Cocktail is a general purpose utility for macOS that lets you clean, repair and optimize your Mac. It is a powerful digital toolset that helps hundreds of thousands of Mac users around the world get the most out of their computers every day.

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Use Find and Replace text on Mac

Learn how to efficiently manipulate text on your Mac using Find and Replace, simplifying tasks and boosting productivity in popular apps like Notes, Pages, Numbers, TextEdit, etc.

In addition to words, you can also find and replace spaces, numbers, and special characters from your document. You can use it to substitute a word or make corrections in a lengthy document. Other times, it can be handy if you want to delete specific words, symbols, or phrases from your writing.

• Open Notes, Pages, or Numbers and go inside the relevant note or document
• Click Edit from the top menu bar and select Find > Find or Find and Replace (in apps like Pages and Numbers, you can also click the View button from the top left of the app window and choose Show Find & Replace
• Enter the term you want to look for (click the tiny arrow next to the search glass icon for more options, for instance, you can uncheck Ignore Case to find the words that exactly match the capitalization style you specify
• In the second box, enter what you want to replace the found term with

If you type nothing in the Replace box and go ahead with the next steps, it will delete the found words from the document. In other words, you will be replacing found words with nothing, which obviously equates to deleting the searched-for word. You can also choose to replace the found words with just a space (press the Space Bar once) or the desired symbol.

• Click All, and it will replace the found word with the replacement at every instance, or, click Replace, and it will replace only at the selected position (you can also use the arrow icons or press the return key to cycle through the found instances of the word without actually replacing them with the said term)

If you’re using Pages or Numbers, you will see three buttons: Replace All, Replace & Find, or Replace buttons. Replace & Find will replace the selected match with the replacement text and then automatically move to the next match. The Replace button replaces the selected match but does not auto-move to the next one.

 

Prevent yourself from being locked out of your Mac

Getting locked out of your computer could easily be one of the most frustrating things that could happen to you.

Here are three useful tips that will ensure you do not face this issue on your Mac.

 

Add a password hint

After you add a password hint, it shows up on the screen if you enter the incorrect password a few times. You can see that hint and instantly recall what your Mac’s login password is.

A hint should be there to help you refresh your memory. Do not put your exact password or make it too obvious that others around you can guess it.

You can add the hint when you’re creating or changing your Mac’s user account password. Here’s what to do if you’d like to add one now:

• Go to Apple menu > System Settings... > Users & Groups
• Click the info icon (i) next to the desired account
• Click Change... next to Password
• Create a new password and add the hint on this screen
• Lastly, click Change Password

Once the hint is added, go to System Settings > Lock Screen and turn on the switch for “Show password hints”.

 

Show a Lock Screen message

The Lock Screen message is not for adding password hints but rather for displaying a welcome message. You can for example add your email address/phone number so someone who finds your misplaced Mac can contact you and return it.

However, if you do not want to change your current Mac password – a requisite for adding password hint if you don’t have already – then you can rely on the Lock Screen message feature to add a hint. But again, don’t make it obvious.

• Launch Cocktail (https://www.maintain.se/cocktail)
• Click the Interface toolbar button
• Go to the Login tab
• Enter your message into the "Display additional message" text field
• Click Apply


Allow Apple ID to reset Mac’s password

This is an extremely important step that will be helpful if you’ve forgotten your password and can’t figure it out even after looking at the hint.

Go to System Settings > Users & Groups and click the info icon (i) next to an account. Now, turn the switch for “Allow user to reset password using Apple Account”

From now on, you can use your Apple ID and password to reset your Mac’s forgotten account password.

 

Use Hover Text to magnify on-screen text

Hover Text is an interesting macOS accessibility feature that magnifies the text that’s displayed on your screen. This can be any regular text, a menu item, or a button.

As the name suggests, when you hover your mouse cursor over the text, macOS will magnify and display a high-resolution zoomed version of the text in a separate window. This makes reading content a whole lot easier, whether the font size is tiny, or even if the screen is far away from where you’re seated.

This is an accessibility feature, but really anyone who use computers with high-resolution displays can potentially find utility in this capability. Anyone who has used any modern device knows how difficult it can be to read tiny text sometimes, so having the ability to magnify text is obviously helpful.

To enable Hover Text:

• Click on the Apple menu from the top-left corner and choose "System Settings..."
• Click on "Accessibility"
• Select "Hover Text"
• Enable "Hover Text" (to further customize this feature, click on "i" right next to the switch button)

As per the default settings, if you hover the cursor over any text that’s displayed on your screen while pressing the Command key, macOS will bring up the zoomed version right below it.

 

Protect removable media with encryption

Using removable media, such as USB flash drives or removable disks, is a convenient way to transport information. However, if the removable media is lost or stolen, someone else can access its data by mounting the media on another computer.

If you want to keep private or confidential information secure on removable media, you need to encrypt the information on it.

WARNING: When you encrypt a disk or other media, the disk format is converted to the APFS format and then encrypted. Macs with earlier versions of macOS that don’t support the APFS format are not able to read the device’s data. Consider whether you need to connect the media to a Mac with an earlier version of macOS before you encrypt the data. You can also update your other Mac to the latest version of the macOS that supports the APFS format.

To protect your removable media with encryption:

• On your Mac, click the Finder icon in the Dock to open a Finder window
• In the sidebar, Control-click the item you want to encrypt
• Choose Encrypt [item name] from the shortcut menu
• Create a password for the disk and click Encrypt Disk

Be sure to record and keep this password in a safe place. You cannot access the data on the encrypted disk without it.

It may take some time to encrypt, depending on how much information is stored on your Mac. However, you can use your Mac as usual while the disk is being encrypted. To decrypt an encrypted disk, Control-click the disk you want to decrypt, then choose Decrypt [item name] from the shortcut menu.

Get a copy of your personal data from Apple

Learn how to download a copy of the personal information Apple has stored about you.

Like most technology companies, Apple stores information about you on its servers. Unlike most technology companies, however, Apple does not store identifiable information such as locations, instant messages, and so forth. Thanks to Differential Privacy techniques, Apple can build smart services without using the cloud for insight, keeping information about each individual user completely private.

The list of personally identifiable things Apple knows about you is rather short compared to other technology companies. Identifiable information Apple knows about you includes the following:

• Apps you’ve downloaded
• A log of every time you updated your installed apps
• Movies, books, and other media you’ve downloaded
• All of the songs you’ve stored in iTunes Match
• In-app purchases you’ve made on your devices
• All the devices you’ve bought from Apple, along with their serial numbers
• A log of every AppleCare support query you’ve made
• A repair session log of what was damaged
• Serial numbers for both the old and replacement parts

Your archive does not contain identifiable data already included within your Apple ID account, such as calendar content, your iCloud emails, iTunes content, and so forth.

To download your Apple data archive:

• Visit the Apple Privacy Policy webpage at privacy.apple.com and sign in using your Apple ID and password
• Click "Request a copy of your data" under the Manage your data > Get a copy of your data section
• Choose the data you want to download
• After selecting what you want to download, click the "Continue" button
• Select a maximum file size for each file (irrespective of what you choose, you will get all the data)
• Click "Complete request"

You have now successfully requested Apple for your data. They will notify you on your Apple ID email address in about seven days. Once you receive the email, click "Get your data" within the time frame mentioned at the top of the email. Sign in with your Apple ID, and you will see the "Download your data" screen. Click the little download icon next to the data types to download them locally to your computer (open the ZIP file and dive in to see your data).