text:
Convert HTML hyperlink code to Markdown (MD) in pure AppleScript?
I have a text file or some text to process via the clipboard. It contains a few lines of HTML code, and I'd like to convert it to pure Markdown.
E.g. from:
This is a link: link
to:
This is a link: [link](https://duck.com)
Is there pure AppleScript code (using regex substitution) that can do this?
Alternatively, I am happy with AppleScript calling any CLI tool to process the text via do shell script if it's an in-built text which doesn't require homebrew or a third party tool to be installed.

/usr/bin/sed -E -e 's|link|)|g' <<< 'This is a link: link' produces: This is a link: [link](https://duck.com)

If not in clipboard but just an XML file then see https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/128106/how-can-i-convert-html-rich-text-to-markdown-in-automator?rq=1

@mmmmmm yeah I can run that link's "md - Convert - HTML to Markdown" and it does work, but it's python inside automator workflow, is it possible to embed python code in an applescript without having to create a separate .py file?

Here is one example:
set htmlString to "This is a link: link"

set mdString to do shell script "/usr/bin/sed -E -e 's|link|)|g' <<< " & htmlString's quoted form

Result:
"This is a link: [link](https://duck.com)"

This can also be down without the use of the do shell script command, as in this example:
set htmlString to "This is a link: link"

set htmlString to findAndReplaceInText(htmlString, "link", ")")

on findAndReplaceInText(theText, theSearchString, theReplacementString)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theSearchString
    set theTextItems to every text item of theText
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theReplacementString
    set theText to theTextItems as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return theText
end findAndReplaceInText

Result:
"This is a link: [link](https://duck.com)"

If This is a link: link is in a file or on the clipboard, the escaping is done automatically when assigning it to a variable.  You then only need to escape the " in the sed command as shown in the example above.

Other examples:
If This is a link: link in in a file:
set htmlFile to "/path/to/filename/ext"
set htmlString to read htmlFile
set mdString to do shell script "/usr/bin/sed -E -e 's|link|)|g' <<< " & htmlString's quoted form

Or, processing the file directly:
set htmlFile to "/path/to/filename.ext"
set mdString to do shell script "/usr/bin/sed -E -e 's|link|)|g'" & space & htmlFile's quoted form

If This is a link: link is on the clipboard:
set htmlString to (the clipboard as text)
set mdString to do shell script "/usr/bin/sed -E -e 's|link|)|g' <<< " & htmlString's quoted form

Note: The use of the findAndReplaceInText() handler can also be used in place of the do shell script command in these other examples.

See also, Manipulating Text in the Mac Automation Scripting Guide.

Superb, thank you! My only comment to anyone is: make sure the input doesn't have other html tags in between the  and  tags. Substitute that out using other applescript code first, or it won't process fully.

@ἐλευθερία, You can also extend the sed command with additional substitution commands, e.g.: -e 's|\">link|)|g'

I was sure this was going to be a bad question on first glance, but an awesome answer turned that around immediately.

@user3439894 I've realised your answer only performs this action for that specific hyperlink text example, not for any string as the hyperlink text. This e.g. works for direct text example, can you update the answer? set mdString to do shell script "sed 's/\\(.*\\)<\\/a>/[\\2](\\1)/' <<< " & htmlString's quoted form

Furthermore, this allows you to convert multiple hyperlinks in the incoming text, not just one: set mdString to do shell script "perl -pe 's/(.*?)<\\/a>/[\\2](\\1)/g' <<< " & htmlString's quoted form - even more superior.

@ἐλευθερία, Yes. the sed commands can be modified to suite ones needs. Please keep in mind the use of the word example in the answer, it is after all just that an example and it is expected for the user to modify the example as required to suite ones express needs. (Technically the example sed command matches what was supplied in the question.) I've also updated the question to make use of an Apple  supplied example of an AppleScript handler to avoid the use of the do shell script command.

@user3439894 agreed, I wasn't clear enough in question, and really appreciate your awesome code. At least my comments above can help anyone trying to convert any hyperlink no matter how it comes in, and also multiple URLs in the one text string, which is the fuller context I'm doing this in. Your examples for file and clipboard processing are also superb reference to add to everything now on this page. Thanks!


text:
Convert bulleted list HTML code to Markdown in AppleScript?
I have this text to manipulate in AppleScript (e.g. the text of a variable):
Example note exported from Apple.

Indent

*Further* indent

Even **further **indent. With a [link](https://duck.com).

End note.

I'm converting it all to Markdown from HTML. I need to clean up this remaining bit of HTML which is the bullet list, so that the result is (with real tabs as indent space):
Example note exported from Apple.

- Indent
    - *Further* indent
        - Even **further **indent. With a [link](https://duck.com).

End note.

It has to be able to cater to nested indenting to any 'n' number of levels, and with possibly some rich text inside the items such as this example. I prefer Markdown output to use hyphens and a tab for the indenting.
It also has to be containable inside the applescript - no external .py files etc, and to not require homebrew or a third party tool to be installed.

I broke this out into two with a sister question for
 lists to markdown here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/404949/163629

The following example AppleScript code, as coded, is intended to work with bulleted list HTML code as shown in the OP, meaning that what is passed in the variable is just the relevant code to define the bulleted list and not other arbitrary HTML code.
As coded, it will produce the appropriate output for variations of bulleted list HTML code as well, not just the specific example shown herein. This has been tested on a variety of other samples containing just bulleted list HTML code and produces the relevant output for it as does the example herein.
--  # Define exportedNote variable containing the bulleted list HTML code.

set exportedNote to "

Indent

*Further* indent

Even **further** indent. With a [link](https://duck.com).

"

--  # Create an AppleScript list from the lines of bulleted list HTML code.

set exportedNoteList to paragraphs of exportedNote

--  # Process the list, acting only on items that contain "
"
--  # as they are the only ones relevant to converting the
--  # bulleted list HTML code to Markdown.

set tempList to {}
repeat with i from 1 to the number of items in exportedNoteList
    if item i of exportedNoteList contains "
" then
        set thisItem to item i of exportedNoteList
        set thisItem to findAndReplaceInText(thisItem, "
", "")
        set numberOfLeadingSpaces to ((offset of "<" in thisItem) - 1)
        if numberOfLeadingSpaces is less than 4 then
            set searchString to characters 1 thru numberOfLeadingSpaces of thisItem & "
" as text
            set thisItem to findAndReplaceInText(thisItem, searchString, "- ")
            set end of tempList to thisItem
        end if
        if numberOfLeadingSpaces is greater than 3 then
            set searchString to characters 1 thru numberOfLeadingSpaces of thisItem & "
" as text
            set thisItem to findAndReplaceInText(thisItem, searchString, "- ")
            set numberOfLeadingTabs to (numberOfLeadingSpaces / 2) as integer
            repeat with i from 1 to (numberOfLeadingTabs - 1)
                set thisItem to tab & thisItem
            end repeat
            set end of tempList to thisItem
        end if
    end if
end repeat

--  # Update the contents of the exportedNoteList
--  # list to contain only the relevant list items.

set exportedNoteList to tempList

--  # Convert the exportedNoteList list to text.

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to linefeed
set convertedNote to text items of exportedNoteList
set convertedNote to convertedNote as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {}

--  # 'return' is only used to show its value in Script Editor. Use
--  # the convertedNote variable as needed in the working code.

return convertedNote

--  # Handler(s)

--  # Note: Handlers may be placed as one chooses as appropriate.
--  # My preference is at the bottom of the rest of the code.

on findAndReplaceInText(theText, theSearchString, theReplacementString)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theSearchString
    set theTextItems to every text item of theText
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to theReplacementString
    set theText to theTextItems as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
    return theText
end findAndReplaceInText

Result:
"- Indent
    - *Further* indent
        - Even **further** indent. With a [link](https://duck.com)."

Which displays as the following in a browser on this web site:

Indent

Further indent

Even further indent. With a link.

@ἐλευθερία, I have update my answer to include only AppleScript code other then it's do shell script command and will handle other examples of bulleted list HTML code as stated within the answer.

Thank you for the update. However the example in the question did show that the result should include all lines from source, not just the bullet lines. (I've now updated Q to reflect answer update to clarify processing any n number of bullet indent levels, thanks.) In the meantime I'll hack around with this updated answer to see if I can get it to spit out other non-bullet list lines.

I will also answer this question with an alternative method I worked out:
set exportedNote to "Example note exported from Apple.

Indent

*Further* indent

Even **further **indent. With a [link](https://duck.com).

End note."

set deleteHTMLline to {"
"}
set exportedNote to deleteLinesFromText(exportedNote, deleteHTMLline) of me as text
set deleteHTMLline to {"
"}
set exportedNote to deleteLinesFromText(exportedNote, deleteHTMLline) of me as text

set exportedNote to replace_chars(exportedNote, "
", tab & tab & "- ") of me as text
set exportedNote to replace_chars(exportedNote, "
", tab & "- ") of me as text
set exportedNote to replace_chars(exportedNote, "
", "- ") of me as text
set exportedNote to replace_chars(exportedNote, "
", "") of me as text

return exportedNote

on replace_chars(this_text, search_string, replacement_string)
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the search_string
    set the item_list to every text item of this_text
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacement_string
    set this_text to the item_list as string
    set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {""}
    return this_text
end replace_chars

on deleteLinesFromText(theText, deletePhrase)
    set newText to ""
    try
        set textList to paragraphs of theText
        repeat with i from 1 to count of textList
            set thisLine to item i of textList
            if thisLine does not contain deletePhrase then
                set newText to newText & thisLine & return
            end if
        end repeat
        if newText is not "" then set newText to text 1 thru -2 of newText
    on error
        set newText to theText
    end try
    return newText
end deleteLinesFromText

Result:
Example note exported from Apple.

- Indent
    - *Further* indent
        - Even **further **indent. With a [link](https://duck.com).

End note.

