Tag Archives: Windows

fixed : photo delete-button greyed out on iPad

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Question :

On my iPad, I want to free up some memory space by deleting some old photos, but when I go into the Photos-app, and select the photos I want to delete, the Delete-button is greyed out. At first I thought it might have something to do with restrictions I had set on my iPad, but I couldn’t find any restriction option regarding the deleting of of photos.

When I investigated a little further, it turns out that the Delete-button is available for my newest photos, but not for the older photos… that’s where things get confusing…

How can I make the Delete-option available for all photos ?

 

Answer :

The exact cause of your problem is not known, but the solution turns out to have something to do with photos that are supposed to be kept in-sync with your Mac (or PC).

The solution is the following :

– connect your iPad (or iPhone) to your Mac (or Windows-PC) using the USB-cable

[note : the computer you connect to should be the one that you have set as the primary computer to connect to when you originally set up your iPad/iPhone from iTunes on MacOSX or Windows]

– on your Mac or PC, open iTunes and go to the iPad/iPhone’s settings and click on the “Photos” tab

– if you’re on a Mac, make sure that there is NO checkmark at “sync to folder” or “sync to iPhoto”

– if you’re on a Windows-PC, make sure there is NO checkmark at “sync to folder”

– wait for the iTunes syncing proces to finish, then disconnect your iPad/iPhone

– when you open the Photos-app on your iPad/iPhone now, you will see that all photos now have the Delete-button available

That’s it !

Good Luck !

Enjoy !

😉

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fixed : hashtags making text unreadable in Excel

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Question :

Somebody sent me an Excel spreadsheet in which some of the data is unreadable since it has been replaced by text consisting of hashtag signs only…

I’ve seen this happening before, and the remedy used to be just to broaden the column, since all number that are too large to fit their cell width are automatically made unreadable…

However, in this case, if I broaden the column width, some of the hashtag text will turned into readable numbers, but other hashtag text will remain, no matter how wide I make the column…

What is wrong ?

And how can I fix this ?

 

Answer :

This seems to be a problem with Excel for Windows files that are opened in Excel for Mac (possibly more specifically with data copied or converted from another application into Excel on a Windows-PC). So PC-users will not be warned on forehand that their Excel output is not suited for use on Macs…

Fixing it turns out to be rather simple (but annoying) :

• open the file in Excel for Mac

• select the cells that are effected (or preferably even the entire column), then go to “Format” in the top menu bar

• from the dropdown-menu that appears, select “Cells…” and a window entitled “Format Cells” will open

• make sure the “Number”-tab is selected and make sure that you select “Number” or “General” from the list (make sure that it is something else than what was previously selected ; anything seems to be okay, as long as it is not “Accounting”)

• no return to your spreadsheet to check if the hashtag texts have disappeared (if not : try again)

That’s it !

Enjoy !

😉

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fixed : transfer game progress in iOS (without Game Center)

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Question :

I want to transfer the game progress from our iPhone to our iPad, but since it’s our children’s iPad I don’t want to activate Game Center (and some games don’t even support Game Center).

I can’t find a way to do so in iTunes, since iTunes doesn’t seem to back-up game progress…

…is there any way to do this without jailbreaking my iOS-devices ?

Answer :

Yes !

Even though Apple’s Game Center app (and service) is a probably the easiest way to sync your game progress (and in-app purchases) among your iPhones and iPad, there may be various reasons why Game Center is no option for you (e.g. since not all iOS-games have Game Center-support).

The second-easiest way to transfer your game progress from one iPhone/iPad to another is via your Mac (or PC), using either iExplorer or DiskAid. Using either of both works nearly the same, and both can be used in FREE-mode, so here’s an explanation for using DiskAid only :

1- download and install DiskAid from this link (or iExplorer from this link)

2- make sure that every game that you want to transfer game progress file for is installed on both iDevices

3- startup DiskAid on your Mac (or PC) and connect both your iPhone and your iPad (or other iDevices) to your Mac (or PC) using the USB-cable

4- in DiskAid, select the iDevice you want the game progress you want to copy from (from the list on the left), click “Storage”, then “Apps”, then the app you want to copy the game progress from [note : even though all apps are listed alphabetically, the naming might be slightly different from the regular name, so you might not immediately find what you’re looking for where you would expect it…)

5- when the app’s folder opens, select all files displayed, then click the “Copy to Mac” button in the menu bar

6- in the pulldown screen that opens, click the “New Folder”-button to create a folder (for instance on your Desktop) where you want the game progress files to be ‘back-upped’, and call the folder something like “iOS game progress files”, then inside that folder, create another new folder (by clicking “New Folder” again) and give it the app’s name

