts are available exclusively in our iPhone, iPad
  and Android Apps.


Why is shared volume 'Music' always missing from the DEVICES part of the sidebar in Finder?

When browsing the shared drive, you should be able to drag the shared folder to the side bar under favourites header.

In reply to your comment. It could have just been accidentally trashed at some point without realising.


Does applescript's 'delay' function work when the computer is asleep?

I doubt that applescript keeps delay during sleep.  I guess what you can do is when you want to start the delay, get the current time, then set a repeated delay, something like as following.  I'll write this in psuedo-code since I'm not too familiar with applescript anymore

startDelayDate = current date
shouldRepeat = yes
repeat while shouldRepeat is equal to yes
    delay(1)
    if (((current date) - startDelayDate)>=yourDelayTime) //You'll have to implement your own date checking method
        //Do your stuff
end repeat


Use my 27" Thunderbolt monitor with a Macbook that has only DisplayPort output

As @bmike, @djacobson, and @jaberg have stated in comments, that will not work. There is currently (as of March 2012) no adapter, nor do I expect there to be one to adapt mini-DisplayPort to Thunderbolt. (The standards were defined to be backward-compatible, not forward-compatible.)


Sounds as if your PRAM battery needs replacing... Assuming you have a A-1046 G4 Powerbook which does have a PRAM battery and you are losing the time setting I would try the PRAM battery first. It is a simple job and the cheapest quick check.


Although Apple publishes a list of OS X keyboard shortcuts for startup, there is not one for forcing a reboot.

However, your problem seems to be indicating a failing hard drive, so make sure that you create a full backup of your data (if you don't have one already) as soon as possible.

I would replace your drive manually (if your Mac has a user-serviceable hard drive) or take your Mac into an Apple Store for service.  In the long term, this should solve your issue.


Desktop icons rearrange spontaneously (Yosemite)

I just had the same problem.  If I tried to move an icon, it would bounce back.  The answer was so simple I couldn't believe it.  I went into "View" and clicked on to Sort by "None".  Simple.  Problem solved.


Route FaceTime notification sounds through internal/non-hdmi speaker

Sure! Although only for all sound effects, as far as I know. Just go to the Sound pane in System Preferences, and switch "Play sound effects through" to your other output device.


Unknown event opening Skype periodically

Temporary Solution, however it disables iCal.

put sudo launchctl list | grep CalendarAgent into Terminal and give it access to stop CalendarAgent.

If you attempt to open iCal with CalendarAgent disabled, it will attempt to update it's calendars then crash.

To restore CalendarAgents, type launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.CalendarAgent.plist into Terminal and enter your password.

Source


Will I be able to revert to El Capitain if I install Sierra on my 2015 Macbook Pro?

Yes, after completely formatting your hard drive and booting in recovery mode from the internet you will be able to install OS version it was shipping with. Also, you can always download and install previous macOS versions from your App Store purchases.


Dropbox has no "Window" to speak of. Everything it does takes place either:

On Dropbox.com
Via the Finder in the configured Dropbox folder (NB: right click a file in the Dropbox folder), simply named 'Dropbox' in your home directory by default. Or;
In the MenuBar

Per Dropbox's Documentation, the primary states will be a blue icon with circular arrows indicating a file is synchronizing, or the green checkmark icon like above, indicating everything is up to date.


How to get location of a pdf file opened in preview

Simply ⌘+Click on it's name in the title bar or secondary click (right click) on it .

(I have a polish OS X on the screenshot)


Those files are cache files for syncing changes between OneDrive for Business and/or Sharepoint shares.

Is it safe to delete?   Yes.

However, they'll just be recreated as you sync back and forth your OneDrive folder(s).

However, there's been a fix for this for some time now - make sure you update your OneDrive client and that you enable Files-On-Demand


In my case, I had a Netbeans app that I developed in Snow Leopard and was unable to open by double-clicking in High Sierra.

Instead of copying over just the app's .jar, I copied the dist directory that contained the app's .jar plus the library directory that contains 6 other .jar files that were added when I originally compiled the distribution version.

Double-clicking the app's .jar still didn't work, but I was able to launch "my_app.jar" from the terminal by cd-ing into the dist directory and using

  java -jar my_app.jar

(NB: I have the latest JDK installed.)


iOS app that scans Contacts for birthdays and anniversaries and provide notifications for same

I got Yearly - link. It's working quite well.