Notes:
Similarly to the main answer, if you want to convert further levels of indentation you'll need to add extra lines for it.
This sample code only converts three levels. To add a fourth, you can add at the top of the set exportedNote to replace_chars section:
set exportedNote to replace_chars(exportedNote, "
", tab & tab & tab & "- ") of me as text

Add deeper levels on the top going down in chronological order with two more spaces before each
 and one more tab &.
If anyone has code to be able to convert any n number of indentation levels, please chime in or submit edits.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
MacBook 15-inch speakers on when closed, is it damaging them?
I have my MacBook on a stand and I plug in a monitor and listen to something and I occasionally forget to plug-in my speaker. Will it damage my Mac speakers if they're facing the screen ?

No, the device will just be muffled. You needen’t worry about closed clamshell mode if you don’t have other microphones and speakers engaged or selected.

Thank-you, just didn't want it damaged due to my laziness of forgetting plug-in a speaker XD

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to delete user Downloads folder
I want to delete the Downloads folder on my Mac as I just save everything on my background so that way I have to sort it right away. I'm wondering if you can help me by telling me if there is a way to put in some terminal code to delete the downloads folder ? I never use it and apparently you can't just delete it.

Would it satisfy you to remove it from the Dock and from the sidebar?

Not really, I just don't want files to accidentally end up in there, so I'd rather it just be gone. I don't think it would mess up the computer, would it ?

Much harder for them to accidentally get in there if there is no icon to drag to.  And if your only way to delete things is in Terminal, I would think you’re familiar enough with commands to get them back out.

First of all, you need to change the default location for downloads to your Desktop folder, if that's what you want.
In Safari > Preferences > General, there's a setting for the downloads location. This sets the preference for all applications, not just Safari.
If you don't do this, then any app that wants to save a file there will likely recreate the folder in the process of saving.
As of Catalina, the Downloads folder has a com.apple.macl extended attribute, which is protected by SIP. You may therefore need to disable System Integrity Protection before deleting this folder.
How do I disable System Integrity Protection (SIP) AKA "rootless" on macOs [OS X]
Don't forget to enable it afterwards, otherwise, you'll be 'leaving the front door open'.
Apple has hardwired some folders to ensure that they will always be present. It's possible that the folder might even get recreated. The alternative is just to hide it from view in the Finder.
Sometimes, MacOS can be inflexible about the way things are done, and it's often easiest to reprogram the more flexible computer on the other side of the keyboard. ;-)


text:
mute switch + do not disturb shortcut?
looked everywhere, but I couldn't find a way to make a shortcut for my silent switch to automatically put on do not disturb when on. Any ideas or tricks ? I'm new to the app, but just want a quick solution.

Which app are you referring to?

Siri shortcuts app, are there any other suggestions ?


text:
How to disable tab preview on mouse hover in Safari for macOS?
I have suddently started seeing webpage preview thumbnail in Safari. I have not enabled this option and I wish to turn off this behavior.

How can I turn it off?

The tab preview that you are noticing is a newly introduced feature made available in recently released Safari 14. Safari 14 is going to be made available with the upcoming release of macOS 11 Big Sur and has also been made available via a software update for the users of macOS Catalina 10.15 and macOS Mojave 10.14.
As of this writing, there is no directly accessible option made available under either Safari Preferences or the Menu bar to turn off this feature. However, if you don't find the feature useful, there's a slightly involved workaround that could help you disable it.
Follow the below mentioned steps one by one:

Quit Safari.app.

Launch Terminal.app. You can find it by searching in Spotlight, within Utilities folder under Applications, or within Launchpad.

Copy paste the following line verbatim in Terminal and press the Enter key:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 1
This would add a new menu item called Debug in the Safari menu alongside the Help menu item.

Now launch Safari.app and you'd notice the Debug menu item alongside the existing Help menu.

In the Debug menu, click to uncheck the Tab Features → Show Tab Preview on Hover (requires restart) option.

Now quit Safari.app by using the keyboard shortcut Command + Q.

Go back to Terminal.app and copy paste the following line verbatim and press the Enter key:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeInternalDebugMenu 0
Notice that the last parameter to the command is now a 0 instead of 1.

You can close/quit Terminal.app after running the above command.

Now launch Safari.app and voila! the tab preview is gone. Also, you no longer see the Debug menu either (which is hidden by default).

No longer works with Safari 14.0.2 (16610.3.7.1.9) and macOS 11.1.

Update - new way for existing or clean-installed Big Sur installations:
Quit Safari.
Use Terminal to go to the correct preferences folder with this command:
open ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.Safari/Data/Library/Preferences/

Open the com.apple.Safari.plist file.
Insert the following lines (preferably directly above the IncludeDevelopMenu entry):
<key>IncludeInternalDebugMenu</key>
<true/>

The 'Debug' menu will now show in Safari.
Use the "Tab Features" selection in the "Debug" menu to deselect the "Show Tab Preview on Hover (requires restart)" option.
Restart Safari.

I found another option to do it from the terminal. Might be helpful for older versions of Safari:
defaults write com.apple.Safari DebugDisableTabHoverPreview 1

Note: The terminal needs to be given full disk access to execute and Safari
application needs to be closed before executing the command
Additional observation:
It is most probably not working for newer versions of Safari.

The existing answer is based on adding a Debug menu, which might not be required for some users. This answer uses a method from the terminal.

Yeah excuse me.


text:
Stop sharing printer over WiFi
I recently bought a HP Envy 5000, and annoyingly it came without a cable to plug directly into my Mac. I must connect it to my WiFi network.
I live in a large shared building of around 12 people, but we all use the same wifi network. A couple of times I've noticed random documents getting printed on my printer that clearly weren't my own.
Is there a way I can set my printer so that it is connected to the network but so that only I can use it?
Currently I must unplug it, which isn't ideal. I even tried turning the printer off but I still found someone else's documents getting printed, it must have turned itself back on somehow.
Also, here are the settings I have under Sharing:

Just as a note; printers never come with USB cables. Even if they are only suitable for wired connection. (Unless you mean it doesnt even have the socket to plug it into)

Sometime printers have the option to create a peer-to-peer wireless network instead on joining an existing one. Is that an option on yours?

@RichardTingle my printer definitely came with a USB cable. And it's kind of ridiculous to make such a bold statement. As if you know every single type of printer

Aside - consider that all those other devices are on the same network as your computer/cellphone/printer too.  There's a risk that one of them is malicious, or gets a virus, or just explores your machine for file shares.    So there's a separate question here "how to protect my devices on an untrusted shared network"

The User Manual has no documentation on any security features for that printer.  So, regardless if it's WiFi or connected to Ethernet, it's a wide open printer on the network.  Business class printers will have the ability to lock out users through a variety of methods - I always recommend these printers over the consumer ones for this (and many other reasons)
The "Printer Sharing" section on your Mac, is for printers connected to your Mac. It allows you to manage who/what can print to that printer via your Mac.  Technically, you can share a networked printer, but as stated before, since that printer is "wide open," anyone can get to it regardless of the policies you configure on your Mac.
So, you have two options:

create your own small Wireless network that only you have access to and put your printer on that.
purchase a USB cable and connect your printer directly to your Mac.

(Option 2 is probably the most effective method).

As the existing answers have already mentioned - once connected to a network, any device on that network can print to it. It is not being controlled by your Mac's Sharing settings, it can be accessed directly by anyone on the network.
It appears from the manual that there are no additional security settings to define who may or may not use the printer. This is far more common in a business environment but your printer seems more oriented towards a consumer/family setup.
I think, practically, the solution may be to set the printer up to use WiFi Direct rather than connect it to the existing communal WiFi. This would allow you to specify your own new, separate password, effectively preventing others from accessing it, accidentally or intentionally, without that password.
Once set up, disable the regular WiFi connection to remove it from the existing network.
The instructions for setting up WiFi Direct start on page 47 of the linked manual.
You could, of course, set it up over USB, then your Mac's Sharing settings would indeed come into play - the downside of this would be the Mac would need to be switched on & awake for you to be able to print from any other device; your phone, for instance.

Your printer uses WiFi to connect to the local network. Any computer on the same network can then print to it directly, without 'going through' your Mac.
Even if your printer is off, it's likely that someone else's computer will hold the print job in a queue until the printer becomes available.
If you want to prevent that, then you need to look through the printer's manual to see what security features it has. Either that, or turn off the WiFi feature and use a USB cable.
Ultimately, this isn't a Mac software question.

Adding to Allans answer you could always try to "create your own small Wireless network" using your cellphones personal hotspot then you (and only you) should be able to print from your laptop or phone to your printer wirelessly.


text:
Different hibernate modes on MacBook Pro?
Sorry if this question will appear to be stupid.
Is it possible to set one hibernate mode (for example 3) when macbook is on power adapter and another hibernate mode (25) when it’s on battery. Is it absolutely nonsense or...? hehe
Thanks in advance

Yes, you can set different hibernation modes with pmset.
Most articles on the subject give the command pmset -a hibernatemode X (where X is a number). The -a flag is for 'all' modes: you can alternatively set -b for battery and -c for charger.
Whether there's any benefit in doing so, is another matter! Modern RAM is quite efficient, and you're not likely to reap significant battery time savings: you'll just slow down the sleep and wake processes. The 25 setting was used in much older laptops.

Thank you for your answer! So, there is no point in changing hibernate mode? But my Macbook drains sometimes battery during sleep... Maybe I need to experiment with standby delay?

@KirillBara What model of Mac is it? Is Powernap turned off? How much battery are you losing? There are quite a lot of questions about battery running down during sleep, so check them out and then ask a question about that if necessary.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2019), 2,3 GHz Intel Core i9. Power Nap is off as default. I'm losing ~5% per night. I've checked "wake up" tasks - there were nothing. I really don't what's the problem :) And also I've lost 11% of my battery capacity this year. P.S. I am still on Mojave...

The 11% is worrying. Might be worth taking it in to an Apple Store.


text:
Before Catalina, do live photos count as both photo and video in the "Photos" app tally?
I'm just wondering whether live photos were counted twice because they were photos but also videos. Thanks in advance.

I'm curious...iCloud is based on storage space, not a tally of file types.  Why and where would this matter?

