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Macs are great. They’re robust, user friendly and unlike many other computers, they’re ideal for beginners; but there’s still a lot to learn. If you need a helping hand as you take your first tentative steps with your Mac and macOS, its operating system, Mac - The Beginners’ Guide is here to help. We show you how to set up your Mac out of the box and upgrade your operating system to the latest version: the brand new macOS High Sierra. All the Mac’s key bundled apps are covered, with in-depth, plain English guides to Safari, Mail, Photos, iTunes and more. As well as showing you how to use these apps’ basic features, we also bring you their more advanced functions; even if you’ve been using an app for a…

Switch it On! Before you can get started with your new Mac, you have to switch it on. The power button is in the top right corner of the keyboard on a notebook or on the back of a desktop Mac. Press it and you hear the start-up tone that indicates your Mac is booting up. Terms and Conditions Next comes the notorious Terms and Conditions page. We’d recommend that you read through this, since it is a legal document, but since you can’t use your new Apple laptop computer unless you agree to the terms, you have to click Agree when ready to. Sign In If you already have an Apple ID, enter your email address or username, and then your password to sign in. If you’ve forgotten it,…

One of the things that makes the Mac such a pleasure to use is its large and responsive MacBook multi-touch trackpad or the desktop Mac’s Magic Trackpad. You can use the trackpad in much the same way as you would use the touchscreen of an iPhone or iPad: to quickly and easily access menus, sort through stacks of pictures or documents, scroll through documents and to zoom in and out of displayed images. Once you get used to it, you’ll find that it’s a very easy and intuitive way of controlling your Mac and that it can do far more than just scrolling up and down your documents or websites. Single Click Unlike most other trackpads, the entire MacBook trackpad works the same as the mouse button; and you can…

The Apple Menu The Apple menu is located at the top left of the desktop. To use it click on the Apple icon once, then choose an option. To close it, click on the Apple icon again. It is always available and always contains the same set of options: About this Mac This opens a window displaying information such as the software version, hardware configuration, startup disk and a software update option. Software Update Use this option to check for any updates to the operating system or applications. Force Quit In the unlikely event of an application not responding, this option will force it to quit, regardless of what is still running and whether or not the file has been saved. It’s only to be used as a last resort…

Using Finder Tabs Explained By making the most of the macOS Finder tabs, you can put everything you need at your fingertips using these handy hints. 1 In recent versions of macOS, you can cut down on desktop clutter by opening several Finder windows in the same pane, the same way you do with websites in Safari tabs. Instead of having two or more windows, you can have one window with several tabs on offer instead. 2 To open a new tab in the Finder window, click on any folder in the left sidebar, or from any location on your Mac, while holding the CMD key on the keyboard. A new tab automatically opens within the already-open Finder window. 3 To switch between finder tabs, simply point the cursor on…

Accessing Notification Centre There are two ways of accessing the Notification Centre; you can click on an icon in the Menu Bar or use a trackpad gesture. 1 Click the icon showing three horizontal lines preceded by bullet points, which is found on the far right-hand side of the Apple menu bar at the top of the screen. Click on the Notifications tab at the top to see your notifications. 2 Alternatively, use a two fingered right-to-left swipe on a trackpad. This works with a Magic Trackpad (shown here) or a Mac notebook’s built-in trackpad, but you must swipe at the extreme right side of the trackpad. Responding to Notifications Having read them, here’s a short guide to what you can do with your incoming Notification Centre notifications. 1 Clicking…

1 Navigation Controls: These two arrow control buttons enable you to move back and forth between current and previously viewed web pages. 2 Toolbar Buttons: These buttons give you access to various Safari features. You can add or remove buttons by right-clicking or CTRL-clicking on the toolbar and selecting Customize Toolbar. See the section on Customising the Sierra Finder for more information. 3 URL Bar: Enter the website address of your choice or a search term that you wish to look up into this bar, then tap the Return key. 4 Reload Page: Sometimes, if a web page fails to load properly, you can fix the problem by clicking on this button and reloading the page. 5 Share Button: Click on this button to see your options for sharing the…

How to Find Your Way Around iTunes The latest version of iTunes contains many amazing features, including sharing across networks or connected devices and connecting with friends. iTunes is a core component of your macOS experience and an area that you will not only need to understand fully but also one that can change how you digest your entertainment on your Mac. It’s a really great app. 1 File Type: This is where you select what kind of media you want to look at. Click on Music, Movies, TV Shows or Radio to see a list of the available media in your library. Click on an album to be shown its track listing. 2 Main Controls: These are the basic controls such as Play, Pause and Skip Track. You can…

