Exploring Apple Mac - Ventura Edition: The Illustrated, Practical Guide to Using MacOS

By Kevin Wilson

We've all been there before, glaring at a computer screen with no idea what to do - don't worry Exploring Apple Mac is here to help. Written by best-selling technology author, lecturer, and computer trainer Kevin Wilson, Exploring Apple Mac is packed with over 450 pages of full color screenshots, illustrations, helpful tips, and easy to follow instructions along with video demos.

Updated to cover the Ventura release of MacOS, Exploring Apple Mac will help you understand the fundamentals of your Mac. You'll learn how to:

Upgrade your Mac to Ventura and explore new features such as passkeys, FreeForm and stage manager

Find your way around the desktop, dock, finder, and launchpad in MacOS

Master touch gestures, trackpads and the magic mouse to get around your Mac

Use Notification Centre, Handoff, Spaces, Control Center, Universal Control, and Universal Clipboard in MacOS

Organising files and folders in Finder in MacOS

Browse the web with the Safari Web Browser safely and efficiently in MacOS

Keep in touch with friends and family using email, iMessage, and FaceTime video chat on your mac

Set important appointments with Calendar

Keep the people you correspond with in the Contacts app

Set yourself reminders and 'to-do' lists

Check the weather on your mac

Record voice memos 

Download countless apps from the App Store on your mac

Catch up with your favourite podcasts and the latest news

Read ebooks on your mac

Find your way around with the Maps App, get directions, create guides, explore places in 3D, and use the interactive globe

Use the clock app to set alarms, timers, and world clocks

Stream music with Apple Music, buy tracks & albums from iTunes Store

Stream TV programs & movies with the Apple TV App

Getting started with Pages, Keynote and Numbers on your Mac

Using iCloud storage on your Mac

Use time machine to back up your data stored on your Mac

Get to know Siri in MacOS

Use the photos app to store and enhance your photos

Create slideshows, photo albums and use iMovie to edit your home movies and more...

Finally, system updates and maintenance tips to help you keep your Mac running smoothly complete this invaluable guide. So order yourself a copy today, and keep it handy as you make your way around the new OS.

We want to create the best possible resource to help you, so if we've missed anything out then please get in touch using [e-mail] and let us know. Thanks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elluminet Press
• Release date: Feb 16, 2023
• ISBN: 9781913151751

Kevin Wilson

Kevin Wilson is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Nothing to See Here, which was a Read with Jenna book club selection; The Family Fang, which was adapted into an acclaimed film starring Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman; and Perfect Little World; as well as the story collections Tunneling to the Center of the Earth, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award; and Baby, You’re Gonna Be Mine. His fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, Southern Review, One Story, A Public Space, and Best American Short Stories. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee, with his wife and two sons.

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Exploring Apple Mac

Ventura Edition

Kevin Wilson

Exploring Apple Mac: Ventura Ed

Copyright © 2023 Elluminet Press

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. Exempted from this legal reservation are brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis or material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Duplication of this publication or parts thereof is permitted only under the provisions of the Copyright Law of the Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from the Publisher. Permissions for use may be obtained through Rights Link at the Copyright Clearance Centre. Violations are liable to prosecution under the respective Copyright Law.

Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.

The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.

While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

iStock.com/golibo, PeopleImages, ymgerman. Photo 130859010 © Kaspars Grinvalds - Dreamstime.com. Photo 103557713 © Konstantin Kolosov - Dreamstime.com. Yuri Arcurs via Getty Images

