Learn the Mac: Mac Quick Start Guide for New Users

macmost.com/e-3046 If you are new to Mac then this is the guide for you. Here is a quick start to get you going with how to use the mouse or trackpad, keyboard, Menu Bar, Dock, windows, apps, the Finder and much more. Get up to speed quick with this comprehensive tutorial.
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00:00 Intro
00:26 Control Your Mac With a Mouse or Trackpad
01:04 The Unique Mac Keyboard
02:12 Click, Double Click, Drag and Drop
02:53 The Menu Bar
04:08 The Desktop
05:21 The Dock
06:21 Moving and Resizing App Windows
06:52 Red, Yellow and Green Buttons
08:13 Switching Between Apps and Windows
09:25 System Settings
11:03 Finder Windows and Views
12:55 Working With Files and Folders
14:56 How Your Mac’s Drive Is Organized
15:52 Searching For Files and More
16:52 Spotlight
18:02 Customizing the Dock
18:52 Customize Control Center
19:37 Customize Your Desktop Wallpaper
20:18 Adding More Apps
21:02 Multitasking With Mission Control
22:56 Multitasking With Stage Manager
23:43 Contacts, Calendar, Reminders and Notes
25:17 Mail, Safari, Messages and FaceTime
26:53 Photos, Pages, Numbers, Keynote and iMovie
#macmost #mactutorial #macos

[@georgee3401]

While this video is aimed at “new” Mac users, I would argue that it’s useful for “experienced” users to review the features that may have been forgotten. Many thanks!

[@carlosg.1955]

This man is gold. I was about to go back to Windows because Mac OS was kind of confusing and uncomfortable at first. After watching several videos on this channel, I’ve became in love with Mac OS- there is so much you can do. It’s intuitive and fluid . To anyone coming from windows I would suggest, do not try to use your Mac as a windows computer (big mistake). Instead, learn how to work with your Mac as it is. This channel will give you everything you need to know and more.

[@MaiElizabeth]

He is the only guy talking about Mac who is not wasting my time. Straight forward and no nonsense.

[@LTVoyager]

I switched to the Mac world back in 2009 long before I knew about this channel. The first few months were rough, but I finally got into the groove and now really like the Mac. I still had to use Windows at work and still use it quite a bit now that I am retired (I know MS Office too well to switch to the Mac apps at my age), but find it easy to switch back and forth. I run Windows on my Mac in Parallels and still amazes me at how well that works. I must say that I still find the Windows approach of having the menus at the top of the window rather than than at the top of the screen, but that is one of the few areas where I find Windows more logical than the Mac.

[@mikepawlikguitar]

Gary, you're the North Star of providing value to your subscribers. If everyone was as helpful as you, the world would be a much better place! Way to be, and thanks for all the great Mac content over the years

[@ricwestdoesitwork]

I’ve had my MacBook for about a year now and I still learn something from every video you publish Gary. Even this video reminded me of a couple things I forgot because I didn’t use the feature everyday or often. Thanks Gary.

[@weinbergfahrer4048]

For me, after 30+ years of using Windows, this is a really great video to get my feet wet with my new Mac mini. Thanks a lot for providing this overview!

[@mine1685]

Your explaining what "Natural scrolling" means helped me a lot. I didn't know what it meant until I watched your video about it and it was bothersome for me when I hadn't chosen "Natural scrolling" option. Thank you very much. Also you have such a good tone of voice. Your enunciating the words when talking is great too.

[@joshuatree2537]

This video is EXCELLENT! I moved to a Mac 6 months ago and slogged through learning it. There are a lot of videos on setting up a new Mac but not many that cover the basic nuts & bolts of MacOS like this video.

[@javtimestwo]

As you know I am not new to the Mac but I still had to watch the video because I just knew I could still learning something and of course I did. Keep up the great work! 🤘🏼

[@m.c.5795]

You published this video a couple days before I purchased my first MacBook (I'm not new to Apple though) and when I googled "helpful videos for users new to Mac from Windows," yours was one of the videos that came up and the only one I clicked. For your efforts, I am very grateful, because I've not only subscribed, but I've also gone through and watched one year worth of your backlog to learn as much as possible about using a MacBook. It has a been a slight learning curve, but a little over one month in, I'm comfortable with, and being productive with my M2, using only keyboard shortcuts and the trackpad instead of a mouse like I depended on in my Windows PC laptops. I have zero complaints or issues and that is in part thanks to your thoroughly educational and helpful videos. Thank you for everything!

[@macmost]

Glad I could help!

[@loisskiathitis8926]

This video is a saver! A very useful and informative video tutorial today! Thank you, Gary!👏❤️

[@leythecg]

Just a awesome tutorial! Many thanks!

[@garynagle3093]

Great video. Love the whirlwind tutorial. Thank you

[@fadromata1]

Clear and well-structured information delivered with good diction and most importantly without the obnoxious vocal fry. Many thanks for your work!