Changing the View There are several ways to view your calendars, and moving between them is simple. Here’s how to explore your Calendar app. 1 Move between Day, Week, Month and Year views using the corresponding buttons that appear in the top bar of the Calendar application. 2 In the Year view, clicking on the title bar for any month takes you to the Month view for that month. Double-click on a specific day in either Year, Week or Month view to go to that day too. 3 You can also jump to a specific day by clicking on the date you wish to skip to in the calendar box in the upper-right of the Day view window, as shown here. 4 Click the Today button in the top-right corner…

Using the FaceTime Camera. Notebook Macs and the iMac have built-in front-facing FaceTime cameras mounted just above the screen, as you can see on the MacBook Air shown here. It’s perfect for video chatting. Using FaceTime and your Mac’s built-in camera for video chat is, as always, very easy. All you need is your Mac, an active Wi-Fi connection, an email address and your Apple ID. Of course you also need the FaceTime app, but that’s pre-installed on your new Mac, and should already be on your Dock. It’s the green square icon with a movie camera on it, badged with a telephone receiver on a white circle. Click on this icon to open the FaceTime application on your Mac. 1 Click on the FaceTime app to launch the program.…

Take a Photo Taking a basic snap of yourself in the macOS Photo Booth app is very easy. Follow these instructions to see how it’s done. 1 There are three buttons in the bottom left corner of the window. They are (left to right) take four photos in quick succession; take a photo; make a video. Click the middle one. 2 Click the red button. There’s a three second countdown before the shutter clicks, to give you time to strike the perfect pose. You can turn the countdown off in Photo Booth’s settings if you wish. 3 Each time you take a picture, its thumbnail appears in a panel at the bottom of the window. To view any picture, just click on it and it appears in the main window.…

General The General options let you customise several different view options such as the colour of buttons and icons, the colour of highlighted items in Finder, and how scrollbars appear. It also allows you to control whether applications should open the windows or documents you last viewed when you relaunch an application. Each of the options is clearly explained, and changing any of them won’t negatively affect the operation of your computer. By default, menus and highlights are blue. Desktop & Screen Saver: Desktop Desktop & Screen Saver is split into two tabs. The Wallpaper tab allows you to set your wallpaper, or a folder with multiple wallpapers on your computer. The + and - icons at the bottom of the left column allow you to add or remove folders…

1 To switch on iCloud Desktop Documents and Folders on your Mac, open System Preferences and click on iCloud. Click on the Options button next to iCloud Drive and then check the box next to Desktop & Documents Folders. It may take time to set up. 2 On an iOS device, open the Files app, which is new in iOS 11, or the iCloud Drive app if you’re using an older version of iOS. Under the iCloud Drive option, there’s a folder called Desktop. All files currently stored on your Mac’s desktop are also shown in here. 3 Documents and data on your Mac’s desktop can now be accessed through the iCloud Drive folder of any Mac or iOS device signed into the same iCloud account. All Macs must be…

How to Hide and Reveal the Menu Bar Hiding the menu bar keeps your desktop uncluttered. Like a hidden Dock, it pops up when you drag your pointer to it. 1 As you know, you can hide the Dock by going into System Preferences > Dock, and checking ‘Automatically hide and show the Dock’. Thereafter, the Dock is hidden until you drag your pointer onto its position. 2 If your Mac is running Sierra or High Sierra, you can make your menu bar, the strip along the top of the screen which offers menulets and pull-down menus, behave in the same way. First, go to System Preferences > General. 3 Check the box labelled ‘Automatically hide and show the menu bar’. It’s at the top of the window, the second…

Entering and Using Full Screen There are several ways you can take an application into full-screen mode, and lots you can do when you’re there. 1 To take an app into full-screen mode, click on the green button in the top left corner; alternatively, choose Enter Full Screen from the View menu or use the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl-CMD-F. The app expands to fill the entire screen. You can also simply drag the window to the top of the screen and drop it on the Spaces bar. 2 A full-screen app is shown on a new desktop. You can move between desktops by swiping left and right with three fingers, or if you want to use the keyboard, Ctrl-Arrow. You can still use the Dock with an app in full-screen mode.…