Publisher: Elluminet Press

Director: Kevin Wilson

Lead Editor: Steven Ashmore

Technical Reviewer: Mike Taylor, Robert Ashcroft

Copy Editors: Joanne Taylor, James Marsh

Proof Reader: Steven Ashmore

Indexer: James Marsh

Cover Designer: Kevin Wilson

eBook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. Any source code or other supplementary materials referenced by the author in this text is available to readers at

www.elluminetpress.com/resources

For detailed information about how to locate your book’s resources, go to

www.elluminetpress.com/resources

Table of Contents

Introducing MacOS Ventura 16

What’s New? 16

Available Macs 21

Macbook Air M1 21

Macbook Pro 22

iMac 24" 22

Mac Pro 23

Mac Studio 23

Mac Mini 24

M1 & M2 Chip (Apple Silicon) 24

Setting up Your Mac 28

Updating to MacOS Ventura 28

Check your Mac Version on Monterey or Earlier 29

Updating from Monterey 29

Power Up 31

Power Down 33

Starting your Mac for the First Time 34

Create a New ID 41

iCloud 42

iCloud Drive Setup 43

Storage Management 44

Setup Internet 46

WiFi 46

Using an Ethernet Cable 47

Phone Tethering 50

Mobile USB Modems 51

Virtual Private Networks 52

Using a VPN Service 52

Manual Setup 53

Connecting Peripherals 54

System Settings 56

Search System settings 58

Add a Printer 59

Connect Printer to WiFi 61

Other Email Accounts 63

Additional Users 66

Login Options 67

Change Passwords 69

Mac Password 69

Apple ID Password 70

Password Manager 71

Setup Apple Pay 74

Setup Apple Pay on a Macbook 76

Touch ID 78

Changing the Appearance 80

Dark Mode & Light Mode 80

Accent Colours 81

App Sidebar Icon Size and Wallpaper Tint 81

Scrollbar Behaviours 81

Setup your Trackpad 82

Setup your Mouse 84

Screensavers 85

Lock Screen 86

Dynamic Desktop 87

Desktop Wallpaper 88

Managing Displays 89

Mirror or Extend 89

Resolution 90

Arrange Multiple Displays 90

Colour Profiles 92

Screen Calibration 93

Setup Universal Control 94

System Audio 98

Pairing Bluetooth Devices 100

Fonts 102

Find My 104

Setup 104

Locating & Taking Action 106

Sharing Locations 107

Check Someone’s Location 108

Time Machine Backup 109

Setting Up Backups 109

Restoring Items 113

Transfer Files from a Windows PC 114

Transfer Files from an old Mac 117

Getting Around your Mac 118

The Desktop 118

The Menu Bar 119

Application Menu 120

Status Menu 120

The Dock 120

Stacks 123

Launchpad 124

Spaces & Mission Control 126

Finder 128

File View Style 129

Finder Settings 132

Tags 135

Tagging Files 137

Quick Preview Files 138

Basic File Management 138

Creating Folders 139

Smart Folders 140

Copying Files 142

Moving Files 144

Compress Files 144

Zip 145

Unzip 145

External Drives 147

Accessing Data CDs, DVDs & BluRays 148

Networking 149

Sharing Files on a Network 149

Connect to a Shared Folder on Another Computer 152

iCloud Drive 153

Using iCloud Drive 153

iCloud Drive File Sharing 155

Markup in Finder 159

Markup using your iPad 161

Managing App Windows 163

Moving a Window 163

Resizing a Window 164

Minimise, Maximise & Close a Window 165

Stage Manager 166

Spotlight Search 170

Notification Centre 171

Notifications 172

Banners 172

Alerts 172

Badges 172

Notification Settings 174

Widgets 176

Control Centre 177

Handoff 179

Universal Control 181

Moving Between Devices 181

Moving Files 183

Universal Clipboard 184

Shortcuts 185

Getting Started 185

Creating Shortcuts 186

Shortcut Gallery 188

Running Shortcuts 190

Focus Mode 192

Creating a Focus Mode 194

Manually Enable a Focus Mode 197

Using Siri 198

Voice Control 199

Voice Dictation 200

Using Apple Pay on your Mac 202

Auto Unlock 203

The Mac Keyboard 205

