Change default screenshot format

Mac screenshots by default save in .png format. Would you prefer the default format to be JPG, or something else? Here's the simple way to change it.

From Finder, launch Terminal:

top menu  Go > Utilities > Terminal

Copy and past in the following line, it's a single line with no break:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg;killall SystemUIServer

Want a different format? In this line of code, replace jpg with one of the following:

gif

PDF

png

tiff

Get back Save As... in Preview and other Apple menus

Driven to distraction by Apple dropping Save As... from its app menus? The over complicated Versions function is absolutely not the answer? After 2 years, or is it 3, of irritation I have found the extremely simple! way to permanently bring back Save As... to its proper menu place.

1.  Open System Preferences

2.  Click Keyboard, then the Shortcuts tab

3.  Click App Shortcuts

4.  Click + to add a new shortcut

5.  In the dialogue box, select All applications or just the one you want to fix

6.  Menu title must be exactly as here:  Save As...
Note the three stops, and no space after As

7.  Type a keyboard shortcut - for Save As... I used Alt-s , I thought memorable

8.  Then just close the box, and like magic, Save As... appears in its rightful file menu place. And you can use your keyboard shortcut too.

I can't believe how long I've spent awkwardly holding down Alt while clicking File in order to be offered Save As... . So simple.

Image transfer iPhone to computer

Break free from struggling with iPhoto and iTunes to retrieve images from your iPhone! Instead use Image Capture, or even Preview. Preview allows you to do some basic image editing, as well.

First, simply connect your iPhone to your computer (maybe you can also use WiFi, but I don't).

Using Image Capture

• Open up Image Capture.
• Your iPhone will appear under Devices and you'll get a list of thumbnails in the window (omg, what a lot of images I've got there!) 
• Set the folder to Import to in the usual way
• Select the images to be imported
• If you want to delete them from the iPhone, you need to select them all, cmd-a, or those you want. Once imported, you have the option of deleting them from the phone.

Using Preview

• Open up Preview
• > File > Import from iPhone
• Thumbnails of your images appear.
• Select those to be imported, or Import all
• Click Import
• You can then select the folder to import to
• And also choose to delete the selected images from the iPhone.
• The imported images open up in Preview.
• There you can delete selected images (cmd-backspace sends them to the trash)
• Or edit them, using > Tools > Adjust colour or > Adjust size.
• Adjust colour provides various adjustments and to sharpen the image, too. And you can crop by using the cursor to draw a rectangle, then > Tools > Crop.
• You can also Rename the file, but I find that a very tedious way to do it.

Preview / Mountain Lion - print selected pages solved

Huh! after much whinging - Yes! one can print just selected pages in Preview. So simple:

• Open a pdf file, or several pdf files, in Preview
• Set it to display thumbnails of the pages in the Sidebar (under View)
• Select the thumbnails of the pages you'd like to print, in the usual ways. You can select pages in several different pdfs, or indeed all the pages in different pdfs. A way to combine images into one pdf file.
• Tell it to Print - either cmd-P or File > Print

There! in the print dialogue box, you'll see an option: Selected pages in sidebar.

Then you can either print just the pages you want, or save them as a new pdf.

If you're still in Snow Leopard (OS 10.6) then to print selected pages, select as above, and the command is in the File menu below Print.

Preview - two ways to format annotations

a) The "normal" way, using the Tools menu bar at the bottom. You get this menu bar when you select (at the top) Tools > Annotate (any option)

b) The obscure way with more options, using the Tools inspector under Tools in the top menu

Does all this seem complicated? I never said it was simple! That's why I had my moment of triumph ...

Mac - Preview annotations options

Do you drive a Mac? If so you probably find Preview extremely useful. Here's how to do some extra smart things.

More options for the appearance of annotations - text, oval, rectangle, line:

• Click Tools > Annotate > Add text
• In the menu at the bottom of the screen, click on the little Text square
• Click and drag on the screen and type the text.
• Next, here is the magic bit, with the text box selected, go to Tools > Show inspector (or cmd-i)
• At the top of the Inspector box, click the pencil icon top right
• The pull-down list next to Text style then offers various options - Outline, Bordered, Speech bubble, Thought bubble
• You can adjust the line thickness, line colour and fill colour if you select one of these.

You get similar choices if you click Show inspector for other annotation choices such as Rectangle or Oval, and indeed Line - at last, how to get rid of the arrows.