Setting Up Handoff Before you can make use of High Sierra’s Handoff feature, you have to set it up, in all the Apple devices you plan to use. 1 Check your equipment is up to date enough to use the feature. Your iOS device must be running iOS 8 or later, and no older than an iPhone 5, iPad (4th generation), iPad Air, iPad mini, iPad mini with Retina display or iPod touch (5th generation). Macs must be running the Yosemite operating system or later. 2 Your Mac and iOS device(s) must be logged into the same iCloud account for Handoff to work. On an iOS device, open the Settings app and tap ‘Sign in to your iPad/iPhone’. Now sign in with your Apple ID and password. If you’re already…

1 First you need to allow Safari to check for Apple Pay data on websites. In Safari, open Preferences (in the Safari top-bar menu), and click the Privacy tab. At the bottom of this window, check the Apple Pay box. 2 You also need to set up your iPhone for Apple Pay payments on your Mac. Launch the Settings app and tap Wallet & Apple Pay. If you haven’t already added payment cards to Apple Pay, tap the Add Credit or Debit Card link, and follow the on-screen instructions to add your payment cards for Apple Pay. You can add cards with your iPhone’s camera or manually, by typing their numbers. You must then verify them by typing in a code sent to your email address. When you’re done, they’re…

Setting Up Siri Before getting started, let’s take a look at Siri’s preference pane and the options you can use to set it up to your own requirements. 1 You might have activated Siri during the High Sierra set up procedure. If not, under the Apple menu, select System Preferences. Click on Siri in the bottom row. If it isn’t already ticked, click on Enable Siri, on the left. If you want Siri in the menu bar, check that box too. 2 You can change the language that Siri understands and also speaks in using the pull-down menu. You can also change the English language voice from a British male to a female voice and a different accent, and set up a keyboard shortcut for Siri if you wish. 3…

Switching Apps with App Switcher When you get into the habit of using App Switcher to switch between open apps, you find your productivity is significantly boosted. 1 The App Switcher is easy to use. Hold the CMD key and press Tab. A window showing the icons of all your open apps is displayed. 2 You can toggle through these apps by repeatedly pressing the Tab key and releasing CMD when you’ve highlighted the app you want. 3 You can move forwards or backwards through the list of open apps using the arrow keys at the bottom right of your keyboard. 4 You can also click on an app icon with your mouse pointer. When you get used to App Switcher, you wonder how you did without it.…

Finder Shortcuts These shortcuts are available when you’re using Sierra’s Finder features, like windows and folders. Common Application Shortcuts Not every application supports every one of these shortcuts, but where they do, they come in very useful. File and Folder Shortcuts You can cut, copy, paste, duplicate, open files and folders directly from the keyboard, using these handy shortcuts. Desktop Shortcuts With these shortcuts, you can access Mission Control, your application windows and hide/show the Dock. Mission Control Shortcuts When you’re in Mission Control, these shortcuts help you navigate your way around your desktop and apps. Screenshots There are plenty of reasons why you might want to take a screenshot on your Mac. This is how you do it. Display and Accessibility Shortcuts These shortcuts control your display, and also…

Desktop. iMac Apple’s popular desktop Mac goes from strength to strength. It’s a computer and a monitor, all in one unit. The iMac is ideal for home or home office use. With the computer, hard drive and screen all in one unit, you only have one thing to plug in. Available in 21-inch or 27-inch versions, all but the cheapest iMac have amazing 4K or 5K displays, for incredible clarity. The iMac’s only drawback is it’s definitely not suitable if you need to transport it from A to B regularly, but apart from that, it’s great. Price. Most expensive: £2,249, $2,299, 2.599 € Cheapest model: £1,049, $1,099, 1.299 € Mac mini Apple’s small form factor computer is the cheapest way to own a Mac. But is it the right model…

Upgrading Your Mac to High Sierra It’s time to upgrade to macOS 10.13: High Sierra. If you’re upgrading a notebook Mac, make sure it’s connected to the mains. 1 First of all, open the App Store and find the High Sierra operating system. Do a search if it’s not immediately visible on the front page. Click on macOS High Sierra to get to the download page. 2 When you get to the High Sierra download page, you can read all about the new OS. When you’re ready, click on Download. It may take some time if you have a slow Internet connection. 3 When the installer is fully downloaded, it automatically launches with this screen. Click Continue if you’re ready to install and if not, quit it and install from…