[@davidoden]

Great Video. Thanks for the help, I am loving my Mac so far.

[@scottboettcher1344]

For years now I couldn't figure out how to change my "Autofill" to my current phone number, and this just showed me its in "Contacts"! THANK YOU GARY!!!!

[@cubamunoz9510]

Yes i just got a mac ,thanks please more beginner's videos my friend. Awesome video thanks Sir.

[@garywagner2466]

Great intro and review. Thanks, Gary.

[@alohakeithb]

This was a great review. Thanks Gary

[@rebeccastrasner3735]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@heatherramsay8062]

Thanks so much Gary!

[@davidis7]

Great video Gary!

[@MicrobyteAlan]

interesting, informative and well presented. Thanks

[@anthonybeese293]

Thank you sir for your wonderful information and help you are great 😊

[@neninho69]

so useful!!!! than you!!!

[@michaelgreco8592]

Great content, sir.

[@Zuid5314]

Thanks dude

[@quickercupid]

Good Tutorial

[@muhammedsali7300]

thanks macmost

[@wiwingmargahayu6831]

7nM tips is really usefull for some people like me Sir

[@missx0]

Have only used Windows all my life but had to shift to Mac a few months ago. Haven’t touched it ever since because it was so different from Win and I felt uneasy to be fiddling with something I don’t know about. But this video has been an absolute game changer! I’m devouring every second of it and kinda thrilled to try my Macbook now. Do you have a video on Mac keyboard shortcuts? That’d be so useful too!

[@macmost]

I have lots of videos on keyboard shortcuts. And a handy print PDF on my site. See macmost.com/tag/keyboard-shortcuts

[@LunaticEdit]

One thing I would have mentioned is installing and uninstalling apps the 'normal' way. Meaning mounting a DMG disk image and/or dragging to the applications folder (or vise versa).

[@macmost]

A lot (most?) Mac users will never have to do that today. The DMG method of installing would only apply to apps downloaded from web sites (not the App Store) and without an installer. But when apps do use this method, they are pretty good about explaining it.

[@armandofretto9917]

Can you do the same with the the iPhone

[@Dulcilady]

Thanks a bunch for your video (s). I just received my Mac Studio this past Monday & thought it would be easier than it is because I have been using iPads since 2011 & figured there would be some similarity. There are some similarities but not as much as I’d hoped. Going to be working with these videos for some time to get started. Have you done any videos on Final Cut Pro? It came with my Mac but after opening, I could see it’s NOTHING like any of the apps I’ve used on my iPad or my pcs. Thanks a bunch! Do you have a beginning basics about starting from scratch? I didn’t want to migrate anything from my old pc figuring I could do that later but I hope I didn’t make a mistake there.

[@macmost]

Yes. Search my channel and you'll find a few Final Cut Pro videos. I also have a course at courses.macmost.com

[@Dulcilady]

Great, thanks a lot. Your videos are very helpful. @@macmost

[@elwinmentaram6031]

Hi Gary, can we maximize the system setting window?

[@macmost]

The width of System Settings is fixed.

[@GDP12341]

Hello! I’m super impressed with your videos! I would love to subscribe to your newsletter! But when I attempt to sign up, I keep getting the error message that this is not a real email address (I tried both with all caps and with all small caps and I double checked the spelling). Can you please help me? Thanks so much!

[@macmost]

Sorry you are having trouble. Is your email address unusual in some way? You can try using macmost.com/contact and use the "press" contact section to send me a message with your email address and I'll add it. Thanks.

[@HariOm-dp7um]

Hello Gary. When using zoom on Mac I am not able to share sound with zoom attendees and at the same time play sound through TV. I can do either, but not both. This is not a problem when I use my regular HP windows computer. Can you help? Thanks

[@macmost]

Sorry, I don't know. You'd need to contact Zoom support for help with their app.

[@ambercozzinowak]

Hello Gary sir, I have just started on mac, after being a Windows super-user for many years, my new employer has me on a MacBook. You are a great teacher so thank you very much , but why can I not save a change I make in system settings? I tried what you suggested with the background for instance, choosing a changing background, I can click on it but I can't seem to SET it, or save it to my settings. When you showed it in the above video it was a bit of a rushed-through moment. Mac is totally different to Microsoft and it's rather painful to have to learn all of this over again, but I'll stick with it and see if it gets any easier. Thanks again because you must certainly are an absolute jewel.

[@macmost]

Not sure what issue you may be having, sorry. With whatever setting you are having trouble with try working with it some more.

[@ambercozzinowak]

@@macmost thank you. You're right and I will.

[@kleneg]

H! ! maybe you can help me? About your video "Organizing Your iOS Apps With iTunes 11 (MacMost Now 832)" Does this still work, or is there an alternative?

