macOS Catalina For Dummies

macOS Catalina For Dummies

by Bob LeVitus
Released November 2019
Publisher(s): For Dummies
ISBN: 9781119607885

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Book description

Get a handle on macOS Catalina

It doesn't matter if you're doing your computing on an old reliable Macbook or a brand-new Mac desktop, both rely on macOS to help you get things done. It helps to have an equally reliable guidebook to steer you through the tasks and steps that make macOS run efficiently.

This fun and friendly guide provides the direction you need to easily navigate the classic and brand new features in macOS Catalina. Longtime expert Bob "Dr. Mac" LeVitus shares his years of experience to help you better understand Catalina and make it a timesaving tool in your life. 

  • Take a tour of the macOS Catalina interface
  • Get organized and save time with macOS applications
  • Find pro tips on speeding up your Mac   
  • Back up your data

macOS Catalina For Dummies is perfect for new and inexperienced macOS users looking to grasp the fundamentals of the operating system.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Icons Used in This Book
    4. Beyond the Book
    5. Where to Go from Here
  3. Part 1: macOS Basics
    1. Chapter 1: macOS Catalina 101 (Prerequisites: None)
      1. Gnawing to the Core of macOS
      2. A Safety Net for the Absolute Beginner (or Any User)
      3. Not Just a Beatles Movie: Help and the Help Menu
    2. Chapter 2: Desktop and Windows and Menus (Oh My!)
      1. Touring Finder and Its Desktop
      2. Anatomy of a Window
      3. Dialog Dealie-Boppers
      4. Working with Windows
      5. Menu Basics
    3. Chapter 3: What’s Up, Dock?
      1. A Quick Introduction to Your Dock
      2. Customizing Your Dock
    4. Chapter 4: Getting to Know Finder and Its Desktop
      1. Introducing Finder and Its Minions: The Desktop and Icons
      2. Aliases Are Awesome!
      3. The View(s) from a Window
      4. Finder on the Menu
      5. Customizing Finder Windows
      6. Digging for Icon Data in the Info Window
    5. Chapter 5: Delving Even Deeper into Catalina’s Desktop and Finder
      1. Cleaning Up Your Desktop Automatically with Stacks
      2. Quick Actions: Now Playing All Over Catalina
      3. Do It Quicker with Finder Quick Actions
      4. Four More Cool Catalina Tricks
  4. Part 2: How Stuff Works
    1. Chapter 6: Having It Your Way
      1. Introducing System Preferences
      2. Putting a Picture on the Desktop
      3. Setting Up a Screen Saver
      4. Giving Buttons, Menus, and Windows a Makeover
      5. Adjusting the Keyboard, Mouse, Trackpad, and Other Hardware
      6. Styling Your Sound
    2. Chapter 7: Opening and Saving Files
      1. A Quick Primer on Finding Files
      2. Understanding the macOS Folder Structure
      3. Saving Your Document Before It’s Too Late
      4. Open, Sez Me
    3. Chapter 8: File and Folder Management Made Easy
      1. Organizing Your Stuff in Folders
      2. Shuffling Files and Folders
      3. The Incredible iCloud Drive
    4. Chapter 9: Comprehending the macOS Clipboard
      1. Introducing the Clipboard
      2. Copying Files and Folders
      3. Pasting from the Clipboard
      4. Catalina’s Universal Clipboard
  5. Part 3: Getting Things Done
    1. Chapter 10: Four Terrific Time-saving Tools
      1. With a Quick Look
      2. Spotlight on Finding Files and Folders Faster
      3. Blast Off with Mission Control
      4. Launchpad: The Place for Applications
    2. Chapter 11: Organizing Your Life
      1. Keeping Track with Calendar
      2. Reminders: Protection Against Forgetting
      3. Everything You Need to Know about Notification Center
      4. Use Notes for Making Notes
      5. Tracking Productivity with Screen Time
    3. Chapter 12: Are You Siri-ous?
      1. What Siri Can Do for You
      2. Working with Siri
      3. Making Siri Your Own
    4. Chapter 13: Maps Are Where It’s At
