macOS Tahoe For Dummies
1st Edition
Published on 3. October 2025
483 pages
978-1-394-37400-7 (ISBN)
Description
Get up to speed on the latest macOS updates and features
macOS Tahoe For Dummies is your up-to-date guide to the operating system that brings your Mac computer to life. Experienced macOS expert and educator Guy Hart-Davis walks you through a comprehensive set of instructions for navigating your Mac's features and capabilities.
Whether you've just jumped on the Mac bandwagon or you're a long-time Apple user, you'll benefit from the step-by-step walkthroughs of how to organize your files and photos, connect with friends using Messages and FaceTime, and securing your data against external threats and accidental loss.
- Navigate the new Liquid Glass interface and organize files and media
- Listen to music, watch movies, and enjoy your photos
- Use powerful macOS system tools
- Troubleshoot common issues that macOS users run into and learn how to get support
- Protect yourself against hackers, phishing attacks, and other dangers
macOS Tahoe For Dummies is the essential guide for new and experienced Mac users looking to get the most out of their macOS-powered computer and take advantage of the latest features and updates Apple has packed into macOS Tahoe.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Guy Hart-Davis is the author of over 100 technical books, including many in the For Dummies and Teach Yourself Visually series.
Content
- Intro
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Table of Contents
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Foolish Assumptions
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1 Getting Started with macOS
- Chapter 1 Diving into Tahoe
- Okay, What Does macOS Do?
- Turning On Your Mac
- What you should see on startup
- What you may see if things go wrong
- Setting Up macOS Tahoe
- Logging In
- Meeting the macOS Desktop
- Pointing, Clicking, and More
- Putting Your Mac to Sleep and Shutting It Down
- Putting your Mac to sleep
- Shutting down your Mac
- Looking After Your Mac
- Feeding your Mac
- Treating your Mac gently
- Backing up your data
- Getting Help
- Getting the Lowdown on Apple Intelligence
- Chapter 2 Navigating the Desktop, Windows, and Menus
- Touring Finder and the macOS Desktop
- Dissecting a Window
- Zooming, splitting, and minimizing windows
- Scrolling
- Active and inactive windows
- Opening a Dialog with Your Mac
- Working with Windows
- Opening and closing windows
- Resizing windows and window panes
- Moving windows
- Shuffling windows
- Sampling the Menus
- Using the ever-changing menu bar
- Using the contextual (shortcut) menus
- Recognizing disabled commands
- Navigating submenus
- Using the Apple menu
- Giving commands via keyboard shortcuts
- Chapter 3 Coming to Grips with the Dock
- Meeting Your Dock
- Identifying the Dock's default icons
- Talking Trash
- Way #1
- Way #2
- Emptying the Trash
- Opening app menus on the Dock
- Reading Dock icon body language
- Opening files from the Dock
- Customizing Your Dock
- Adding Dock icons
- Removing an icon from the Dock
- Resizing the Dock
- Configuring your Dock settings
- Global Dock settings
- Folder and disk Dock icon menu preferences
- Chapter 4 Getting to Know Finder and Its Desktop
- Getting the Hang of Finder, the Desktop, and Icons
- Introducing the desktop
- Coming to grips with the toolbar
- Grasping what an icon is
- Identifying your Finder icons in the wild
- Working with Aliases
- Understanding the advantages of aliases
- Creating aliases
- Deleting aliases
- Hunting down an alias's parent
- Opening a Window and Enjoying the View
- Moving through folders fast in Column view
- Perusing in Icon view
- Viewing folders as a list
- Playing to the Gallery
- Grouping, sorting, and cleaning up icons
- Using the Finder Menus
- Using the Finder's app menu
- Navigating with the current folder's pop-up menu
- Going places with the Go menu
- Customizing Finder Windows
- Customizing folder icons
- Adding files and folders to the sidebar
- Configuring Finder settings
- General pane
- Tags pane
- Sidebar pane
- Advanced pane
- Digging for Data in the Info Window
- Chapter 5 Getting Fancy with the Desktop and Finder
- Cleaning Up Your Desktop Automatically with Stacks
- Adding Widgets to Your Desktop
- Doing Things Faster with Quick Actions
- Getting the most out of Markup
- Trimming video without launching an app
- Creating PDFs Without Launching an App
- Shooting Screen Stills and Movies
- Chapter 6 Setting Your Mac Straight
- Navigating System Settings
- Setting Wallpaper and a Screen Saver
- Turning Off the Display When Idle
- Configuring Appearance Settings
- Choosing Desktop & Dock Settings
- Adjusting the Keyboard, Mouse, Trackpad, and Other Hardware
- Choosing keyboard settings
- Tweaking your mouse
- Configuring your trackpad
- Configuring Sound Settings
- Part 2 Getting Things Done
- Chapter 7 Opening and Saving Files
- Finding a Missing File
- Understanding the macOS Folder Structure
- Understanding nested folders
- The Computer folder
- The Applications folder
- The Library folders
- The System folder
- The Home folder
- Opening your own Library folder
- Saving Your Document
- Understanding Auto Save and Versions
- Stepping through a basic save
- Save As versus Duplicate: Different names for the same result
- Opening a File
- Opening a file with drag-and-drop
- Opening a file from Quick Look
- When your Mac can't open a file
- Opening a file with your choice of app
- Assigning a file type to an app
- Opening a file with an app other than the default
- Chapter 8 Managing Files and Folders the Smart Way
- Organizing Your Stuff in Folders
- What's the difference between a file and a folder?