Maybe not exactly what you are looking for, but have a look at the "Today" view of the macOS Notification Center.

Personally, I use the calendar in iStat Menus.

You find further calendar options in this question.


iOS app for decorating Virtual Reality rooms

Your best bet is Aurasma. It is a simple yet powerful augmented reality platform, and will do what you need and more. Should you want to add videos and 3D 'realities' to the virtual space, you can do it with ease. It is simple enough for Middle School children to use effectively and powerful enough for professionals.


Smb share - can't connect to local smb share from el capitan

If you are familiar with connecting via Linux via /etc/fstab, then you know there are a lot of possibilities of what could go wrong simply because there are SO many different options for connecting to different types of network shares, and it seems like every OS handles these options differently.

I have encountered issues similar to this before, and in my cases, it was always either an issue with ownership/permissions and/or the specific mount point (or a combination of the two):

For instance, I have a ZFS pool setup using FreeNAS, and the mount point is set to //x.x.x.x/share, and the login credentials are supposed to be for a specific user.  I have no trouble connecting to it in Windows, but the only way I can connect to it in OS X is to connect directly to the IP using the root credentials.  I know there is a way to fix it, but I haven't gotten around to looking into it yet.

So my first advice would be to try connecting directly to smb://x.x.x.x or smb://x.x.x.x/share, or any other variations that you can think of, using various sets of credentials that have access to that box.

It could also be a Samba version issue (which Samba is notorious for) that could be causing these 2 guys to not agree with each other.

Also, sometimes in OS X if I am trying to mount a share with one of the various mount commands in Terminal, I find that it tends to give me trouble sometimes if mounting with my normal user, so in certain circumstances, I need to use sudo in order to mount it as root.

If all else fails, I would try installing the Netatalk packages on your Raspberry Pi.  Netatalk is an open source version of the Apple Filesharing Protocol (AFP), which OS X obviously tends to handle much better than Samba (SMB).  If you enable the share to also use AFP, you can connect to it from Finder using afp://x.x.x.x/share, etc.

If you are running Raspbian, those packages should be available via apt-get.  I hope this helps!


Curve text in Microsoft Word for Mac 2011

Insert -> WordArt, then Format tab appears.

Click Review tab.

Click Format tab again.

Now, click Effects button ("A"), and select "Transform" from the drop-down menu.

The arch, wavy lines, and other formats are shown under the "Warp" section on the ribbon.


Any Hard drive Mirroring or Software Raid or Sync tools on the Mac that are free?

The Apple provided Disk Utility (and diskutil shell command) will allow you full RAID control over internal and external drives. You do have to erase the drives to add the RAID capability, but then you can join those drives into RAID. That is the only potential drawback to implementing RAID storage on the Mac.

Drive spanning, JBOD, striping and mirroring are all possible with Mac OS X software RAID.

Lion brings the concept of physical and logical volumes to the OS, but RAID on Snow Leopard is also very fully functional.

If you brake a mirrored RAID set - the drives are valid when connected to the same mac and portable to any other mac. You are not locked into a proprietary standard and don't need any additional software for any of this functionality.

rsync and ditto are free sync tools - very scriptable, powerful, and free.


Apparently I’m calling random numbers but there's nothing in the call log

These calls are not likely coming from your phone.  Rather, some robo caller is likely spoofing the caller ID using your number.  The FCC website says

  What can you do if your number is being spoofed?

  If you get calls from people saying your number is showing up on their
  caller ID, it's likely that your number has been spoofed. We suggest
  first that you do not answer any calls from unknown numbers, but if
  you do, explain that your telephone number is being spoofed and that
  you did not actually make any calls. You can also place a message on
  your voicemail letting callers know that your number is being spoofed.
  Usually scammers switch numbers frequently. It is likely that within
  hours they will no longer be using your number.


How to re-download Lion from Mountain Lion

Official Answer:

Unfortunately, it is not possible to download OS X Lion 10.7 from a computer currently running OS X Mountain Lion 10.8 unless you want to do a little hacking see below for more on that.

