Now that sounds like a lot. It probably is more than sufficient for most people’s needs. However, if you’re a real app hog or if you’re merely a moderate app hog who prefers not to shove things into folders, Apple is happy to accommodate you. Ever since the 3.0 update of iOS, we’ve been able to install any number of apps on the iPhone or iPad, limited only by the available storage.

So once your idevice’s screens are chockablock with apps, there’s no need to uninstall an app before adding a new one to your collection. Just go ahead and install it. Of course, once all your app ‘slots’ have been taken up, there’ll be no way for your device to display the newly installed app’s icon. It’s on your device, but it’s hidden from view.

Using Spotlight search to run a hidden app

Running a hidden app

Running a hidden app is easy. Just use Spotlight search:

1. From the Home screen, swipe right to display Spotlight search.
2. Start typing the name of the app in the search box.
3. Tap the app to run it.

Although this is easy, it’s not necessarily a convenient way to run an app, especially if that hidden app becomes one of your most-used apps. Or what if you want to delete the app? There’s no way to do that directly from your device because you can’t tap-and-hold the app’s icon, jiggle it and tap the delete button.

In both these cases, you’ll want to unhide the app.

Unhiding hidden apps

To make a hidden app visible:

1. Create a place to display the app by either deleting another (visible) app, or by dragging an app into a new or existing folder.
2. Switch your device off completely by holding the power button for a few seconds and swiping Slide to Power Off.
3. Turn your device back on.

Your app will now appear in the slot you provided.

Related posts:

1. Top tips for the iPhone keyboard
2. Geekgirl’s take on the iPhone 4
3. Reading nirvana: The mating of the Kindle and the iPhone

Open any Windows application and take a look at its Open and Save As dialog boxes. Notice how they look pretty much like the dialog boxes in any other application? That’s because Microsoft provides programmers with a set of common dialog boxes. Any programmer may  use these pre-designed dialog boxes to provide standard file management for their application. In fact, Microsoft encourages programmers to use the common dialogs in order to give Windows users a more consistent experience from one app to another.

You may have observed that in Windows 7, that single dialog box approach seems to have been derailed. That’s because some applications still use the old Windows XP dialog boxes instead of the revamped Windows 7 version. The most obvious difference between the two styles of dialog box is that XP’s rather restrictive Places bar is replaced by a more extensive navigation pane in the newer dialogs.

One of the features which has remained consistent – but not obvious – from XP to Windows 7, is the availability of right-click options within the file dialog boxes.

Right-click shortcuts

Give it a try:

1. Open an application and then press Ctrl-O, or click the Open icon, to display the Open dialog box.
2. Right-click any of the files or folders displayed in that dialog and you’ll see a context menu pop open. This is the same context menu you’ll find in Explorer windows.

From that context menu, you can perform all sorts of file tasks, from renaming or deleting a file to scanning it with your anti-virus software.

So while you normally use the Open or Save As dialogs simply to open or save a file, you can, in fact, achieve a whole lot more through them.

This is useful for a variety of tasks:

• Deleting unwanted files;
• Quickly performing a task you’d otherwise perform later, such as converting a document to a PDF;
• Scanning a file for viruses;
• Playing an MP3 music file (or, if you have WinAmp installed, you can queue a whole folder full of audio files to play);
• Adding a folder to a Windows Library;
• Performing a variety of on-the-fly actions when you notice something which needs changing, such as a filename.

The exact options you have available will depend on the software installed on your computer. For instance, you won’t be able to do PDF conversions unless you have Acrobat or another PDF program installed.

Limitations and extensions

There are some limitations on what you can do via the dialog boxes, too. For example, if you’re working on a document in Microsoft Word and you open the ‘Save As’ dialog box, you won’t be able to right-click another Word document and select Open to open it for editing as well. That’s because the dialog box you’re using has focus, meaning you have to close it before you can do anything else within Word.

There’s nothing stopping you from opening a document within another program, however. For example, you can open an Excel spreadsheet from within Word’s ‘Save As’ dialog box.

1. Press F12 in Word to open the ‘Save As’ dialog box.
2. You’ll note that the only files displayed are those you can edit in Word, such as .docx, .doc, .pdf, .txt and so on. To display Excel files, type *.xls or *.xlsx in the ‘File Name’ box and press Enter. (If you prefer to display all files, type *.* in the ‘File Name’ box and press Enter.)
3. Right-click an .xls file and select Open from the context menu to open it in Excel. While you’re editing the Excel spreadsheet, your Word dialog box will remain open, patiently awaiting your return. In fact, you could perform the same trick within Excel, opening a JPEG image for editing from within the Excel ‘Save As’ dialog box, in true babushka doll fashion.