      1. Finding Your Current Location with Maps
      2. Finding a Person, Place, or Thing
      3. Views, Zooms, and Pans
      4. Maps and Contacts
      5. Time-saving Map Tools: Favorites, Recents, and Contacts
      6. Smart Map Tricks
    5. Chapter 14: Apps Born in iOS
      1. Taking Stock of the Market with Stocks
      2. Read All about It in News
      3. Recording Memos with Voice Memos
      4. Controlling Lights, Locks, and More with Home
  6. Part 4: Getting Along with Others
    1. Chapter 15: (Inter)Networking
      1. Getting Connected to the Internet
      2. Browsing the Web with Safari
      3. Audio and Video Calls with FaceTime
    2. Chapter 16: Dealing with People
      1. Collecting Your Contacts
    3. Chapter 17: Communicating with Mail and Messages
      1. Sending and Receiving Email with Mail
      2. Communicating with Messages
    4. Chapter 18: Sharing Your Mac and Liking It
      1. Introducing Networks and File Sharing
      2. Setting Up File Sharing
      3. Access and Permissions: Who Can Do What
      4. Connecting to a Shared Disk or Folder on a Remote Mac
      5. Changing Your Password
      6. More Types of Sharing
  7. Part 5: Getting Creative
    1. Chapter 19: The Musical Mac
      1. Apple Music and iTunes Match Rock!
      2. Introducing Music (the App Formerly Known as iTunes)
      3. Working with Media
      4. All about Playlists
    2. Chapter 20: The Multimedia Mac
      1. Playing Movies and Music in QuickTime Player
      2. Watching TV
      3. Using the Books App
      4. Finding and Listening to Podcasts with the Podcasts App
      5. You’re the Star with Photo Booth
      6. Viewing and Converting Images and PDFs in Preview
      7. Importing Media from a Camera or Camcorder
    3. Chapter 21: Words and Letters
      1. Processing Words with TextEdit
      2. Font Mania
    4. Chapter 22: Publish or Perish: The Fail-Safe Guide to Printing
      1. Before Diving In …
      2. Ready: Connecting and Adding Your Printer
      3. Set: Setting Up Your Document with Page Setup
      4. Print: Printing with the Print Sheet
      5. Preview and PDF Options
  8. Part 6: Care and Feeding
    1. Chapter 23: Features for the Way You Work
      1. Finally, a Dark Mode
      2. App Shopping, Improved
      3. Using Your iPhone as Your Mac's Camera or Scanner
      4. Talking and Listening to Your Mac
      5. Automatic Automation
      6. A Few More Useful Goodies
    2. Chapter 24: Safety First: Backups and Other Security Issues
      1. Backing Up Is (Not) Hard to Do
      2. Why You Need Two Sets of Backups
      3. Non-Backup Security Concerns
      4. Protecting Your Data from Prying Eyes
    3. Chapter 25: Utility Chest
      1. In the Applications and Utilities Folders
      2. Capturing Your Screen
    4. Chapter 26: Troubleshooting macOS
      1. About Startup Disks and Booting
      2. Recovering with Recovery HD
      3. If Your Mac Crashes at Startup
      4. Optimizing Storage
  9. Part 7: The Part of Tens
    1. Chapter 27: Ten Ways to Speed Up Your Mac Experience
      1. Use Those Keyboard Shortcuts
      2. Improve Your Typing Skills
      3. Change Your Resolution
      4. Purchase a Faster Mac
      5. Add RAM
      6. Add a Second Display
      7. Use Your iPad as a Second Display
      8. Upgrade to a Solid-State Drive (SSD)
      9. Get More Storage
      10. Subscribe to My Free Newsletter
    2. Chapter 28: Ten Great Websites for Mac Freaks
      1. The Mac Observer
      2. Macworld
      3. TidBITS
      4. iMore
      5. AppleWorld.Today
      6. The Wirecutter
      7. Apple Support
      8. Other World Computing
      9. dealmac/dealnews
      10. Working Smarter for Mac Users
  10. Index
  11. About the Author
  12. Connect with Dummies
  13. End User License Agreement

Product information

  • Title: macOS Catalina For Dummies
  • Author(s): Bob LeVitus
  • Release date: November 2019
  • Publisher(s): For Dummies
  • ISBN: 9781119607885