macOS Archives - Bad Coffee Club

How to Save Websites as Desktop Shortcuts for Quicker Access

We all have websites that we visit frequently at work. Getting access to them more quickly can often lead to a nice head-start and early wrap-up.

To facilitate quicker access to routinely-visited websites, you can add them as favorites so you don’t have to manually type out the URLs. You can also have them automatically open upon launching of the browser, which can be configured to launch with the operating system.

However, things are not always as easy as they sound, especially when your computer and browser are managed by your organization – meaning IT folks where you work.

For good reasons, IT folks often don’t want you to change what apps could start up with the operating system, or what websites could launch when the browser opens. They only want essential apps to start up with the operating system so that the computer is ready to use as soon as possible. The website that opens with the browser is often an intranet or your company’s website.

One thing commonly allowed on work computers is creating desktop shortcuts. What you can do is save these websites as desktop shortcuts, and then you can just double-click to open them like you would any desktop applications and files. Here’s how it can be done really easily. This works with the Chrome browser in both macOS and Windows 10.

How to Save Websites as Desktop Shortcuts

- If you’ve already added the website as a favorite, just drag it from the Favorites bar and drop it on your desktop.
- Otherwise, type the URL in the address bar, once it loads, drag on the View Site Information icon (the lock) and drop it on the desktop. Voilà!

Want to see one more browser trick? Check out this post.

Use Chrome DevTools to Access Mobile Only Content on Desktop PC

Have you ever come across web content that can only be accessed in a mobile web browser, and if you tried to open the same URL in a desktop environment, you would get a prompt asking you to switch to a mobile device?

Being constrained to a mobile browser can be quite a hassle, especially when you have a 27″ screen right in front of you. If you’ve had headaches like this, today’s post might be able to help you. We say might because while the workaround is easy, it does not work for all situations.

Most desktop browsers can disguise themselves as mobile browsers. This can trick the web content designed for mobile to think it is being accessed on a mobile device.

Here’s how to access web content designed for mobile using the desktop version Chrome browser. This works in both macOS and Windows 10.

Using Chrome DevTools Mode to Access Mobile Only Content on Desktop

1. Launch Chrome and open a new tab
2. Press F12 to go into DevTools mode
3. Click on the Device Toggle in the DevTools Dock
4. Type in the URL and you are good to go

Note you can have the browser be responsive and adapt to the content of the webpage, or have it appear as your favorite mobile device by selecting one from the “Responsive” list. With the “Rotate” button, you can also switch between portrait and landscape mode like how you would normally use a mobile device.

Like we have mentioned, this method does not work for all situations. You will only be able to get around the rules this way when the URL does not look too hard at whether it’s being processed by an actual mobile browser on a mobile device. Also, using the DevTools mode will feel strange as you will likely interact with the web content with a mouse instead of using the touch interface on mobile devices. Still, whenever possible, working with a full-blown desktop browser on a larger screen beats having to work with a smaller mobile device screen.

Interested in learning more browser tips and tricks? Check out this post on how to recover closed browser tabs.

How to Recover Closed Browser Tabs – Chrome and Safari on Mac and iPhone

How to Recover Closed Browser Tabs - Chrome, Safari, iOS 13, macOS Catalina Accidentally closing a browser tab can be infuriating. Fortunately, the process is easy to undo for both Chrome and Safari. Here’s how you can recover closed Chrome or Safari browser tabs on a Mac or an iPhone.

Chrome

How to Recover A Closed Chrome Tab in macOS

To reopen a closed Chrome tab on a Mac, press Shift-Command-T (⇧⌘T) on the keyboard.

Recover Closed Chrome Tab on Mac Shift-Command-T

How to Recover A Closed Chrome Tab in iOS

To recover a closed Chrome tab on an iPhone, first, tap the More () button on the bottom right of the screen, and then tap Recent Tabs.

Safari

How to Recover A Closed Safari Tab in macOS

To reopen a closed Safari tab on a Mac, use the “undo” keyboard shortcut Command-Z (⌘Z).

