Mac OS X Power Hound, Second Edition

Chapter 11. Other Apple Goodies

Without a doubt, the iApps described in the previous chapters are fantastic programs, and serve very well as the heart of the Apple digital hub software suite. But enough already about iApps—what about the aApps, bApps, cApps, and so on? Truth is, they deserve equal time when it comes to undocumented shortcuts and secrets—and in this chapter, they get it. Open your Applications folder, peruse the list of free programs, and read on.

Address Book

Mac OS X’s Address Book is a central repository where you can enter someone’s contact information just once, and then use it in a slew of other programs. While Mail and iChat are the biggest names so far to use this feature, more developers are including Address Book technologies in their own programs every year.

Quick Entries from Mail

One of the most efficient ways to add an email buddy to the Address Book is to do so from within Mail. Just highlight a message and choose Message → Add Sender to Address Book—or simply press

-Y. Mail instantly adds the person who sent the message to your Address Book, no questions asked.

Sharing Palm Contacts with Address Book

If you’ve been using Palm Desktop, the free Rolodex program provided with every Palm-based organizer, you might be looking longingly at Address Book. After all, Address Book is just as good at synchronizing your little black book with a Palm organizer (thanks ...