The Complete Beginners Guide to Mac OS X El Capitan
(For MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, and Mac Mini)
By Scott La Counte
© 2015. All Rights Reserved.
Cover Image f11photo @ Fotalia.com
Tableof Contents
Introduction
What’s New In El Capitan?
Mac? Is It Worth It?
Installation
OS X 10.9 Mavericks
OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion or Below
Mac vs. Windows
Transferring Documents
Compatibility
Setup Assistant
Part I: Mac OS Crash Course
Keyboard
Apple Key
Delete (Backspace)
Magic Mouse / Trackpad
Force Touch
The Desktop
Menu Bar
Menulets
Dock
Trash
App Buttons
Finder
Views in Finder
Sorting in Finder
File Management
Favorites
Tabbed Browsing
Tags
Launchpad
Notifications
Split View
Method 1
Method 2
Internet
Setting Up With Ethernet
Setting Up Wireless Networks
Airport Express / Airport Extreme
Safari
Mail
Adding Accounts
Sending an Email
Contacts
Messaging / Phone Calls
iMessage
FaceTime
Photo Booth
Calendar
Reminders
Creating Single Reminders
Creating New Lists
Location Based Reminder
Notes
Creating and Editing Notes
iTunes
Adding Music to your Library
Playlists
Using Genius
Match
Radio
Creating a Radio Station
iTunes Store
App Store
Lesser Used Apps
Family Sharing
Part 2: Making the Mac Yours
System Preferences
General
Desktop & Screen Saver
Dock
Mission Control
Social Networking, Mail, Contacts and Calendars
Sound
Users & Groups
Parental Controls
Accessibility
Privacy and Security
Part 3: Maintenance
Preserving Battery Life
iCloud
Time Machine
Software Updates
Appendix A: Keyboard Shortcuts
Please note, while every effort has been made to ensure accuracy, this book is not endorsed by Apple and should be consider unofficial.
Introduction
Every year or so you hear the big pitch: Windows is finally going to be awesome again. The new update is big, grander and a huge overhaul. And then it comes and it’s more buggy, weirder, and less functional than the version that came before! That’s probably what made you consider making the switch—you’re tired of the excuses and you want a computer that just works!
Whether you are a new convert to Mac, still thinking about making the switch, or just want to learn more about Macs, this book will guide you through the Mac OS and help you see how making the switch really isn’t the great leap that you once thought it was.
This book will show you the basics and show you how to do the common day tasks you know on Windows (like right clicking). It will also show you how to get your Mac in sync with your iPad or iPhone, and how to do everyday tasks like change background, find files, and performance tweaks to keep your Mac running like new.
What’s New In El Capitan?
If you are upgrading from OS Yosemite to OS El Capitan, you’ll quickly notice one thing: it looks almost exactly the same. That’s because most of the changes were under the hood; the OS is built to run quicker, but the look and feel is largely unchanged.
That’s not to say nothing is changed. There were minor changes and updates to Mission Control, Spotlight, Mail, Notes, Photos, Safari, Maps, and Fonts.
The biggest enhancement is a feature called Split View. That will be covered in more depth later in the book, but in a nutshell, Split View lets you run two compatible apps side-by-side—I say compatible because not all apps work.
If you bought a new Macbook or Macbook Pro (Macbook Air is not yet compatible), then there’s a good chance a Force Touch track pad was included; Force Touch lets you do different gestures based on how firm you touch the mouse. It will covered in great depth later in the book.
Mac? Is It Worth It?
Before diving into the actual software, let’s address the obvious: why pick Mac?
I was in the Windows camp for a long time; I’d see the Mac and think it was just a computer for hipsters. Sure they were nice to look at—they were shiny and didn’t look plastic-y and cheap…but they
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