Category Archives: macOS (OS X, MacOS X, MacOS, System)

software running on Apple Macintosh computers with various versions of the Macintosh Operating System :
System 1.0 – 7.5
MacOS 7.6 – 9.2
MacOS X 10.0 – 10.7
OS X 10.8 – 10.11
macOS 10.12 and newer

fixed : import Google Calendar events in Apple Calendar ( iOS & macOS )

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Question :
I am using an online service that can set all appointments I have with them in my Google Calendar… but not in my Apple Calendar… and even though I have a Gmail-account, I never use Google Calendar…

Is there any way to sync or transfer the Google Calendar appointments into my Apple Calendar on iOS and macOS ?


Answer :

YES there is ! And it’s rather simple, but you have to enable your Google Calendar :
– on the online service’s website, click on the ADD TO CALENDAR (or similar) option
– let them set the appointment in your Google Calendar (you might have to login with your Gmail account for that)
– then, on iOS (on your iPhone), open the Settings.app
– scroll down to “Calendar” and click on the triangle on the right
– in the Calendar Settings page that opens, go to “Accounts” and click on the triangle on the right
– in the Accounts page that opens, under ACCOUNTS, go to your Gmail address and click on the triangle on the right
– then, on the settings page of your Gmail account, go to “Calendars” and make sure that the slider is ON (Green)
– then exit the Settings.app
– now, on macOS (on your Mac), open the Calendar.app
– then, in the top menu bar, click on “Calendar” and select “Accounts” from the pulldown menu
– now, in the “Internet Accounts” window that opens, click on your Gmail account’s Gmail address
– in the Gmail account’s settings page that opens, make sure taht at “Calendars” the slider is set to ON (Blue)
– then exit the Settings
– now, in the Calendar.app, you will see the appointments from your Google calendar appear
– then, click on the calendar icon on top of the menu list on the left so all your different calendars are listed on the left
– now, scroll down to the chapter the has the name of your Gmail account, and uncheck (deactivate) the Birthdays, Family and Holidays options (these are the presets from Google Calendar)
– if needed, you can also change the color of the Google Calendar appointments by right-clicking on your Gmail address (that is your main Google Calendar) and selecting a preset or custom color
– if needed, you can also choose “Get Info” from the popup menu to change the name (“Description”) of the calendar or the alerts or how thes appointments effect your availability (as seen by others with whom you share your Calendar/appointments)

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : select only the photos that were taken with your own iPhone in Photos.app

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Question :
During a trip with (business) friends, I have taken photos with my iPhone myself. But in the Photos.app, they have gotten mixed up with the photos taken by my friends, that I have received though Whatsapp… but als it turns out, those ar in a far more basic photo resolution then my own pictures…

Is there any way to separate the photos taken by me from the ones taken by others ?

Answer :
Yes, it is possible to select only the photos taken with your own iPhone.
To do that, do this :
– on your iPhone, open the Settings.app
– in the Settings page, scroll down and select “General”
– then, in the top of the General page, select “About”
– then, in the top of the About page, at “Name”, see the name of your iPhone (and remember it)
– then exit the Settings.app and open the Photos.app
– now, in the page that opens, click on the “Search” icon (bottom right)
– then, in the page that opens, in the top search bar, typ the name of your iPhone (the name that you have just found in the Settings.app)
– then, in the search results, you will get a preview of 9 photos taken with your own iPhone
– now, just above the top right photo preview, click “See All”
– on the next page that opens, you will now find all the photos taken with your own iPhone

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰


NOTE : there is not easy way (yet) to search for photos NOT taken with your own iPhone in iOS at htis moment… that should be done in the Photos.app on your Mac

fixed : ValiDrive alternative for macOS

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Question :
I have purchased a 2TB USB-stick for a discount price. I thought that was an incredible deal and when I received it it looked great and my Mac even recognises the USB-stick as properly and sees 2TB of available disk space. I can even reformat the drive and it will still remain listed as 2TB… incredible !
But as the brand name on the product and the packaging do not add up, I got the feeling that at least something is off… so I googled some and found that it is common practice with USB-sticks with extreme memory sizes to turn out to be fraudulent or even counterfeit products… in-factory the firmware has been hacked to make the USB-stick appear as a large volume drive, but when in use, but when in use the data copying either stops when the maximum amount of actual (hardware) memory capacity is reached (4GB or 8GB or sometimes even more) or the data copying keeps on going endlessly but is at the same time erasing previously copied data…
That is really bad news…
Now there is a tiny piece of software for Windows that can check if a drive has been tampered with like that : ValiDrive by GRC (Gibson Research Company) …but that’s Windows-only…

Is there any app for macOS that can do the same ?