- Organizing your stuff with subfolders
- Creating new folders
- Navigating with spring-loaded folders
- Using smart folders
- Working with Files and Folders
- Moving files and folders
- Selecting multiple items
- Renaming items
- Renaming multiple items at once
- Compressing files
- Getting rid of files and folders
- Using iCloud, iCloud+, and iCloud Drive
- Chapter 9 Maximizing Seven Terrific Time-Saving Tools
- Commanding Your Mac with Spotlight
- Launching apps with Spotlight
- Finding files and folders
- Using the Find command
- Using the Spotlight menu and its keyboard shortcut
- Getting to Grips with Siri
- What Siri can do for you
- Working with Siri
- Making Siri your own
- Using the macOS Clipboard
- Copying files and folders
- Pasting from the Clipboard
- Expanding your horizons with the Universal Clipboard
- Taking Actions from Quick Look
- Share and share alike with the Share menu
- Slide into Slideshow (full-screen) mode
- Blasting Off with Mission Control
- Setting Mission Control parameters
- Setting actions for hot corners
- Organizing desktops and spaces with Mission Control
- Organizing Your Open Apps with Stage Manager
- Enabling Stage Manager
- Using Stage Manager
- Taking Control of Essential Settings
- Chapter 10 Organizing Your Life
- Keeping Track with Calendar
- Navigating Calendar views
- Understanding the Calendar list
- Creating calendars
- Sharing and publishing calendars
- Deleting a calendar
- Creating and managing events
- Inviting others to attend an event
- Setting an alert
- Staying Organized with Reminders
- Getting started with Reminders
- Creating and managing reminders
- Sharing lists and assigning reminders
- Learning about Notification Center
- Tweaking Notification settings
- Using Notification Center
- Minimizing Distractions with Focus
- Taking Notes with the Notes App
- Taking a Quick Note with Quick Note
- Tracking Activities with Screen Time
- Chapter 11 Finding Your Way with Maps
- Finding Your Current Location
- Finding a Person, Place, or Thing
- Viewing, Zooming, and Panning
- Using Maps with Contacts
- Saving Time with Places, Guides, and Recents
- Places
- Guides
- Recents
- Getting Smart with Maps
- Getting route maps and driving directions
- Getting walking directions
- Getting directions for public transportation
- Getting cycling directions
- Creating custom routes
- Getting traffic info in real time
- Enjoying flyovers and look arounds
- Flyovers
- Look arounds
- Doing more on the card for a location
- Chapter 12 Using Stocks, News, Voice Memos, and Shortcuts
- Tracking Your Stocks
- Adding and removing stocks, funds, and indexes
- Viewing the details for an item
- Charting a course
- Keeping Current with News
- Selecting news channels
- Reading stories
- Managing your news
- Recording Memos with Voice Memos
- Recording a voice memo
- Listening to a voice memo
- Transcribing a voice memo
- Naming a voice memo
- Trimming a voice memo
- Automating Repetitive Tasks with Shortcuts
- Part 3 Getting Along with Others
- Chapter 13 Connecting to Networks and Browsing the Web
- Getting Connected to the Internet
- Choosing an Internet service provider (ISP)
- Connecting your Mac to a network via Wi-Fi
- Managing your Wi-Fi networks
- Connecting your Mac to a network via Ethernet
- Browsing the Web with Safari
- Using and customizing the toolbar
- Using the Safari sidebar
- Working with tab groups
- Shared with You: Links from others
- Bookmarking your favorite pages
- Finding your bookmarks in the sidebar
- Managing your favorites and the Favorites bar
- Keeping your Reading List
- Website-specific settings
- Reader view
- Browsing smarter with Safari Highlights
- Removing distracting items
- Creating profiles for home and work
- Creating your first Safari profile
- Switch from one profile to another
- Delete a profile
- Creating web apps from websites
- Controlling audio and video playback
- Using passkeys
- Chapter 14 Dealing with People
- Collecting Your Contacts
- Adding contacts
- Importing contacts from other apps
- Creating a basic list
- Setting up a smart list (based on contact criteria)
- Deleting a list or smart list
- Syncing Your Contacts Across Your Devices
- Making Audio and Video Calls with FaceTime
- Making a FaceTime call
- Using SharePlay during a FaceTime call
- Chapter 15 Communicating with Mail and Messages
- Sending and Receiving Email with Mail
- Setting up Mail
- Choosing whether to use mail categories
- Identifying the toolbar icons
- Composing a new message
- Proofing and rewriting a message with Writing Tools
- Sending email from the Contacts app
- Checking your mail
- Dealing with spam
- Managing your mailboxes
- Plain mailboxes
- Smart mailboxes
- Changing settings for Mail
- Signing your messages the smart way
- Ruling over your mail
- Running a slide show from Quick Look
- Marking up an image or PDF document
- Transferring large files via Mail Drop
- Unsubscribing, muting, and blocking senders
