Category Archives: office software

fixed : “Scanner reported an error” when starting scanner

Posted on by
Reply

Question :

My Canon CanoScan 5600F is scanning great, even after all those years. The only problem I’m encountering with my new Mac is that I get a “Scanner reported an error” message when I try to start it from the shortlink (alias) I have in my Dock.

The exact error message is : “Scanner reported an error Cannot communicate with scanner for these reasons: – Scanner is turned off. – USB cable is disconnected. Please check and try again.” But the USB cable is connected properly and the scanner is turned on, so that can’t be the problem.

What can I do to fix this ?

Answer :

This problem was introduced some years ago, possibly somewhere within the shift from OSX to macOS. It seems to have to to with the start-up sequence of macOS’s build-in scanning software or the scanner going into some sleep mode. The solution is simple, even though it is more of a workaround than an actual fix. So if you run into this problem, do this :

  • turn the scanner off using the ON/OFF-switch on the outside of the scanner (the physical hardware button)
  • then, click the blue OK-button in the “Scanner reported an error” window
  • then, close the “Scanner” window by clicking the red dot button top-left
  • then, open the Scanner software again…
  • now, turn the scanner back on using the ON/OFF-switch on the outside of the scanner (the physical hardware button)
  • now the scanner should load the scan preview automatically (as if you had clicked the Overview-button)
  • just make sure the scan area hasn’t been reset, so…
    • …either uncheck “Use Custom Size” and make sure “size” is “A4” (or anything suitable)
    • …or manually line out the scan area in the preview

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : get rid of Virus Infection warnings in Calendar.app

Posted on by
Reply

Question :
For some reason, my Calendar.app is flooding with red warning messages like “Your iPhone is infected”, “Virus detected”, “Critical Warning”, “Your iPhone is in danger” etc.

Is this true ?
Where did this come from ?
How can I get rid of these ?

Answer :

It is not a virus infection. These are not real iOS Error Messages. These are Calendar Events. You have recently clicked on some unreliable internet link that has subscribed you to an external event calendar…

To get rid of these, do this :

  • on your iPhone, open the Calendar.app
  • in the window that opens you will see your current appointments, and in the bottom-bar three buttons : “Today”, “Calendars” and “Inbox”
  • click on the “Calendars” button (bottom center)
  • in the pull-up screen that appears, you will see all Calendar-feeds that you have active
  • scroll down to the “Subscribed” chapter
  • if you have just one entry there, click on the coloured circle in front of it to remove the white checkmark
  • if you have more than one entry in the “Subscribed” chapter, click on the coloured circle in front of the top/first one to remove the white checkmark
  • then, click “Done” (top-right) to see if the error messages are gone
  • if they are, proceed – if not, redo the above step until the error messages have gone from your calendar
  • when you see that the error messages have disappeared from the regular Calendar view, click on the “Calendars” button (bottom center) again
  • then, in the pull-up screen that appears, scroll down to the “Subscribed” chapter again and click on the Info-button (encircled i-letter) that is at the right side of the name of the Calendar that you have previously unchecked (to make the error messages disappear)
  • in the “Edit Calendar” page that opens, scroll down completely and click on “Delete Calendar” (in red – completely at the bottom)
  • now, the pesky calendar subscription will be gone

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : change mail flag color in Mail.app on iPhone / iPad

Posted on by
2

Question :

I really like the ‘flag message’ option in the macOS Mail.app to quickly flag messages I have read but want to keep around to act on later. The option to differentiate the flag color makes it even more useful for me.

Still… on my iPhone and iPad I can see the flag colors I have set on Mail.app in macOS, but I can’t seem to change the flag color… I can just flag a message, but it will automatically (auto-magically ?) set the color and I can’t seem to change it…

Isn’t there any way to change the mail flag color on iOS and/or iPadOS ?