Answer :
YES there is !
Even though there is no official version of ValiDrive for macOS and drive checking apps like Disk Utility, TechTool Pro, CleanMyMac X and WD Drive Utilities are not (yet) able detect these hacked drives… there is a macOS-app that can :
Drive Capacity Tester by Sascha Simon Software ( available on the Mac AppStore )

Here’s how to use Drive Capacity Tester to verify USB drives :
– plug the USB-stick into your Mac
– if there is still data on the USB-stick, backup all data from it, then trash everything or reformat
– when there’s no more data on the USB-stick, open Drive Capacity Tester
– then, in the list, select the USB-stick
– in the popup window that appears, just leave Size at “Full” and Steps at “Write and verify data” and click the “Start Test” button (there is no nessecity to pay for the Pro-version… but it is of course very kind of you to support Sascha Simon by buying the Pro-version)
– now, if the countdown underneath the “Writing Files” status bar just counts down to zero, just let it finish… if it finishes regularly, you’re good : the drive is what it is supposed to be
– but… if the countdown underneath the “Writing Files” status bar counts down extremely fast, then loops and restarts the countdown… you can be sure that it is a faulty USB-stick
– in that case you can stop the “Writing Files” process as it will probably get you nowhere… (or you can let it run till it finishes, if ever, hoping you will find how much memory space there actually is on the drive

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : iCloud syc error – Desktop files on Mac have ‘cloud exclamation mark’-icon

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Question :
I was trying to access some files I have created on my Mac from my iPad, but the files that are in folder XYZ on my Mac’s Desktop are different from the ones that I can see in that same Folder XYZ when I access it from the Files.app on my iPad. Some files in Folder XYZ are the same and some are not… closing/quitting the Files.app on my iPad and reopening it doesn’t help… And when I look on my Mac, the files that are invisible on my iPad turn out to have a ‘cloud with an exclamationmark’-icon next to them on my Mac… I’ve also checked on my iPhone, and there I get to see the exact same content of Folder XYZ as on my iPad, but not the ones that are on my Mac…

This appears to be an ICloud syncing problem, but how do I fix it ?

Answer :
Yes, this is a syncing problem that iCloud sometimes runs into…
since there is no forced sync or manual sync option, this is how to fix it :
1- make sure that your Mac, your iPad and your iPhone all run the newest version of their OS (macOS, iPadOS, iOS)
2- make sure that your Mac, your iPad and your iPhone are all connected to a stable internet connection (either over Wifi or Ethernet)
3- make sure that you are logged in on iCloud with exactly the same account on all devices (Mac, iPad, iPhone)
4- if all the above is in place, restart your Mac without remembering open windows (to increase you chances on fixing this iCloud syncing problem, restart your iPad and iPhone as well)
5- wait for your Mac to restart/reboot entirely before doing anything else on it
6- wait for iCloud to sync back and forth amoung your Mac, iPad and iPhone (depending on the amount of files you have in your iCloud folders and your internet speed this may take up to 10 minutes or even longer)

That’s it !
…in 99% of the cases, this simple solution will fix your iCloud syncing problem
enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : eBook bought on iPhone not visible in Books.app on Mac

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Question :
I recently bought an eBook in Apple’s Books.app on my iPhone. When I opened the Books.app on my iPad it automatically appeared there, but when I opened the Books.app on my Mac I didn’t appear…

How do I fix this ?

Answer :

There are various reasons why this problem may occur, but 99% of the time this problem can be fixed by doing one of the following (just start trying the first, then the second, etc.) :

-1- Make sure that iCloud sync is switched on for all devices

  • on you iPhone, go to Settings.app
  • in the Settings page, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon on the top)
  • in the Apple ID page that opens, click on “iCloud”
  • in the iCloud page that opens, click on “Show All”
  • in the Apps using iCloud page that opens, scroll down and make sure that the switch at “Books” is switched ON (a green switch)
  • then, swipe up the entire page to close the Settings.app
  • then, on your iPad (if you have one), go to Settings.app
  • in the Settings page, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon top left)
  • in the Apple ID info that appears, click on “iCloud”
  • in the iCloud info that appears, click on “Show All”
  • in the Apps using iCloud info that appears, scroll down and make sure that the switch at “Books” is switched ON (a green switch)
  • then, swipe up the entire page to close the Settings.app
  • next, on your Mac, click on the Apple icon (top left in the menu bar)
  • from the pulldown menu, choose “System Settings”
  • in the window that appears, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon top left)
  • in the Apple ID info that appears, click on “iCloud”
  • in the iCloud info that appears, click on the “Show More Apps” button
  • in the popup window that appears, scroll down and make sure that the switch at “Books” is turned ON (a dark grey switch)
  • then click the “Done” button and close the Settings window by clicking on the small red button top left
  • now, open the Books.app on all your devices and check if the eBooks you’ve purchased in Books.app are now available on all devices