I would like to be proved wrong, but the results around the web such as Apple Support Communities - How do I download Lion if I'm running Mountain Lion? kind of confim you can no longer just download 10.7 from a Mac running 10.8.

I Attempted to Download OS X Lion from a Mountain Lion Mac but no amount of option key tricks could get it to work.
The Lion re-download started immediately on a Mac running OS X Lion 10.7.4

Confirming, you will need to download the "OS X Lion" Installer from a computer not running Mountain Lion. This limits downloading OS X Lion to a Mac running OS X Lion 10.7, or OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later. Once you meet the requirements for OS X Lion the Mac App Store will allow you to download an already purchased version of OS X Lion.

Super User Hack: Yes its possible to download Lion from Mountain Lion if you perform the following hack, as usual proceed at your own risk.

Here is what we are you are going to do Temporarily trick OS X Mountain Lion into thinking it is Lion. by version number alone.

Open the Terminal App
Open the SystemVersion.plist file with sudo privileges I used vim but feel free to  use your favorite command line text editor, some GUI program like TextEdit seem to complain of locked files, etc a.k.a "...a bag of hurt."

So to avoid nonsense like the following Duplicate message below, use an editor thats less aware of OS X file versioning.

"This Works:"

$ sudo vim /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemVersion.plist
Edit the file changing 10.8 to 10.7 for the following lines

Find the lines in the file that look like this:

    ...
<key>ProductUserVisibleVersion</key>
<string>10.8</string>
<key>ProductVersion</key>
<string>10.8</string>
    ...

Change it to look like so:

...
<key>ProductUserVisibleVersion</key>
<string>10.7</string>
<key>ProductVersion</key>
<string>10.7</string>
...

Save the file, keep the editor open...

For vim use :w! to force save the file.
Open the Mac App Store and click download for "OS X Lion" in your purchases. Unhide it if its hidden.
In your open editor window change your OS version number back to "10.8" in the SystemVersion.plist file. You can do this while you are waiting for Lion to finish downloading in the Mac App Store.

For vim use :wq! to force save the file and exit the editor.
Ignore the message from the Lion Installer that runs on OS X Mountain Lion after the Lion installer has finished downloading as pictured below. Note: This is what you will see if you attempt to run the Lion Installer from Mountain Lion.

Grab the "Install Mac OS X Lion" installer from the Applications folder a.k.a /Applications.
Now, you are ready to make a bootable Lion install drive.


Stuck in endless macOS Sierra installation loop

This is the type of UX pain that really irks me, and very unlike Apple.

Since you're a long time Mac user I'm going to assume you have access to another Mac, so my suggestion would be to try reinstalling a fresh version of macOS Sierra via a USB installer.

Follow the steps below:

On another Mac, download the macOS Sierra installer via the Mac App Store
After its downloaded, the installer will launch automatically. When it does, quit the installer.
Grab a USB flash drive of at least 8GB in size
Connect the USB flash drive to the same Mac
Rename the flash drive to Untitled
Launch the Terminal app
Now enter the following command into Terminal. It may be best to just copy it from here (try triple-clicking) and paste it in.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app
You will be prompted to enter your user password. Enter it now and press return (note that you won’t see the cursor move or display any of the characters you enter)
At the next prompt (about erasing your drive) press the Y key
Wait for your USB flash drive to be erased (you’ll see the progress via % values appearing within the Terminal window)
Once the erasure is complete, you will see a prompt that files are being copied to the disk. This may take a while, so be patient.
Eventually the copy process will be over and you should see a Done message in Terminal. You can now quit Terminal.
Eject the USB flash drive and now connect it to your iMac (the one you want to reinstall macOS Sierra on)
Startup the iMac holding down the option key
Select the USB flash drive you created from the list of drives and press enter

You should now be able to boot from the USB drive and install macOS Sierra from there.

Let me know if you have any questions.


The issue is that to be able to write to a file you need to be the owner for u permissions or be part of the group for g.

Note as a user you are not root so if owned by root the u permission does not matter. As you are using sudo I assume you are in the admin group (this is not necessarily the case but if anyone  alters this I would expect they fully understand these permissions). These files are owned by admin so the permission that matters is the g one.

