OS X Lion Tips & Tricks thread

[.Neo]

Since Apple officially released Mac OS X Lion today I thought it would be nice to have an official thread that contains all Tips & Tricks, rather than having to skim through tons of pages in different threads.

I'll start off with a few of my own:

Disable Resume on a per-app basis

You can disable resume on an per-app basis by locking the folder inside ~/Library/Saved Application State (~ = Home folder) that corresponds with it. You guys might find this useful if you're looking after disabling resume for - let's say - TextEdit only, rather than system-wide.

Make the ~/Library folder visible again

Launch Terminal located in /Applications/Utilities or via Spotlight, type in the below command and hit return.

chflags nohidden ~/Library

Alternatively you can hide it again by typing in

chflags hidden ~/Library

Get Drag Lock back when using a trackpad

Apple moved the Drag Lock preference from the Trackpad preference pane to Universal Access. Go to System Preferences > Mouse & Trackpad > Trackpad Options...

Change the Dashboard space background pattern

What to do:

1. Replace pirelli.png in /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources with a desktop picture of choice. Be sure the image matches the exact resolution of your screen and has a dpi of 720.

2. Make a second version of the desktop picture only this time 256 x 144 pixels in size (might depend on your Mac though) and replace mini_pirelli.png also located in the same directory as above. That way the background in Mission Control also gets changed.

3. Restart Dock.app using Activity Monitor or Terminal and repair disk permissions afterwards with Disk Utility.

End result:

Remove Finder sidebar items

In Mac OS X Lion and Mac OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.7 you now have to hold down the command key on your keyboard in order to remove items from the Finder sidebar.

Hide apps from Launchpad

You can use this tool to hide apps from Launchpad.

http://chaosspace.de/dev/launchpad-control-hide-apps-from-launchpad/

[iuerg87yerg879e0rg9erugjer]

Quick Close full Screen Apps:

very simple, its just command+w

[.Neo]

Get QuickTime Player 7 Pro back

Insert your Mac OS X Snow Leopard disc, go to the Optional Installs folder and double-click the Optional Installs installer. In the "Customize..." section you can select QuickTime 7. Alternatively you can also go to the below link and download the installer directly from Apple.

http://support.apple.com/kb/dl923

After installing the package you'll find QuickTime Player 7 in /Applications/Utilities

[giga Veteran]

Quickly launch an app without its saved state

Hold down shift before clicking its dock icon

Disable new window animations

In Terminal:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain NSAutomaticWindowAnimationsEnabled -bool NO

Remove items from the Finder sidebar

Hold CMD and drag them out. Or go to Finder preferences.

Move downloaded items directly from Safari

In the Downloads popover, click and drag the icon of the downloaded item

Show file name and location information in Quick Look popovers

Hold CMD (file name) or CMD+OPT (file location).

Always show full conversation view in Mail

Preferences -> Viewing

Enable the archive feature in Mail

Right click the toolbar, click customize, and add the archive button. A folder named "Archive" will be created and your messages will be kept there and out of your inbox.

Improve font smoothing on secondary third party LCDs

In Terminal:

defaults -currentHost write -globalDomain AppleFontSmoothing -int 2

Before/After

Use the "arrange" Finder toolbar button to "sort" instead

Hold down option before clicking

Quickly access the now hidden library directory

Hold down option in the "Go' menu

"Cut and paste" with the keyboard

After a CMD+C, use OPT+CMD+V to "paste"

"Application window" dock expos?

Two finger double tap on the dock icon.

Access the lookup pane

Triple tap or use CTRL+CMD+D on a word. View the full list by clicking inside the appropriate section.

Expand grouped application windows in Mission Control

Scroll up with your mouse or trackpad

[Quillz]

You can hide System Preferences icons you don't use often or ever...

(NOTE: You can also click and hold on the "Show All" toolbar button in the actual app window.)

(Just check off the ones you want to hide...)

Reverse the steps to bring them back, or just use the menu or the "Show All" button.

