OJBs Web Site: Mac OS X Sierra

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macOS Sierra

Here's a list of some of the useful new features in macOS Sierra...

Siri is finally on the Mac. It can do all the stuff you would expect, like find files based on names, select photos, and search the web. And it will also use its intelligent features to try to parse natural language. And the results can be used easily in apps. For example, graphics Siri finds can be dragged into a Keynote file.

Siri can help with many common tasks, including requests using natural speech.

Copy and Paste works between macOS and iOS. If you work between your Mac and iPad or iPhone this will probably be useful for you. When a copy is done on any device (which is logged into the same Apple ID) that data can be pasted on a different device. For example, copying a photo on an iPhone makes that image available for pasting on a Mac. It all works quickly and completely automatically.

If you use Apple Pay on your Apple Watch or iPhone it is now available to your Mac. When on a site which uses Apple Pay on a Mac needs verification it can be done automatically using Touch ID on an iPhone or through an Apple Watch.

If you have an Apple Watch running watchOS 3 you can use it to unlock you Mac without having to supply a password. There is some setup to do first and 2FA needs to be enabled but it avoids a lot of tedious password entry.

Your data can now be stored in the cloud on iCloud and will be automatically available on a Mac. There are two main advantages to this: first, it frees up space on your Mac because only the documents which are in use are stored there; and second, it allows the documents to be seen from multiple devices, such as a second Mac. You do need a large amount of iCloud space though, depending on the number of documents you have.

Messages now supports big emoji, special effects and graphics, and quick tapback messages (which are quick, common messages which can be sent as a reply with a single tap).

Videos (actually just certain videos which use HTML5) running in Safari can now be detached into their own floating window and left running while you do something else. This is a similar feature to the one on the newer iPads.

Photos intelligently analyses your photos and allows you to select them based on their contents. For example, enter a word in a search and all the photos with that object in them will appear, along with the usual search results with the word in the name or description.

In Apple Mail the inbox now has a new icon (a circle with an upside-down lined triangle) which provides a "filtered by" function. It will quickly filter the mailbox based on the specified filter. Click the filter text to change it.

The new filter function in Mail allows quick selecting of messages.

When you have a series of devices (Mac, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch because we all have all of those, right?) with you and a new email, text, or phone call arrives they used to all play the notification sound together. Now, the devices realise which one you are currently using and the notification just appears on that. Of course, the actual message, etc is available on any of them.

Notes now supports sharing with other users of Sierra (and iOS 10). You can choose another user and that person will also be able to view and edit the same note. Also, Apple's Pages, Numbers, and Keynote also allow collaboration like this (although at this point it is still beta) so that multiple people can edit the same document at the same time. Again, all the users must be on Sierra or iOS 10.

It is now possible to rearrange all the icons in the menu bar. Previously only the standard Apple icons could be moved. Hold down command while dragging the icon to rearrange it. Drag it out of the menu bar to delete it.

The storage on your Mac can be optimised by turning on options to store documents in iCloud, automatically removing large media files (movies, etc) which have already been watched and can be re-downloaded, and automatically emptying the trash.

The markup tool is now available for modifying photos in the Photos app. Access this feature by editing the photo, then choosing Extensions, then Markup.

Apple apps and many third party ones will now support a tabbed interface instead of multiple windows. Choose Merge All Windows from the Window menu to convert all the windows belonging to the current app into tabs in one window.

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