7- repeat this process until you have folders with game progress back-ups for all games you need

8- then select the iDevice you want to copy the game progress files to (from the list on the left), click on “Apps”, then on the app you want to transfer the game progress files to, and then click the “Copy to Device”-button from the menu bar

9- in the pull-down window that opens, browse to the location where you have the game progress files on your Mac and select all of them, then click “Select”

10- then, check if the game progress files a now visible on your iPhone/iPad from DiskAid ; if not, right-click (or CTRL-click) on the app’s folder in DiskAid and select “Refresh” from the pulldown-menu (you might even have to do this a few times before they will appear)

…that’s it !

enjoy !

note : personally, I like the concept of the ‘both iDevices side-by-side’-layout, and the fact that the transfer is not going through a folder on your Mac, that can be found in the specialised AppTrans (and AnyTrans) app, but I think their pricing is extreme, even with their ‘regular’ discount of about 60%… and I found that they don’t include sales-taxes in their advertised price, so they will charge you about 20% above their price-quote (which I do not regard very transparent, nor consumer-friendly)

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info : I can’t get write-permission to external harddisk from Windows-user

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Question :

A Windows-user asked me to put some file on his external harddisk, but when I try to do so, I get a message that I only have ‘read-only’ permissions to the harddisk.

How can I copy the files over ?

Answer :

If you get this problem, it usually caused by the fact that MacOSX does not support NTFS-formatted disks ‘out of the box’. [ NTFS = Windows NT File System ; a format that, mainly for server, has replaced the old DOS-originating formats FAT16 and FAT32, which are fully supported by MacOSX, but are less suited for use on large volume harddisks ]

There are 2 main solutions to this :

– 1 –

If you are going to frequently swap this external harddisk between your Mac and a Windows-PC, you’ll be best off reformatting it to FAT32 :

– connect the external harddisk to your Mac

– copy the entire contents over to your Mac (or to another external harddisk or to a diskimage on your Mac)

– check and make sure you have copied everything over

– then reformat the external harddisk to DOS-format (= FAT32) using OSX’s Disk Utility app

– when finished, copy all content that originally was on the external harddisk back on to it

– that’s it !

– 2 –

If it’s only a one-off for you to use this NTFS-formatted harddrive, you’re probably better off installing a special NTFS-driver/utility for OSX.

– download Tuxera NTFS (to use in demo-mode) :

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/33122/tuxera-ntfs

– install Tuxera NTFS, and open it (NOTE : it’s not a regular application, so it can’t be found in your Applications folder, but it’s a Control Panel in the System Preferences)

– now the external NTFS-disk should appear on your Mac in read&write-mode, and you can start copying files onto it

If you run into problems using Tuxera NTFS, read the FAQ :

http://www.tuxera.com/products/tuxera-ntfs-for-mac/faq/#startup-disk

And if you do exceed the 15 day free Demo-mode of Tuxera NTFS and are not willing to upgrade to the full payed version, you can start using the FREE open source program that is at the origin of Tuxera NTFS ; it’s called  NTFS-3G and can be downloaded here :

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/24481/ntfs-3g

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info : iCloud Photo Stream on OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard

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Question :

I have set up iCloud Photostream on my iPhone and/or iPad to automatically upload my pictures to iCloud, but my Mac is a Core Duo Intel-Mac, which can only run MacOSX 10.6 Snow Leopard…

…is there any way to get my photos ‘Photostream-like’ onto my Snow Leopard Mac automatically ?

Answer :

The requirement for iCloud Photostream-compatibility on a Mac is iPhoto 9.2.3 (from iLife ’11). But even though it is possible to install iPhoto 9.2.3 on a Mac running OSX 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, iPhoto will only show the Photostream option if you are on a Mac running 10.7 Lion or 10.8 Mountain Lion.