[ObiWanToby]

Application Window Dock Expose, I do not get it. I can't get it to work. Two finger tap right?

[giga Veteran]

Application Window Dock Expose, I do not get it. I can't get it to work. Two finger tap right?

Two finger double tap, sorry.

[Shadrack]

Wow! Great tips guys! Anyone know of a way to enable pinch-to-zoom on my magic mouse? I kinda want to trade in my magic mouse for a trackpad...blah. oh well.

[hyphyy]

Wow wow wow! This makes me want to download Lion ASAP. Just got to wait for the paycheck this Friday? :D

[Shadrack]

-x-snip-x-

Reverse the steps to bring them back, or just use the menu or the "Show All" button.

You kinda have to click-and-hold on the show all for the other hidden pref panes to be listed. I was really confused at first because the button appears to be greyed out. But I figured it out :D.

[offroadaaron]

I know this is a bit much to ask but ever since I have used Mac OS I have wanted to have an autohide menu bar - I would love if it functioned like when you're using full screen apps.

Anyone know if there is any way to get this happening?

[The Guvnor]

Excellent tips, some of them will make the transition from Snow Leo to Lion much more easy.

Only wish if Mission Control would keep apps more well organized like Expose in Snow Leo

[Miuku.]

I know this is a bit much to ask but ever since I have used Mac OS I have wanted to have an autohide menu bar - I would love if it functioned like when you're using full screen apps.

In Snow Leopard (according to Menu Eclipse developer) this was a no go for some reason - he might implement that in the next version since Lion supports it ( http://itunes.apple.com/app/menu-eclipse-2/id420041409?mt=12 - this version does not support it yet)

[mattking]

Here's one to figure out, how do you reorganise the finder's sidebar so you can get shared and devices above favourites as in Snow Leopard.

[migo]

Since we're asking questions, any easy way to make applications launch in a new space (or automatically organise them so it's one application per space?)

[PurpleHaze420]

Useful information. Thanks. :)

[Quillz]

Since we're asking questions, any easy way to make applications launch in a new space (or automatically organise them so it's one application per space?)

I couldn't figure out how to make apps launch in a user-defined space (or Desktop, as they're now known) without actually launching it first. Once I did, though, you can secondary click on the Dock icon, go to Options -> Assign To:

The only thing I preferred in the older Spaces preferences was you could simply drag and drop app icons, without even opening them, onto whatever space you wanted. This seems impossible to do in Lion.

[migo]

So it seems that full screen apps go into their own desktop, sadly hovering over the desktop just takes you straight to it rather than having the opportunity to preview it, so you've just got a thumbnail to work with.

[allannyholm]

Hi,

What was the conclusion and perhaps solution on using a locale like danish or dutch on the login screen despite the OS itself being in the english language? I'm seeing US English locale for the time on the login screen and I'm using a danish keyboard layout and danish metrics. The Language is set up as Denmark - Danish.

[Browno]

Use the Maximiser app by chpwn to add Full Screen functionality to all apps, works great in Chrome - Maximiser

[threesixtyflip]

Since we are asking questions, is there a way to get Rosetta back on Lion? I want to be able to play the Sims Complete Collection!! :'( lol

[.Neo]

Quick Look Spotlight search results

Hover over a search result in the Spotlight menu to get a Quick Look pop-up window.

[allannyholm]

Here's one to figure out, how do you reorganise the finder's sidebar so you can get shared and devices above favourites as in Snow Leopard.

I haven't been able to figure this one out.. I did find out that you can drag your hard disks to the favorites section and eliminate the Devices section - Optical drives, I think, will still show up. The Computer device can't be moved up into Favorites - or can it? You try it out :)

[mattking]

I haven't been able to figure this one out.. I did find out that you can drag your hard disks to the favorites section and eliminate the Devices section - Optical drives, I think, will still show up. The Computer device can't be moved up into Favorites - or can it? You try it out :)

This is pretty much the only thing I want to do to Lion.

[Guest]

Awesome tips. Keep 'em coming!