1 Menulet: A Menulet is simply a shortcut or link to the application or file. That way you don’t have to navigate to it every time it’s needed. 2 Utilities: Easy access to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi settings, volume level, time and date preferences, some login options and a handy search utility. 3 Apple Menu: From the Apple menu you can log out, shut down, restart or put the computer into sleep mode, get comprehensive information on the computer’s hardware and software, access the system and dock preferences, and open any recent items. 4 Desktop Wallpaper: Why have a plain background when you can spruce it up with your favourite photo? If you’re bored with the same one day after day, set it to change regularly. 5 Folder Icon: In macOS,…

Components of the Finder The Finder is an important part of your Mac’s High Sierra operating system, so pay close attention to the guides over the next few pages. Lessons learned in this section serve you well whatever you’re doing on your Mac. 1 Window Control Options: Use the gumdrops to close or minimise the window or open it in full-screen mode. See the tutorial over the page for more details on how to do this. 2 Navigation Controls: The chevron buttons found under the gumdrops in the top left corner of the window take you forwards or back through your navigation history. 3 View Options: These four buttons let you set-up how you view the files and folders in the Finder window; whether as icons, a list, in columns…

Colour Coding Files Using Tags With Finder Tags, you can group files by using colour coding options to organise your data in an interesting new way. 1 Open a new Finder window and select the file you want to colour code by clicking it once to highlight it. With the file selected, click on the Tag icon in the middle of the Finder window to open a drop-down menu with a selection of colours you can use. 2 Now tap the colour you wish to use and hit Return. An icon appears beside your chosen file. You can also create your own coding using a unique reference entered in the Tag window. 3 To view all of the files you have added to your selection of colour coding, click on…

Using Spotlight’s Features Spotlight is a versatile tool and can do so much more than find things on your Mac. Here’s a guide to unlocking its amazing potential. 1 To start using Spotlight, press CMD and the space bar, or click the magnifying glass in the top menu, and the Spotlight Search window appears. In High Sierra, unlike older versions of Spotlight, you can drag this window to wherever you want on the screen; it’s not fixed in position. 2 Start typing your search query into Spotlight and immediately answers appear, with suggestions based on the contents of your computer as well as other sources. This may mean you only have to type a few letters of your search term to find what you’re looking for. 3 Spotlight can do…

Sending a New Email This is how to open a new, blank email, write a message and send it to a given email address using the Mac’s mighty Mail app. 1 To send a new email, simply click on the button in the upper left corner of the screen, with a picture on it that looks like a pen writing on paper. 2 To send someone an email, you need to know their email address. Type the email address into the box marked To:. If you want to send a copy of the email to anyone else, you can add their email address in the Cc: box. You can add multiple email addresses in either box, separated by commas, if you need to send the same message to a lot…

Setting Up Apple Music Before you can start using the Apple Music service, you have to set it up. This guide helps you get started with your subscription. 1 To use Apple Music on your Mac, you must have a recent version of iTunes. If you haven’t, open the App Store and click the update. To use Apple Music, you must be running OS X 10.9.5 or later. 2 Click on the For You section at the top of the screen, as shown here. You don’t yet have an Apple Music account and so you’re invited to join, and get three months free. Click on the blue banner at the top. 3 On this screen, if you’ve already set up Apple Music on another device, click ‘Sign in’ in the…

Setting Up Messages When you first open Messages, you might need to sign in with your Apple ID. If you’re not asked to do so, you’re already signed in. 1 Open Messages and select Preferences from the Messages menu in the top bar. Alternatively, press CMD-Comma on your keyboard. Either way, the Preferences window appears. 2 Click the Accounts button and ensure that the email address associated with your Apple ID is enabled. If it isn’t, click the Plus icon at the foot of the left-hand column and set it up. 3 Click on the General button in the left-hand corner of the top bar in the preferences window to select the text size and other settings you’d like to use for messages. Most of the options you can see…

Creating, Editing and Sharing Notes Notes is a useful application. You can jot down your thoughts and memos, and sync them with all iCloud devices. Here’s how. 1 To create a new note, first of all, click on the pen-and-paper symbol in the top left corner of the main pane of the Notes window. A new blank note appears. Start typing your note. The first line of a new note is used as its title in the notes list, so bear this in mind. 2 Your notes are listed in the left-hand pane. Click on a note to open it. To change the font, or use bold, underline or italicise, select the text and right-click or CTRL-click for a menu; these options are found under Fonts. To attach an image,…

