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03/02/2009 By Taryn Merrick 1 Comment

Mac OS Preview Application – Overlooked Productivity Tips

Mac OS Preview Application – Overlooked Productivity Tips

I am constantly on the lookout for better ways to utilize the software native to my Mac.

Preview is something I use multiple times a day, yet it has only been recently that I have been exploring it’s often unexplored features. These are features that, in the past, required the Mac user to install various third party software. For instance, annotation, both with shapes and notes, color and size adjustments, merging and re-arranging pdf pages, and text mark up.

A little known or possibly little used feature that I just used last week is to print multiple images per page. Just go to “File” “Print” and select the number of images per page that you want in the Images per page drop-down menu. Mac Print Preview

As a Virtual Assistant, I often find myself designing graphics for clients. I have several Mac graphics programs that do what I need them to do, but sometimes, launching Preview is a lot quicker.

Many times I have an image where I need to remove the background. Preview makes this so easy. Open your image in Preview and choose either Extract Shape or Instant Alpha. Click within your image and watch the transformation. Note that you may not get perfect results with the first few tries, but for most uses, you will be amazed at the results. My personal preference is Instant Alpha as I find this gives more accurate results faster. Mac OS Preview features

Another Preview feature which I am using quite a lot is annotation. I am often trading pdf’s back and forth with my clients. Many times I want them to be able to quickly jump to highlighted text. Preview makes this so easy:

Preview Mac Annotation TipsGo To Tools > Text Tool.
Select all text that you wish to highlight.
Go To Tools > Mark Up, and select one of these options:
Highlight Text: Changes the background color of your selected text.
Strike Through Text: Puts a line through the middle of the selected text.
Underline Text: Underlines your selected text.
If you want a different highlight color, underline, or strike through, Go To Tools > Show Colors.

I am not saying Preview is the only Mac PDF and image tool that you need. I find PDFpen indispensable for other PDF related tasks, such as forms and transparencies. I have been using PDFpen for a few years now and can’t imagine working without it.

However, it is nice to know that you can get maximum functionality out of Mac tools like Preview.

How about you? Do you incorporate the full utilization of Preview in your “Mac Productivity Workout”?

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Taryn Merrick, Offsite Business Manager and Music Industry Virtual AssistantAuthor bio: Taryn Merrick is a Professional Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager (OBM). As Principal of Merrick Management And Media Services, she has over 20 years of administrative management experience. Taryn works to promote the Virtual Assistant industry and to make it stand out as a true profession of excellence. Her style is easy going, yet precise, with emphasis placed on exceeding customer expectations, client communication and satisfaction.


©2003-2023 Would you like to republish this entire article? You are free to do so in .pdf format as long as you include a link back to the full post, attributing the author, Taryn Merrick.
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Filed Under: Blog, Mac Productivity, Macs, Virtual Assistant Services Tagged With: Mac Productivity, Mac Software, Macs, Productivity, Virtual Assistance

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administrative help Blogging Business Management business world collaboration covid-19 delegate tasks delegation Eco Virtual Assistant flickr long weekends Mac Based mac os x mac platform Mac Productivity Macs Mac Software mac user Mac Virtual Assistant Marketing more free time Online Marketing Productivity remote office remote work remote worker remote working skilled business professionals Social Media Social Media Marketing Social Networking trusted collaborator Twitter video meetings Virtual Assistance Virtual Assistance Virtual Assistant virtual assistants Virtual Assistant Services Virtual Collaboration virtual project working remotely

About Taryn Merrick

After being a corporate Executive Assistant for over 25 years, I decided to join the world of entrepreneurs and launched my Music Virtual Assistant and Online Business Management business over 15 years ago. I have connections to entertainment, music, and the arts but offer services to entrepreneurs of all disciplines and fields.

Comments

  1. alyoung says

    10/14/2009 at 2:37 PM

    Thanks for the Preview tips. I have a question that seems to be floating around the internet as well, though I’ve yet to see an answer for it. I’m familiar with *how* to highlight in Preview; however, sometimes this option is available and sometimes the menu item is greyed out. Does any body know why this is and how to change it. In particular, I was highlight a scientific journal article I had downloaded, but the file was really slow so I thought I’d try to save it instead of working from the Downloads folder. After saving it, I no longer had the option to highlight, what happened??

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Taryn Merrick Blackwood is the Principal of Merrick Management And Media Virtual Assistant Services. We offer custom business management services as well as personal assistant services. Our purpose is simple: to save our clients time by acting as a turnkey service to manage all of their business needs. The music industry is our specialty. [Read More …]

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Taryn Merrick, Offsite Business Manager and Music Industry Virtual AssistantAuthor bio: Taryn Merrick is a Professional Virtual Assistant and Online Business Manager (OBM). As Principal of Merrick Management And Media Services, she has over 20 years of administrative management experience. Taryn works to promote the Virtual Assistant industry and to make it stand out as a true profession of excellence. Her style is easy going, yet precise, with emphasis placed on exceeding customer expectations, client communication and satisfaction.


©2003-2023 Would you like to republish this entire article? You are free to do so in .pdf format as long as you include a link back to the full post, attributing the author, Taryn Merrick.
Please note our privacy policy

Tags

administrative help Blogging Business Management business world collaboration covid-19 delegate tasks delegation Eco Virtual Assistant flickr long weekends Mac Based mac os x mac platform Mac Productivity Macs Mac Software mac user Mac Virtual Assistant Marketing more free time Online Marketing Productivity remote office remote work remote worker remote working skilled business professionals Social Media Social Media Marketing Social Networking trusted collaborator Twitter video meetings Virtual Assistance Virtual Assistance Virtual Assistant virtual assistants Virtual Assistant Services Virtual Collaboration virtual project working remotely
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