At this moment your options are :

1- use the workaround using the Eye-Fi app, as previously outlined here :

https://macmanus.nl/2012/07/28/fixed-icloud-photostream-from-business-iphone-to-family-mac/

2- use the rather costly and time-consuming setup of iCloud Control Panel for Windows on a virtual Windows-installation on your Mac [ see below for details ]

3- turn the iCloud control Panel for Windows into a OSX-app by putting it inside a (Windows Vista-compatible) Wine-wrapper [ this is a programmer-only option, which needs some (a lot of ?) debugging ; I’ve done various attempts myself, but haven’t got it working yet… help is welcome ]

4- use Dropbox (or alike) to bypass Photo Stream completely

…and a few less satisfying options :

5- wait for Apple to upgrade iPhoto and MacOSX 10.6 with support for Photo Stream [ if ever… the long awaited – but not yet (if ever) – released MacOSX 10.6.9 is/was said to bring Photostream-compatibility to Snow Leopard… but chances on that are fading day-by-day…]

6- upgrade to a new Mac [ sounds like “you’re busted” right ? ]

—- UPDATE —–

some new options have emerged :

7- get iPhoto for iOS and create a Journal that you publish online (on an iCloud webpage), from there you can export to iTunes ; more info on this can be found here :

http://help.apple.com/iphoto/ipad/1.0/#blnkaf3ef70a

8- in the iOS Photos app, create a secondary Photo Stream (a.k.a. “Shared Photo Stream”) that you publish online (on an iCloud webpage), from there you can import them on your Mac ;  more info on this can be found here :

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4379

 

——————————————————————————–

INFO ON SETTING UP THE iCloud Control Panel for Windows ON A MAC :

Apple has released an iCloud Control Panel 2.0 for Windows Vista and Windows 7 (iCloud Control Panel 1.0 was for Windows XP also).

And since MacOSX 10.6 Snow Leopard can run OSX and Windows side-by-side, using virtualization, it is possible to set Photostream up on a Snow Leopard Mac…

Like this :

– install virtualization software (on OSX)

– install Windows (on a virtual machine in the vritualization software)

– register Windows (else you won’t be able to run it in the long run)

– install iCloud Control Panel for Windows (on Windows)

– setup iCloud Control Panel to download iCloud’s Photostream to a shared Mac&Windows-folder (on Windows)

– setup iPhoto (on MacOSX) to auto-import photos from the shared Mac&Windows-folder

…but it is both time-consuming and expensive, since you will need :

– at least 10GB of free harddisk space (on top of the 25% or more free hard disk space needed for MacOSX to run properly)

– virtualization software like Parallels, VM Ware Fusion (both rather expensive if you’ll only use it for iCloud Photostream) or Sun/Oracle’s FREE VirtualBox for OSX :

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

– Windows Vista or Windows 7 with an official registration ;  which is NOT free, but you might have it lying around from an old unused PC…

(if you only have an official Windows XP lying around, you can either try to use the older WinXP-compatible version of iCloud Control Panel for Windows)

…or you can try upgrading to Windows 8, which is ‘relatively cheap’ until (‘only’ $40 or €30, but you will need a genuine Windows XP, Vista of & license…)

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_Hero_Home_FPP_Null

http://windows.microsoft.com/nl-NL/windows/buy?ocid=GA8_O_WOL_Hero_Home_FPP_Null

WARNING : iCloud Control Panel 2.0 for Windows is officially not supporting Windows 8 yet… (but it’s expected to run anyway…)

– and last but not least : iCloud Control Panel for Windows version 2 :

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1455

…or if you’re looking for the iCloud Control Panel that also runs on Windows XP :

http://icloud-control-panel.nl.softonic.com/download

…or you can try to make the latest iCloud Control Panel XP-compatible by :

– unRAR the iCloudSetup.exe using any un-archiver like RAR, UnArchiver or

– open iCloud.msi in Textedit (on OSX)

– search very occurrence of “Version>=600” and change it to “Version>=200”

– save and make sure the file-extention is back to .msi (adjust it in the finder if needed)

– run the iCloud.msi in Windows XP

So… as mentioned before : it is possible to ‘tap’ (kind of) your iCloud Photostream to your OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard Mac… but… it’s costly and time-consuming to set it up…

NOTE :

as mentioned before : I’ve tried to make an ‘OSX-app’ by putting the iCloud Control Panel for Windows in a stand-alone Wine-wrapper, but despite various attempts I haven’t got that one working yet… (any help on this is welcome)

fixed : export contacts database from AddressBook to Excel

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Question [1] : I’m new to Mac, I just switched to my first Mac, before I only used Windows PCs. How can I import my contacts from my Windows PC into my new Mac running OSX ?

Question [2] : I’m a Mac user myself, but I need to share my contacts database from Apple AddressBook with WindowsPC-users I’m working with. Since there is no Apple AddressBook for Windows, this seems impossible. What can I do ?

Answer to both [1] and [2] : It’s possible, and it isn’t that complicated either.

There are (free) MacOSX-applications that can do this for you.