- Communicating with Messages
- Learning what can you do with iMessage
- Chatting with Messages
- Chapter 16 Sharing Your Mac with Others
- Introducing Networks and File Sharing
- Understanding the essentials of home and home-office networking
- Setting up your home or home-office network
- Setting Up File Sharing
- Controlling Access and Permissions: Who Can Do What
- Understanding users, groups, and guests
- Creating users
- Changing a user
- Removing a user
- macOS knows best: Folders shared by default
- Sharing a folder or disk by setting permissions
- Making sense of permissions
- Sharing a folder
- Unsharing a folder
- Connecting to a Shared Disk or Folder on a Remote Mac
- Changing the Password for Your Account
- Resetting the Password for Another Account
- Exploring Other Types of macOS Sharing
- Sharing another Mac's screen
- Sharing your Mac's Internet connection
- Sharing printers and scanners
- Sharing media
- Sharing items via Bluetooth
- Part 4 Getting the Most Out of Your Mac
- Chapter 17 Playing Music
- Understanding iTunes Match and Apple Music
- Getting Started with the Music App
- Working with Media
- Adding songs
- Listening to Radio
- Finding songs quickly with the Filter Field
- Enabling and using Column Browser
- Making the Most of Playlists
- Creating a regular playlist
- Working with smart playlists
- Working with the Genius playlist
- Chapter 18 Enjoying Multimedia
- Playing Movies and Music in QuickTime Player
- Watching TV
- Using the Books App
- Buying an ebook or audiobook
- Shopping for ebooks without Apple
- Finding and Listening to Podcasts with the Podcasts App
- Capturing Snaps and Videos with Photo Booth
- Viewing and Converting Images and PDFs in Preview
- Chapter 19 Managing Fonts and Printing
- Choosing and Managing Fonts
- Choosing font typefaces
- Managing your fonts with Font Book
- Printing
- Connecting and adding your printer
- Connecting your printer
- Setting up a printer for the first time
- Sharing your Mac's printer on the network
- Setting up your document with Page Setup
- Previewing your print job
- Printing from the Print dialog
- Printing a document
- Choosing among printers
- Choosing custom settings
- Saving custom printer settings
- Chapter 20 Maximizing Features for the Way You Work
- Choosing Between Dark Mode and Light Mode
- Browsing and Buying Apps
- Using Your iPhone as Your Mac's Camera or Scanner
- Talking and Listening to Your Mac
- Using Dictation
- Commanding your Mac by voice
- Listening to your Mac read your screen
- VoiceOver
- Read & Speak
- Controlling Your iPhone from Your Mac
- Phoning from Your Mac
- Other Useful Goodies
- Accessibility pane
- Battery pane and Energy Saver pane
- Battery pane (MacBooks only)
- Energy pane (desktops only)
- Bluetooth pane
- Ink pane
- Automatic login
- Allowing your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac
- Using AirPlay and AirPlay to Mac
- Handoff
- Universal Control
- Enabling and configuring Universal Control
- Connecting the iPad or Mac
- Choosing display options
- Disconnecting the iPad or Mac
- Chapter 21 Backing Up and Securing Your Mac
- Understanding the Essentials of Backup
- Backing up Tahoe with Time Machine
- Setting Time Machine to back up your data automatically
- Telling Time Machine which data to back up and which to skip
- Understanding what Time Machine backs up
- Restoring a file, contact, photo, or other item
- Backing up with commercial backup software
- Why You Need Two Backups
- Understanding Non-Backup Security Concerns
- Combating viruses and other malware
- Installing security updates - or more - automatically
- Protecting Your Data from Prying Eyes
- Blocking or limiting connections
- Locking down files with FileVault
- Putting your Mac in Lockdown mode
- Setting other options for security
- Chapter 22 Troubleshooting macOS
- Understanding Startup Disks and Booting
- Finding or creating a startup disk
- Interpreting prohibitory signs and messages
- Recovering with Recovery HD
- Step 1: Run First Aid
- Step 2: Boot into Safe mode
- Step 3: Zap the PRAM/NVRAM
- Step 4: Reinstall macOS
- Step 5: Things to try before taking your Mac in for repair
- If Your Mac Crashes at Startup
- Managing Storage with the Storage Feature
- Part 5 The Part of Tens
- Chapter 23 Ten Ways to Improve Your Mac Experience
- Use Those Keyboard Shortcuts
- Improve Your Typing Skills
- Use Text Replacements and Automatic Correction
- Change Your Resolution
- Buy a Faster Mac
- Add RAM
- Add a Second Display
- Use Your iPad as an Extra Display
- Upgrade to a Solid-State Drive (SSD)
- Get More Storage
- Chapter 24 Ten Tools That Make Your Life Easier
- Calculator
- Activity Monitor
- Disk Utility
- Volume +/-
- Partition button
- First Aid button
- Erase button
- Mount/Unmount button
- Info button
- Passwords App
- Journal
- Migration Assistant
- System Information
- Terminal
- Image Capture
- Stickies
- Index
- EULA