No, they weren't counted twice in Mojave for example.


text:
100GB of system data
I was trying to update my iPhone with iOS 14.1
I was told that I didn't have enough storage left, I was very surprised since I'm using about 10 of my 128 gigabytes available
After investigation, it appears that the 114GB is used for "other system data", which seems absurd.
How to free up this space? (I guess most of it is irrelevant)

Does the space used change after a reboot of the iPad?

It is an iPhone not an iPad but the space is indeed the same after reboot

If possible, try deleting an app or two (optimally, one with some data stored on the iPhone) and see if this changes. If it goes up, this could be a "known" bug, in which case the only solution I'm aware of is, sadly, the nuclear option....  wipe the iPhone from Settings, and restore from backup (make sure to backup first!).

After saving some space to download the update and installing it, the bug has been fixed.
Only 9GB are used in this category.


text:
Unable to place call from Mac using iPhone
I have a Mac and and an iPhone. I want to make phone calls to my saved contacts from the Contacts app on my Mac without picking up my iPhone.
But when I click on the call icon in the Contacts app, Skype launches instead.
Calling via iPhone was working fine previously, but now Skype launches instead. I do not wish to use Skype.
I do not remember changing any settings, and I want the old behavior back to call from my iPhone and not from Skype installed on my Mac.
How can I resolve this issue?

Apparently you installed Skype and it got configured as the default app for making telephone calls (default app your Mac would use to handle tel: links).
You can try to revert to the previous/default behavior by launching FaceTime app on your Mac, going to Preferences and opening the Settings tab. Look for the value selected for Default for calls: at the bottom and make sure FaceTime is selected.


text:
Site doesn't work on Safari but loads fine on Chrome/Firefox
I'm trying to load www.zhongwen.com on Safari on the iPad on iOS 14 (but I encounter the same issue on Safari for Mac). The site loads fine, but clicking on any Chinese character doesn't load the correct elements for that character (it appears as a broken image). You can compare the results on Chrome/Firefox and notice that Safari doesn't load properly.
Interestingly, the site loads fine on Safari for iPad on iOS 6. I'm not sure what's different between Safari on iOS 6 and iOS 14, but hopefully that helps someone diagnose the issue. I noticed that there are Experimental settings for Safari but not sure what any mean and afraid to change anything.
If anyone can help I would greatly appreciate it!

This is usually an issue involving the development of the website.  iOS 6 Safari is vastly different than iOS 13 or 14 Safari and whatever responsive design tweaks the developer used for Safari back then may no longer be applicable today.  This is something the developer needs to address.

I do find it interesting (odd perhaps) that this site is using an XML namespace from Facebook.com that's 1) not using https and 2) is immediately redirected to https://ogp.me (another facebook domain).


text:
Rotate PDF in Safari
In Safari if I open a misoriented PDF is there a way to rotate it so that I can read it without having to rotate my head and end up dizzy?

If it's mis-oriented in Safari that means the original is formatted that way.  Safari only provides a "quick viewer" of sorts for PDF files and is only rendering what was provided.
What you need to do is open it in Preview.

Simply right click anywhere on the PDF in Safari and select "Open With Preview."  Once you're in Preview, you can rotate the PDF with ⌘ CommandL or ⌘ CommandR to rotate left and right respectively.

This doesn't actually Open with Preview. It seems to open with the default PDF viewer. My default PDF viewer is unfortunately Safari...

Are you right clicking on the rendered PDF or the link?

When you right click on the rendered PDF in Safari, you should get the option to open in Preview - this is the default behavior.

Try option click.  Did you modify the default behavior(s) of your mouse?

Because I'm asking you to right click (your mouse) and you're giving me results that are not consistent with what should be happening.  When you right click, you should get a menu, not a new tab with the link's location in the address bar.

That means there's something going on with Preview like PDF files are now associated with something else or some other setting related to PDFs/Safari/Downloads/Preview that's not standard.  In your case, save the file instead of opening it for now.  But this behavior actually creates a new question re:  the default behavior of opening PDF's in Safari.

that needs to be changed because what renders a PDF in Safari is a simple plug in, not Preview.  This can cause major issues further down the road.  Find a PDF file and press Cmd-I or right click and select "Get Info"  Check to see what the file "Opens With" (about midway down)

I set Safari as the default because I prefer using it to view PDFs normally. What are the "major issues" this can cause?

This - the rotate issue.  Forms will be another.  Printing...because you'll be printing it as a web page, not as a PDF document.  Safari renders web pages, it's not a PDF reader.  It can render a PDF because there's a plugin/add-on, but it's not a PDF viewer.

You can create an action or an "Open With" menu item for PDFs, but by associating the PDF with an app that's not designed for it, you created a circular issue by which the app that can only do a "quick look" is now what is called when you need advanced tools like rotate.

I think it's Apple's fault that 'Open with Preview' doesn't actually open with Preview.app. It's clearly a bug: either a mislabelling of that context menu option, or it's pointing at the wrong action.

Regardless...you're associated the PDF file with an App not designed to be a PDF reader.  Your fix is to put it back to it's default.  That way you'll get the result you're looking for.

Using Preview is a terrific alternative as mentioned above.
Preview can even save the PDF with the new rotation. Later, if you want to view in Safari, you can do so without difficulty (or dizziness).


text:
Customise drop shadow size (larger) in Preview.app
In Preview you can draw shapes.
You can add a drop shadow to these shapes.
However, I can't seem to figure out how to make the drop shadow larger.
On the scale of the image I am annotating, the drop shadow just looks like a tiny black border.

Preview doesn't support this.
I solved it by drawing a square inside of a fully transparent image, adding the drop shadow, saving it, closing it, reopening it, then rotating and resizing the drop shadow until it fit my needs and copy/pasting it into my original document.


text:
External microphone on MacBook Pro
I have two Macs on the desk and want to use one set of microphone/speakers with both. One machine, a Mac mini, has a Focusrite audio interface (Scarlett 8i6, love it) connected by USB-C and that has an XLR microphone and powered stereo speakers connected. I want output from a nearby MacBook Pro to play on the main speakers (not its internal speakers) and to send microphone output from the audio interface to the MBP as input (instead of using internal microphone).
No problem getting output. A simple stereo - double TS (mono) cable lets me connect it to the Focusrite box as one of the inputs. I can mix levels in the Focusrite application, plays on main speaker outputs. Sounds good.
Microphone output from the Focusrite is mono. A TS-TS cable connects the output to the mic input of the splitter cable. Doesn't work!
Here's the wiring of my splitter cable - it follows "iPhone headphone" in the picture. Output cable, plugged into the headphone jack of the splitter, follows "Standard stereo headphone". Ignore "iPod AV Cable", it just happens to be in the picture:

That's verified by meter testing. As soon as this cable is connected MBP lets me set output to "External Headphones". However I never get the option "External Microphone".
The output from the microphone is good, if I connect it to the microphone input of a nearby PC no issues at all, good levels, clear audio from microphone. I just never get the option to select it on the MBP.
Just what is the input on a MBP 15,1 for if not for this?
Is the Mac doing some tricky resistance or 1-wire interrogation of the connected device and refusing to allow anything but a device that gives the right answer?
If I had a set of TRRS AirPods with included microphone would that microphone work? Does anything work as input on MBP?
I really don't want to have to use another USB interface for this.

If I'm understanding correctly [& I may not be, 1st coffee of the day;), you've got a TS plug in the Mac's headphone socket to use as the mic input - that's not going to work for mic as you're shorting mic to ground. You need a TRRS with the last RS connected. I'd say this is a DIY soldering job, TS to [TR]RS.

Yes, it was a soldering job - cut the plug off a splitter that was not wired as the above, and made it so with a new TRRS jack. The splitter is mono (mic) + stereo (headphones). If the jack is TR1R2S the splitter is mic = S + R2 (common), headphones = R2 (common) + R1 (right) + T (left).
I did have a driver installed "Crestron Audio" and once I deleted it I saw an external mic. I still think levels are far too low so would not quite call this solved but there is progress.


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Fonts showing in Font Book but not in Finder
I randomly found a font called 'Baloo' in Font Book, yet I can't seem to find out how it's been installed.
When I click on one of it's variants in Font Book, it says that I need to 'download' the font, and presents me with a download button like the below.
The font doesn't appear to be in my library folder and I can't find the file for it anywhere else. Font Book also as greyed out the Show in Finder feature for this font.
I can use the font fine in any CreativeCloud program, but it doesn't appear to be an Adobe Font.
Does anyone know why this might have happened?

Apple does provide additional fonts as optional installs that can be downloaded if you want. From the linked Apple Support document, Baloo is one of those.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210192
If you have Creative Cloud, then you have access to Adobe's font library: CC apps can install any font for their own use directly from Adobe Fonts, independently of macOS's font management.

Ahh I see! Looks like it must have been since I installed Catalina then


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How do I turn off AirPods notifications in macOS?
As of Big Sur, every time I open or unlock my Mac or walk over to it from being somewhere else I get this notification:

AirPods
Nearby

I don't need it, dismissing it is a distraction and waiting for it to disappear is an obstruction to getting work done.
How and turn it off so I never get notifications about my Airpods?

Connect your AirPods to your Mac, then go to System Preferences → Bluetooth and for your AirPods choose Options and set ‘Connect to This Mac’ to ‘When Last Connected to This Mac’.

‘Automatically’ will switch your AirPods from being connected to another device if you stop using that device and start using your Mac. ‘When Last Connected to This Mac’ means your Mac doesn't participate in automatic switching and will only connect to AirPods when they were last connected to your Mac.

This turns off the entire automatic switching feature. Is there any way to get rid of the notification only?

I was having this same annoying issue so I disconnected my AirPods from the bluetooth on my MacBook Air and that seemed to work. Let me know if it works for you!


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Make FileVault password different from user login password?
In macOS Catalina, I want to specifically set a different (and longer) password for unlocking FileVault (e.g. when I first turn my MacBook Pro on) vs. a shorter password to use in more casual contexts like unlocking after sleep or when prompted for the admin user password.
Is this possible?
Usually, people have wanted the opposite. But in Catalina I've tried changing it to be different in both System Preferences > Users & Groups > Change Password... and System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Change Password... and it makes them both sync up in either case.
I remember in older versions of macOS I would have to enter a different password for FileVault vs. your user password (if they were different). I'm wanting this distinction back.
My user account is the default and only administrator in the system.
Is there a Terminal command to specify user password as distinct from FileVault password?