[@macmost]

No. Today you do it right on the iPhone. It is easier now since you can move multiple apps around and you have the App Library too. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3u6q3mLorWUpq8

[@DataWatch.]

Gary are you aware of issues with keynote 13.2? Seen a few grumbles in forums about video shaking instead of playing after export. It is now happening to me 😢

[@macmost]

Sorry, I haven't experienced that. What did Apple Support say?

[@DataWatch.]

@@macmost something about it was an issue with the keynote upgrade. Their best advice was to wait until apple resolve it or reset Mac to an earlier version, something I don’t really want to contemplate

[@patrickhines4853]

Hello there. I could use some help. I have an SD card that i have store many of my work files on. One day I decided to put that same SD card in my MAC computer. IDK what happened but when I put the SD card in back in my PC, there is a .Spotlight-v100 file that leads to another file named Store-v2 which leads to nothing. Meanwhile, I dont see any of my files. My computer shows that my drive is near capacity (which is accurate with my work files) but I dont see them to access them. Can you help me? Thank you in advance. Aslo, all my files were created and stored on PC originally. Gary, I really regret this MAC thing. Please help

[@nullnull3953]

I have itunes on my pc, and i put songs onto my new iphone however those songs end up saying they are 10 or 20 minutes long and while showing lets say snoopdogg the music will end and start playing the next song while still showing snoopdogg, is there a fix for this?

[@macmost]

That's not normal. You'll need to contact Apple Support.

[@ProAttique]

Yesterday I was trying to find a way how to show keys on your screen whenever I press them on my keyboard. I found it in the setting but whenever I press them, they do not leave the screen until I press them twice again. I can see your screen. You press keys and they appear on your screen as well but once you release fingers, they disappear automatically. I want to do it for my screen recording. Is there a way I just press some keys, release my fingers from keyboard buttons and they disappear from my screen automatically?

[@macmost]

That's part of the ScreenFlow software I use: macmost.com/what-i-use

[@JoMaelle]

Props to gary having multiple images of wombats to show on spotlight search (for only that occasion i assume)

[@DalsPhotography]

Hello from Uruguay, Gary. Could you be so kind to help me with this? In ADOBE Photoshop, the square braket is used to enlarge or decrease the size of the brushes, but in my spanish Keyboard that key requires me to look for a combo that's not there. I have a spanish MAC keyboard bought down here. Is there any shortcut for that special character? Thank you in advance!!!

[@macmost]

You never mentioned what the character is. You should also be able to customize the keyboard shortcut if you need. I believe Photoshop has a whole section for that in the settings or somewhere in the app.

[@DalsPhotography]

I might have miss-expressed myself, as I speak spanish, what I usually need is ( [ ) (square bracket) I have been looking around and still can't find how to make it. If I change the language of my keyboard, then yes I can make it, even though then I can't write as most of the keys are in a different position due to language differences. Odd stuff, and still I couldn't change that single command in Photoshop ... I am not the only one with this issue!!! Thank you very much. @@macmost

[@macmost]

@@DalsPhotography I'd contact Adobe Support on this as they are the only ones who can help you then.

[@YSBRYD-CATH]

In Sonoma, is there any way to change the blinking cursor placeholder back to black instead of the new yellow (which I can't see)? TIA

[@macmost]

Do you mean the text cursor? Where do you see it as yellow? Is that in a particular app?

[@YSBRYD-CATH]

In lots of them... In "mail" for example, when I click on the "To" or "Subject" or Bcc, etc... the 'line' that shows where I'll be typing is a very faint yellow when it used to be black. I'm 73, and it's very difficult for me to see it. @@macmost

[@macmost]

@@YSBRYD-CATH Did you maybe change it to yellow in System Settings, Appearance, Accent Color and Highlight Color?

[@YSBRYD-CATH]

Nope. I do use yellow for a highlight color, but that shouldn't affect the placeholder... can't use black as a highlight color anyway. But I'll change the color and see what happens.... ok, if I change the highlight color to blue, then the placeholder turns blue and IS much easier to see... though I don't like using blue as a highlight color, I guess that will have to be the solution. Thanks much for your help! @@macmost

[@macmost]

@@YSBRYD-CATH If you are really set on it being black, you can choose "Other" as a highlight color and select black.

[@LTVoyager]

I really like my Macs, but I still don’t get the logic of having printers and scanners in system settings. That just seems odd to me.

[@jacekpaszkowski2000]

Hey got another question for You. So I'm wondering, if I leave my Macbook Air M1 plugged in all the time, will this affect battery life, as in charging cycles and battery capacity? I just realized that my battery capacity is 79% and I've gone through 1076 charge cycles. I never thought until now that I could always just keep my Mac plugged in, I was just lazy to not have it plugged in, totally my own idiocy. Just wondering what your thoughts are on this. Thank you.