! BEWARE ! there are 2 applications around that are extremely similar (and therefore easily confused) both in name and features :

Address Book Exporter 2.1.2 (from 2003 ; with a space in the name)

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9312/address-book-exporter

AddressBook Exporter 1.0 (from 2005 ; without a space in the name)

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/17501/addressbook-exporter

The first one (from 2003 ; with a space in the name) is the best one. That’s the one that still works properly with Apple AddressBook from MacOSX 10.6 “Snow Leopard”.

How to install :

  • download the application (from 2003 ; with the space in the name)

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/9312/address-book-exporter

  • drag the application-icon to your Applications folder

How to use it :

  • startup the application “Address Book Exporter 2.1.2”
  • from the “Groups” list, choose “All” to start converting your entire AddressBook, or choose only the selection that you want to export
  • if you would like to convert / export a selection that is not listed, go back into your AddressBook and create a (temporary) group from your selection
  • now, in “Address Book Exporter 2.1.2” check the checkbox of “Export using current field settings”
  • click the “Configure Settings” button
  • in the pull-down menu that appears, check the checkboxes of everything that you would like to export, and click “OK”
  • click the “Export Address Book” button
  • if you like, you can change the name of the exported file
  • then choose a destination on your Mac where you will be able to easily find the exported file (e.g. “Desktop”) and click “Save”
  • quit “Address Book Exporter”
  • open “MS Excel”
  • drag the icon of the exported file (from the Desktop) onto the MS Excel icon in the Dock, to have it opened in Excel
  • and… here you are : all your contacts are in Excel now
  • from there you can “Save As” to have a .xls-file that you can share with WindowsPC-users

fixed : import contacts database from Excel into AddressBook

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A common question of Windows-to-Mac-switchers is “How can I import my contacts from Excel into my Mac ?”.

Here’s the way to import a contacts database from Excel (Mac or Windows) into Apple AddressBook :

  1. open the contacts database in Excel (on Mac or Windows)
  2. save the contacts database under a new name (e.g. “addresses-export.xls”), to make sure you will have a emergency-backup
  3. rearrange the data in the (copy of the) contacts database in such a way that the upper row will only contain column headers, and every next line will only contain the data of one contact (with all data in the correct column)
  4. for street addresses you will need 4 (or 5) separate columns : “street name (including home number)”, “postal code”, “town”(, “province”) and “country” ; if you want to include both a home and a work address, you should make that 2x 4 = 8 columns
  5. make sure to use separate columns to match the different data groups you have, so make separate columns for “home phone”, “work phone”, “mobile phone”, “home fax”, “work fax”, etc.
  6. if you have completely rearranged the data to suit this layout, go to “Save As”
  7. choose the option “Format : Comma Separated Values (.csv)”, choose an easily accessible location to save the file (e.g. on your Desktop) and click “Save”
  8. quit Excel
  9. open Apple AddressBook
  10. click on the ‘button with the plus sign’ in the lower left corner to create a new group and choose a proper group name for the addresses you are about to import (e.g. “Excel import January 1st”)
  11. then, in the upper menu bar under “File”, choose “import”
  12. select “”addresses-export.csv” (or whatever you’ve clued your database file) from the Desktop (or other location where you’ve saved it) and click “Open”
  13. you will now get a “Text File Import” window, in which you have to indicate what the  right name of each ‘column’ should become in Apple AddressBook
  14. for addresses you will have do this in a way that might not be obvious : first select “Address (home)” or “Address (work)” next to the “Address”-heading from your Excel-file, after that an the list will automatically extend to include “PostalCode”, “City” and “Country” (note that this will leave an extra “PostalCode” and “City” just below, that you have to change to the “Do not import” label.
  15. If you’re done setting this up, double-check it again (if you don’t set this up properly and faultless, the outcome will not be acceptable, and you will have to redo the complete import-procedure)
  16. make sure that the little checkbox is checked next to “Ignore first card” and click “OK”
  17. if you will now look in the “Last Import” group (the green group) you will see all imported data
  18. now, just to be sure : double-check some data to make sure everything has been imported the way you want it
  19. then select only one contact from the “Last Import” group and press the CMD+A (“Select All”) to select all contacts and then drag the entire selection onto the group that you’ve previously created, named “Excel import January 1st” or what you’ve called it
  20. Note : the “Last Import” group is only a temporary group, so to make sure you will be able to easily find your Excel-imported contacts as a group in the future, the group “Excel import January 1st” has been created ; if you decide at any time that there’s no need anymore to be able to access these Excel-imported contacts as a separate group, you can easily delete the group name “Excel import January 1st”, without deleting the contacts themselves from AddressBook

…after following this step-by-step instruction, you will have all your Excel-contacts in AddressBook also !