 

Answer :

Yes, there is…

But… it might not be were you would expect it…

To quickly flag a message in iOS or iPadOS, do this :

  • when going through the list of mail messages in Mail.app, select the mail message you want to flag and slide it to the left
  • now, you will see 3 options : “More” (grey), “Flag”/”Unflag” (red) and “Archive” (purple)
  • click on “Flag” and the mail message will be flagged
  • …but the flag color cannot be chosen or changed this way

An alternative way to flag a message in iOS or iPadOS is this :

  • when going through the list of mail messages in Mail.app, click&hold the mail message you want to flag
  • now the mail message will open in a new window, with a menu list below it
  • click on “Mark…” from the menu list
  • in the next menu that opens, click on “Flag” and the message will be flagged
  • …but the flag color cannot be chosen or changed this way

But… the way to also be able to choose or change the flag color in iOS or iPadOS is this :

  • when going through the list of mail messages in Mail.app, select the mail message you want to flag and slide it to the left
  • now, you will see 3 options : “More” (grey), “Flag”/”Unflag” (red) and “Archive” (purple)
  • click on “More” ( do NOT click on “Flag” here ) and a pop-up menu will appear with full options
  • in the pop-up menu, click on “Flag” and you get the option to pick a flag color (or to unflag entirely)
  • note : when you choose or change a flag color, you will be returned to your inbox, but when you click “Flag” or “Unflag” here, you will stay in the pop-up menu and have to close it manually (by clicking the X-button top-right) to return to your inbox

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

 

fixed : quick slideshow of a folder of pictures

Posted on by
Reply

Question :
Someone sent me a bunch of photos that I need to review. I have them in a folder, but I don’t want to import them into Photos.app, Keynote or PowerPoint or even Preview.app to have a look at them and select the most important ones.

Is there any option or simple app to do this ?

 

Answer :

Yes there is, there is an option for this in macOS (and OSX) called Quick Look. In previous versions of OSX and Mac OSX the Quick Look option was visible in any Finder window as a ‘button with an eye icon on it’, in macOS it is slightly hidden in the pulldown menu that opens when you click the ‘button with a sprocket (gear) icon on it’.

There’s even a shortcut for this :

  • open a Finder window
  • open the folder with the photos in it
  • select the photos you want to review (hold the CMD-key while picking photos one-by-one, hold the SHIFT-key to select multiple photos in a row, or press the CMD + A key combo to select all photos)
  • then press the SPACEBAR to view all selected photos as a slideshow
  • or press the ALT + SPACE key combo to view all selected photos as a full screen slideshow
  • note : the file names are shown with each photo, so if you need to review and select photos you will know which photos you have chosen

That’s it.

enjoy 😉

 

 

fixed : “the file couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it“ error in Preview.app when trying to open a JPG-file

Posted on by
2

Question :

I am trying to open a JPG-picture in Preview.app, but I get this error : “the file couldn’t be opened because you don’t have permission to view it“

What can I do ?

 

Answer :

It isn’t clear why you get this error message, but the way to fix it is rather simple :

  • first, Quit the Preview.app if it is open :
    • press the [CMD]+[Q] key-combo on your keyboard
  • then reopen the Preview.app
  • then Force Quit the Preview.app :
    • press the [CMD]+[ALT]+[ESC] key-combo on your keyboard
    • when the new window opens, select Preview (the app) from the scroll-list
    • then click on the Force Quit button (bottom-right)
  • then reopen the Preview.app
  • now, the JPG files should open in Preview.app without a problem

That’s it !

enjoy 😉

fixed : how to duplicate a calendar event on iPhone (or iPad)

Posted on by
2

Question :

I am used to arranging my Calendar events mainly on my Mac, because I think I have more options there tan on my iPhone and iPad. But at this moment I do not have my Mac at hand and I want to duplicate (or copy-paste) a calendar event that is already in my Calendar to another date… but there doesn’t appear to be a simple button to do so…

Is there really no way to duplicate a calendar event on an iPhone/iPad ?

 

Answer :

Yes, there is an option built into iOS/iPadOS to do so, but it’s not as straight forward as you might like :

  • open the Calendar app
  • go to the calendar event you want to duplicate (or copy-paste)
  • click on it, so the Event Details page will open
  • then click on Edit (top-right), so the Edit Event page will open
  • then click on the tiltle of your event, so the red cursor line appears
  • then click-and-hold on the title of your event again, and when you release the pop-up options will appear in black, then choose Select All
  • the title of your event will now be entirely highlighted in red, and slightly different pop-up options will appear in black, this time choose Copy
  • then click Cancel (top-left)
  • then click on the date (in red) top-left
  • in Calendar-roll page, scroll to the date where you want to place the duplicate calendar event
  • then click + (the red plus-sign top-right), so a New Event page will open
  • click-and-hold on Title (in grey), and when you release the pop-up options will appear in black, then choose Paste
  • now, the event name will be pasted, and the Location-line will be pushed downward to make way for a Suggeted Event
  • click on the Suggested Event and all the additional settings of the original event will be filled out (put differently : you now have a duplicate of the original event)
  • now, adjust all details, like date, time, calendar, alerts, etc. to your liking
  • when ready, click Add (top-right in red)