No. However, you can set up a second admin account.
Any admin user/password can be used to authenticate graphically so you could do something insecure like make an account user and password with me/me.

Shift tab, change your name to me, then tab and enter me again for the password and press enter.
What I’m doing is using fingerprint or devices like yubikey or my Apple Watch to unlock but what I have nearby as opposed to what I type.

https://www.yubico.com/us/store

Very nifty ideas, and for unlocking screen, the YubiKey might be a great alternative if you don't have a Touch ID button! Thanks. Will leave this open as unsolved in case someone comes up with an awesome Terminal solution to actually force a unique password for both things in the Q.


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Macbook is running, but black screen
I have a Macbook Pro (2015). When I switch on, I can hear the fan noice but screen remains black, no backlight (No light on the Apple logo in back). I checked brightness, restarted mac several times, reset the System Management Controller, followed these steps but no luck. Any ideas?
EDIT: Battery is dead

This may seem strange, but shine a light through the Apple logo on the back and see if there is anything displayed in that small area.  If so, the screen is working but the backlight may have lost power and would need physical repair.  Perhaps an external monitor can get you by in the meantime.

@bjbk Will do. BTW my mac's battery is dead. Would that be a problem?

@bjbk has a good suggestion that super easy to confirm.  One more question... Do you get the boot chime?  If it's plugged in, it should still boot even if the battery is dead.

You could try resetting NVRAM and PRAM. They store system settings that might be related to the problem.

Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P and R. You can release the keys after about 20 seconds, during which your Mac might appear to restart.

Apple's instructions

I followed those too, but no luck. The screen didnt even showing anything

Just FYI..it's NVRAM. PRAM was on PowerPC Macs like the G3/G4/G5 models.  NVRAM is for Intel and ARM Macs.  Secondly, there's no setting in NVRAM that prevents a screen from turning on - the logo being dark points to a physical issue.

It would be worthwhile to find a way to plug in an external monitor. That will tell you the depth of the issue: just video or the whole thing.


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How to make remove free space and make APFS container take it up
I am on 11.1 Big Sur beta.
I have a partition with no disk identifier called (free space)
I would like to remove this, and then make the APFS container take up the free space.
Here is a screenshot of my GPT and Disks

I'm on the latest Big Sur beta, which is 11.1, for some reason

This answer was tested using Big Sur (macOS 11.0.1). For Catalina, set this question.

Boot to Big Sur.

Close all applications. Open the Terminal application.

You can create a new APFS container.  An example is given below. Assume the output from diskutil list is as follows.

The command to enter would be as follows.
diskutil addpartition disk0s1 apfs NewAPFS 0

Clone (replicate) your existing Big Sur installation to the new APFS container. An example is given below. Assume the output from diskutil list is as follows.

The command to enter would be as follows.
sudo asr --source /dev/disk1s5s1 --target /dev/disk2 --erase

An alternative to the asr command would be to use the Carbon Copy Cloner.

Restart the Mac and hold down the option key until the Mac Startup Manager icons appear. Hold down the control key while selecting the Big Sur that is not shown as the current default.

An alternative would be to select the startup disk from macOS Recovery.

Remove the original. An example is given below. Assume the output from diskutil list is as follows.

The command to enter would be as follows.
diskutil apfs deletecontainer disk2

Reclaim the free space. An example is given below. Assume the output from diskutil list is as follows.

The command to enter would be as follows.
diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk1 0

The final result is given below.

This answer is worth of 2^10 of points. Saved my day literally, otherwise I'd format the whole drive. Thank you very much.

Didn't want to find it out, but the solution worked on 12.2.1 and was a great help!

Saved my day (last part n°7 more precisely). Thank you :D

Installed both Catalina and Monterey on a small 120 GB NVMe disk, and decided to stay with Monterey assuming that I could use the space left after deleting Catalina, but could not find a way to do it, the point was that the space needed to be available after the partition, not before.
This post sent me in the right direction, but How To Clone Your Mac Using ASR from Apple Support Community included the right options for ASR to do the cloning.


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Changing the Hostname
Starting with Big Sur, I have trouble setting the hostname for my machine. If I go to Settings > Sharing and set the computer name to <myhostname>, it will set my hostname to something like DESKTOP-66SJRDC. I have no idea where that value comes from.
Then I set the hostname manually in Terminal via
sudo hostname <myhostname>

and it seems to use the correct hostname now. However once I change the Computer Name again in Sharing it falls back to some random value and I have to set it in terminal again.
I remember just needing to set the Computer Name in earlier macOS versions and not messing about with hostname. Did something change in Big Sur?
Where does the random value come from?

For me my old name was still present in Sharing, but a similar one to yours was set in Terminal. Now, I changed it via Terminal and it seems to work. I will observe.
It started with the update to Big Sur

My hostname is apparently being set via DHCP. Instead of my computer name (set in Sharing) showing in my prompt, for example, or when running the hostname command, the name assigned to my computer by the network admin shows. I guess the network/DHCP-assigned name, when one exists, must take precedence over the locally-set hostname.

@leanne how can I check this for myself? Is there a way for me to know if DHCP is overriding my usual name? via the terminal

@SidharthGhoshal: I knew what my network hostname was by looking at my router's DHCP settings. This network hostname was showing in my Terminal prompt. For example, the prompt showed something like myname@networkname $ instead of myname@computername $, with computername being what I set in Sharing.

@SidharthGhoshal: I fixed it with this tip from Reddit --> computer_name=${"$(scutil --get ComputerName)"//\%/%%} followed by PS1='%n@$computer_name...' placed in my .zshrc file.


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Remove preinstalled apps on Big Sur MacBook Pro M1
Sorry for my English, I'm French and I've given up trying to remove preinstalled apps like Tv.app and FaceTime. app.
I have  tried a lot (even with SIP disabled) but nothing works. I'm kind very desperate since I’m not sure how I would set up screen time to limit my children’s usage of the Pre-installed apps.
The reason why I need to do so, is that my kid waste time in stead of studying. Is there a guide how to set this up?

A newer question has provided more details so we will close this forward instead of reverse for that reason.

The fastest path forward would be to make your account the administrator and grant each child their own managed AppleID and their own sign in and force them to abide by Screen Time limits.
You are correct that uninstalling the core parts of the system is a bit like the task of sysiphus.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210387 (Guide on app restrictions)
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201084 (Guide on Family accounts)

You likely won’t even need to resort to stricter measures like a free / hosted MDM like https://app.jamfnow.com/devices
I have not had success messing with the Sealed System Volume (SSV) in Big Sur, but people are starting to document how this works publicly.


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Importing album art from ripped music
I have over 130+ artists with 1000s of tracks all sorted and with valid metadata externally to the Music / iTune app on my Mac (Catalina).  The folder layout is Artist / Album / CD in Album (ranges 1-12 currently) / Tracks (e.g. 01 - Composer - Track Name.p4a)
When I import the artist / track, Music does not apply the artwork even though its in the track metadata and stored as Folder.jpg in the source folder.  The latter works on a couple of music players and Volumio on the Raspberry under the TV :-)
I'm happy to delete the whole Mac music library and start again if needed.
Though I can, if needed, hack around in Python, I'm not an Apple script creator.
I could go through the whole lot and manually link the jpg to the album but does anyone know of an easier way?

Turns out if you leave it about 20 minutes and exit out of Music and go back in it sorts itself.


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Can I fix VMware Fusion to correctly map the tilde / back tick on a British keyboard?
I'm stuck with an odd keyboard layout in Fusion Player v 12.0.1 on macOS 10.15.7 (Catalina) and cannot seem to find a way around it.
The keyboard physically is a bluetooth Apple keyboard UK layout with tilde/back tick between he left shift and Z keys. This is set to 'British' in the system preferences and works fine (i.e. I can type `~§± and the correct symbols show in applications.
I'm running a new VM with Debian 10 in it but cannot find a way to get these keys to map correctly despite working in copy from Mac / paste to VM fine.
Is there a solution to the crossed over keys?

Since you said latest version I’ve linked to that. Please edit this if I guessed the wrong version of latest for your macOS and if you are using fusion pro instead of fusion player.

Install VM Tools from the Fusion Menu (ignore notice about using open-vm-tools)
Select keyboard & mouse from the VM settings
Highlight Profile - default on the list of profiles
From tools (cog below list of profiles) - select duplicate and name 'Debian Profile'
From tools - set profile as default
Double click profile and select Keyboard and Mouse
Make sure Enable Key Mappings is *checked
Make sure Language Specific Key Mappings is not checked
Use the '+' to add a new mapping of From: § To: `
Use the '+' key to add a new mapping of From: ` To: §

e.g. for the first mapping:

That should then take effect once you have a session running.
On the Debian side, you may have to configure the keyboard from the command line if you have not set it up / not running multiple languages.
First check if cat /etc/default/keyboard gives you:
# KEYBOARD CONFIGURATION FILE

# Consult the keyboard(5) manual page.

XKBMODEL="apple"
XKBLAYOUT="gb"
XKBVARIANT="mac"
XKBOPTIONS="lv3:ralt_switch"

BACKSPACE="guess"

If so, ignore the rest and pat yourself on the back / get a cuppa :-)
If not install the command line configurator:
sudo apt install keyboard-configuration

Then execute it:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

Select:

Keyboard Model: Apple
Keyboard Layout: English (UK) : English (UK, Macintosh)
AltGr: Right Alt (AltGr)
Compose Key: ???? - I do not use one - select as needed
Control+Alt+Backspace to terminate: ???? - your choice

Then REBOOT
The other way is to add the Keyboard Layout Handler into a panel BUT this sticks a big blob of text on your menu bar!  If you are happy with this (or are switching languages) then the UK keyboard can be set as:

Note the checkboxes for do not reset options and keep system layouts are clear.

Superbly well done explanation of a tricky sequence of steps

Thank you kindly; I've been messing around with kinto and other solutions to get this working and finally found your writeup.


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How to block certain devices from showing up for AirPlay / Screen Mirroring?
As of MacOS 11 (Big Sur) the Airplay/Screen Mirroring options have changed. In Catalina there was a single icon in the toolbar for Airplay, clicking it gave a list of devices that, AFAIK, didn't change while the menu was held down.
In MacOS 11, the new flow is you click the control panel(?) icon, then "screen mirroring", then a list of devices appears.

This list is populated as you're interacting with it which has the problem that you intend to choose a name but just has you go to click, new devices are added and you click on the wrong device.
Worse, these devices could be from other houses/rooms/apartments. Serveral times now, trying to click on my own device, Big Sur has added devices under the mouse as I click and I've ended up clicking on a neighbor's device. Which, if I understand correctly, means I've just interrupted my neighbor's viewing and possibly made their TV, which was off, come on.
How can I block certain devices from ever appearing in the screen mirroring list of devices so I can avoid annoying my neighbors?
Note: Turing Bluetooth off is not an option as I use Airpod with my Mac daily.


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What color filter does iPhone Night Shift apply?
I took a photo just now that looks great on my iPhone 7 iOS 14.2 which is currently in Night Shift mode.
How can I make the photo look like that when viewed without Night Shift?


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How did Apple re-install everything in a clean Big Sur install, without access to backups?
Okay, Apple are really starting to freak me out (I don't use them much). Here's the timeline of my story:
My daughter's MacBook Air (2017-ish) that she needs for school would not update to Big Sur because it had a pityingly small 128G SSD. So, I decided to spring for a 500G one and get her device to a more acceptable level.
I first tried this on my less important Mac Mini, swapping out the 500G for a 1T, though still spindle rather than SSD (I don't need the speed on that box). A Time Machine full backup was done in preparation for restoring, the new drive was inserted, and I used recovery to get everything back. That worked well.
Daughter's machine, not so well. Trying to do a normal recovery with command-R and restoring from Time Machine, resulted in a failure, the text which I don't remember. But it did seem very fast compared to the following step.
Doing it with command-shift-R seemed to work but consistently ended up rebooting with a dreaded:

So, I thought, forget the automatic recovery, I'll just install Big Sur and try to get the data from Time Machine afterwards (I'd read a migration would allow this). I left the install running and went to work.
The first thing I noticed was that it didn't ask me for my wi-fi password, despite the fact it was a brand new SSD. I can only assume certain stuff is stored in the Mac somewhere, separate from the drive.
The thing that really amazed me was that, when I got home, the machine seemed to be fully done. It had my daughter's account information, all her files that she knew about, all the apps she had installed, the screen-time settings, the school stuff like Office 365, and everything that I know to look for.
This is despite the fact neither the Time Machine backup nor original SSD were available during the Big Sur install. I know Mac aficionados say it "just works" but this is bordering on "horror movie" scary.
I guess what I'm trying to ask is:

How did this actually manage to do all this? Is there more stuff than just the wi-fi password stored on the device outside of the disk? This is about the only way I can see this happening, though it couldn't possibly be a large amount of data, surely?

Can I be reasonably certain it did it properly? I want to avoid the drama of visiting IT support next year when she starts school, because I may have stuffed something up.

To the downvoter: I have no issue with you doing that but, if you were to leave a reason why (or if anyone wants to state how the question could be improved), I'm happy to make changes. This is my first foray into AskDifferent (I'm usually on SO) and I'm pretty certain I followed the guidelines but it's possible I may have missed something, so feel free to let me know.

Welcome to Ask Different; I'm sorry you had a bad first experience, and I can certainly sympathize with the frustration of being downvoted without explanation. I'll post an answer in a sec, but basically it's just that macOS doesn't wipe on OS installation by default.

Though iCloud does store more than just Wi-Fi passwords by default (assuming you're using it), it isn't the primary culprit. Unlike some other operating systems, macOS doesn't wipe everything when installing (or reinstalling) the OS by default. While I don't have a definitive list of files it touches (and it likely varies by macOS version), you can typically assume that it will primarily touch system-related files.
What appears to have happened in your case is that your initial "failed" installation actually copied over many of your personal files successfully from the Time Machine backup; however, for one reason or another, something related to the OS installation failed and prevented the drive from being made into a bootable disk. When you re-installed macOS after the fact, those files remained in place, and macOS simply installed the OS alongside them.
Given the fact that the initial Time Machine migration failed, the exact state of what was restored isn't entirely clear. I'd recommend wiping the entire disk via Recovery Mode, reinstalling, and then using the setup utility to restore from Time Machine. Remember to format the SSD as APFS rather than HFS!


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How to restrict access to applications in Big Sur?
How do I put FaceTime in a folder and assign a password to the folder? The aim is not to have access to the apps without password.
I actually want to restrict access to minimize distraction ( tv app, FaceTime, App Store) and I was able to do that without any problem in Catalina, but with Big Sur it's another story.
I have already tried using screen time but I don't think parental control is the solution to my problem as I want to use the Mac for academic use.  I wanted to prevent myself from being distract by them, but still use safari without any problem. I actually did try activating screen time, but it's not effective (as I explained in screen time, we aren't able to to activate "Downtime limitations" and "limits apps" but still use Safari) so I'm looking for solutions.

Can you share some information about your usage scenario here? Do you want to prevent getting called, do you want to prevent calling out, do you want to keep a minor away from Facetime, etc? Depending on this there might be better solutions to solve the problem.

Yes,this Mac is used by a lot of persons and  it's in order to prevent people from being distracted. I already try screen time but it's wasn't good for that. In fact, Safari missing from the list of apps '"always allowed apps " so I can't select Safari as an Always Allowed app in order to exclude it from Downtime.

There are also Parental Controls in combination with having one user account per actual user. But please edit more details into the question to explain the use cases here.

Basically, I don't think parental control is the solution to my problem as I actually want to restrict access to distraction ( tv app, FaceTime, App Store) and I was able to do that without any problem. As I want to use the Mac for accademic use, I wanted to prevent myself to be distract by them but still use safari without any problem. I actually activate screen time, but it 's not effective ( as I explained  in screen time, we aren't able to  to activate "Downtime limitations" and "limits apps"but still use Safari) So I'm looking for solutions

I personally don’t recommend blocking things that you as the administrator can unblock, but I understand friction can be good for many people so I would encourage use of screen time - if only to show you the amount of time you spend so you ca track that and build healthy habits over time. Also, it’s quick and easy so start with it while you wait for other answers to arrive.

You can not delete apps in a meaningful way to accomplish your goal in Big Sur. It’s not easy and you have to circumvent the sealed system / patch and update process. Plus you may waste more time than you save in a week, but have at it if someone documents a solution there.
Use Screen Time to block whole apps.
Use the SelfControl app to block sites in Safari (and other browsers) https://github.com/SelfControlApp/selfcontrol/wiki/FAQ

Be sure you read the self control FAQ. It has some amazing gems of wisdom in it. Good luck tailoring your experience - don’t be out off by parental controls or screen time instructions - that’s the best way to block things without breaking the OS.

If you don't want to have access to FaceTime, simply Sign Out from FaceTime.

Open the FaceTime app
Select Preferences
Click Sign Out

Then nobody can FaceTime you, nor you can FaceTime to anyone without logging in to the app again.
If you just want to disable some apps, create another user account without administrative privileges and then apply Screen Time restrictions to that account.
Likewise if there are multiple users sharing the Mac, create at least one user account per person and then you can apply unique restriction profiles for the respective user accounts.


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How to make a copy of Xcode.app which is installed from App Store?
I have installed Xcode 12.2 from the App Store. (I am using Big Sur 11.0.1).
I would like to use the XVim2 plugin for Xcode. In order to use the the XVim2 plugin, the Xcode app must be re-signed with a self-signed certificate. Since, re-signing the app will replace the original signature, I would like to keep 2 copies of the Xcode app- the original one signed by Apple and a copy which has been re-signed by me.
I tried to copy the Xcode app by performing the following steps-

Open Finder and go to /Applications
Copy Xcode.app
Go to ~/Desktop and paste the app
Rename the Xcode.app file in Desktop to XcodeVim.app
Move the XcodeVim.app file to /Applications

After these steps, if I try to open the Xcode.app or the XcodeVim.app, the apps do not respond. The activity monitor shows that a process called XProtectService uses a lot of CPU when I try to open the apps.
Is there any way to copy the Xcode app which is installed from the App Store?
P.S.-
I do not face this issue if I use the .xip file downloaded from https://developer.apple.com . I can make copies of the Xcode app and use them concurrently. However, I cannot use the .xip file from Apple Developer website as it does not support delta updates while App Store supports delta updates.

It's possible that modifying Xcode in this way is triggering macOS's built-in security features.
However, there are two easy ways to make a copy of the original app.

Compress the Xcode.app into a zip file.

A copy of the original Xcode will be saved as part of your backup, which you are already maintaining for reasons that include restoring modified apps.


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Change grey color profile to colored one in image
I wanted to do some fancy image editing, copy/paste a few other images into one PNG.
To prepare a canvas for myself I did:
convert -size 1920x1080 xc:white white.png

then I opened the all-white PNG in Preview.app, copied some other wonderfully colored images into it, edited around until I was happy.
I saved the image.
Then I closed Preview.app.
Upon closing Preview.app, the image turned from color to monochrome.
Checking image info reveals:

Color model: Grey
ColorSync profile: Calibrated Gray Colorspace

I guess this is an unfortunate effect of the imagemagick command I used (and I've since learnt that the output file name could have instead been PNG24:white.png to generate an sRGB PNG that won't have this problem.)
There's a lot of work I will have to redo now if this is irreversible.
How can I retrieve the colors of the image? (I'm hoping the color information could still be there and reassigning color profile can reveal them)
The menu option Tools > Assign Color Profile... in Preview.app does not show me any non-grayscale color profiles.