The Command Key 205

The Option Key 206

The Control Key 206

The Function Key 206

Executing Keyboard Shortcuts 206

Useful Keyboard Shortcuts 207

MacOS Startup Keys 208

Making Gestures 209

One Finger Point and Tap 209

Right Click 209

Two Finger Scroll 210

Two Finger Rotate 210

Two Finger Swipe 211

Four Finger Open Launchpad 211

Magic Mouse 212

Left Click 212

Right Click 212

Scrolling 213

Swipe 213

Find your Mouse Pointer 214

The Touch Bar 215

Touch Bar Layout 215

Control Strip 216

Application Strip 216

Customise Touch Bar 218

Taking Screenshots 219

Screen Recording 220

Split Screen Mode 221

Digitally Sign a Document 223

Keychain 225

PassKeys 229

Create a PassKey for a New Account 229

Create a PassKey for Existing Account 230

Sign in with a PassKey 231

Using MacOS Applications 233

Launching Your Applications 233

Killing Unresponsive Apps 236

App Store 237

App Tabs 239

Maps 240

Exploring Places 240

Share a Location 241

Share a Map 241

Favourites 242

Drop a Pin 242

Guides 243

Public Transport Routes 245

Driving Directions 246

Walking Directions 247

Look Around 247

Explore in 3D 248

Look Inside 248

Interactive Globe 249

Apple Books 252

Notes 256

Calendar 260

Adding an Event 260

Create a Calendar 261

Export Calendar 261

Import Calendar 262

Add an Event from Email 262

Subscribing to Public Calendar 263

Sharing Calendars & Creating Public Calendars 264

Image Capture 265

Photobooth 266

DVDs & BluRays 268

Voice Memos 271

Recording Memos 272

Renaming Memos 273

Trim a Memo 274

News 275

FreeForm 277

Add Sticky Note 278

Add Shape 278

Add Textbox 278

Add Image 279

Add a File or Document 279

Share Board 279

Clock 280

World Clock 280

Alarm 281

Stopwatch 282

Timer 282

Terminal 284

Opening Terminal 284

Giving Commands 285

Pages App 286

Getting Started 286

Formatting Text 289

Adding a Picture 290

Instant Alpha 291

Saving 292

Sharing and Collaboration 293

Keynote App 294

Getting Started 294

Editing a Slide 295

Adding a New Slide 296

Adding Media 296

Animations 297

Slide Transitions 299

Formatting Text Boxes 299

Formatting Text Inside Textboxes 300

Adding Styles to Textboxes 301

Saving 303

Numbers App 304

Getting Started 304

Building a Spreadsheet 306

Entering Data 306

Changing Data Types 307

Adding Formulas 307

Adding Functions 308

Saving 308

Dictionary 309

Stickies 309

Internet, Email & Comms 311

Using Safari to Browse the Web 311

Launching Safari 312

Customise your Homepage 312

Using Safari 314

Tab Bar 314

Browsing Tabs 315

Show all Browsing Tabs 315

Tab Groups 316

New Tab Group 316

Add a Site Tab to Tab Group 317

Reopen Tab Group 317

Bookmarking Pages 317

Revisiting Bookmarked & Favourite Sites 320

Organising Bookmarks 321

Reading List 322

Downloads 322

Extensions 323

Privacy Reports 324

Passwords 325

Managing Passwords 326

Generate Automatic Strong Passwords 328

Autofill Forms 329

Using a PassKey 331

Apple Mail 332

Email Threads 333

Show BCC Field 334

Replying to a Message 335

Forward a Message 336

Writing a New Email 337

Formatting your Message 337

Add an Emoji 338

Add Attachment 338

Add Photo from Photos App 339

Mail Drop 339

Mail Markup 341

Dealing with Spam & Junk Mail 343

Schedule Send 344

Undo Send 345

Contacts 346

Creating Groups 348

Add Email Contact from Apple Mail 350

Facetime 351

Placing Video Calls 351

Calling Someone New 352

Create a FaceTime Link 353

Answering Calls 355

Group FaceTime 357

Screen Sharing 359

SharePlay 359

Share a Movie or Music 360

Using your iPhone Camera 362

Desk View 363

Video & Lighting Effects 365

Handoff a Call to iPhone 366

Message App 367

Sending New Messages 367