Thus the chomd you need is

sudo chmod -v -R g+w some-folder/

There are alternatives

As this is where python is installed you should be using pip, easy_install and setuptools to do these updates which will require sudo. Another way is to use virtualenv and so install will be done to your own directories
You can change the owner
sudo chown -R user some-folder/


How to prevent conversion to APFS on High Sierra install

It should work by exiting any High Sierra installer GUI and starting the install from the command line:

/Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/startosinstall --converttoapfs NO

Further install options can be obtained by using the --usage argument:

  Arguments
  --applicationpath, a path to copy of the OS installer application to start the install with.
  --license, prints the user license agreement only.
  --agreetolicense, agree to license the license you printed with --license.
  --rebootdelay, how long to delay the reboot at the end of preparing. This delay is in seconds and has a maximum of 300 (5 minutes).
  --pidtosignal, Specify a PID to which to send SIGUSR1 upon completion of the prepare phase. To bypass "rebootdelay" send SIGUSR1 back to startosinstall.
  --converttoapfs, specify either YES or NO on if you wish to convert to APFS.
  --installpackage, the path of a package to install after the OS installation is complete; this option can be specified multiple times.
  --usage, prints this message.
  --volume, path to the target volume.

Sources report that the command (in the Beta version) doesn't do anything on the first execution  but on the second.


Can you force applications to open in full screen?

Currently, no. Through the Macs history (as you pointed out with the HIG), Macs have had a 'zoom' feature versus a maximize one like Windows. Many times this will make the window full screen, but not always.

With Mac OS 10.7 due out this summer, having a full screen application is one of the new features, where the application will take up everything on the screen. Since 10.7 is still under NDA, not sure if there will be a way to have the application always launch full screen or not.


The Roku HD has 802.11b/g WiFi. The Roku XD and XDS have 802.11b/g/n.
The Apple TV has 802.11a/b/g/n.

802.11n is the fastest network speed, and reaches the farthest. If the WiFi in your home is 802.11n, I strongly recommend choosing one of the players that supports that.


For running Python on a mac start at Python's documentation

Python Launcher allows you to run python scripts from the desktop.

The documentation says

  To run your script from the Finder you have two options:

    Drag it to PythonLauncher

    Select PythonLauncher as the default application to open your script (or any .py script) through the finder Info window and double-click it. PythonLauncher has various preferences to control how your script is launched. Option-dragging allows you to change these for one invocation, or use its Preferences menu to change things globally.

From other Stack Exchange questions I think Python Launcher is not part of the python that Apple provides as part of the OS. But as you really should not use that python I have never tried to see.


How can I check the version of a package online before installing?

You can get information on each of the hits:
brew info octave
brew info --cask evernote

In both cases, these may require you to "tap" the containing levels, but it gives you the command to run for each as needed.
From the first package information, you should get an info URL of https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-science/blob/master/octave.rb and then could inspect the source of that octave installation. Repeat for the cask and then you can decide or not to install one or the other.


iPhone Field Test mode permanently in iOS 7

For iphone6 and ios8.1.1 once I was in field test mode I had to hold down power and home buttons - hard reset the phone to get the #'s to stay - all other methods the bars/dots came back


Tricky indeed, things to try

steps recommended by Apple (HT1526) but it seems you did most of them already
remove and recreate the whole trash folder: cd ~; rm -rf .Trash; mkdir .Trash; chmod 700 .Trash
delete by inode: cd .Trash; ls -i should give you the inode number; find . -inum INODE -exec rm {} \; deletes by inode number
hack rmi.c to compile under Mac OSX and use this to remove by inode directly (I haven't tested this)
boot into Recovery Mode (on Lion) or from DVD (Snow Leopard and earlier) and run fsck/volume repair
boot into single user mode (HT1492) and run fsck/volume repair


How to download images from an xml feed using terminal?

After curl http://theurlwiththexml.com:

sed -n 's,.*<ImageStuff>\(.*\.png\)<.*,\1,p'|xargs -I, curl http://url1.com/, -o ,

sed -n disables printing, \( and \) are a portable way to specify groups, and p prints the pattern space. xargs -I specifies a replacement string and curl -o specifies an output file.

Or using xmlstarlet, parallel, and wget:

xml sel -t -v //ImageStuff|parallel wget http://url1.com/{}

sel is an abbreviation for select, -t -v uses the value template, and //ImageStuff is an XPath expression that matches all ImageStuff nodes.


