Hello, hope you’re enjoying watching the episodes, from our macOS Monterey Series.
Continuing on to Episode 3, titled: macOS Monterey…Under The Hood
I’ll be showing, some cool features added to macOS Monterey.
So, Let’s Get Started.
And, in no particular order…
How To Convert an image using Quick Actions.
In macOS Monterey, you’re now able to convert an image, to different formats, effortlessly.
Simply, right-click or control-click on any image, then select Quick Actions, and choose, Convert Image.
Working with an Image size of 1920X1080 pixels, as a demo.
I’m able to convert the image to the following formats:
JPEG, PNG and even HEIF.
And, not just the format, but also, to different sizes, as listed and shown.
From the example image:
Need a quick thumbnail, convert to Small: 320 x 180 pixels.
Need image for Twitter, convert to Medium: 640 x 360 pixels
Need image for Pages, convert to Large: 1280 x 720 pixels.
And, obviously the original image, to different formats.
Next…
FOCUS
A nice feature in macOS Monterey, is FOCUS.
As implied, FOCUS, allows you to concentrate on a particular task,
by giving it your full attention,
without any interruptions,
like from calls or notifications.
The way Focus works, is by assigning different, Do Not Disturb conditions,
that gets triggered, when a particular Focus category, is executed.
For example…
I’ll create an automated FOCUS command,
that activates, whenever launching, the Books app,
in order to do some serious reading, without interruption conditions.
Setting up FOCUS in macOS Monterey, is a relative easy process.
Simply, click on the Control Center icon on menubar,
then on Focus, and then on Focus Preferences…
You can choose from the pre-defined Focus defaults or customize your own.
As I’ll do right now.
I’ll name mine, “Gone Fishing”
Then, I’ll choose who to Allow Notifications from,
and whether to Allow repeated calls from the same person,
within three minutes or not.
I’ll now choose, that whenever, the Books app is launched,
Or any other apps listed here,
that’s chosen, to automatically start, the Do not disturb, “Gone Fishing” Focus.
And, finally, choose whether to share the Gone Fishing Focus across all devices.
I’ll leave to share.
Now, whenever, launching Books, you’ll notice the Do Not Disturb from the Gone Fishing, Focus task,
is active.
From the menu bar, you can click on the Gone Fishing Focus,
to have it run for either, 1-hour, till the evening, or turning off,
by clicking on the Gone Fishing Focus icon.
Furthermore, whenever, closing the Books app, the Gone Fishing Focus task, will also stop.
And, that’s all there is to Focus in macOS Monterey.
Next…
Window Management
Oh yes, I love this one.
You’re probably already familiar with the split screen or tiled window feature in macOS.
The one where you click and hold on the green traffic light icon, on a window, to start split screen.
In macOS Monterey,
this feature has been updated to include launching other app windows, as shown here.
As you’ll notice, when you click and hold down the green traffic light icon, while in split screen,
on either split screen, you’ll see the following option, Replace Tiled Window.
Replace Tiled Window
If you change your mind, after pressing, Replace Tiled Window,
simple press the escape “esc” key, on your keyboard.
Otherwise, click on the app windows you want to view.
Moving on…
Automatically Hide or Show Menubar in full screen.
In macOS Monterey,
you’re now able to Automatically hide and show the menu bar in full screen.
Just, launch System Preferences, and click on Dock & Menu Bar icon.
Now, check to automatically hide & show menu bar in full screen, as demonstrated here.
And Finally….
Messages Photo Download
Here’s a nice little touch, added to Messages in macOS Monterey.
You’re now able to download images received,
via. Messages, by simply clicking on the download button, shown here.
While still on Messages
Another cool feature is…Messages Photo Gallery.
I’ve found that when receiving, multiple images, 4 or more, via. Messages,
you’re presented with an elegant interactive stack,
that you can swipe back and forth, view the stack in gallery format,
and copy or add images to Photos.
And that’s all there is to it,
Thanks for watching…
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and don’t forget to hit that bell icon,
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Peace.