Sending Files 369

Edit Message 370

Undo Send 370

Memojis 371

Message Effects 371

Air Drop 373

From Finder 373

In Safari 374

Mac Phone 376

Using Multimedia Apps 377

Photos App 377

Importing your Photos 378

Manipulating & Adjusting Photos 380

Adding Filters 384

Creating Folders and Albums 385

Adding Photos to Albums 387

Places 388

Faces 390

Memories 393

Create your Own Memory 393

Smart Search 396

Sharing Photos 397

Shared Albums 398

Printing Photos 400

Creating Slideshows 402

Printing & Publishing Photos 404

Installing the Apps 404

Creating Photobooks 405

Ordering Prints 409

Greeting Cards 411

Live Text 413

Copy Text 413

Lookup Text 414

Visual Lookup 415

Lookup an Object 415

Separate Subject from Background 417

Continuity Camera 419

Insert Photo from iPhone/iPad 419

Add Sketch 421

Scan a Document 422

iMovie 423

Importing Footage from your Camera 423

Importing Footage from your iPhone 424

Adding Clips 426

Adding Titles 427

Adding Music 428

Transitions 429

Animations 430

Music App 431

Subscribing to Apple Music 431

The Main Screen 432

Searching for Music 433

Add to Library 434

Creating Playlists 435

Importing CDs 436

Adding Tracks to your iPhone, or iPad Manually 437

Burning CDs 439

Podcasts App 440

iTunes Store 442

Apple TV App 444

Watch Now 444

Searching for Media 445

Library 446

Apple TV+ Streaming 447

Airplay 448

Apple TV 448

AirPlay to Mac 450

Cancelling Subscriptions 452

Maintaining your Mac 453

Firewalls 453

Enabling the Firewall 454

Firewall Settings 455

Do Apple Macs get Viruses? 457

Downloading MacOS Ventura 459

Installing MacOS Ventura 460

Create a Boot Drive 461

Booting from a USB Drive 464

Internet Restore 468

App Updates 469

System Updates 470

Mac Storage Management 470

Disk Utility 473

Checking Drives 474

Formatting Drives 474

Partitioning Drives 476

FileVault 478

Encrypt External Drive 479

Decrypt External Drive 479

Lockdown Mode 480

Mac Password Reset 481

Reset SMC 481

Intel Macbooks (2018+) 482

Older Intel Macbooks 483

Intel iMac, Mac Pro and Mac Mini 483

Reset NVRAM 484

About the Author

With over 20 years’ experience in the computer industry, Kevin Wilson has made a career out of technology and showing others how to use it. After earning a master’s degree in computer science, software engineering, and multimedia systems, Kevin has held various positions in the IT industry including graphic & web design, programming, building & managing corporate networks, and IT support.

He serves as senior writer and director at Elluminet Press Ltd, he periodically teaches computer science at college, and works as an IT trainer in England while researching for his PhD. His books have become a valuable resource among the students in England, South Africa, Canada, and in the United States.

Kevin’s motto is clear: If you can’t explain something simply, then you haven’t understood it well enough. To that end, he has created the Exploring Tech Computing series, in which he breaks down complex technological subjects into smaller, easy-to-follow steps that students and ordinary computer users can put into practice.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all the staff at Luminescent Media & Elluminet Press for their passion, dedication and hard work in the preparation and production of this book.

To all my friends and family for their continued support and encouragement in all my writing projects.

To all my colleagues, students and testers who took the time to test procedures and offer feedback on the book

Finally thanks to you the reader for choosing this book. I hope it helps you to use your Mac with greater understanding.

Have fun!

