7 Tips To Increase Productivity On The Mac

 

When you sit down at your computer, you want to focus all of your energy on creating great design. These tips will help you become more efficient on the Mac, meaning more time spent creating, and less time spent troubleshooting. 

 

Tip #1: ADJUST YOUR MOUSE TRACKING

With the larger size of displays nowadays, moving the pointer from side of the screen to the other can involve moving the mouse until you run out of mouse pad, move the mouse back and keep it up until you’ve reached the area of the desktop you were headed for.

The problem is that the default setting on the mouse tracking, which is how fast your pointer moves on the screen, is set in the middle; not too fast and not too slow. But having it set in the middle is still too slow. Open up your “System Preferences” control panel and select “Keyboard & Mouse”. This is where you set the mouse tracking all the way to the right, the fastest setting. It may take awhile to get used to the new speed of your pointer, but you’ll soon find that you need to use a lot less mouse moving on your mouse pad to get things done.

 

Tip #2: BUY A MIGHTY MOUSE

When the Mighty Mouse first came out I was against the little roller ball located on top. I didn’t think I needed it. And then I had to use one. When I got my new G5, it came with a Mighty Mouse, so I had no choice but to use it. Now, whenever I get on a computer with an older mouse I get frustrated because I don’t have the scrolling capabilities I have with the Mighty Mouse.

It takes some time getting used to it, but once you get the hang of it you’ll be thankful that you have one.

 

Tip #3: USE THE QUICK KEYS

What are “Quick Keys”? Quick keys are key combinations that execute an action that you would normally do by moving the mouse around to a menu, selecting the appropriate action and letting it happen. By using quick keys you become more efficient on the computer. I’m not sure if people just don’t know about them, or they aren’t comfortable using a keyboard, but it pains me to see someone using the mouse to do something as simple as quitting out of a program when they can make two key strokes and get the job done a lot faster.

The best way to learn quick keys is to use them. Yes, practice makes perfect and the more you use them, the more you’ll use them: they will become second nature. A link to most OS X quick keys can be found here, and most programs have quick keys for most of the programs menu actions. In Adobe Illustrator you can even “program” your own quick keys. I found this especially helpful with such actions such as “Place” when placing an image in your layout.

 

Tip #4: ORGANIZE YOUR FOLDERS, AND LABEL FILES

Your office has file cabinets to store important documents. Your desk has trays that hold documents you’re currently working on. Your computer should be as organized. Make folders, and name them accordingly. Your “Work” folder should have individual folders for your clients. In those folders should be individual folders for the projects you’ve worked on or are currently working on for that client.

Name your files with names that reference the project you’re working on. Create a name-filing system that gives you the information you need to find your work, which helps remove the chance of you saving over important files. This will save time and frustration when searching for important files and will help you reference those files in the future if need be.

 

Tip #5: CLOSE THE FONTS YOU AREN’T USING

Fonts are great, as they add feeling to your layout. But they sometimes bog down your system. Purchase a font utility program such as Suitcase Fusion. By using this program you can organize and open only the fonts you need. It also comes with a program called FontDoctor that will reorganize your fonts into individual, alphabetized folders for easy referral.

 

Tip #6: BACK UP ALL OF YOUR FILES

Nothing’s worse than having your hard drive crash and all of your work is gone with it. It rarely happens, but it does happen. Having your work and system backed up is a life saver and great insurance in case something like that happens.

I would suggest purchasing an extra external hard drive, such as the Lacie 500 GB. It comes with back-up software that will designate what folders to back up, and when to perform the back ups. I set mine to back up my system once a month, and my work folders everyday. That way if my hard drive crashes, I can pull everything off of my back up drive and all is well.

 

Tip #7: SAVE OFTEN

Sometimes programs crash. Sometimes you close a document and hit the “Don’t Save” button instead of the “Save” button. And then all of the work you’ve done for the past hour is gone. Use that thumb and index finger and hit the apple key and “s” key to save your work. And do it after every round of actions you perform on your document. Illustrator has multiple undos and Photoshop has the “History” palette. Do it until it becomes second nature and you’ll never have to worry about losing that awesome illustration you’ve spent the past hour creating.

 

Hopefully these tips will help you with your workflow and relieve you of some of the frustrations you’ve experienced in the past. If you have tips of your own, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.