It is as well to be aware of a commonly used notation for referring to the locations of such things as files and menu items situated within hierarchical structures.

For example, the following expression shows the path to the Grab application inside your Applications folder:–

Macintosh HD > Applications > Utilities > Grab

Another example shows the path to a document:–

Macintosh HD > Users > yourusername > Documents > Finances > 2013 > Receipts > 2013-04-01 booktitle.pdf

And here’s a case of referring to a deeply buried item in a word processor menu:–

Format > Font > Fixed Width > Courier

You get the idea that the notation provides a way of navigating to the item in question. It is particularly useful in communicating such information in writing, as when reporting a computer problem or when instructing someone else.

Note that the path to an item in the Finder is shown at the bottom of a Finder window if one chooses Finder > View > Show Path Bar. It is also visible in a drop-down menu that appears when you Command-click on the little icon at the top of a window, just to the left of the name of the file or folder whose window it is.

Before Mavericks (OS X 10.9), this was my Number One Best Hint for Macintosh users. In Mavericks and later versions of the operating system, the Finder’s Tabs feature fulfills the same purpose, as an item can now be dragged from one folder to another by dragging it from one Tab location (representing the source folder) and dropping it onto another Tab (representing the destination folder), without even waiting for the latter location to “spring open” to reveal its existing contents. I leave the technique on my Website for three reasons:–

1. It remains my Number One Best Hint for Macintosh users working with operating systems predating Mavericks.
2. Users of Mavericks and later versions of the operating system may still prefer this more explicit view of what is happening when they move items from one location to another.
3. It illustrates how to create Finder windows of any desired size using AppleScript.

The idea is to make dragging and dropping items between different locations as easy as possible. Spring-loaded folders are all very well, but all too often traversing a long sequence of folders results in the wrong one swallowing the item being moved.

The solution is to have two Finder windows open at the same time — one occupying the top half of your screen and the other occupying the bottom half. You locate the item you wish to move in the top window, navigate to its destination in the bottom window, and then drag and drop between the two. Easy! And minimal chance of error, at least as long as the windows are viewed as columns.

This technique is particularly useful when you are moving items between different volumes, such as between your computer’s internal drive and some external device (like an external hard drive or a USB “stick”).

Now this might not seem such a great idea as to merit the title of “Number One Best Hint”. Ah, but the best is yet to come! Creating, re-sizing and locating these two windows every time you need them is quite a chore. So we assign all the hard work to an AppleScript script.

First, though, manually set up the two windows, as above. Both of my windows are flush with the right edge of the screen, but I like to leave a bit of Desktop showing between the left edge of the screen and the left margins of the windows, just in case I want to park something there quickly. Tinker with the top and bottom margins of the windows until the window heights are the same; ie, the view of the contents of a given folder, such as your Applications folder, is the same in both windows. This tinkering is much easier in more recent versions of the operating system which allow you to drag any of the four corners of a Finder window into the desired position. When you are finished, you should be able to appreciate how easy it will be to drag and drop items between the two windows.

Next, launch the AppleScript Editor (later called Script Editor) which is located inside the Utilities folder which itself is located inside your Applications folder. If necessary, open a new AppleScript Editor window (via File > New), then copy the following script and paste it into that window:–

Click on the Compile hammer in the window’s title bar: AppleScript formats the script. Save the file in a convenient place, naming it “Two Finder Windows” and making sure you have chosen the File Format to be “Script”, so that it remains editable.

The numbers inside the braces represent the distances in pixels from the left and top edges of the screen to the four borders of the relevant Finder window in the following order: left, top, right, bottom. The numbers you choose here depend on the size and resolution of your screen. Note that the script creates the bottom window first, so that the top screen is the active one when the script finishes. We now proceed to find the numbers relating to the two windows on your screen; a simple script will save us the trouble of a trial-and-error approach.

Open another AppleScript Editor window (via File > New), then copy the following script and paste it into that window:–

Click on the Compile hammer. Now click on the bottom Finder window you created, to make it active, then return to the AppleScript Editor window of this (latest) script and click on “Run” in its title bar. Look in the lower pane of this window and you will see a “Result” showing a set of four numbers enclosed by braces. Copy this set and paste it over the first set of such numbers in your “Two Finder Windows” script. Repeat this procedure for the top Finder window, pasting its set of numbers over the second set of such numbers in your “Two Finder Windows” script.

You may want to tweak the numbers a little before saving the script. If you look at my script above, you will see that the first number is the same in each set; so also is the third number. While you might think that the second number in the first set should be the same as the fourth number in the second set, in fact it’s best to have a small difference between them. When you are satisfied, click on the Compile hammer and Save.

With your “Two Finder Windows” script window still open, click on “Run” in its title bar. You should see two Finder windows created, of equal size and one sitting above the other. Use File > Save As… to re-save the script, still with the name “Two Finder Windows” but this time with File Format set to “Application” and the Save location being your Applications folder. Launching this application version of your script makes it run automatically, so that two Finder windows are created without your having to click on “Run” each time.

I use this script so often that I find it convenient to have it in the Dock at all times. Not only that, I also have it as one of my Login Items (which are set in the Users & Groups section of the System Preferences which themselves are located under the Apple menu at the top left corner of the screen).