Introducing MacOS Ventura

MacOS Ventura, named after the City of Ventura on the Central Coast of California, is the 19th major release of MacOS moving to version 13.0 of Apple’s desktop operating system for Macintosh computers.

MacOS is an operating system developed by Apple. The operating system controls the general operation of the computer, and provides a way for you to interact and run applications called a Graphical User Interface.

At the core of the operating system is Darwin. This contains the MacOS kernel known as XNU, which controls important functions of the hardware such as memory management, disk drives and CPU time among other things.

In this chapter, we’ll take a look at

What’s New in MacOS Ventura

Available Macs

M1/M2 Chip

M1 Pro & M1 Max Chip

Some Basic Terminology

Let’s begin by taking a look at some of the new features...

What’s New?

Ventura looks similar to its predecessor and introduces some new features. Lets take a look at the main updates.

A new feature called Stage Manager makes its debut in MacOS Ventura. Stage Manager is a window management feature that automatically organises open apps and windows into thumbnails along the left hand side of the screen so you can see all your apps at a glance.

Passkeys are designed to replace passwords and rely on biometric identification on your Mac or iPhone such as Touch ID and Face ID. These are synced to your iCloud’s Keychain. Passkeys use a unique cryptographic key pair for each website or account, eliminating the need to remember or type in passwords.

You can use the camera on your iPhone as a webcam on your Mac during a FaceTime call. You can even use your webcam on your Mac as well as the camera on your phone. There are also various effects such as studio light which darkens the background keeping focus on you.

You can use the camera on your iPhone to view what’s on your desk or something else during a FaceTime call with a feature called desk view, useful if you want to demonstrate or show something.

FaceTime now allows you to hand-off a call from your Mac to either an iPhone or iPad, you’ll also see some live captions integrated into FaceTime calls.

The system preferences app has been redesigned and is now called system settings. The navigation has been simplified with various categories listed down the left hand side of the app window in a similar fashion to the settings app on and iPad.

The clock app and the weather app make their way onto the Mac.

There is also a new lockdown mode that hardens your defences if you are facing cyber threats or you’re facing issues with malware.

The mail app now enables you to schedule when an email should be sent, as well as the ability to undo a send if you’ve send an email to someone by mistake.

Another new feature is FreeForm which gives you a blank canvas for drawing, diagramming and collaboration. You can use this with FaceTime and messages

There are also visual improvements, and various other minor changes. You’ll find a full list on Apple’s website.

www.apple.com/macos/ventura/features/

Available Macs

Let’s take a closer look at the latest Macs available from the Apple Store.

Macbook Air M1

The Macbook Air is great for an on-the-go lifestyle as they are small and light, but is only suited to basic computing such as internet browsing, email, photos, music, messages, FaceTime, and so on. The Macbook Air is powered by the M1 chip and has a 13.3-inch screen. You can configure the machine for 8GB or 16GB with storage between 256GB and 2TB.

Macbook Air M2

The new Macbook Air is powered by the M2 chip with a 13.6-inch display making it ideal for an on-the-go lifestyle.

You can configure the machine for 8GB or 24GB with storage between 256GB and 2TB.

Macbook Pro

The Macbook Pro offers more processing power, is aimed at creative types and those who use more power-hungry apps such as games, video editing, music production, graphic design, and so on. The Macbook Pro now incorporates the M2 chip in the 13 model, and the M1 Pro and M1 Max chip in the 14 and 16" models.

iMac 24"

The iMac is Apple’s ‘all in one’ desktop computer and comes in various colours, with 24" display, 8-16GB RAM, and the M1 chip.

All iMacs come with keyboard and mouse. These are great for the average user and can run a variety of power hungry apps as well as internet, email, FaceTime, etc.

Mac Pro

The Mac Pro is a rather unique looking machine and is the most powerful of the Mac computers. This machine does not come with a screen, nor a keyboard and mouse - so you’ll need to buy these separately.

These machines are aimed at creative types and power users and are very fast. They are well suited