Mac OS X Tips has teamed up with Bartas Technologies to give away five free copies of their software, Transcriva. Check out the bottom of this post your chance to win one of them.

Transcriva is an application for making text transcriptions to go with audio or video. It works great with meeting minutes, interview, lectures, speeches or even movies and TV shows.

Transcriva's real power comes with the fact that the media player and transcription are combined into one single application, allowing you to transcribe much more efficiently and avoid the constant application switching that a simple word processor would require.

It works as follows. First you need to find a media clip to associate your transcription with. This can be a movie or audio file that is either located on the internet, on your Mac, or you can make a new recording right from within Transcriva.


Next, you add names and colours for the people who are speaking in the transcript. You can also add separate sections for annotations or comments. Each person has a keyboard shortcut like Command-[number] associated with them, which allows you to quickly specify who is speaking as you transcribe.

Finally, you just click play to start the media going, and begin typing as people speak to add the transcription. Pressing return will start a new entry, or alternatively pressing the keyboard shortcut associated with a person will create a new entry for that person.


If, like me, you are often not fast enough to keep up, you have two options. You can either slow down the audio or video with a simple slider, or you can play at normal speed but hit Command-Return whenever you miss something skip back a few seconds.

So why should you go for Transcriva instead of just using a simple text editor? In my opinion, you can't really match the speed and efficiency in a normal word processor, which is really an issue if you find yourself doing a fair amount of transcription. When using a word processor, whenever you want to go back or pause your media, you need go through the impractical process of switching over to the application that's playing it then switching back to continue transcribing.

Also, the fact that all the important controls have simple keyboard shortcuts means that you don't have to take your hands off the keyboard at all to use the mouse while you are transcribing.

Transcriva also has a great playback feature that scrolls through your transcription as your media plays. Also, unlike a simple text transcription, you can skip to a place in the text, then instantly start your media playing at this point instead of having to note down the timestamp then switch to your media and find the right point. It also supports exports to RTF, Microsoft Word and plain text formats.


One downside is that it probably takes a little while to really get the hang of the keyboard shortcuts and become a fast transcriber, but I guess this is probably something that is true of transcription in general, whatever application you are using.

Also, as far as I know, you are limited to QuickTime compatible media, meaning it is a little tricky to transcribe a lot of the flash based videos on the internet without downloading them first. However, with plugins like Perian and Flip4Mac QuickTime should be able to play just about anything.

Overall, Transcriva is a neat little application, and although it is a bit of a niche product it definitely fills a role that many people need. It clearly does what it's supposed to do well, and for what is normally seen as a pretty boring task, it almost makes things fun!

You can download a trial version for free, or purchase the full version for $29.99.

If you want to win a free copy of Transcriva, just answer the following question. The winners will be chosen at random from all the correct answers.

What is the name of the new device released by Apple last week?

a) iPud
b) iPad
c) iPal

Once you know the answer, head over to this page to enter.

John writes:

I was wondering if there was a way for the Mac to automatically clear the desktop and put all the items into the documents folder when shutting down. I'm setting up a computer which has a lot of users and clutter on the desktop is an issue. Thanks.

This is a great example of when AppleScript is really useful for automating simple tasks like moving files around. In fact, you can do it with a script that is only three lines long.

Start by opening up AppleScript Editor, located in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder. If you don't have Snow Leopard, the latest version of Mac OS X, this might be called Script Editor and instead is located in the AppleScript folder in the Applications folder. In the window that appears, paste the following three lines:

tell application "Finder"
	move items of (path to desktop folder) to folder (path to documents folder)
end tell

If you click Run, you should see all the items on your desktop move into your Documents folder. Choose Save As from the File menu, give the script a name like cleardesktop and change the File Format to Application. Save it somewhere safe where someone won't accidentally delete it. I have a folder inside my Documents folder called Scripts where I keep all my AppleScripts. Other people choose to store their scripts in the Scripts folder in the Library folder, because Apple has already put some ready made ones in there.

The next step is to make it run every time you shut down your Mac. This is pretty tricky to do, and involves using a lot of Terminal commands. Instead, a much easier way is to make the script run when you log in, which will essentially do the same thing. Just go to System Preferences, and click on the Accounts section. Choose your account from the list on the left, and then click on the Login Items tab. You can now either click the plus (+) button and locate your script, or just drag the script from a Finder window into the list.

