Scholle McFarland - El Capitan: A Take Control Crash Course

This ebook was published in November 2015 by TidBITS Publishing Inc. It was written by Scholle Sawyer McFarland and edited by Tonya Engst, with help from Michael E. Cohen and Dan Frakes.

This book helps you with Apples OS X 10.11 El Capitan operating system. It focuses on El Capitans new features while including a hand-picked selection of key tips for getting the most out of your Mac. It also covers a few built-in apps that have interesting changes in El Capitan, such as Safari, Notes, and Messages.

El Capitan: A Take Control Crash Course, version 1.2

Copyright 2015, Sawyer McFarland Media. All rights reserved.

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Along with correcting a few typos, this new version includes these changes:

• In Ive provided a clarification that pinned tabs dont sync to other devices, and Ive added a tip with a reference for Web developers about creating a custom icon for a sites pinned tab.
• Ive inserted a new sidebar, , about how to trigger dictation with a voice keyword command.
• A new topic, , steps you through making your own basic dictation commands.
• A new topic, , describes how to use new built-in dictation workflows in El Capitan.

Tip: If youve read the above topics while learning about dictating in El Capitan, youll be able to take a selfie on your Mac by saying Computer, take my picture.

• I added a sidebar, , about the new iCloud Drive progress wheel.

OS X 10.11 El Capitans name says a lot. Dubbed for the rock formation loved by climbers and found inside Yosemite National Park, this operating system isnt a whole new thing, its a collection of refinements. El Capitan makes the big changes in 10.10 Yosemite better and offers contributions, both subtle and substantial, of its own.

My assumption is that youve figured out whether your Mac can run El Capitan, youve loaded the OS on your system, and now youre ready to go. For detailed help with upgrading, see Take Control of Upgrading to El Capitan.

Together well hit the highlights, from El Capitans little changes, to updates to apps and system-wide tools including Notes, Mission Control, Spotlight, Safari, and more. If youre primarily curious about the new features Apple added to the operating system and the built-in apps, skip straight to to find the chapters that interest you the most.

Apples OS X updates keep coming fast and furiousevery year nowso my guess is youve missed a few useful, but not so obvious, tricks. With that in mind, Ive included information about a few of my old favorites. Finder Tabs let you cut down on window clutter; theyre so simple and useful, you wont believe you havent been using them all along. Finder Tags let you tag your files so that theyre easier to find later. Invest a little time thinking about what you want to keep available in your Dock, and youll find it offers one-click access as well as many convenient shortcuts.

Since many people felt disappointed that Siri wasnt a part of this OS X update, well also look at speech and dictation features, so you can learn just what is possible when you talk to your Mac today. In El Capitan, Apple beefs up dictation with new voice activation and some useful built-in dictation workflows.

Finally, well look at the least you need to know to prepare for trouble: how to set up user accounts to handle problems and how to run Recovery mode when your Mac is on the fritz. Along the way, well take a look at the changes El Capitan has brought to Disk Utility.

Sharing is wired into this ebook, so whenever you run across a tip you love, pass it on! Just use the links at the end of each chapter to send it to friends and colleagues or broadcast it via social media.

By the time youre done with this Crash Course, youll know which OS X features fit the way you work and youll be ready to jump in and start using them right away.