    If that did not work, try this next solution :

    -2- Make sure that you are logged in to exactly the same iCloud-account on all devices
  • on your iPhone, go to Settings.app
  • in the Settings page, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon on the top)
  • in the Apple ID page that opens, check that the iCloud-account that has purchased the eBook is showing
    if not : scroll down, click on “Sign Out”, follow the instructions and after logging out, log in now using the correct iCloud-account
  • then, on your iPad (if you have one) go to Settings.app
  • in the Settings page, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon top left)
  • in the Apple ID info that appears, check that the iCloud-account that has purchased the eBook is showing
    if not : scroll down, click on “Sign Out”, follow the instructions and after logging out, log in now using the correct iCloud-account
  • next, on your Mac, click on the Apple icon (top left in the menu bar)
  • from the pulldown menu, choose “System Settings”
  • in the window that appears, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon top left)
  • in the Apple ID info that appears, check that the iCloud-account that has purchased the eBook is showing
    if not : scroll down, click the “Sign Out” button, follow the instructions and after logging out, log in now using the correct iCloud-account

    now, open the Books.app on all your devices and check if the eBooks you’ve purchased in Books.app are now available on all devices

    If that did not work (or not entirely, because the eBook is showing on your iPhone and iPad, but it isn’t showing on your Mac), try this next solution :

    -3- Manually download the purchased eBook to your Mac
  • on your Mac, open the Books.app
  • in the Books window that opens, click on your own name (your personal avatar icon bottom left)
  • in the Account window that pops up, clcik on “Books”
  • in the page that opens, make sure that the “All” button is clicked, then click on “Recent Purchases”
  • in the “Recent Purchases” page that opens, find the eBook you are looking for and click on the “Cloud download”-icon next to the eBook’s cover picture
  • now the icon will start spinning and the eBook will appear in Books.app’s library

    That’s it !

    enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : share EPUB (with digital watermark) accross Books.app on iPhone, iPad and Mac

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Question :
I want to purchase an eBook that is not available in Apple Books. I have found it is available on the website of a bookstore in EPUB (with digital watermark) version. It seems like I should be able to download it after purchase and then read it in Books.app on my iPad or iPhone, but is it also possible to read it in the Books.app on my Mac ?

How do I do that ?


Answer :

Yes, you can buy an EPUB (with digital watermark) [ a.k.a. EPUB with social DRM ] and then read it on Apple’s Books.app on either iPhone, iPad or Mac. To do that, do this :

NOTE : if you buy an eBook on Amazon, it will only be available in the Kindle.app (that will automatically sync across your devices also), but getting a Kindle eBook into Apple’s Books.app is problematic… so if you prefer to read all your eBooks in Books.app, avoid buying eBooks on Amazon.

  • first, make sure that you are logged into your iCloud account on your iPhone, your iPad and your Mac (with the same iCloud account)
  • on your iPhone (or iPad) go to the online bookstore that sells the eBook in EPUB (with or without personal watermark or Social DRM)
  • purchase the eBook
  • when the download link appear, click on it
  • now the eBook will be downloaded to the Files.app on your iPhone (or iPad), which means it will be visible on the Desktop of your Mac also (which is automatically synced in iCloud)
  • now, on your iPhone (or iPad), click on the eBook in the Files.app and choose “open in Books”
  • now, the eBook will open in Books.app and is ready for reading
  • it will stay in the Library of your Books.app
  • if you have iCloud syncing switched on (most of us have) the eBook will now be available for reading in Books.app on your iPhone, your iPad and your Mac
  • if the eBook is not showing up on all devices, recheck in Settings.app if iCloud-syncing is switched on for Books.app
  • if you want to manually add the eBook to your iPhone or iPad, do this :
    • – open the Files.app and find the eBook
    • – click on the eBook and choose “Open in Books”
    • – then wait for the eBook to open in Books.app
    • if you want to manually add the eBook to your Mac, do this :
    • – on your Mac, find the eBook on your Desktop (or in the Desktop folder)
    • – Option-click (right-click) on the eBook icon
    • – from the pulldown menu that appears, choose Open With > Books
    • – now wait for the eBook to open in Books.app

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