If you want to move a lot of snd’s, XCMD’s or ICONs from one stack to another, one way is with ResEdit. Single click the resource type (XCMD, ICON, snd, etc.) and Copy and Paste the entire contents of that resource type into the target stack.
Where can you buy used Macs?
• Maya Computer, 800-541-2318
• Shreve Systems, 318-635-1121
• Pre-Owned Electronics, 800-274-5343
• MacHeaven, 703-263-2567
• Simmons Consulting, 215-352-6883, ext. 60
• Sun Remarketing, 800-821-3221
• Through Mouse Droppings classified ads
By the way, Shreve had used LaserWriter Plusses for $2350 plus $75 shipping as of mid-June 1989.
Floppies can go bad just sitting on a shelf. It is smart to rotate the disks used for important stuff at least every six months. Someone else complained that one out of every ten 3M disks failed to initialize. Hey, didn’t I warn you that 3M disks are not the most reliable! Read the free Diskette Gazette publication, which rates 3.5" floppies.
This rates as a hint update. If you have some gigantic image on the Clipboard you may run out of memory. If you are through with the image on the Clipboard, highlight a single character and Copy it. Now Copy (or Cut this time) it again. This gets rid of the huge memory load being carried for the large image.
You need to do the Copy (or Cut) of a single character twice, since the first time you do it, the Mac still permits you to perform an Undo. If the Undo is still possible, you can be sure that the Mac’s memory is still clogged with the big image. The second Copy or Cut of a single letter leaves only the single character in the Mac’s buffer. Now your memory is clearer.
Matchmaker, Matchmaker, loan me your PageMaker application! Let’s say you have a Word 3.0X document, but do not own Word. Open PageMaker, Place the Word document, then Export it to a word processing program which you do have. Simple, huh?
Here’s another PageMaker trick: Aldus Persuasion does not accept TIFF images. So Paste them into PageMaker, size them as needed, Copy, open Persuasion and Paste.
By the way, the Clipboard and/or Scrapbook are often an excellent way to transfer graphics, since they change images to the PICT format, which is quite universal.
LightningScan is valuable when you get your hands on Adobe’s Streamline. Streamline wants to import 300 dpi TIFF files for best results, rather than 72 dpi Paint files. TIFF is exactly what the LightningScan hand-held scanner produces!
By the way, LightningScan seems to be better than the similarly priced ScanMan. The software is the difference. Andy Hertzfeld wrote the LightningScan software.
Enuf said.
If your screen freezes, displays a checkerboard, or your mouse leaves a trail of dots, if you have a top-mounted fan, disconnect it and see if it is the problem. Power supplies on fans can go bad and cause these symptoms. If it is the fan, try for a free replacement, especially if it’s under a year old.
You have just grouped and rotated several text blocks in MacDraw II. Now you discover a mistake in one text block. Do you have to re-rotate the block to correct the mistake? No. Ungroup, click on the text tool, then click on the offending text block. Like magic, it rotates to upright position. Fix it and click again and it rotates back to its upside down position (or whatever position you had it in).
Sorry, but MultiClip bombs and does weird things to so many applications, DAs and INITs that I’d wait until you read some comforting news about a stable upgrade. I personally refused an offer to review it after playing for a half hour.
If you are running Multi-Clip successfully, please drop me a line and tell me what applications, INITs, DAs, etc. you are running it with.
If Command/Shift/3 fails to produce a screen dump for you on a Mac ][, set the colors to black and white, 2 shades only. Sacramento MUG suggests that you take screen dumps of every level of folders on your hard disk. Now, when something breaks, you have a visual guide for disk rebuilding.
To be sure your Find What and Change To boxes are truly empty from the last use, double click in them before making a new entry. For example, I sometimes hunt for two adjacent spaces and change them to a single space. That won’t be too obvious in the “empty” dialog box text entry area.
In FindFile there is a Look Here command which can speed up your searches. Then you can use the Mount to Desktop option. That way, when you are finished, you can highlight the file and use the Put Away command in the File menu. (Thanks, Terry Cooper, Winston, Oregon.)
Some HyperCard Message Box Hints: You can quickly preview all the cards in a HyperCard by using the command “show all cards”in the message box.
On the other hand, “show cards” will keep running through the cards until you mouse down to stop the process. Or use this for a self running non-stop demo.
Type “xy” to show the current mouse location until you click the mouse a second time. Try it.
Type “s” to bring up StackInfo.
Type “b” to bring up BackgroundInfo.
Type “c” to bring up CardInfo. (Thanks, Dan Rice.)
When you have buttons and fields overlapped, or partially overlapped, here is what you can do about that:
Each press of the plus (+) key moves the selected object one step or layer toward the front.
Each press of the minus (-) key moves the selected object back one step or layer.
