Mac OS X QuickTips #01

Mac OS X QuickTips #01

Week of August 16, 2004

Introducing: Mac OS X QuickTips Newsletter.

I'd like to welcome you to the first issue of our new Mac OS X QuickTips newsletter. You are receiving this email because you are a client of CreativeTechs, or because we've worked together sometime in the past.

The idea behind this email is to provide a quick, weekly dose of useful tips about Mac OS X and today's changing creative tools. It is something many clients have suggested or requested in the past. Each Monday you'll receive a short email with two quick tips or tricks.

I hope you find this weekly newsletter useful. And if you do, I hope you'll forward it along to friends and colleagues (there is a forward link at the bottom of each issue).

Thanks,
Craig Swanson

Tip One: Mac OS X Screen Shot Techniques.

Easy Method: Command-Shift-3 takes a screen shot of your entire screen. The file is saved on your desktop as a PDF document titled something like "Picture 1."

Crop Method: Command-Shift-4 changes your cursor to a small crosshair icon. Only the part of the screen you draw a box around with that icon will be saved in your PDF screen shot.

Auto-Crop Method: Command-Shift-4 gets you the crosshair icon again, but this time after you see the icon, tap your spacebar once. Your icon should change to a small camera. Now if you click on a window or dialog box, Mac OS X automatically saves a cropped screen shot of just that window.

Control-Key Clipboard Trick: Add the Control key to any of the techniques listed above (i.e. Control-Command-Shift-4), and your screen shot is copied directly to the clipboard. So if you need to paste a screen shot into Photoshop (like I've been doing here) this extra key lets you skip the PDF file altogether.

Mac OS X QuickTips is a free weekly e-newsletter from CreativeTechs, Inc. We are dedicated to helping Seattle-area creative professionals and in-house creative departments stay productive and happy with today's changing tools. If you find this weekly dose of quick tips helpful, please pass it along to a friend.