Mac OS: Putting icons in the dock

To put a program in your dock:
1) double-click ‘Macintosh HD’ icon on your desktop
2) click Applications folder
3) click/hold on the desired program and drag it down to the dock – place it between two other icons and they will move apart to make room for it; let go.

To put a shortcut to a program on your desktop:
1) double-click ‘Macintosh HD’ icon on your desktop
2) click Applications folder
3) right-click on the desired program and select Create Alias. Drag the newly created alias onto your desktop. DO NOT DRAG ACTUAL APPS ONTO THE DESKTOP, ONLY THEIR ALIASES; the original program should stay in the applications folder because problems often arise when they are relocated.

Typing is super slow, especially in First Class

This is a clipboard issue. The computer’s temporary memory is called the Clipboard and it works in the background, keeping any chunks of data you copy in it. When you highlight and copy a section of text or images or files, the computer stores that in its clipboard, waiting for you to paste it somewhere. First Class email is one program especially affected by the clipboard contents. When there is a large item in the clipboard, the delay is apparent when typing. Here is the fix:

Highlight something small (which will replace the large item in the clipboard) like a word or a letter and copy it [to copy, you can do the shortcut Command i on the keyboard or go up to Edit in the menu bar and select Copy from the drop-down menu]. Now start typing again. Problem should be solved. If not, restart your computer.

First Class Crashes When Attaching Files

From within first class, click on New to make a new email. Click the attach button. At the top of that window, select the MIDDLE of the three buttons shown below:

then click attach. Won’t crash anymore.

New Teachers: If you’re also new to the Mac

I recommend viewing our page on Mac OS X: edtechhelpdesk.wordpress.com/computers/mac-os-x

Set up First Class

Step 1: click the triangle next to Advanced

Step 2: click the Setup button

Step 3: halfway down, next to ‘Server’, click before the period left of ‘cartwright’ and type in the first FOUR letters of your school. The example here is for Holiday Park:

then click Save. All done!

 

Firefox Bookmark Backup

(1) In Firefox, click Bookmarks from the top menu and select ‘Show All Bookmarks’: 

{or it might say ‘Organize Bookmarks’}

(2) Click the little star icon and select Export HTML:

(3) In the window that pops up, determine where the file will be saved, then click save.

To import into your new computer, do step 1 above but in step 2, choose Import instead of Export.

Forward emails from your boss to your phone

Some emails are more important than others. As such, they should be given priority and you may want to be notified sooner of the email than the next time you have time to sit down to check it with the flood of all the others. Set up forwarding so that an email from your principal or boss comes straight to your phone as well. It isn’t a perfect system, and you can’t always read the full email in the text, but you at least know about the email and the subject when it comes to you. Here are the steps: