Fixing the Print to PDF Trick for High Sierra

One change from the High Sierra macOS update is a slight modification to the command to print to PDF. Years ago I shared a tip about printing to PDF by holding down the Command key and pressing P twice. It’s a great tip and people still use it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work in High Sierra. That is because Apple removed the ellipsis from the command. To fix this, go to your keyboard shortcuts and remove the ellipsis, and all will be good again. See the screenshot below and video for help.

SaneBox (Sponsor)

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This week MacSparky is sponsored by SaneBox, the email service that can help you get control of your inbox. For a lot of folks, email is a constant pain, and it doesn’t need to be. With SaneBox, you add a powerful set of email tools that can work in just about any email client. SaneBox allows you to:

  • Wake up everyday to find that the SaneBox robots have automatically sorted your incoming email for you so you can address the important and ignore the irrelevant.
  • Defer email for hours, days, or weeks so it is out of your life until a more appropriate time.
  • Set secret reminders so if someone doesn’t reply to an important email, SaneBox gives you a nudge to follow up.
  • Automatically save attachments to the cloud (like Dropbox).
  • Use their SaneForward service to automatically send appropriate emails to services such as Evernote, Expensify, and Kayak.
  • Move unwanted email to the SaneBlackHole and never see anything from that person again.

One of the best parts about SaneBox being a web services is that it works no matter which mail application you prefer. If you want to jump between different mail apps on your iPad, no problem. If you want to upgrade your Mac to High Sierra, there’s no need to wait for SaneBox to work. It already does. SaneBox is a set of tools that will move with you between different applications on different platforms with no trouble at all.

Why not straighten out your email today? I’ve been a paying subscriber for years and can’t imagine getting by without it. If you sign up with this link, you even get a discount off your subscription.

Game Pick: Flower

Something I’ve come to realize about myself is that my preferences in video games has changed over the years. When I was younger, I loved “twitchy” games where it always felt like a race to get the bad guys on time, or the starship into battle, or my pod racer to the finish line. These days I prefer games that are more leisurely.

That’s why I was such a fan of Alto’s Adventure. It was meandering. Yesterday, the award winning game, Flower, was released for iOS. Flower is the made for meanderers. I played it for 20 minutes last night and I’m hooked. In Flower, you are the wind. As you move around the environments you can pick up flower pedals and slowly change the environment. I’m not sure my 8-year-old self would have been very interested but the current me is digging it. If you’ve never been a gamer, this may be one worth trying.

I also like the business model. The game is $5 and doesn’t bug you anymore about upgrades, virtual coins, or anything else once you buy it. If you’d like to be the wind this weekend, give Flower a try.

A Few Notes on High Sierr

It’s kind of hard to believe that Apple released a major update to macOS this week. It just didn’t move the needle much in geek circles. I remember when we used to go to the Apple Store on the night of a new Mac OS X release and it was a big deal. (I still have my 10.4 Tiger T-shirt somewhere.)

All that said, I’ve been kicking the tires on the beta for a bit and here’s my collection of notes.

  • My APFS transition on both the laptop and iMac went off without a hitch. I know APFS is much better its predecessor and once you get on the APFS, your data is safer. However, you really won’t notice any performance differences until you start making copies of files
  • Duplicating files with APFS is jarring. I keep waiting for the progress bar but it never shows up, because it’s not necessary. (APFS doesn’t need to save until you make changes to the copy.)
  • While everyone talks about the importance of Metal 2 at the high end, I'm curious about what it does at the low end. Will these developments make smaller Macs (with long battery lives) a viable option?
  • Photos gets the most improvement. That makes sense in light of the fact Photos is a relatively new product. While there are several new features, I think people will be surprised at significant improvements of the advanced editing tools. It still isn’t Aperture but it’s a lot closer.
  • At the other end of the spectrum, for people that don’t know what editing curves are, more Moments is good. I’ve observed a lot of non-geek family members spending time with Photos’ Memories feature. The feature solves a problem that we all have with way too many photos. I expect even more of that going forward.
  • Another relatively young app that made progress this year is Apple Notes. For two straight years Apple Notes has seen significant attention and it shows.
  • I like all the improvements to Safari but stopping auto-play video gets a special place in my heart.
  • It’s taken years but the way Apple Mail handles replies and composing while in full screen finally gets it right.
  • For a more in-depth review of High Sierra, check out Stephen Hackett’s weighty review.

In answer to the emails I’ve received asking whether you should upgrade, I'd say you are fine upgrading (provided you have a few backups first). I expect High Siera adoption will be slower than some of the prior Mac operating system updates. High Sierra has a lot more under-the-hood tuning than fancy paint and chrome. However, those features that were added, like the new photo and video formats and Notes improvements, are also on iOS so leaving your Mac behind could get frustrating.

inShort for Project Management (Sponsor)

This week MacSparky is sponsored by inShort. inShort is a project planning application for the Mac, iPhone, and iPad that lets you plan projects and processes graphically across all of your Apple devices. This brings a new paradigm to process and project planning and is absolutely worth checking out. 

One of the more innovative features is the way it allows you to embed processes and drill down to the level of detail you need at the moment. I like to think of this as "nested" flowcharts, and I believe that it's pretty useful. Most recently inShort’s received updates making its Gantt charts and work breakdown structure tools even more powerful. 

The inShort development team has also added a satellite service, workflow.link that gives you a way to work with, edit, and manage your projects from any device with a web browser. 

Want to learn more? Check out the website and read the developer's PDF. 

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Mac Power Users 397 - More on iOS 11 and High Sierra

The latest episode of Mac Power Users is up. I spent a lot of time in the betas this year and this show dives deep on my favorite new features and how to put them to work for you.

Sponsors include:

  • Squarespace: Make your next move. Enter offer code MPU at checkout to get 10% off your first purchase.
  • 1Password Have you ever forgotten a password? Now you don't have to worry about that anymore. 
  • Fujitsu ScanSnap ScanSnap Helps You Live a More Productive, Efficient, Paperless Life. 
  • Fracture Bring your photos to life.

Learn Ulysses

I know that Ulysses is the subject of some controversy lately as a result of their switch to a subscription model, but I have been using the app quite a bit in my large writing project workflows. One of the things I like about Ulysses is its relative ease of use. However, like all great apps, there are some hidden depths there. If you are using Ulysses and would like to get better at it, I recommend the Sweet Setup's new Learn Ulysses course. Shawn Blanc and team did a great job on these instructional videos.

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Austin Mann's iPhone 8 Plus Camera Review

Austin Mann has been writing iPhone camera reviews for years and they're great. It's really nice seeing what a professional photographer can do with the new iPhone hardware. This year he took a trip to India and has some great examples of the new portrait features and comparisons to prior iPhone hardware. I can't wait to see what he does when he gets his hands on an iPhone X.

Austin is a very nice fellow. He guested on Mac Power Users a few years ago and shared some great iPhone photography tips.

Apple Watch Series 3 Review and Thoughts

The Apple Watch series 3 reviews are starting to show up online. My favorites were from John Gruber and 9to5 Mac. There also appears to be some sort of bug with unauthenticated Wi-Fi networks but I expect that will get sorted out.

While Apple’s marketing is focused on the fact that the cellular Apple Watch makes telephone calls, I think the more relevant point for nerds is the always on Internet connection. Having your watch be able to use Siri, connect to the Internet, and otherwise interact with the world without having to first go through the middleman of your iPhone seems to be a significant benefit. All of this said, the cellular companies charging $120 a year for the connection seems pretty steep.

Which iPhone for Non-Geeks?

Apple's review embargo on the iPhone 8 reviews lifted today and there are several positive reviews out concerning the new hardware. I've received several emails from listeners asking for advice about choosing between the iPhone 8 and iPhone X. If you’re reading these words, there is a good chance you are already in the iPhone X camp. However, what about all those people out there that don’t live and die by this stuff? I’ve yet to touch either device so you can take my advice with a grain of salt but from the outside, it seems to me that the iPhone 8 is the default recommendation when non-geeks ask which iPhone to buy.

Except for the addition of a glass back in lieu of aluminum, the iPhone 8 is largely the same design Apple’s used for the last four years. It's tried and tested. Moreover, the iPhone 8 has the higher speed A11 processor that you will also find the iPhone X.

The iPhone 8 camera got better than the iPhone 7 and, with that new glass back, the device now supports inductive charging. Speaking of the glass back, early reviews say it's a lot easier to hold than the prior aluminum casing. In addition to all of these improvements, the screen also got better with the true tone feature getting added.

Finally, it is going to be a lot easier to get your hands on an iPhone 8 than iPhone X. Telling a non-geek they need to be awake, online, with credit card ready at some point in the dead of night to get their phone simply verbalizes the insanity that us geeks live in every day. I think getting your hands on your own iPhone X is going to be difficult for the foreseeable future.

If the iPhone X didn't exist, I'd be perfectly happy with an upgrade to an iPhone 8 this year. I, however, am a geek and the fact that something even newer and shinier exists would drive me nuts if I went with an iPhone 8 instead of an iPhone X.

My non-geek sister, however, could care less. She has a two-year-old phone and just wants a great iPhone. She's never heard the term edge-to-edge and would not want to deal with the inevitable issues that will arise from the iPhone X's new design and new user interface implementations, all of which will most likely be better in the second (or third) iteration anyway. That's why when she asked me which phone to buy a few days ago, I told her to get an iPhone 8.

MPU 396: Apple Event and iOS 11

This week’s show includes our takeaways from the September 12 Apple event. We dive deep on the new hardware, and I give Katie a hard time about buying a new iPhone. We also start discussing the features available in iOS 11, which will ship in just a few days. I’ve spent a lot of time using this beta software and have some thoughts and ideas on what works and what doesn't and how to get the most out of it.

Sponsored by: 

  • PDFpen from Smile: With powerful PDF editing tools available for Mac, iPad, and iPhone, PDFpen from Smile makes you a Mac Power User.
  • SaneBox: Stop drowning in email!
  • Pixelmator: Powerful image editing that gives you everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images, now on iPad and Mac.
  • Balance: Find out more about Balance Open and get $2 in Ethereum.

Craig Federighi Talks Face ID on the TalkShow

This week Apple’s software head, Craig Federighi, joined the Talk Show podcast to explain and answer questions about Face ID. It’s a great Sunday afternoon listen.

I think my favorite part was the disclosure that if you pick up your iPhone X and swipe from the bottom to the home screen, the iPhone will start the animation while it is simultaneously verifying your face and unlocking the device. There shouldn't be any delay, which is exactly the behavior I would expect.

Before this, I was concerned that you would have to unlock before swiping into your home screen, which would drive me nuts every time I turn the phone on.