Microsoft Word lets you perform another handy trick via the file dialog box: you can copy the contents of one document into another one.

1. Press F12 to display the ‘Save As’ dialog box.
2. Right-click any Word document and select Copy.
3. Click Cancel to close the dialog box.
4. Press Ctrl-V to paste the contents of the file into the document you’re currently editing.

Note that this technique doesn’t work if you try it with any other type of file or in most other programs; either nothing happens or you end up inserting the file itself — not the contents of the file — into the document you’re editing.

Related posts:

1. Find where a file is stored
2. Windows XP Control Panel shortcuts
3. Using the handy SendTo command

One of the big advantages of having a software keyboard is that it’s adaptable and flexible. You’ve probably noticed this already in the way keyboard styles differ slightly from one app to another. Some app developers, for example, considerately place an @ symbol on the main keyboard when you’re prompted to enter an email address. Small touches such as this add up to huge savings in frustration and time over the life of your iPhone.

Eschew accuracy

Perhaps the most useful keyboarding tip of all is this: don’t strive for accuracy. If you spend time trying to ensure you hit the exact key, it’ll not only take you longer to type text, you’re also quite likely to make more mistakes, given the size of the phone’s keyboard. If, on the other hand, you type fairly rapidly, the iPhone’s smart software will step in and correct the vast majority of your mistakes.

Two things make this possible: an extensive, auto-correcting spelling dictionary and context-sensitive key resizing. The latter is particularly nifty. Although the letters on the keyboard look like they occupy the same area, the landing zone for each key grows bigger or smaller depending on the letters you’ve already typed. So, if you’ve typed ‘blac’ the landing zone for the letter ‘k’ will increase while those for the surrounding letters ‘j’ and ‘l’ grow smaller. This happens invisibly, but it does happen. As a result, you don’t need to worry too much about precise finger placement; just type away as quickly as possible and let your phone do the work.

If you make any mistakes, tap and hold to display the magnifying glass, slide your finger to the offending word, lift your finger and tap Select, then type the correct word.

Slide

The keyboard really contains four keyboards: lowercase alphabetic; uppercase alphabetic accessed via the Shift key; numeric accessed via the 123 key; and special characters accessed via the #+= key from the numeric keyboard.

To insert, say, a comma, you normally do this:

1. Tap 123 to display the numeric keyboard;
2. Tap ,;
3. Tap ABC to redisplay the alphabetic keyboard.

Instead of three-tapping, you can insert a comma simply by tapping the 123 key and, without lifting your finger, sliding to the comma.

Use the same sliding technique to insert any character from the numeric keyboard and use a similar technique to access special characters from the numeric keyboard. You can also slide onto the Shift key then to any letter to enter a single uppercase letter. If you accidentally press a key you don’t want to type, simply slide off the keyboard

Hold

As well as the letters and characters displayed on the keyboards, you can insert a bunch of other characters by holding particular keys for a second. Tap and hold A, for example, to display a list of accented characters, then slide onto the character you want to insert it.

The accompanying table lists all the characters available by holding other keys. In addition, some apps let you quickly enter top-level domain names by holding down the fullstop (period) key. For example, when you’re using the Mail app, tap-and-hold fullstop to enter .com, .net, .edu, .org and .us.

So, where’s the .au domain shortcut, the .co.uk shortcut, or shortcuts for other country domains? You need to make sure you have your region set to the appropriate country. For Australia: Tap Settings -> General -> International -> Region Format -> Australia. As well as setting your region to Australia, make sure your keyboard is set to British English; that way, you won’t have to deal with words being auto-corrected to the US spelling: Tap Settings -> General -> International -> Keyboards -> Add New Keyboard –> English (UK). With the keyboard set to UK and the Australian region enabled, holding down fullstop will let you enter .eu and .co.uk in addition to the standard domains.

Note that if you have more than one keyboard enabled, you can enter a character from either keyboard by tapping the globe icon which appears on your keyboard, or hold the globe icon and select a keyboard to be the default for the current editing session. To change the default keyboard permanently, use the Keyboards list in Settings -> General -> International -> Keyboards.

Related posts:

1. A keyboard shortcut to save your sanity
2. How to make hidden iPhone apps visible
3. Geekgirl’s take on the iPhone 4

“Don’t you hit Ctrl-S all the time?” I asked. To my surprise, not only did she not use Ctrl-S, but not one person in the group knew that that’s all it takes to save your work. Ctrl-S. Hold down the Control key and tap the S key. On a Mac, the equivalent is Command-S.

I’ve always assumed that everyone knows this shortcut, but clearly that’s not the case; and if it wasn’t the case for a group of my friends, I assume that some of you reading this are also in the dark.