Some queries about device compatibility on a Mac

Just a side note: all these answers could have been very easily found by just typing them into Google.

The majority of card readers will just work out of the box on OS X. If they don't you either need to install a driver or it just isn't compatible. Big brands like Kingston or Sandisk will work 99% of the time.
If you're using SD cards there really is no difference if you're using it on a DSLR or a Mac. The storage medium itself is what is taken into account when using it. You shouldn't need to install an app for hardware like SD cards.
It should connect out of the box. But this question isn't really related to Apple since it's really dependant of the smartphone your using and what software or drivers the manufacturer provides
To have cross platform read/write support on your pendrive on both OS X and Windows the drive needs to be formatted as FAT32 or NTFS/ExFat.
ExFat is only supported starting from OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and NFTS has no out of the box write compatibility on OS X.


What does sudo chmod 0755 /usr/local and sudo chgrp wheel /usr/local do?

When you perform the chmod 755 filename command you allow everyone to read and execute the file, and the file owner is allowed to write to the file as well. You may need this for Perl and other scripts that should to be run via a webserver. If you apply 755 to a directory, it means that everyone can go to it and get its file listing.

When you run chgrp group-name filename command you change the group of each filename to group-name.

Running both commands using sudo prefix let you be sure that the changes takes effect, because your run it as root that is the user with most permissions on every single unix like machine.

You can type man chmod, man chgrp or man sudo for more info and options.


Macbook keeps booting OSX Utilities instead of Mac OS X

I had the exact same problem and my IT guy told me to reset my NVRAM.

Just hold down ⌘ CMD+⌥ OPT+p+r on restart and keep the keys held down until it  chimes 3-4 times. Then let go.

Worked like a charm for me. I off to back up my data now.

Apple page about resetting NVRAM.


How to install Windows 7 on a 2015 MacBook Pro?

I would recommend just installing Windows 7 as you would with Windows 8 +.

Substitutes:

Hold down the option key while turning on your computer instead of using refind, this will give you a boot menu.

Uncheck all the options in boot camp, except the option to install drivers to a usb stick.

Go to disk utility, make a new partition, and set it to MSDOS FAT.

Start up your Mac, booting from the usb stick(hold down option key while turning on your computer). When prompted for an install disk, choose the partition you made. Go through the rest of the install process, and then plug in your driver usb. Find the setup.exe, and go through the it's install process.

Then you should be all set.


How can I mix audio from separate devices and output to one device?

I have a similar need when recording Skype calls. My setup is somewhat different, but the fundamentals should work for your setup. Best of all, you can do it without buying any specialized applications. Rogue Amoeba has a great application called Line In that will allow you to pipe your system's inputs to whatever outputs you are available, including Soundflower.

Go to System Preferences -> Sound:

Select internal mic as your input if that's what you want to use as your second device. Your output is probably headphones if you're recording. Select that.

Start Soundflower.

Click the menu bar icon. Select Audio Setup from the bottom of the popup menu

This will bring up the Audio MIDI setup application. From here, you'll create an "Aggregate Device," which is accomplished by clicking the + icon in the lower-lefthand corner.

I've attached a screenshot so you can see how what the Aggregate Device I've setup here looks like. Your USB input should show up in this menu - add it as an input, along with your internal mic. Don't sweat the output part (that's in the next step).
Please note that the settings in this screenshot are not meant to be representative of how you should configure this on your machine, and are just for a visual cue.

Start Line In:

Set your input as the Aggregate Device you created, and pass that as output to Soundflower (2 Ch). When you're recording, you can select "pass thru," which will allow you to monitor the audio. Nice.

Finally, fire up Audacity, and make sure Soundflower is selected as the input. This should create a chain that ultimately pipes your inputs into Audacity.

I hope this helps, and good luck!


Text Editor on iOS that can edit files from any folder in Dropbox

There's a large number of applications available that can do this.

My preferred text editor happens to be Byword. By default, it'll link to a specific dropbox folder (/Apps/Byword), but you can change this in the app's settings; just setting it to "/" will give access to every folder in your Dropbox.

iA Writer is another popular choice.