Preview Basics There’s lots to do in the Preview app. Here’s a guide to getting started with this useful and versatile macOS High Sierra app. 1 By default, Preview isn’t found in the Dock but it’s a good idea to put it there, so you can open files in Preview by dragging them onto its Dock icon as shown in the picture here. It can open pictures, documents, PDF files and more. 2 If you open several documents at once or a document such as a PDF with multiple pages, you can use the sidebar. This can show documents or pages as thumbnails or as a list. Click on the Sidebar button for options. 3 You can zoom into or out of a document using the magnifying glass buttons. Alternatively,…

Storing Your Documents in iCloud Storing your files in iCloud is as simple as moving them to a folder. They’re then synced with all devices logged into your iCloud. 1 Click on your desktop to open Finder, then open iCloud Drive from the Go menu. You may need to log into iCloud using your Apple ID. You’ll see a Finder window showing the contents of your iCloud drive folder, with folders for some apps that store output in iCloud. 2 To save files of any type into your iCloud Drive folder, simply drag them from their current location (in this picture, that’s the desktop) and drop them in the open iCloud window. They are now stored remotely and accessible from any connected Apple device. 3 You can organise your iCloud…

Setting Up the Keychain iCloud Keychain is a great way of storing your passwords in the cloud, so you don’t have to remember them. Just follow this procedure. 1 Open the System Preferences link from the main Apple menu and select the iCloud option. 2 From this pane select the Keychain option and enter your Apple ID password to move on. 3 You will now have to enter the password you set up initially to protect your Apple ID. 4 You get a code, which is sent to the phone number you added to your Apple ID. Enter it here and the process is complete. Adding to the Keychain: Using The iCloud Keychain works on your Apple computers and mobile devices running Yosemite or later and iOS 7 or above.…

Mission Control in a Nutshell If you’ve used Mission Control in macOS and OS X before, the High Sierra release should be familiar. Here’s how it works. 1 To activate Mission Control, swipe upwards with three fingers on a trackpad or tap the F3 key on your keyboard. This is unchanged from previous versions of the Mac’s operating system, unless you’ve modified the gesture settings yourself. 2 Unlike pre-Sierra versions of Mission Control, open windows are presented in a single layer instead of being stacked according to which application produced them. Click on a window to bring its app to the fore. 3 You can open a document in full screen from Mission Control simply by dragging its window upwards, onto the strip showing the desktops. You can also create…

How to Use Split View Screen With the Mac’s Split View feature, you can enjoy using two apps in full-screen mode at the same time. Here’s how to do it. 1 To use Split View mode, first open an app you want to use in this way. Here we’ve chosen Safari. Just open the app window, there’s no need to open it as a full screen app at this stage. 2 Drag the app window upwards, onto the menu bar. A strip appears, offering the current desktop image and a receptacle for the app you’re dragging. Drop it on the plus sign to make it full screen. 3 Go back to the desktop and open the second app you wish to use as a full-screen app in Split View mode.…

Instant Hotspot With Instant Hotspot, you can use your iPhone like a portable Wi-Fi modem, for Internet access on the go. Here’s how to do it. 1 The system requirements for Instant Hotspot are pretty stringent. Your Mac must be mid-2012 or newer and running Yosemite or later. To find out when your Mac was made, click on the Apple icon in the top left and select About This Mac. Your iOS device must be an iPhone 5 or later, iPad (4th generation) or later, an iPod touch (5th generation) or later or any iPad mini. 2 Make sure your Mac and all the iOS devices you want to use with Instant Hotspot are signed into the same iCloud account. On an iOS device, go to Settings > iCloud; and…

1 Safari users have long been able to use tabs to keep multiple web pages open using tabs, as shown here. This functionality is now available in all apps that allow multiple windows. 2 You can now organise other Apple apps into tabs, just like Safari. Here we’re using the Maps app but it works for any app that allows multiple windows. To open a new tab, use the File menu or press CMD-T. 3 You can now have open a series of tabs in the same window, instead of a series of space hogging windows. If you already have multiple windows open, you can merge them into tabs using the Window menu; just select Merge All Windows. 4 It also works in any third-party app that allows multiple windows.…