Saving is effortless

The beauty of Ctrl-S is that it’s almost effortless. No need to take your fingers off the keyboard, no need to interrupt the flow of your thoughts or disrupt your writing, no need to manipulate your mouse and seek out a menu. Just type away, hit Ctrl-S, type away, hit Ctrl-S, and so on.

This keyboard combo works in most applications, including all Microsoft Office apps, Adobe and Corel apps, browsers and so on, so it’s almost always available.

Of course, the first time you save a document, you’ll have to go through the process of naming it and deciding in which folder to store it, but after you’ve accomplished that onerous task, saving any further work is a no-brainer with Ctrl-S.

A safer approach to your work

After a further round of questioning with our fireside group, I discovered that all of them follow this process when working on a document:

• Create a new document and start working in it.
• After typing a page or two or working for about 30 minutes, allow the thought “Oh, I guess I should save this” to bubble up.
• Save and name the document.
• Continue working until the task is finished or some major interruption, such as the end of the workday, occurs.
• Save once more and close the document.

This is a recipe for disaster. If you work like this, you are courting misery. A far more secure approach, one which takes not a whit more effort, is this:

• Create your document and immediately save it, giving it a name.
• Start working in the document and press Ctrl-S every few minutes.
• When you’ve finished working, press Ctrl-S a final time and close your document.

Using this approach, the most you can lose is a few minutes of work. Give it a try – it only takes a day or so to turn it into a habit.

How often should I save?

So, what does “press Ctrl-S every few minutes” really mean?

When determining how often to press Ctrl-S, I perform a pain-of-loss assessment: I ask myself, “How painful would it be if I had to reconstruct that last paragraph?” “That last sentence?” “That column of numbers?” The instant I think, “I’d hate to have to redo that”, I press Ctrl-S. Remember, your computer doesn’t mind if you press Ctrl-S a dozen times a minute, so there’s no reason not to overindulge yourself in this little bit of security.

Related posts:

1. Dialog box shortcuts
2. Mac tip: A shortcut through enclosing folders
3. Top tips for the iPhone keyboard

A hidden method which lets you jump directly to any of the folders “above” the one you’re in, is to Control+Click (or Command+Click, or right-click) the Finder window’s title bar. Up pops a list of the enclosing folders, and you can click any of the folders in that hierarchy to jump directly to the chosen location. If you prefer to use the keyboard, press Command+Up-Arrow to head back up the folder hierarchy – each press of Command+Up-Arrow will take you to the next higher enclosing folder.

Previous vs. Enclosing

There is, of course, a difference between using this ‘up the folder hierarchy” technique and using Previous in the Finder window. The Previous arrow navigates back through the locations you’ve been viewing, and not directly up the folder hierarchy. Using Previous lets you return by the path you followed to get to your current location, no matter how circuitous that path. Using the enclosing folder technique ignores the path you took to get to the current folder and heads by the most direct route directly up through the folder hierarchy.

For example, if you view your Documents folder, then the Desktop, then the Applications folder and then head back into Documents and down into Accounts, clicking the Previous Arrow will take you from the Accounts folder back through:

Documents -> Applications -> Desktop -> Documents

On the other hand, repeatedly pressing Command+Up-Arrow will take you from Accounts to:

Documents -> user folder -> Users -> Macintosh HD -> Mac

Related posts:

1. Breadcrumbing
2. Using the handy SendTo command
3. A keyboard shortcut to save your sanity

It’s a handy feature, but it doesn’t always get you what you need. Sometimes, your search will uncover multiple files with the same or similar names, with no obvious way to figure out which is the one you want. At other times, you won’t want to edit the file you’re searching for, but instead you’ll want to be able to open the folder where it’s stored and work with the file together with other files in that folder.

Open File Location

Fortunately, there’s a simple way to accomplish this. Instead of clicking a matching file in the search results, right-click the file and choose Open File Location. Windows will then open the folder in which the file is contained. With a quick glance you should be able to tell if this is the file you need. If it is, with the folder open you can edit the file, copy, rename or delete it, or work with other files in the folder.

File location variants

You can use this technique or something similar in a number of places in Windows. For instance, if you download a file from the Internet using the Firefox browser, before closing the Downloads window, you can right-click a file and choose Open Containing Folder – handy when you’ve forgotten the default location for downloads.

Or, when you’re viewing a file in a Windows 7 Library, you can right-click it and select Open File Location to open the actual folder where the file is stored, instead of viewing it in a Library “pseudo folder”.

You can even use this technique in programs such as Picasa. Right-click any image in your Picasa library (or click the image and press Ctrl+Enter) and choose Locate On Disk to open the folder which contains the original image.

These simple techniques can save you minutes every day, and those minutes add up.

Related posts:

1. Quickly copy a folder’s contents
2. Using the handy SendTo command
3. Renaming files and file extensions