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MacBook connects to the JBL Flip 4 and then disconnects
In the past, I was able to connect my MacBook to the JBL (but maybe it was another JBL, I am not sure), but now I am not able to, because it disconnects 5 seconds (or so) after the Bluetooth connection has been established.
I already tried the procedure suggested in this answer, but nothing changed. Of course, I also tried to turn on and then off the Bluetooth, remove the device and search for it again, but nothing really worked (i.e. it finds the device again and connects, but then automatically disconnects it). So, any ideas? I am on a Mac OS Catalina (10.15.7).
Btw, I am able to connect my Samsung Galaxy to the JBL. Also, previously, I was able to use the JBL speakers with a cable, but that cable broke (apparently), so I can't use it anymore, so I guess the problem is related to the Bluetooth.

Interesting. I am experiencing a similar issue with a Bose SoundLink Mini on a MBP 15" 2017 (I think it started with Catalina, maybe Mojave or even earlier). I always have to go into Bluetooth and select the SoundLink again and then it works.

Oh ok then our problems are a bit different

It worked for me on my boombox 2 to reset the speaker by pressing and holding + and play at the same time for 3 seconds.


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iPhone's MAC address does not seem to be correct
My wife's iPhone 11 Pro lists a MAC adddress of 88:A4:79:xx:xx:xx.  This address does not show up on my DHCP client list, but it is connected to the network
There was an unknown device on my network with MAC address of 4A:88:DC:xx:xx:xx.  This address cames up as "No vendor" on MAC lookup sites.
Not knowing that device, I blocked the MAC address.  Subsequently the iPhone is unable to connect to the network.
What is going on?  Why would the phone show a different MAC address than is actually connecting to the network?
Any insight appreciated.

For privacy reasons, iOS randomizes its MAC address so that public Wi-Fi networks (and other Wi-Fi based tracking networks) cannot use your unique unchanging MAC address to track you from place to place.
That 4A:… MAC address has the 2's place bit in the first octet set, which signifies that it is a locally administered MAC address (which in this context means it was randomly self-generated) not the guaranteed globally unique address that's burnt into the hardware. The 88:… address does not have the first octet's 2's place bit set, so it is the guaranteed globally unique address that's burnt into the hardware.
If you go into the iOS Wi-Fi settings for that network, you can turn off the "Private Address" switch to get your iPhone to use its unique, trackable MAC address on that network. See Apple's support document for details on this.

I understand now. Turns out my Galaxy S10 was doing the same thing. It's good to why. Thanks for helping me understand.

@JohnL See https://apple.stackexchange.com/help/someone-answers for what to do if somebody answers your question


text:
Disable file extension change prompts in macOS Finder?
When I change a file extension in Finder.app, I get prompted for confirmation.
How can I disable all of these? I never want to confirm the change.

Are you sure you want to remove the extension ".png"?
If you make this change, your document may open in a different application.

Are you sure you want to add the extension ".png" to the end of the name?
If you make this change, your document may open in a different application.

Are you sure you want to change the extension from ".png" to ".jpg"?
If you make this change, your document may open in a different application.

In Finder go to the "Finder" menu and select Preferences.
Click on the "Advanced" tab.
Either Check or Uncheck "Show warning before changing an extension" depending on the behavior you want.
Finder > Preferences > Advanced > Show warning before changing an extension

Note that it is not possible to change what the default action is (EG press Enter for [respectively] "Remote" , "Don't Add" , "Keep .png"). That is baked in to macOS as a default action. This is always going to be the action that will potentially NOT make a change that could cause a potential issue.


text:
Quicklook all unassociated files as text QLStephen doesn't work
Currently some filetypes have their own quicklook associations already, e.g. .mp4 files quicklook with some lite quicktime player, and .jpg files quicklook as an image.
How can I make every unassociated file quicklook as if it were text?
Commonly I have lots of programming or markup sourcefiles that I want to quickly inspect contents of.
I have installed QuickLook Stephen, but it only seems to work for the files it specifically says it works for (README, package.json,— it's NOT working for arbitrary unassociated files, in my case these are files like *.cs, *.csproj, *.yml)

https://apple.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/2918/how-should-we-get-a-question-updated-for-a-new-version

Please add a bounty to the original question to get more up-to-date answers. This will keep all answers at the same place and not distributed over several questions.


text:
Process owned by a user remains active after the user logs out
I share my MacBook Air1 with my son. When he is logged out2 of his user account and I look at the activity monitor in my account, there are several processes owned by his user that are still running:

When I took the screenshot3, the processes were all at 0% CPU, but I noticed them because com.apple.geod briefly rose to the top with around 5% or 10% CPU.
In fact, I only started up the activity monitor to check whether another process owned by my son was active again. He is playing Fortnite on this MacBook and a few days ago, after he had logged out and I had started using the computer, the cooling fan became very noisy, so I checked the activity monitor and saw that a process called EpicWebHelper owned by his account used a lot of CPU, until I killed it. I edited the launchd plist for that process to keep it from starting every time the computer was turned on. I guess it's nice for my son to have his game running when he logs in, but what I don't understand is:
Why does a process owned by a specific user remain active when the user logs out?

Notes.

MacBook Air, mid-2012, macOS 10.15.7
My son logs out via the Apple menu.
All the processes shown in the screenshot are owned by my son's user account. I just cropped his username to protect his privacy.

I'm not sure myself, but to help others here, could you clarify which macOS system are you using. Additionally, when you say he logs out, is he logging out fully (through the Apple Menu) or are you logging in via fast user switching? If you have fast user switching active, it's possible to lock the screen and then enter into another user simultaneously whilst the other user is still technically logged in. To check if fast user switching is active, go to System Preferences>Users and Groups>Login Options.

Oh also, in the above activity monitor screenshot, there's no indication that those processes belong to his user account. Could you clarify how you ascertained that the processes belong to his user account (i.e. did you inspect/sample the process through activity monitor/terminal). You can add a column to activity monitor to show which user is responsible for the process in Activity Monitor>View>Columns and select User.

@AVelj I answered your comments in an edit to my question. See the "Notes" at the end.

Thanks for providing the additional details and clarifying my questions. It's always useful to know which macOS system you're running to troubleshoot these things. As I said, I am unsure myself at this stage but I will have a think about it. Hopefully someone more qualified in that respect will be able to answer it for you. Cheers

Also, I just quickly searched what com.apple.geod does, and it seems to be a location services process. I don't know whether turning off the Mac's location will solve it, as other services may use it to communicate with Apple for analytic purposes. You could search more about the process, but I wouldn't be too concerned if it goes up occasionally to 5-10%.

@AVelj Just to make matters clear: I'm not concerned if a process goes up to 10% occasionally. I'm curious why a process owned by a logged out user is active when another user is logged in.

macOS is technically a multi-user system, there is nothing „wrong“ with having processes running which are owned by users not currently logged in. The processes you list seem to be usual things, don‘t see anything malicious.
PS: Of course sometimes things just get stuck due to bugs :-)

Sorry, but that answer is ridiculous, in the literal sense, as it's a non-sequitur.

I also would like to know why this happens, but from other posts such as this one, you can at least easily force a logout and termination of all processes. To me, the best is:
sudo launchctl bootout user/$(id -u <username>)

(Reportedly, only MacOS 10.11 and above).
The danger is, of course, that your son might have not logged out, but simply locked the screen or put the computer on sleep.  However, even in Mac 12.6, I'm finding that logging out doesn't really do that. One can assume that this a typical design "feature" by Apple to rewrite the laws of user-design, by, as in the words of Iñego Montoyo, using words that do not mean what they think it means.

What does launchctl bootout do. if the user already is logged out?


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Show ALL files starting with a dot in Finder
This answer from 2011 doesn't work for me:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true
killall Finder

I still can't see .DS_Store for example, .localized, ._. etc
cmd shift . also doesn't work.
I can see other dotfiles after I use cmd shift ., just not ._.*, .DS_Store, .localized so far.

Some dot files, e.g. .DS_Store, you can see in Terminal using e.g. ls -a however the ones you used to see in Finder and cannot now see them is because Finder is programmed to not show those files files even with it's set to show hidden files. The ._* and ._.* are  extended attributes/resource fork files and normally cannot be seen in Terminal or Finder when properly associated/linked to their normal files or if created on a filesystem which does support them and either viewed from Finder or brought back to an HFS+/APFS filesystem.

CMD SHIFT . works for me on Catalina 10.15.7 You need to hold down all 3 keys to toggle between viewing and hiding hidden files. What is your experience?

Create a (temporary) user account. Log in and try the COMMAND-SHIFT-[PERIOD]. If it works then you have something installed that is hijacking or preventing that option. If it STILL doesn't work, try a Safe Boot. If that doesn't work then you may have an issue with your install of macOS

@user3439894 thanks for the technical insight. I've asked a new question based on this https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/410076/150109

Finder supportsCommand+Shift+. to toggle hidden files. This is the same as using the defaults write command you list.
As of a recent version of macOS, this does not show .DS_Store, and there is no way to show .DS_Store files in Finder. There are likely other files that have the same exceptions applied to them. To view these files, use the terminal:
ls -a
Files that do not appear with ls -a either don't exist or cannot be viewed regardless of configuration.

Well, I don't know about showing files starting with "." in the finder, but you can just as easily do what you want in the terminal. Just open the terminal go to the directory you want ( you start from your home directory you can use the "cd" command followed by the directory name like this: cd desktop or cd download. Once you are in the desired directory you can type ls -la to see a list of all the files and folders included the hidden ones that start with a "." You can open the files using the open command followed by the file name. You can also go inside the hidden directory by using the same cd command from before followed by the directory name.

Is there also a terminal workaround for this problem: https://apple.stackexchange.com/q/410076/150109 ?

@theonlygusti I posted an answer there as well.


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How to open/upload hidden files in apps or webapps?
I can't view .DS_Store, .localized, ._.* and ._* with Finder: Show ALL files starting with a dot in Finder
user3439894 commented there that it's impossible to do so with Finder:

Some dot files, e.g. .DS_Store, you can see in Terminal using e.g. ls -a however the ones you used to see in Finder and cannot now see them is because Finder is programmed to not show those files files even with it's set to show hidden files. The ._* and ._.* are extended attributes/resource fork files and normally cannot be seen in Terminal or Finder when properly associated/linked to their normal files or if created on a filesystem which does support them and either viewed from Finder or brought back to an HFS+/APFS filesystem.