Recover Closed Safari Tab on Mac Command-Z

How to Recover A Closed Safari Tab in iOS

To recover a closed Safari tab on an iPhone, tap the Tabs button on the bottom right of the screen, and then tap and hold on the Plus () button in the middle of the screen to bring up the Recently Closed Tabs window. From there, you can pick any tab to recover.

Safari on iPhone Add New Tab Tap and Hold to Recover Closed Tabs

Do you find these tips on how to recover closed browser tabs helpful? If you would like to learn more Safari keyboard shortcuts, check out this post.

How to Change Icons in macOS

Changing your Mac’s user interface can be difficult. Apple thinks they have the best UI and they don’t really offer their users the chance to spice things up.

For example, you can feel so utterly powerless when you need to do something as simple as giving a folder a new icon.

That is if you didn’t know where to start.

If you do, it’s actually very easy.

Here’s how you can change icons in macOS. This works on folders, as well as files, drives, and apps. If something on your Mac has an icon, this will work. Although if you are changing the icon of a stock macOS application, like Mail or Music, you’ll need to turn off System Integrity Protection first. Once the change is made, you will want to turn SIP back on.

How to Change macOS Folder, Drive, App or File Icons

Let’s say for whatever reason I wanted to change a folder’s icon to the logo of everyone’s favorite search engine.

Here’s what the macOS default folder icon looks like. Simple yet still reminding you of the letter folders that people used to carry around in the office.

And of course, here’s the Google logo, in all its glory.

And now onto changing the folder icon.

1. Go to google.com, right-click on the Google logo and select Copy Image, or better and easier still, right-click on the image above and select Copy Image.
2. Right-click on the folder you want to change and select Get Info.
3. In the Folder Info window that appears, click to select the folder icon on the top left and press Command-V on your keyboard – see screenshot down below
4. You have now successfully given your folder a new icon.

How to Change Icon in macOS

Did I mention this was going to be easy?

Want to learn more macOS tricks? Check out our Mac and macOS tags.

What other issues have you come across while working on your Mac? Let us know in the comments and we might just have a solution for you.

How to Add Words & Spellings to macOS Spellcheck

You would think your Mac should know every word and spelling you throw at it since it must have a huge vocabulary. However, that is not always the case. Every so often, you’d see something you type highlighted with a dreadful red dotted line below it. The line means either you just made a typo, or macOS does not know the word. If you did type correctly and want it remembered for the future, here’s how you can add the word or spelling to macOS Spellcheck.

Before we dive in, it’s worth mentioning that in order to teach macOS Spellcheck new words and spellings, you can use any text editor application you have available on your Mac. Apple’s Pages and Microsoft’s Word are two nice choices. Something simpler like the TextEdit app is a good way to go too.

In our example, we will be using the Notes app built into macOS.

How to Add Words and Spellings to macOS Spellcheck

1. First, begin by typing up the word or spelling you want to add to Spellcheck. If you see the dotted line, that means the word or spelling is not recognized.
2. Then, control(⌃)-click or right-click on the word or spelling. If you have a trackpad, click or tap with two fingers.
3. In the menu that appears, select Learn Spelling on the top and you are all set. You’ve now taught macOS the word or spelling.
4. Now, this happens sometime. If you don’t see Learn Spelling on the top of the menu, select Spelling and Grammar further down instead and click on Show Spelling and Grammar.
5. In the Spelling and Grammar window that appears, click on Learn and that does the trick too.
6. You’ve now added the word or spelling to Spellcheck. To confirm, type it again and you should no longer see the dotted line.

macOS Spellcheck - Learn Spelling

macOS Spellcheck - Spelling and Grammar

macOS Spellcheck - Spelling and Grammar Window - Learn Spelling

What are some of the words your computer could not recognize? Want to learn more about checking spelling and grammar on a Mac? Here’s the link to Apple’s guide on the topic.