Shift/Command/+ moves the selected object all the way to the very front.
Shift/Command/- moves the selected object all the way to the very back. (Thanks, Dan Rice.)
That stubborn file just will not copy to another disk. First, if the problem is during Writing, maybe the target disk is physically or electronically flawed. Perhaps it needs its desktop rebuilt (reinsert with Option and Command keys held down, say Yes to the disk rebuilding question).
Next, try copying the file using DiskTop DA. That often works.
Finally, stuff the file with Stuffit 1.5.1, then unstuff it to the target disk. Surprisingly, this works quite often when nothing else will do the trick.
Some LaserWriter II NTs smudge envelopes, some do not. Apple does not know what is wrong, but does say, “…that’s a design flaw.” (Thanks, MacPacker, Apple Corps of Dallas.)
CricketPresents hangs up if it can’t find Helvetica.
MacroMaker conflicts with QuicKeys and DiskTop. (Last two hints from Linda Spaulding, the Thunderscan Queen of the Macintosh community, from Burbank’s MacValley MUG.
Spellswell’s dictionary works with Works 2.0 if you change its name to MSWorksDict. (Thanks, MacValley Voice, Burbank CA MUG.)
Here is an abbreviated description of how to do mail merge with, of all things, PageMaker.
The letter goes on the Master Page. Now, in PageSetup, the page size is set for just enough space for the address block, one (or two) return(s) (your choice) and the salutation followed by one more Return. This page size will be as wide as the longest line in any name, address or salutation, and will be exactly deep enough to accommodate the precise number of lines in the address block, intervening space(s), the salutation, and one more Return.
Prepare a text file of addresses and salutations in your favorite word processor using the format outlined in the paragraph above.
Back in PageMaker, click on AutoFlow. Using the Place command, Place the file of addresses and salutations in the “page” area on the first page. PageMaker will now automatically flow in up to 128 names, addresses and salutations correctly.
If this is not clear to you, refer to the May/June 1989 MasterPages publication from Aldus.
May/June Master Pages also has an article on four ways to create initial caps for a story.
MacProof 3.2 DA lets you check spelling in PageMaker without leaving the application.
If you want non-breaking hyphens, try Option/hyphen, which gives you an en dash, about the same as a regular hyphen. For a non-breaking space, use Option/spacebar. This will keep two words from getting separated on different lines.
To turn off hyphenation easily in PageMaker, click the I-beam in the target paragraph. Now uncheck “Auto hyphenation” in the Paragraph dialog box. This lets you manually hyphenate to your heart’s content.
When scanning to produce TIFF images for a 300 dpi printer, scan at 75 dpi for gray scale and photos, and 300 dpi for black and white line art. Change to 150 dpi for photos and gray scale to be printed out on a 1200 dpi printer.
I read in another MUG newsletter than you cannot make a block of several paragraphs in Word 4.0 think that they are one paragraph.
Not true. Use Shift/Return to start each “new” paragraph in this block. This makes Word 4.0 (just like 3.0X) think that the new material is part of the original paragraph.
The only rotten part is that if there is a paragraph indent for each “new” paragraph within this block, you’ll have to tab each “new” paragraph over to the indent point after the Shift/Return.
The newsletter says that “Command/Return” no longer works. Maybe that was part of the problem—wrong modifier key.
For curved text in Freehand, draw an oval, then use the knife tool to chop off part of it. Bind the text to what is left.
Microsoft Word’s un-Maclike Clipboard can occasionally be a blessing. You can use it as a “second” Clipboard. Shift/Command/c or x copies or cuts to the “other” Clipboard. To paste from the “other” Clipboard, click your cursor at the intended insertion point, then hit Return. (Thanks, Mouse Tales, Mac-in-Awe MUG.)
Copying or Cutting images in Freehand to the Clipboard with the Option key depressed preserves the Clipboard and gives you a PICT of the graphic, so you can see what it looks like when you paste it into another program.
ReadySetGo 4.5 has “tab columns” which word wrap text within a tabular column. But it is totally useless, since if you let a column wrap, the next column will be stair-stepped down level with the last line of the previous column. This makes for funny looking tables.
A fun thing would be to call ReadySetGo and ask what you do with this “feature.”
The Camera DA is reported to corrupt PageMaker files. Forewarned is forearmed.
Removing disk labels: Ronsonol lighter fluid, WD-40 or Chewing Gum & Label Remover from National Sanitary Supply Co, Part #27398, (805) 963-7701, 32 oz. container. Whichever you use, be careful whenever solvents are involved. Protect your skin, your lungs, and the magnetic media inside that 3.5" plastic case.
The latest QuicKeys, v. 1.2, lets you use a Transfer QuicKey to automatically, for example, open all MS Word documents in MacWrite II when they are clicked on.