1 To use AirDrop to transfer a file between a Mac and an iOS device, you need a Mac released in 2012 or later. The iOS device must be running iOS 7 or later. From the Apple pull-down menu (top left corner of the screen), select About this Mac to see when it was made. If it’s older than 2012, but still has AirDrop in the Finder window’s sidebar, it can only AirDrop files with other Macs; it’s too old to AirDrop with iOS devices such as iPhones, iPads and iPod touches. 2 To use AirDrop on your Mac, Wi-Fi must be switched on. If it’s off, click on the menulet at the top of the screen and switch it on. Your iOS device, which must be no older than…

Using Picture in Picture Mode With the macOS Picture in Picture viewing feature, you can watch a video in a floating window that’s always on top. 1 Picture in Picture (PiP) won’t work with all web videos. If the website has implemented the feature, when you watch a video a PiP icon appears in the video controls when you hover your pointer over the video. 2 Click on the PiP icon to watch the video in its own window. You can drag the video window into any corner of the screen. Hover over it and click on the ‘X’ icon to close the separate video window again. 3 It also works with iTunes videos. Once again, hover over the video window to bring up the video controls, and click on…

A Accessibility: A series of tools and features designed to make an Apple device such as the Mac and iOS devices easier to use by those with disabilities such as vision or hearing impairments. You can find the Mac’s Accessibility features in System Preferences. AirPlay: A protocol for streaming sounds and video from an Apple device to a set of compatible speakers, or a device such as an Apple TV. It’s wireless, and easy to use as well. App: Short for ‘application’, another name for a computer software program. Your Mac comes with a selection of pre-installed apps, and you can buy more from the Mac App Store. App Store: The App Store is where you can download free and paid programs to your device using your Apple ID. You…

iMac. Mac mini. MacBook. MacBook Pro. MacBook Air. Your Ports Explained. Now you know what the ports on your Mac are called but what do they do? Here’s a guide to your computer’s various connectivity options. Audio In You can use this port to connect an external audio device to your Mac. This might be an external microphone, a CD player, audio mixer or a musical instrument. Dual Mics The Mac’s internal microphones are great for FaceTime calls, Siri and more. Dual mics help reduce background noise by focussing on your voice alone. Ethernet Port All current Macs have built-in Wi-Fi but if you want to use a cabled connection to your router instead, use the Ethernet port and an Ethernet cable. Headphone Socket This is a standard 3.5mm socket…

Going Online with Your Mac This short guide teaches you how to take your Mac online, by setting up and using a Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection. 1 Make sure your Mac is within range of your wireless router. Click on the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar as shown, and look at the list of available Wi-Fi networks. If Wi-Fi is currently turned off, switch it on using this same icon. 2 Find the name of your own Wi-Fi network. If you don’t know it, check your router’s instruction manual, or maybe look for a sticker on the router itself. Choose that network, and if prompted, enter the password. This too should be in the router manual or on the router. 3 Make sure Remember this Network is checked,…

Choose New Wallpaper You’re not stuck with the default desktop image in High Sierra; there are plenty more to choose from if you want a change. 1 To open the Desktop preferences window, click the Apple menu, select System Preferences, and select the Desktop & Screen Saver option. Select the genre of picture required from the left column. 2 Click on the image you’d like to use for your wallpaper. The desktop is updated immediately, so if you’re happy with the selection, just close the window. If not, choose another, as seen here. Use an Image from Your Photos Library. As well as having a great collection of images already supplied, you can also use one of your own photos as a desktop image. 1 Open the desktop preferences: Apple…

Full-Screen Mode The Mac’s Enlarge button takes you to a true full-screen view of the app or Finder window you’re currently using. Here’s how. 1 You can view a Finder window, and indeed, an application window, in full-screen mode. Click on the green Enlarge button in the upper left corner of the window and it will expand to fill the entire screen. Alternatively, use the View pull-down menu or press CTRL-CMD-F. 2 In full-screen mode, the menus usually found at the top of the Mac desktop are still there, but they’re hidden away until you need them. To see them, move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen and the menu bar slides into view. 3 To exit from full-screen mode back to the usual window view, bring…

Accessing Your Applications from the Dock Applications can be added, moved, or deleted so you can configure the Dock exactly how you want it. Here’s how to do it. Add an Application To add an app to the Dock, first click the spaceship icon at the left-hand side of the Dock to bring up Launchpad, then click and drag the item you want onto the Dock. Remove an Application To remove an application from the Dock, simply click and drag the item onto the desktop. The app disappears in a puff of smoke. Note; it’s only removed from the Dock, not from your Mac. Move an Application To move an item to a new location in the Dock, click and drag to the required position. As you move the item…