From time to time it can be very useful to take a “photograph” of what is showing on your computer screen; ie, to get a “screen shot”. Such an image can be particularly helpful in troubleshooting problems. The person with the problem can show someone else exactly how their screen looked at the time the problem was manifesting itself. The image can be emailed or it can be saved for subsequent discussion when both people are in the same place at the same time. (One crucial item that can only be saved in this way is a Get Info window.) Conversely, a succession of screen shots can be used as part of a tutorial on some procedure of interest. On one occasion, resorting to a screen shot enabled me to extract a friend’s business logo from another document when he had lost the original logo file.

The application you use to do this is called Grab or Screenshot, depending on the version of the operating system you are working with. It is located in the Utilities folder that is itself located in your Applications folder. I like to have this application readily available in the Dock (so drag its icon to your Dock). If you use Grab, launch it and look in its Capture menu where you will see several options for taking a snapshot of your screen or part thereof. If you use Screenshot, launch it and choose an option from the ribbon that appears. You can also make a recording of whatever is showing on your screen; this can be very useful in communicating a sequence of actions for instructional or troubleshooting purposes. Do some experiments yourself. Grab images are saved as high-resolution TIFF files, while Screenshot images are saved as PNG files; both are easily readable by Preview.

Scanner software can sometimes store scans in relatively inconvenient places. I like to have a “Scans” folder in the Sidebar of my Finder windows, for ease of access. Locate the default folder where your scans are held and drag it to the Sidebar. In my case, I prefer the more obvious name “Scans” to the more arcane “MP Navigator EX” (the name of the software itself). Simply renaming the folder may break the connection with the software, so you may have to resort to creating a folder named “Scans” which contains an alias to the folder with the more obscure name. To spell this out: by default, the scan software creates the following hierarchy:–

Pictures > MP Navigator EX > 2013-04-01 > Fool.pdf

My arrangement leaves the above arrangement intact and adds the following one:–

Pictures > Scans > Alias to MP Navigator EX > 2013-04-01 > Fool.pdf

It is this “Scans” folder that is represented in the Finder window Sidebar.

My Sidebar also includes “Print” and “Downloads” folders, but these are usually more straightforward to arrange.

For more serious work that involves delving into System files, it’s a good idea to make access to your computer’s Libraries more convenient.

Inside a folder I call “Computer Reference” I have, among other things, a folder called “Libraries” inside which I place aliases to the computer’s three Libraries. I now describe how to locate these three Libraries.

With a Finder window open, make sure you have selected in the View menu the “as Columns” and “Show Path Bar” options. Then the name of your computer’s internal hard disk is the leftmost item in the path bar near the bottom of the window. Let’s say it is called “Antarctica”. Double-click on “Antarctica” there, and in the left-hand Finder column you will see the first of the three Libraries we seek. Drag an alias of this Library and drop it inside the Libraries folder you created inside your “Computer Reference” folder. Rename this alias “Antarctica 1 Library”.

Return to the Antarctica column where you found this first Library. There you will also find a folder called “System” which contains the second Library we want. Drag an alias of it to your Libraries folder and rename the alias “Antarctica 2 System Library”.

In more recent versions of the operating system, Apple has hidden the third Library which is your User’s Library. Revealing it is easy, however.

Finder > Go > Home

Finder > View > Show View Options

The little window that opens should have the name of your Home folder at the top. Make sure the “Show Library Folder” checkbox is ticked. That Library will now appear in your Home folder and in the Go menu. (Depending on your version of the operating system, you may need to hold down the Option key or the Shift key while accessing the Finder’s “Go” menu, in order to reveal the Library in the drop-down menu. When you select this option, the Library will appear in the leftmost column of your Finder window.) Drag an alias of this Library to your Libraries folder and rename the alias “Antarctica 3 Adrian’s Library”. (Obviously, you would use the name of your own hard drive and your own username instead of the ones shown here.)

Finally I drag my Libraries folder into the Sidebar of a Finder window, for convenient access when I need it.

I don’t mind paying reasonable amounts for reliable software that justifies its existence in my Applications folder. Software development is not easy, but independent software developers have done a lot to make the Mac great. I think they deserve our support.

Nisus Writer Pro

This is my word processor of choice. I have used Nisus products for many years. They are well-designed, powerful and a pleasure to use. Technical support, should you require it, is excellent. Nisus Writer Pro is easy enough to use for the simplest of textual projects but powerful enough for the production of complex manuscripts: I’ve used it for both. The Find/Replace capability alone is worth the modest asking price, providing as it does several options, including a heavy-duty one incorporating regular expression parsing. By default, files are saved as RTF (rich text format) files which are easily exchanged with users of other software on other computer platforms. This word processor is already chock-full of useful features, but its functionality can, if desired, be extended by engaging its powerful macro language and/or by incorporating Perl scripts.

OmniGraffle Pro

For creating flowcharts and organizational charts.

Numbers

Part of the iWork suite of software, this is Apple’s spreadsheet program. It could do with an extra function or two, and better AppleScript-ability, but it is generally a pleasure to work with, even for very complex projects with interrelated spreadsheets.

iCab

My preferred Web browser. Also available for iOS where its inbuilt folder system is particularly useful.

Fission

An audio playback application whose graphical interface lends itself particularly well to finding breakpoints for pausing, replay or clip creation. I discuss it further in relation to learning a language.