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Level 1

5 points

Trying to understand the Mac world

I've had my IMac for nearly 2 years now but have struggled all the way to migrate from a Windows environment. There seem to be so many hurdles to overcome, not least due to the horribly closed Mac universe which has made accessing things like music files, and sharing documents, incredibly difficult.

I've tried the One to One service, and asked questions at the Genius bar and via the Helpline, but rarely get a useful answer. Nice people sure, but I feel I'm dealing with staff that have been weaned on Apple (through Ipods etc) - they know a fair bit about Macs, but seemingly very little about Windows and therefore of limited help in getting from one to another. Try asking someone about FLAC audio files for example . . .

Some of the sort of issues I'm struggling to sort out include;

1) In Windows I can use the F4 key to 'repeat last action'. An incredibly useful feature when formatting a number of separate cells in a spreadsheet for example. Yet I can find no equivalent in the Mac world - I can't even see how I might configure my keyboard accordingly.

2) Having more than one application open on the desktop at a time. For example I open Word (MS Office for Mac), I then open Excel so I can cut and paste a few bits and pieces. As soon as I open Excel, Word minimises and zooms down to the Dock.

3) Screen sizes. Why oh why does my Mac insist on opening applications in a window it determines the size of ? For instance I open Numbers - on my 27" IMac it opens a window at best about 6" square, complete with tiny, almost unreadable fonts. Is there no way to get applications to open full screen, and in a set font size, by default ?

4) Screen resizing - I guess this is a feature of the OS (Snow Leopard 10.6) - only available in the bottom right ahnd corner. Just means more shuffling of windows about to use it effectively. Why can't screen resizing be done from any side as in Windows ?

And don't get me started on hardware - why does a 27" IMac get shipped with a tiny wireless keyboard ? Wireless is good for sure, but surely a desktop computer isn't trying to save space to the extent that ones loses the numeric keypad, and worst of all, the DELETE key (aaagagahgha). I've had to buy a wired version to get the functionality I need (along with some accesible USB sockets). And then there is the card reader that can only cope with SD, the USB sockets helpfully out of easy reach round the back (makes using a datastick a real pain) . . . .

Perhaps I shouldn't have gone down the Mac route (but now I've got an IPad too so heaven help me) . . . .

Posted on Nov 6, 2011 1:11 AM

19 replies

DesiG-NZ

Level 1

0 points

May 18, 2012 2:33 AM in response to liffy99

After using Windows for years I am new to the Mac environment and had been struggling with a couple of the things mentioned above:

F4 to repeat the last action - you have no idea how excited I am to find that Command-Y does the same thing (and for those that have only used Macs, this action repeats your last action be it formatting, typing etc - a VERY useful piece of functionality and something that often can't be replicated by just copying and pasting).

Delete - to use delete on a Mac keyboard where there is no delete key (and some do have both a delete and backspace key), use function-backspace and it works the same way as the delete key in Windows. Again, for those that are used to the Mac, the delete and backspace functions have different functionality in different software (not just used for deleting text!!). For example, in Word if you highlight a row in a table and press delete, the text in the cells will be deleted. While if you select the row and hit backspace it will remove (delete) the entire row (cells, text, everything).

I'll definitely be investigating the use of Tinker Tool to keep several applications open at once. Thanks for the tip 🙂

liffy99 Author

Level 1

5 points

May 18, 2012 9:17 AM in response to Joseph B. Gurman1

Cmd Y seems to work for MS Office for Mac, but not for Mac applications . . .

Byocky

Level 1

9 points

Jul 7, 2012 11:56 AM in response to liffy99

I have been a windows user for 10 years, I have a mac at home which I have had for about a year, it takes some getting used to, but now I am happy using both. Each has functions that the other doesn't.

For help with issues like F4 I would recommend that you download "cheatsheet" from the mac app store, it's free. Once it is running, you can hold down the command key, and it will display a full list of all shortcuts that can be used for that application. It is very handy when you are so used to windows shortcuts.

Hope this helps.

Ben

foxgl0ve

Level 1

0 points

Jan 16, 2013 7:38 AM in response to babowa

Also as a helpful note about shortcut keys, Shift + Backspace will give you a forward delete on a Mac. It may not be quite as convenient as a PC keyboard, but it does work.

Trying to understand the Mac world