Setting Up Your iCloud Email If your iCloud email isn’t already set up, or you simply want to add another iCloud account to Mail, follow these instructions. 1 If you set up your Apple ID during your Mac’s initial setup, or if you signed in with an existing Apple ID, your iCloud email account is already in place. But if not, or if you want to add another iCloud email account to your Mail client, follow these instructions. 2 Open the Mail application from the Dock and then under the Mail drop-down menu found in the left of the menu bar, click on the Add Account... link. From the pop-up menu that appears, select the iCloud link and then click on the Continue button. 3 Now enter your Apple ID.…

1 Size Slider: This slider sets the size of the thumbnails in this management window. If it’s missing, you can’t change the thumbnail size on that particular screen. 2 Arrangement Options: Click on a tab to change how your photos are arranged. Photos just shows the pics, whilst Moments, Collections and Years orders them according to when taken. 3 Information: Click here for an information window. If you’ve highlighted a photo, it shows you the camera used and location where it was taken. You can add your own notes here if you wish. 4 Share Button: Click on a photo to select it and then here to share. Hold CMD and click on several photos to share more than one at a time. You can also set it as a…

Managing and Maintaining Contacts Here’s a guide to how to add new contacts to your Contacts address book, edit existing ones and share them with others. 1 To create a new contact card, click on the plus button in the bottom left of the current card. Select New Contact from the window that pops up and you’re given a blank card to fill in. 2 To add details, click on the field and then type in the information. After entering a phone number or address, another blank is offered, in case you want to add a second one. Click on the name of the detail (in blue) for a pop-up window that lets you change it. When you’re finished, click Done. To change or add information to a card you’ve…

Setting Up iBooks Here’s how to set up and use the iBooks app, from opening it the first time to organising your digital books collection. 1 Launch the iBooks app and click on Get Started. You’re asked to sign in using your Apple ID. Do so. If you need to sign in with another account at a later date, use the Sign In/Out option in the Store drop-down menu in the top bar. 2 If you’re already an iBooks user on your iPad or iPhone, you can access your books by clicking the All Books tab in the top-right of this pane. From this link you’re taken to your complete iBooks library located on iCloud. 3 By clicking on the iCloud icon in the top-right corner of a book, you…

Finding Places with Maps You can use Maps to find addresses, businesses, landmarks, local amenities and much more. Here’s how to go about it. 1 To find your current location, click the arrow icon left of the search field. The map zooms to your current whereabouts. To search for a specific location, type the address, postcode/zip code or road name into the search field. Possible matches are shown as you type; as soon as you see what you’re looking for, click on it. 2 You can search for a business by entering the business name or type, for example ‘pizza delivery’, into the search field. Pins appear on the map indicating all matching businesses in the area. To get more information, click on a pin, then on the ‘i’ button…

To open the App Store, click the Apple menu and select App Store. Alternatively, you can use the Sierra Launchpad or the App Store icon found in the Dock. 1 The Featured Icon: Press this button to take a look at featured apps; that is, ones Apple has highlighted as especially worth your attention. These apps are often those that will showcase your Mac and the power it offers you and therefore a good place to start. 2 The Top Charts Icon: What apps are popular among Mac owners? This button takes you to the charts, both paid-for and free. As free apps often offer in-app purchases, their download buttons are now labelled ‘Get’ instead of ‘Free’ as they were before. 3 The Categories Icon: Looking for a game, a…

1 To upgrade the iCloud storage on your Mac, first go to the Apple menu and open the System Preferences. Click on the iCloud option, found in the third row, on the left. 2 In the bottom right corner of this window, there’s a button marked Manage.... Click it. From the next screen, you can delete documents and data from your iCloud if you wish. 3 Click Change Storage Plan... in the top right. On the next screen, you’re shown your current plan and options to upgrade for a higher monthly fee. Click on one to choose, and click Next. 4 Click the Downgrade Options if you want a smaller, cheaper plan. When asked, input your Apple ID and password and you will be immediately switched to the new iCloud…