If you're looking for something more geared towards code than writing, Textastic is nice.

Additionally, Brett Terpstra has compiled a large list of iOS text editors and features here, though it doesn't specify which apps have full access or if they are limited to a specific App folder in Dropbox.


Is Intel Iris 1536 MB ‘better’ than Intel HD Graphics 4000?

There are 3 types of mid 2014, two with integrated graphics & one with a discrete card.

The integrated chip is Intel 5100 or 5200 so yes, well within spec, even if you don't have the dual-graphics version with a GeForce GT 750M.

Source: Everymac


How to use my iMac 2017 as a second monitor for my MacBook Pro mid 2012?

I don't think there's a built-in way to accomplish what you're going for. But there are some products (hardware and/or software) you can purchase to help.

iMacs used to have a mode wherein they could act as a secondary external display. Even though current iMacs no longer offer that functionality, this product provides functionality to turn a Mac into a secondary display. I've heard very good things about it, but I've never tried it myself. It requires a hardware dongle plugged into the source Mac (where the video is coming from):
https://lunadisplay.com/pages/meet-mac-to-mac-mode

And here's another that advertises similar functionality. Unlike Luna Display above, it doesn't require a hardware dongle:
https://www.duetdisplay.com/air

(I don't have any relationship with either company or product.)


Preview files in finder without quicklook

The plugin qlstephen does in fact show the content of text-based files in the preview pane, not only the QuickLook window.  What really threw me off was that the pop-up window & the pane embedded in finder are both called QuickLook.

Anyway, it's dead easy to install.  Download the latest version from here: https://github.com/whomwah/qlstephen/releases

Unzip

Copy the binary to the directory ~/Library/QuickLook  (create QuickLook if it doesn't already exist)


any bluetooth keyboards with integrated pointing device (trackball/trackpad)?

The Logitech diNovo Edge keyboard has a little trackpad on it. It's got a Mac version (~$150).

Also, the Adesso SlimTouch Wireless Mini Touchpad Keyboard for Mac (~$110) looks okay. I haven't used this brand, though.


Microsoft Outlook 2011 constantly crashing

From the crashlog it looks like Merp is causing the crash.  I googled merp crashing outlook and came across an article on answers.microsoft.com.  From what it said, you need to update Microsoft Error Reporting Program (Merp) from Here:   http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=28734.

Before you do that, check and see if you have any rules that may be corrupt and remove them.

Here's the link about Merp crashing outlook:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macoutlook/outlook-2011-crashes-every-time-i-open-rules/8740225f-9b4b-4df7-a1e1-f693fb12322f?msgId=655b76b4-28af-4df0-b5e5-56989f26677e


How can I batch rename files to copy them from OS X to Windows NTFS?

You might want to try the application A Better Finder Rename. It has a built-in function to convert Mac file & folder names to legal Windows file & folder names:

Naturally, somebody will come along later and throw a smattering of regex in a bash script for you to puzzle out, but ABFR does this kind of thing so easily. It can even create a droplet app onto which you can 'drop' files & folders to be processed. It is a handy tool to have in your toolbox if you aren't a strong programmer, or don't have the time, or both.


Auto-Unlock on a manually Continuity-enabled Mac?

What hardware is required for Auto Unlock?
According to Apple’s macOS Sierra beta 2 release notes, Auto Lock requires a 2013 or later Mac. That means that even 2012 Macs with Bluetooth 4.0 don’t officially support Auto Unlock.
What software is required for Auto Unlock?
To use Auto Unlock, you’ll need to be running macOS Sierra Developer Preview Seed 2. You’ll also need to have the watchOS 3 beta installed on your Apple Watch. Apple indicates that the latest version of watchOS 3 (beta 2) needs to be installed, but I was able to get Auto Unlock working with watchOS 3 beta 1.
You’ll also need to have Two-Factor Authentication established for the iCloud account associated with your Mac and Apple Watch.
How do I set up Two-Factor Authentication?
Two-Factor Authentication can be set up via the Apple ID website. Beware that a small number of users are complaining of being locked out of their accounts when enabling 2FA on the developer beta.
Keep in mind that Two-Factor Authentication differs from Two-Step Authentication. You must be using Two-Factor Authentication for Auto Unlock to work. If you need assistance, a full guide for enabling Two-Factor Authentication.
Once 2FA is enabled, Apple encourages users to do the following:

On your Mac, open System Preferences →  iCloud, and click the Account
Details button. Click the Security tab, and make sure Two-Factor
Authentication is on. On your iPhone, open Settings →  iCloud and tap
on your name to reveal account details. Tap on the Password and
Security item, and make sure sure Two-Factor Authentication is on.
On your iPhone, open Watch →  General →  Apple ID, and verify your
Apple ID is showing.
How do I enable Auto Unlock?

