Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Yosemite Edition

Saved Passwords: The iCloud Keychain

Safari can remember user names, passwords, mailing addresses, and other information you type into the text boxes you encounter in your Web travels. And thanks to a glorious feature called the iCloud Keychain, Safari can even memorize your credit card details—and synchronize all of it (passwords and credit cards) with your other Apple phones, tablets, and Macs.

Memorized Contact Information

To turn on this great feature, visit the Safari→Preferences→AutoFill tab. If you turn on “Using info from my Contacts card,” then whenever you’re supposed to fill in your shipping address on a Web form, you can click the AutoFill button in the address bar to have Safari fill in the blanks for you automatically. (If you don’t see the AutoFill button, then choose Edit→AutoFill Form to do the deed instead.)

Alternatively, just click a text box—Name, for example—and start typing. As soon as Safari recognizes a familiar scrap of your contact information, it displays a pop-up suggestion below the text box. To accept the suggestion, click it (or press the arrow key and then press Return). To decline it, press Return, or just keep typing.

Memorized Passwords

If, in Preferences, you turn on “User names and passwords,” then each time you type a password into a Web page, Safari offers to memorize it for you. It’s a great time- and brain-saver. (Of course, use it with caution ...