[@macmost]

No. It is perfectly normal to leave your MacBook plugged in. Lots of people leave their plugged in 24/7. Your Mac manages your battery itself, you don't need to micromanage it. In fact, trying to manage it yourself will get in the way and do more harm than good. See kzbin.info/www/bejne/haWWk62BgMytppo

[@jacekpaszkowski2000]

@@macmost Thanks for the reply. I should've kept it plugged in most of the time, the charger was always there beside me, but I'd run it on the battery just because I wasn't thinking this far ahead. My battery says the maximum capacity is 79% and I've gone through 1076 full cycles. Do I need to replace it, if I'm just going to run it off the charger 95% of the time? Or when should I replace it? Thanks again for answering my question. I'm going to watch the link you provided. Thanks again.

[@macmost]

@@jacekpaszkowski2000 What does it say for Battery Health in System Settings? Click the "i" button and it should advise you whether you need to replace the battery.

[@jacekpaszkowski2000]

@@macmost It says 79% and "Service Recommended."

[@macmost]

@@jacekpaszkowski2000 There you go then. Get a new battery.

[@briandavies2833]

I am new to Mac and hoped to find a way to prevent my MacBook Pro M3 Pro silicon from autobooting. I don't want it to boot until I press the power button but can't find a way. Can it be done, Gary? The NVRAM Autoboot terminal setting I see on YT does not work.

[@macmost]

Not sure what "NVRAM Autoboot terminal setting" you mean but it is probably for older Intel Macs. Are you actually shutting down your MacBook? Don't. Just let it sleep. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKTVhaN7qr14qsU

[@briandavies2833]

@@macmost Thank you. Yes, my reading is that the terminal setting doesn't work with Apple Silicon. I am not against the sleep function and, indeed, I use it most of the time. However, I am at a loss to know how to regularly give the keyboard a good clean when it starts as soon as I touch any key. How do you do that?

[@macmost]

@@briandavies2833 You didn't mention anything before about cleaning your keyboard. If that was what you were trying to do, why leave the most important piece of information out? To clean your keyboard, just open an app that won't cause any harm as you clean each key. I like to open a new TextEdit document and then let the keys type into that as I clean.

[@briandavies2833]

@@macmost Thanks Gary. No, you are right, I didn't mention why I wanted to shut down entirely. I didn't think the reason was necessary, just wanting to know if it could be achieved. Further research led me to a method which seems to work. "Hold down control and command on the left and shift on the right for 7 seconds, then while keeping those held down, hold down the power button until 7 seconds after your MacBook turns off, it will make it so your MacBook can only be powered back on using the power button" That works for keyboard cleaning, however I found closing the lid and reopening it also seems to result in a restart.

[@macmost]

@@briandavies2833 Where did you find that sequence? A search turns up no mention of that anywhere I can find.

[@inasuta4881]

Thanks. However, as a 1st time Mac user this was almost too much and too fast. Please suggest a video or make one such as ‘Mac absolute introduction’ 👍

[@macmost]

I've got a course that is more slower and broken down into smaller pieces if you like. courses.macmost.com (the Sonoma course)

[@RickCreating]

My iPad won’t connect to my Mac desktop. Can you help? I have an app called nomad sculpts and trying to transfer some stl files to my mac computer but they won’t sink.

[@bnbinbound5902]

Are you trying to sync what’s on your iPad to your iMac desktop?

[@bnbinbound5902]

I am definitely no guru, but use several devices all syncing with one another for various business purposes. If you’re looking to do something on one device and have it show up on the other… Ensure that both devices are logged into your Apple ID. Then go to the Apple logo in the upper left-hand corner. And follow these commands. System preferences Apple ID iCloud Options Documents (there will be a list of several things) Use the checkboxes to select what items you want to be shared across devices using the Apple ID. It takes just a minute for each device to refresh, but those items will now be synced across devices. For instance, if you have a photo saved on your iPad screen it will now show up on your iMac or iPhone, etc. Whatever you selected will be shared across devices. You can turn this customization on or off per device.

[@macmost]

What are you doing to connect, exactly? Does it work normally (in the Finder)? Contact Apple Support and see what they can find by walking you through the steps.

[@RickCreating]

@@bnbinbound5902 it’s actually two different log ins. The iPad is my wife’s and the mac is mine. I’m using the lightning to usb plug.

[@RickCreating]

@@macmost using lightning to usb plug.

[@captaintruth3219]

You left out the most important part. How do I turn the damn thing on 💻❔

[@macmost]

Depends on which Mac you have. For MacBooks, just open the lid. If you have actually shut it down (you don't need to) then press a key to start it. For desktop Macs there is a power button.

[@rifat8631]

reminders widget not showing

[@dianecolosimo9748]

you talk too FAST.

[@macmost]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/opq9hayfrp6BpLc