Instead of opening a document to see what it is, use Quick Look to get a quick preview of it.

1. Click once on the document

2. Press the space bar

3. Press the space bar when you’re done

4. To cycle through a series of documents (or jpgs) use the arrow keys

Yosemite and Mavericks:

Tags identify an item with a colored dot AND you can search for items associated with a particular Tag color. You can also Arrange window contents by Tags.

1. Select the item you want to Tag

2. From the File menu, choose a label color

or

Right Click or Control + Click on the item and choose a color

or

Drag the item on top of the Tags in the Sidebar of any open window

Pre-Mavericks:

Labels color the entire line of text of the item.

1. Click on the item you want to change

2. From the File menu, choose a label color

or

Click on the gear icon and choose a color

or

Right Click or Control + Click on the item and choose a color

To search for all items that are Tagged a certain color, just click on that color in the Sidebar.

It can be tricky trying to change the name of existing item. Either you click too many times or you delete everything. Here’s an easy, foolproof way.

1. Click once on the item

2. Press the Return key to highlight the entire contents

3. Don’t click the cursor. Instead, just type over the existing text or press the arrow keys to move within the text

4. Press the Return key when done

Instead of using the paper clip within Mail:

1. From the Finder, locate the document you want to attach

2. Drag it on top of the Mail icon in the Dock

3. A new email message will automatically open with the document attached

If you are already composing an email and remember you want to attach a photo:

1. Click on the Photo Browser in the top right corner

2. Find the picture you want and drag it into the body of your email

3. Adjust the size by clicking in the pull down menu next to “image size”

Yes, you can use Flags to mark emails and then search for flagged emails. But you can also make an email a bold, bright color in the inbox list so that it’s really easy to find it.

1. Click on the email

2. From the Format menu, choose Show Colors

3. Select the color you want, either from the color wheel, the furthest left icon, or from the simpler crayon box, the icon on the far right

Instead of using the scroll bar to move up and down a web page, press the Space bar to move down a screen at a time.

To move up a screen at a time, hold down the Shift key when you press the Space bar.

When you find an article you want to read, don’t let the ads and sidebars distract you.

Most sites now show an icon with four horizontal lines at the left of the web address if the feature is available. Click the icon to see just the article in an easy-to-read window.

When you’re done, click the icon again to return to the full web page.

Earlier versions of Safari may still show the word READER at the right side of the web address. Click to use.

When a word is misspelled (or not in the computer’s dictionary), it’s underlined in red. Instead of manually editing it:

1. Right-Click in the word
or
Hold down the Control key and Click in the middle of the word

A list of suggested spellings will appear

2. Click on the correct one or Add the word if it is spelled correctly

This tip works everywhere— in the Finder when selecting Documents and Folders, in Mail, iPhoto, iTunes, etc.

To select multiple items all in a row:

1. Click on the first item

2. Hold down the Shift key and click on the last in the series
All will be selected

To select multiple items that are not next to each other, like cherry-picking:

1. Click on the first item

2. Hold down the Command key and click on each of the others