Integrating Facebook and Twitter with macOS You can integrate a number of your favourite social networking accounts with macOS High Sierra, and use them on your Mac. 1 Launch System Preferences by clicking the System Preferences icon in the Dock, or selecting System Preferences from the Apple menu. In the System Preferences window that opens, select the Internet Accounts icon. 2 When the preference pane opens, click the Facebook or Twitter icon on the right-hand side of the window. You can now enter the username and password for your Facebook or Twitter account in the pop-up window and click Next to move on to the next step. 3 An information sheet drops down, explaining what happens when you sign into Facebook from your Mac. First, your list of Facebook friends…

Using Launchpad There are several ways to launch an app but the macOS Launchpad is arguably the easiest. It’s modelled on the iOS home screen. 1 To open the Launchpad, go to the Dock and click on it. Alternatively, place four fingertips on your trackpad and bring them together. The screen darkens and your apps are shown as icons. To launch an app from this screen, click on it. To close Launchpad, press Esc or click on the desktop. 2 If you have more than one page of Launchpad apps, move between them by swiping left and right with two fingers or hold CMD and use the arrow keys. You can drag an app from one page to another and delete apps installed from the App Store by clicking and…

Key Methods of File Sharing on Your Mac. The Share button is available throughout macOS High Sierra and allows you to share data with others. Twitter Twitter is the social networking phenomenon that’s taken over the world. Discuss world events in real time as they happen or simply share your thoughts. Facebook Facebook is the number one online social hub. Whenever you find or do something cool that you want to share with your friends, Facebook is the place to do it. LinkedIn LinkedIn is a social network for professionals and recruiters. It’s great for linking up with people in a similar profession, and jobs are often advertised on LinkedIn too. Use it for all your business needs. YouTube The ultimate video library. There’s everything on YouTube from high tech…

1 To use the Universal Clipboard feature, the devices in question must be logged into the same iCloud account. If they’re yours, they probably already are but if you have trouble using this tutorial, it might be worth checking. 2 Now you can copy and paste a piece of text from one device to another, quickly and easily. On your Mac, simply copy it to your clipboard by highlighting the text in question, then pressing either CMD-X to cut it or CMD-C to copy. 3 Now, on your iOS device, double tap on the place where you want to paste the text you cut or copied on your MacBook. From the pop-up menu, select Paste and it appears. There might be a slight lag while the text uploaded to iCloud.…

Setting Up Time Machine To begin, let’s look at the initial set up of your external drive and the Time Machine app itself. 1 Connect an external hard drive, via USB, FireWire or Thunderbolt, to your Mac. It should be at least the size of your Mac’s hard drive. The larger the drive, the further back in time you will be able to store backups. Now open System Preferences and click on Time Machine in the bottom row. 2 Click the Select Disk... button and you will be presented with a window listing your currently connected drives. Select the drive on which you would like to store your Time Machine backups. If your external drive isn’t already formatted as ‘Mac OS Extended (Journaled)’, Time Machine invites you to erase and…

Getting the Most from Quick Look Quick Look is a really handy tool when you’ve familiarised yourself with it. With practice, it soon becomes second nature. 1 To use Quick Look, single-click on a file or folder in Finder, and press the Space Bar. It’s as simple as that. A window opens previewing that file. Tap Space again to close it. 2 After opening a Quick Look window, you can share the file or open it in its native app from the top bar. Just click on one of the buttons in the top right corner. 3 Another way to use Quick Look is to highlight a group of files before pressing Space. The Quick Look window gains two extra controls – chevrons to cycle through the files and a…

Modern computers like the Mac are amongst the most complicated machines ever designed. When you consider just how complex they are and how many lines of code go to make up the programs that run on them, it’s an amazing testament to the quality of the Mac hardware and software that they’re usually so stable and reliable. However, no machine, even a really well made one, can ever be 100 per cent perfect. If something goes wrong with your Mac: if it stops working, the screen freezes up, there’s a problem with the battery, the hard disk or the operating system and apps installed on it, you don’t always need to call the Genius Bar to get it fixed. There are a number of things you can try for yourself…

Are you new to the Mac and its operating system, macOS? Would you like to learn about what’s new in the latest version, macOS High Sierra? Perhaps you need help setting up your Mac and getting it onto the Internet? If so, Mac - The Beginners’ Guide is for you. Our fully illustrated, plain English tutorials take you through the first steps with your Mac, and show you the basics such as the desktop and gesture controls. We then break down all the Mac’s key bundled apps, showing their basic and advanced features; also, we take a look at some of macOS High Sierra’s more complicated features, such as iCloud, System Preferences and Family Sharing. With our help, you’ll soon be getting the most from your Mac. Up to Date…