Enabling Auto Unlock is handled on your Mac via System Preferences → Security & Privacy.
I’m not seeing the Auto Unlock setting in System Preferences
After performing a clean install, it can take minutes for the Allow your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac checkbox to display in System Preferences → Security and Privacy → General on your Mac. This delay occurs while your devices are iCloud pairing. If you performed an upgrade instead of a clean install, you should not experience any delays.
If you’re still having problems getting Auto Unlock to work, try rebooting all three devices (Mac, Apple Watch, paired iPhone). Also, double-check to make sure you have Two-Factor Authentication enabled, not Two-Step Authentication.


No audio on FaceTime on iMac (OS 10.13.6)

If the audio is not sent there is nothing you can do. It sounds like there is no audio on the other end. I have system 10.13.6 and Facetime works fine for me. Call a friend who has Facetime and see if it works. Maybe the sender has the volume turned off. Also check your volume is turned up.


I think this might be due to the fact that some European keyboards have a different arrangement of the keys. For example, compare the enter keys and the number of keys in each row.

So my (American) keyboard layout looks like this:

What I noticed is that on your screenshot, the layout is called "USA", and on mine it is "U.S.", maybe this helps to find the correct layout.


Here's a solution from How To iSolve:

  Step 1: Go to “Settings”.

  Step 2: Open “Privacy” and tap on “HomeKit”.

  Step 3: There tap on “Reset HomeKit Configuration”.

  Step 4: Finally hit Confirmation Tab to finish the process.

However, I recommend reading the solution through, you might not even need to reset your HomeKit.


Bash Alt+Arrow keyboard combination not working in Terminal under Mojave

Can you check:

Go to Terminal > Preferences... > Profiles > Keyboard

From this pannel, check those two lines:

Key = Alt+← Action = \033b

Key = Alt+→ Action = \033f

They might have gone away so you may create them again, or edit and double check the key, the modifier, and the action associated:

As a workaround, (actually it could even be better, so that you don't need to reach for the arrow keys), you could use Esc+f (jump forward) and Esc+b (jump backward).

And because the Esc key is far to reach, for more convenience, map the Caps key to Esc key with Karabiner Elements.

So that you can jump back and forth with Caps+f and Caps+b.


The new created terminal can not find the file use which in Mac

If you modify the PATH variable in a Terminal session by exporting it (e.g. export PATH="/usr/local/mysql/bin:$PATH" it will be expired in the next session.

So either edit the file ~/.bash_profile or edit /private/etc/paths if you need this PATH for other users also.

In ~/.bash_profile add the line:

export PATH="/usr/local/mysql/bin:$PATH"

In /private/etc/paths add the line

/usr/local/mysql/bin

Close your current Terminal session, launch a new one to enable the new PATH and check the result:

echo $PATH
which mysql_config


Can I have Screen Sharing use something like ssh-keygen, so I don't have to type my password every time?

No, I don't think so. Screen sharing uses VNC which is a different protocol than SSH. SSH allows you to use keys which is the mechanism where you can not use typed passwords.


Enable packet filter firewall (pfctl -Ef) temporarily stops all network connection

Pf is a stateful firewall. It means it strictly accounts current state of connections and if you temporarily turn it off and then on again its internal view could become outdated so that some affected connections would stall and never recover.

There's a workaround that man pf.conf describes "…

  If stateless filtering of individual packets is desired, the no state keyword can be used to specify that state will not be created if this is the last matching rule.  A number of parameters can also be set to affect how packet filter handles state tracking.  See STATEFUL TRACKING OPTIONS below for further details.

…"

But new ruleset loading with pfctl -f should not cause any troubles unless you're flushing states specifically, for e. g..