That’s it… you now have a copy-pasted (and edited) the original event !

enjoy 😉

fixed : use old iPad as an extra screen for your Mac (or PC)

Posted on by
Reply

Question :

Since we are working from home a lot (and the children are home schooling), and we have several old iPads and iPhones lying around gathering dust, we were wondering if it would be possible to use them as second screens on our Macs and Windows PCs to make our work and homework easier by being able to do this (and more) :

  • manage our music playlist (iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify) on our old iPad/iPhone whilst running  MS Office on our Mac/PC without switching apps
  • use our old iPad/iPhone’s touchscreen to put a signature under a PDF-document whilst typing it on our Mac/PC
  • use our old iPad/iPhone as a drawing tablet for our Mac/PC
  • videochat or view an online presentation onour Mac/PC whilst making notes on our old iPad/iPhone using a full-size keyboard (and easily swapping the two around when needed)

We noticed Apple has introduced this great feature called Sidecar that enables you to use your iPad (or iPhone) as a second screen for your Mac. But when I looked at the Sidecar requirements on the Apple website, I found that our older iPads/iPhones aren’t supported.

Is there any way to use Sidecar (or something similar) on our old iPads/iPhones ?

 

Answer :

Yes, even though you cannot use Sidecar on any unsupported iPad, iPhone or Mac, there is an alternative that works just as great for any old iPad (or iPhone) and is not limited to a Mac, but does support Windows PCs also… and best of all : it’s FREE.

This is ideal for working from home and home schooling since you can do all this (and more) :

  • manage your music playlist (iTunes, Apple Music, Spotify) on your iPad whilst running  MS Office on your Mac/PC without switching apps
  • use your iPad/iPhone’s touchscreen to put a signature under a PDF-document whilst typing it on your Mac/PC
  • use your iPad/iPhone as a drawing tablet for your Mac/PC
  • videochat or view an online presentation on my Mac/PC whilst making notes on my iPad/iPhone using a full-size keyboard (and easily swapping the two around when needed)

This FREE alternative for Apple Sidecar is Splashtop Wired XDisplay. It enables you to use any iPad/iPhone running iOS 7 or newer as a second or third (touch)screen for any Mac running OSX 10.9 Mavericks (or PC running Windows 7) or newer.

This means that all these iPhone / iPad / Mac models are supported :

  • iPhone 4 or newer
  • iPad 2 or newer
  • any iPad mini
  • any iPad Air
  • any iPad Pro
  • any aluminum iMac (iMac “Mid 2007” or newer)
  • any iMac Pro
  • Mac mini “Early 2009” or newer
  • Mac Pro “Early 2008” or newer
  • white MacBook “Early 2009” or newer
  • any aluminum MacBook
  • MacBook Air “Late 2008” or newer (2nd gen MacBook Air or newer)
  • MacBook Pro “Mid 2007” or newer

To install, do this :

  • install the Splashtop Wired XDisplay app on you Mac/PC
    • you can download Splashtop Wired XDisplay for Mac or Windows here
  • install iTunes on your PC if you have done so yet
    • you can download iTunes for Windows here
    • on a Mac you don’t need additional software for your iPad/iPhone to be recognized
  • install Splashtop Wired XDisplay on your iPad/iPhone
    • you can download Splashtop Wired XDisplay for iPhone here
    • you can download Splashtop Wired XDisplay for iPad here
  • then, plug your iPad/iPhone’s USB-cable into your Mac/PC
  • then run the Splashtop Wired XDisplay app on your Mac/PC
  • then run the Splashtop Wired XDisplay app on your iPad/iPhone
  • then goto the Settings on your Mac/PC, find the Screen Settings and arrange your screens the way you like
    • you can choose “Mirror Screen” to see exactly the same on your MAc/PC and your iPad/iPhone
    • you can choose “Extend Screen” to arrange the iPad/iPhone as an add-on for your desktop
    • if you already have a second screen attached to your Mac/PC, you can use your iPad/iPhone as an additional third screen also

That’s it !

enjoy 😉