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Title page image

Trademark Acknowledgments

Contact Us

Credits

About the Author

Author’s Acknowledgments

How to Use This Book

Who This Book Is For

This book is for the reader who has never used this particular technology or software application. It is also for readers who want to expand their knowledge.

The Conventions in This Book

001 Steps

This book uses a step-by-step format to guide you easily through each task. Numbered steps are actions you must do; bulleted steps clarify a point, step, or optional feature; and indented steps give you the result.

002 Notes

Notes give additional information — special conditions that may occur during an operation, a situation that you want to avoid, or a cross reference to a related area of the book.

003 Icons and Buttons

Icons and buttons show you exactly what you need to click to perform a step.

004 Tips

Tips offer additional information, including warnings and shortcuts.

005 Bold

Bold type shows command names, options, and text or numbers you must type.

006 Italics

Italic type introduces and defines a new term.

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Teach Yourself VISUALLY™ macOS™ Sierra

Chapter 1

Learning Basic macOS Tasks

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macOS (formerly OS X) has a few basic tasks that you need to know to make the rest of Mac chores faster and easier. These chores include starting and managing applications, searching your Mac for documents and data, saving your work, and fundamental file operations such as opening, printing, and copying.

Start an Application

Start an Application Using Launchpad

Locate the Mouse Pointer

Switch Between Applications

View Running Applications with Mission Control

Run an Application Full Screen

Split the Screen with Two Applications

Search Your Mac

Voice-Operate Your Mac with Siri

Save a Document

Open a Document

Print a Document

Copy a File

Move a File

Rename a File

Delete a File

Open a Folder in a Tab

Open a Document in a Tab

Start an Application

To perform tasks of any kind in macOS, you use one of the applications installed on your Mac. The application you use depends on the task you want to perform. For example, if you want to surf the World Wide Web, you use a web browser application, such as the Safari program that comes with macOS. Before you can use an application, however, you must first tell macOS what application you want to run. macOS launches the application and displays it on the desktop. You can then use the application’s tools to perform your tasks.

Start an Application

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Using the Dock

001.eps If the application that you want to start has an icon in the Dock, click the icon to start the application.

dga.eps You can position the mouse pointer (image) over a Dock icon to see the name of the application.

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Using Spotlight

001.eps Click Spotlight (image).

002.eps Start typing the name of the application you want to start.

dgb.eps macOS displays a list of matching items.

003.eps When the application appears in the results, click it to start the program.

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Using Finder

001.eps Click Finder (image).

The Finder window appears.

002.eps Click Applications.

Note: You can also open Applications in any Finder window by pressing image + image + image or by clicking Go and then clicking Applications.

003.eps Double-click the application you want to start.

Note: In some cases, double-clicking the icon just displays the contents of a folder. In this case, you then double-click the application icon.

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dgc.eps The application appears on the desktop.

dgd.eps macOS temporarily adds a button for the application to the Dock.

dge.eps The menu bar displays the menus associated with the application.

Note: Another common way you can launch an application is to use Finder to locate a document you want to work with and then double-click that document.

Start an Application Using Launchpad

You can start an application using the Launchpad feature. This is often faster than using the Applications folder, particularly for applications that do not have a Dock icon.

Launchpad is designed to mimic the Home screens of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. So if you own one or more of these devices, then you are already familiar with how Launchpad works.

Start an Application Using Launchpad

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001.eps Click Launchpad (image).

The Launchpad screen appears.

002.eps If the application you want to start resides in a different Launchpad screen, click the dot that corresponds to the screen.

Launchpad switches to the screen and displays the applications.

003.eps If the application you want to start resides within a folder, click the folder.

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Launchpad opens the folder.

004.eps Click the icon of the application you want to start.

macOS starts the application.

Note: To exit Launchpad without starting an application, you can press image.