And an answer on SO Unable to show .DS_Store file on Mojave also says it's impossible with Finder.
So my question is, how can I send my handwritten file ._. to people on Discord?
I can't drag-and-drop the file to Discord, because I can't see it in Finder in the first place, and also the upload dialogue uses macOS' Finder file browser as most apps do so I also can't select the file manually after clicking the "Browse..." button.

If you archive (compress) the file(s), the e.g. .zip archive should include the extended attributes/resource fork files, so pass the .zip archive off instead. Note however if the destination filesystem is not HFS+/APFS then those files will become unlinked and meaningless.

@user3439894 I just manually created a file called ._. and want to send it on discord

Why are you creating a file named ._.? As I said, archive it, e.g. zip dot_dot ._. and send the dot_dot.zip file.

@user3439894 it's an emoticon, just part of having fun with messaging friends online

Looking at your question, I can tell you that it is possible for you to create a file name "._." and then share it however, discord will automatically change the filename when you upload. This is how you do it tough. First, open the terminal then type the command touch ._. then type open ._. this will open the file in the text editor. Once you have the file opened type whatever you want in there, once you are done, open discord, and then drag the blank file icon from your text editor into discord. However, as I said, there is no point because discord will change the file name.


text:
Is it safe to delete python and pip versions 2 and 3
Considering mac only requires version 2.7 of python, and any version of 3, is it safe to delete to delete pip2, pip3, and python3 completely from my mac when I have v3.9 and v2.7. I found them in this folder /usr/local/bin

Probably, yes, since it's in /usr/local/bin (and so aren't the macOS system versions of python). However, you probably shouldn't just delete the executables from that directory, but the whole installation. The details of this will depend on how you did the installation, for example from Python.org, or homebrew, or anaconda.

I was trying to uninstall few versions because it was conflicting with pip, but on further inspection it seems a brew module called python@3 was installed which is 3.9.1, while I downloaded 3.9.0 from python.org. Now I have resolved it :)

The system version of python2 does not come with pip by default. You can either install pip by itself, or it gets installed if you've installed a newer version of python2.7 from python.org.
However: modules installed by pip2 for use by other python2 installations can also be accessed by the system python. pip itself is very small, but deleting it won't remove the modules.
In short, whichever version of python2 you keep, it's useful to keep pip as well, if you plan to install any third-party modules.


text:
Check if an app can read certain folders
AFAIK MacOS restricts newly installed apps from reading many folders without user permission. I know these permission are listed under System Preferences->Privacy->Files and Folders
But, is there a way I can verify these permissions are actually enforced? Like can I open a shell with the same permissions as a specific app? Kind of like su - nameofapp?
I ask because I just installed the Amazon Kindle App from the MacOS App Store. I looked in ~/Library/Containers/com.amazon.Kindle/Data and see this
❯ pwd
/Users/gregg/Library/Containers/com.amazon.Kindle/Data
❯ ls -l
total 0
lrwxr-xr-x   1 gregg  staff    19 Jan  7 21:01 Desktop -> ../../../../Desktop
drwx------   2 gregg  staff    64 Jan  7 21:01 Documents
lrwxr-xr-x   1 gregg  staff    21 Jan  7 21:01 Downloads -> ../../../../Downloads
drwx------  33 gregg  staff  1056 Jan  7 21:19 Library
lrwxr-xr-x   1 gregg  staff    18 Jan  7 21:01 Movies -> ../../../../Movies
lrwxr-xr-x   1 gregg  staff    17 Jan  7 21:01 Music -> ../../../../Music
lrwxr-xr-x   1 gregg  staff    20 Jan  7 21:01 Pictures -> ../../../../Pictures
drwx------   2 gregg  staff    64 Jan  7 21:01 SystemData
drwx------   2 gregg  staff    64 Jan  7 21:01 tmp

Apparently the app has made links to a bunch of folders. How can I know if the app is actually prevented from accessing those folders via the links? I have not given the app any permissions and would just like to verify that these links are not away around the permissions.

macOS App Sandbox
~/Library/Containers is created by macOS and not the application. Sandboxed applications are effectively chroot'd into their container. You can learn more in Apple's App Sandbox Design Guide documentation.
Sandboxed applications have a com.apple.security.app-sandbox entitlement set to true.
You can view the entitlements of an application using the command line tool codesign:
codesign --display --entitlements=- /Applications/Safari.app

There is no way to run a shell script using the rights of another application.
macOS's sandboxing approach requires that you trust Apple's implementation.


text:
Find source of Spotlight Dictionary result
When we look up the meaning of any word through Spotlight:

There is no 'source' information.

Even the Dictionary.app, which Spotlight uses, does not show the source.
The best I can find so far is to disable / enable different Dictionaries in Dictionary.app's Preferences, until the definition disappears / changes, to figure out from what dictionary the meaning is from.
How can I see where the definition comes from without this pain?

I don’t understand from your question what the actual problem is. Do you have a screenshot that shows the expected result and one that shows the actual result?

@daneb - The Dictionary app allows us to add many "source" dictionary, thesaurus, etc. When a search in Dictionary displays a result, OP wants to know from which source it is. (See my answer for more info).

You must be a mind-reading ninja. Your answer makes sense but I’m still not convinced that is the OPs question.

The Dictionary app does tell you the source, though it is not intuitive. When you add a new "source" through Dictionary's Preferences, the Dictionary app adds a tab button for it on the top.

Example 1 - Oxford Dictionary:

Example 2 - Apple Dictionary:

When a search result is displayed in Dictionary, the tab button name highlights the source from which it found the result.

Sometimes, the tab button names are not helpful. For such cases, you can rename it to what you want:

Right-click the tab name, and click on Edit Label:

Type the new name, and click OK.

The tab button will now be renamed:


text:
"locate" returns relative instead of absolute paths
I have the following entry in root's crontab:
0 */4 * * * cd /private/var/root && ./locate.updatedb

I have an alias for locate in ~/.zshrc:
alias locate='locate -d /var/db/locate.database'

When I do a "locate Table_Synthesis_GREY_" , in all the full paths of files found, the first slash of the path indicating the file system root is missing. Here is a sample of the ouput:
Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_05_AOUT_2020/temp/Table_Synthesis_GREY_IMPORTANT_SAVE_5_AOUT_2020.run.xml
Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_05_AOUT_2020/temp/Table_Synthesis_GREY_IMPORTANT_SAVE_5_AOUT_2020.tex
Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_05_AOUT_2020/temp/Table_Synthesis_GREY_IMPORTANT_SAVE_5_AOUT_2020.zip
Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_05_AOUT_2020/temp/Table_Synthesis_GREY_IMPORTANT_SAVE_5_AOUT_2020_ORIGINAL_INTO_zip_here.pdf
Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_AFTER_05_AOUT_2020/FLAT_Synthesis/Table_Synthesis_GREY_FLAT.docx

How can I have paths output as absolute paths, i.e. starting at /Users? The desired output is
/Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_AFTER_05_AOUT_2020/FLAT_Synthesis/Table_Synthesis_GREY_FLAT.docx

as opposed to
Users/henry/Projects/JUNK_AND_OLD/Travail_9_Paper_Combinaison_et_Methode_des_biais_communs_pour_ma_These_SAUVEGARDES/TABLES_FLAT_AND_NON_FLAT_to_include_into_my_Phd_paper_LAST/Table_Synthesis_Main_AFTER_05_AOUT_2020/FLAT_Synthesis/Table_Synthesis_GREY_FLAT.docx

UPDATE 1: I have copied /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb into my home root, that is in /var/root/ . I did that since I could not modify the /usr/libexec/locate.updatedb file, even being root or with sudo.
So in this other file /var/root/locate.updatedb, I could do the modification :
if [ "$(id -u)" = "99" ]; then

instead of initially :
if [ "$(id -u)" = "0" ]; then

What do you think about this trick ? and mostly why I have not the first slash displayed when results into my /Users/henry/.
0 */4 * * * cd /private/var/root ; /bin/sh locate.updatedb

but issue remains.
By the way, if results are located into /Applications or other main directories but not systematically, the first slash is well displayed.
Anyone has a clue ?

Is that a different locate.updatedb from the system one? How did you configure it?

I half suspect that you may get better answers on unix.stackexchange.com. When asking there, I suggest that you focus on how it seems to return relative instead of absolute paths

Please don't put part of the question into the bounty message, it's hard to read there and a lot of people will just ignore it. Edit the question instead to contain all relevant details.

Also, you seem to ask several questions at once. What is the role of the test if the id of the current user is 99?

@nohillside I have change id of the current to not be dependent of nobody user default user that doesn't index all the directories by default. I think there is no link between this change and my issue here.


text:
macOS Big Sur (11.1): How to summon "Unlocking with Apple Watch…" when Mac is locked but not raised from a sleep?
When I wake my Mac from a sleep, I'm always able to unlock it with my linked Watch first. If it's unsuccessful due to any reasons, a prompt appears but in most situation everything works smoothly and I unlock without typing my password.

When I try to unlock my Mac just from the locked screen (not from a sleep) I always get a prompt.
The only way for me to unlock & log-in without typing password is to hit the Esc key on the lock screen to put it to sleep, hit any random key to wake it up and then I see "Unlocking with Apple Watch…".
Is there any keyboard shortcut to unlock on demand my Mac by a Watch on locked screen?


text:
How much video can you record on a 64 GB iPhone 12?
I’m considering a phone upgrade, but don’t really need a lot of storage.
Approximately, how much of different resolutions video, can one record onto a 64GB iPhone 12?
How many minutes of video would a gigabyte of HDR Video Recording with “Dolby Vision” contain? How can I research this without knowing the technical specifics of a format I cannot access until I purchase a phone?
I’m not looking for very exact answers, just an approximation of HD video sizes and lengths in the context of the camera tech used in this specific phone.