Can I use my 2010 iMac as a display for my 2011 MBP?

Have you tried:
Cmd + F2

I've connected my MacBook Air with my iMac, and it just works fine.

But you have no change to see the two devices at the same time.


Is com.apple.madrid.plist a suspicious plist?

"Madrid" was the internal codename for iMessage before the iMessage product name was used.

The above is from @pytey on Twitter. You can find many references to Madrid within iMessage, many of which are detailed in Messages on theiphonewiki.com.

Even if you don't use iMessage, the plist still exists as part of iCloud communication. It stores simple metadata, mostly around syncing and CloudKit per the keys in the file.


Mac Sounds are greyed off when headphones plugged in

When you are using a digital out device, the Mac simply passes the digital signal to the receiving device where the settings should be adjusted, this is the correct behavior. Unless your Mac is mistaking the headphones as a digital device when they are really analog, then this isn't a Mac issue. To determine if it is a Mac issue I'd try plugging in another analog audio source (different pair of headphones) to see if the problem is repeatable, otherwise it could be something with the headphones (or even the headphone cable).


Replace Demo content with fully functional one

Probably, all you should have to do is wipe and restore it to the latest iOS version via iTunes:

  Use iTunes on your Mac or PC to restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to factory settings

  A factory restore erases the information and settings on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod and installs the latest iOS or iPod software.


You might be lucky and ports work :)

I think the latest I saw in the mailing lists is that most ports will work. The issue is for GUIS and there other issues.

Note that Xcode for OS X 10.10 does not supply gcc, it uses clang. However this works just as well if not better.


What is the best way to connect an external 4K display to an iMac 2015 for optimal performance

Some displays allow you to specify the DisplayPort version. If your display defaults to DisplayPort 1.1, changing it to DisplayPort 1.2 via the OSD might improve the DisplayPort connection.


IPhone 6s Plus why an external camera like FLiR no longer charges the phone after interaction dialog?

Check to make sure there's not any lint buildup in the Lightning port. Get a wooden or plastic toothpick (do not use anything metallic) and clean the port out, swiping from one edge to the other, then pulling out any bunched up lint or dust. Even a small amount of buildup will prevent the accessory from fully seating properly, sometimes generating a "This accessory is not supported" error, or simply preventing the device from charging, even when it has worked properly before.


Is Mac OS X keeping constant track of my processes?

Simplified explanation: When an application is started, an entry is written to disk that says this app is currently active. When an application quits, that entry is removed. When the system starts and finds entries in this list, it's an indicator that the system crashed or did not shut down properly and it can offer to relaunch those apps for you. It takes virtually no practical overhead at all to track this.

Each application individually may also be tracking which documents you opened pretty much the same way and then reopen your documents when it is being launched. There's no need to "constantly track the state of everything", the system just needs to make a few notes here and there when key events happen (such as an application launching or quitting).


How can I convert 100 photos into a pdf thats less than 6 MB?

You can use ImageMagick (free, open source, cross-platform, CLI) with the jpeg:extent=value parameter to compress each image to a target size, e.g. mogrify -define jpeg:extent=60KB *.jpeg

Restrict the maximum JPEG file size, for example -define jpeg:extent=400KB. The JPEG encoder will search for the highest compression quality level that results in an output file that does not exceed the value. The -quality option is ignored if it is also present.

Then see How can I convert JPG into PDF easily?


Whispersync-like experience for PDF or TXT files?

Here are a few options you could check out:

Instapaper

Acts a lot like Whispersync for any article you find on the web.
You can read via a nice iOS app or the web app.
You can also forward txt into your Instapaper account via email.
It's supported by a ton of additional iOS apps.
You can use actually link it right into your Kindle natively through Instapaper or using Ephemera.
It does NOT do PDF that I am aware of.

Simplenote

A slick app to sync text files across devices including your Mac and iOS devices.
It has lots of third party support.
It does not do PDF or any of the Whispersync-like reading progress syncing.

Good Reader + Dropbox

You can sync PDFs and other eBook formats easily between your Mac and iOS devices using Dropbox.
This solution will NOT do the Whispersync-like reading progress syncing.

As far as I have seen I think Instapaper is going to be your best option for getting a very similar experience to what you're looking for.