AD is not a replacement for Google & friends and works better for specific pratical questions than for general "do my research for me" type of question. Considering your query you might find https://www.lifewire.com/how-much-video-can-iphone-record-2000304 helpful (or a lot of other search results on "How much video can I record on an iPhone") :-)

The new formats available with the iPhone 12 complicate this. Should every question be answered by search engines? This is hardly sensible.

The Camera settings on iPhone 12 shows

4K @ 60fps is 440MB per minute.
4K @ 30fps is 190MB per minute.

I don’t have an iPhone 12 to know exactly how much space is reserved by iOS but supposing it’s 15 GB that leaves 110 minutes of 4k60 or 257 minutes of 4k30.

Isn't the question about iPhone 12? In your answer you are referring to iPhone 11.

@X_841 Sorry that’s what I meant, I asked a friend for the stats

Ah, I understand, great! +1

Thank you, this screenshot is very helpful. Many thanks to you and your friend.

In addition to the other answers, in iOS's camera settings there's a little summary of the amount of data each minute of video at different resolutions/FPS. You can see this summary of how much space it takes per each minute of video in Settings>Camera>Record Video
This is what is says for my iPhone XS, so it would be different on an iPhone 12 with the latest hardware.

This does not really answer the question, as it is specifically asking for iPhone 12 and since he does not own one, he can't go into settings and look it up!

Oops, I seemed to have misread the question a bit. But this does give somewhat of a guide depending on which model he/she buys.

Thank you, this screenshot shows the very differensiert I was curious about, by showing how the 12 with HDR has a different size video to the same resolution, but without HDR. Very helpful.


text:
MacBook pro 16" - Big Sur - find config file to change the speed of horizontal scrolling speed
On my MacBook pro 16", I would like to find out where is the parameter that controls the speed of horizontal scrolling with trackpad (if it is possible).
Indeed, I am using some different editors and I would like to increase the speed of horizontal scrolling, so I wonder if it can be performed by changing parameter(s) in one or different configuration file(s).
In system preferences, there is not such an option that enables to do it (only vertical scrolling speed).
Any information about this is welcome.

Have you looked at this question: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/136237/adjust-horizontal-scrolling-speed-on-a-mouse-or-trackpad-independent-of-the-vert?rq=1

@X_841 . Thanks for your quick answer. Keeping shift + horizontal movement on trackpad increases significantly the horizontal scrolling. Is there a way to remap this combination (shift + horizontal movement on trackpad) just by a simple horizonatl movement on trackpad ? I am going to do some research about it . Regards


text:
iMac keeps booting from internal HDD after update
I have an iMac Late 2013 with an SSD connected externally where I have macOS installed and it was set as the default boot drive. I've been booting from the SSD for about 3 years without a problem.
Last night I installed an update for Catalina and after it was installed it boot from the internal HDD. Now any time I turn on my iMac it boots by default from the HDD instead of the SSD.
If I hold the option key before booting I can choose to boot from the SSD. In System Preferences -> Startup disk I can see that the SSD is selected, and everything works fine as usual. But if I turn off and on the iMac it boots again from the HDD.
When it boots from the HDD, if I go to System Preferences -> Startup disk I can only see the HDD, the SSD doesn't appear as an option and neither appears on finder.

What macOS is on the internal drive? I', guessing it is too old to be able to recognise APFS.

@Tetsujin good point. I updated to Catalina on the HDD and now I can see the SSD as an option. Unfortunately the problem still persist even if both installs have selected the SSD as the startup disk.

All I can think is to try persuading it again. Set it from the control panel to boot to the internal, reboot & then re-set to the external. See if that jogs its elbow a bit.


text:
iCloud Drive downloads limit hard drive space
I have iCloud Drive set up on my Mac and it keeps downloading files in the background. My hard-drive space becomes smaller and smaller and I run into problems with a full hard-drive.
E.g. I was recording a Zoom meeting and it suddenly stopped, because my hard-drive was full due to iCloud-Drive downloads. I now have to remove these downloads every time to free up disk space.
How can I make iCloud stop downloading files in the background?

Is optimize Mac storage turned on in system preferences -> Apple-Id -> iCloud? Also, what Mac model, what macOS version. And what kind of files is it downloading?

Yes Optimize is on.

MacBook Air Early 2015 and OS 11.2 (BETA)

iCloud is a sync system and not a storage system like Dropbox.  It's designed to sync your documents to all devices logged in with the same Apple ID.  If you don't want specific files to sync to your devices, you can change that in your iCloud settings.

Please edit your question and add that info and since you are running a beta I would expect abnormal/weird behavior sometimes. Usually iCloud Drive will only download files when needed, so something seems to be triggering the download. It is really hard to tell with this limited info.

How much space is it leaving free? It shouldn't fully fill your SSD but will try to download as much as it can

Right click the file in iCloud Drive, the one you don't need. then, click remove download. this will free up space on your Mac and keep the file in iCloud, where you can download at any time by double clicking it.

This is no answer since the OP already knows about this and frees up space like that.

Can only click "remove download" after the HUGE download finished. And immediately the next reboot after clicked "remove download", there it goes downloading another 40 GB. This is strangling me and my mere 10GB mobile hotspot quota (of course this happens when you're on the go).

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.


text:
Ipad 3 cover not deactivating screen
My iPad 3 with the original apple cover seems to stay turned on (display is on) when the cover is closed. This causes massive battery drain. Restarting did not fix this issue.
Anyone here has the same issue or any solutions?

When you go to Settings -> Display & Brightness is the Lock/Unlock turned on?

Yes that is enabled. Was working fine up until yesterday.

There's not much to troubleshoot with these things. You can try to put a magnet against the right side of the iPad, toward the middle, to see if it's just the cover's magnets not working properly.  I'm assuming you don't have another device or cover to test with?

Ok the cover itself was somehow the issue. After trying out a magnet which was working, a friend came over who also has a cover for the iPad. It's working with his cover. My cover is also not working on his iPad.


text:
Encrypt Documents folder without using Filevault in Catalina
I have a 2012 Mac Mini running Catalina (10.15.7) that has been suffering Bluetooth issues for the last month or so leading me to try most things on the Internet that I could find to fix a disconnecting keyboard / mouse  and crackling sound.
The Mini has one SSD (boot and user space - APFS) and one HDD (old, clunky, Journaled / Encrypted) for file backups and odd files.  I do not really want to move the whole Documents folder here (some of the VMs really suffer on the tin disk) so the using System Prefs to move the home folders article may not be a solution in my case.
After many frustrating days, I found a note that Filevault could be the issue and in my case turning this off does seem to have solved my drops over the lat few days but at the cost of leaving my main data unencrypted if the disk is removed from the Mac (user and disk passwords are complex but still an acknowledged weak point in this).
For most of my files this is not an issue but for others (work related / bank etc) this is not good practise and kind of goes against my instincts.  The only way around this I could think of is:

Encrypt the second disk in the Mac using 'Mac OS Extended' format rather than APFS
Create a symbolic link in Documents to a folder on this encrypted disk
Store any 'sensitive' documents in here but away from the normal folder structure.

I did wonder about using VeraCrypt but never used it and could not work out if I could encrypt the Documents folder or hard disk as most fo the instructions are for Windows.
Can anyone think of another way?

I like making an encrypted disk image to store documents. Step 6 covers the choice of encryption. The guide has a selector at the top for Catalina version of macOS.

https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/create-a-disk-image-dskutl11888/mac

If you’re not sure which type of image, I recommend starting with a sparse image and avoiding sparse bundle or Read+Write.

I use those on my AirPort drive for the backups as that does not support encrypted disks.  It still leaves the 'out of folder structure' problem though.  Wonder if I can partition the boot SSD?  May be try it in a day or so :-)

This may be the best answer for encrypted data storage in the OPs situation. You can store the password in keychain for quick double click mounting of the disk image. And links nd aliases to files in the image will still work, and will even prompt for unlocking if not yet mounted. Whole disk encryption is hard. Filevault is the best solution on the Mac. I'd stay away from third parties here.

@Andrew aliases to files and folders work great for mounting files and blending files.  It’s transparent when your volume is mounted and prompts for keychain when it’s not mounted.

It begins to look like I spoke too soon.- my music via headphones still breaks up.  Now not sure if I back date my OS (time is free for me at the mo) or buy a bluetooth adapter to fix this...  I have found sparse bundles can be very slow to open on the Airport disk so I'll play with the sparse image option tonight.

I do not recommend this for any network volume, especially one with such a slow CPU as the capsules or worse Airport to USB.


text:
Lightning-3.5mm adapter causes device to act as if remote button is continuously pressed
Since late last year (I forget exactly when), I've had a bizarre issue with my Lightning-3.5mm adapter (A1749, from Apple). When I plug it into my device (iPhone XS), and plug in a set of bog-standard wired EarPods w/ remote+mic, the device acts like I'm pressing the main button on the remote. It opens Siri, won't accept volume changes from the remote, and won't transmit audio from the microphone. I can listen to audio on the EarPods, but that's it - no volume control, no mic input.
I see the same behavior using the adapter on my iPad (6th generation) - immediate Siri prompt upon plugging in the 3.5mm side of the adapter. I can plug in the EarPods to the iPad's native 3.5mm jack and get the proper behavior. I've verified all of this with multiple pairs of EarPods.
This started happening on both my iPad and iPhone at roughly the same time, late last year (but I don't recall if it correlated with a specific iOS update). It feels like a software issue, but I have a hard time believing Apple would ship code that debilitates the adapter for this long.
The inside of the 3.5mm side of the adapter is clean, no conductive junk that I can see. I'm working on getting another adapter to test with. In the meantime, any thoughts?

Yah, defective adapter. And likely not connector related, rather a short somewhere in the wiring. If its not covered under warranty toss it.

@SteveChambers Yep, a new adapter fixed all the issues I was having. Throw that in an answer, if you’d like. Mostly posted this because I couldn’t find any info on these symptoms - I figure it’ll be good to have something for future folks to find.

This is likely a defective adapter.
Trying it with different peripherals and devices kind of nails it down. Just probably a short in the wiring or internal circuitry that can't be seen. I would toss it and replace it.