Now, whenever you turn on your computer, all the clutter left over from the previous user will be automatically moved into the Documents folder.

The above script is just about as basic as you can get. Here’s an idea for a more complicated version. Instead of just dumping everything in your documents folder, it instead creates a folder in there with a name that includes todays date ( e.g. “Desktop 13/01/2010” ) and puts the items in this folder instead.

set foldername to ("Desktop " & short date string of (current date))
set docsfolder to (path to documents folder) as string

tell application "Finder"
	if not (exists folder (docsfolder & foldername)) then
		make new folder at docsfolder with properties {name:foldername}
	end if
	move items of (path to desktop folder) to folder (docsfolder & foldername)
end tell

Alternatively, the following script checks the file extension of all the files on the desktop, and sorts them into the Movies, Pictures, Applications and Documents folders depending on what they are. If you are feeling adventurous, you can modify the script to include your own folders and file extensions.

tell application "Finder"
	set desktopFolder to (path to desktop folder)
	set musicFolder to (path to music folder)
	set appsFolder to (path to applications folder)
	set picsFolder to (path to pictures folder)
	set moviesFolder to (path to movies folder)
	set docsfolder to (path to documents folder)
	
	set musicExt to {".mp3", ".aac"}
	set appsExt to {".dmg", ".sit", ".app"}
	set picsExt to {".jpg", ".gif", ".tif", ".png", ".psd"}
	set moviesExt to {".avi", ".mpg", ".mov", ".m4v"}
	set docsExt to {".pdf", ".txt", ".doc", ".xls", ".key", ".pages"}
	
	set allFiles to files of desktopFolder
	repeat with theFile in allFiles
		copy name of theFile as string to FileName
		
		repeat with ext in musicExt
			if FileName ends with ext then
				move theFile to musicFolder
			end if
		end repeat
		
		repeat with ext in appsExt
			if FileName ends with ext then
				move theFile to appsFolder
			end if
		end repeat
		
		repeat with ext in picsExt
			if FileName ends with ext then
				move theFile to picsFolder
			end if
		end repeat
		
		repeat with ext in docsExt
			if FileName ends with ext then
				move theFile to docsfolder
			end if
		end repeat
		
		repeat with ext in moviesExt
			if FileName ends with ext then
				move theFile to moviesFolder
			end if
		end repeat
	end repeat
end tell

1. Disable "Open safe files after downloading"
If you do one thing this article suggests, this should be it. Unticking just one checkbox will protect you from most of the few dangerous Mac exploits around on the internet.

In Safari, choose Preferences from the Safari menu and then click on the General tab. Near the bottom, un-check the checkbox that says "Open safe files after downloading". There. Done.

2. Disable automatic login
Even if you only have one user on your Mac, requiring a username and password when starting up is great for security, especially if you have a laptop that can more be easily lost or stolen. You can do this from the Security section of System Preferences, by checking the checkbox "Disable automatic login".

While this isn't going to stop someone intent on stealing your personal data, regular thieves are more likely to just wipe the hard drive rather than going through all your personal stuff first.


3. Lock screen when away
There are a couple of ways to make your Mac require a password when you leave it. The easiest way is to set "Require password after sleep or screen saver begins" in the Security section of System Preferences. Here, you can also set a time limit so a password isn't required right away, but only after 15 minutes for example.

If you would prefer a keyboard shortcut to lock the screen, you can create this yourself. Open up Automator (in the Applications folder) and choose a Service template. From the library choose "Run Shell Script" and drag it across to the workflow area. In the text box paste the following command:

'/System/Library/CoreServices/Menu Extras/User.menu/Contents/Resources/CGSession' -suspend

Finally, change the "text" drop-down menu above the workflow to "no input" and then save you workflow as "Lock Screen". To add the keyboard shortcut, go to the Keyboard section of System Preferences and click the Keyboard shortcuts tab. Select Services from the list on the left, then scroll down to the bottom of the list on the right to find "Lock Screen". Double-click on the area to the right "Lock Screen", then press the keyboard shortcut you want. I used Command-Control-L.



4. Use 1Password to create and store internet passwords
One of the problems with having lots of accounts on the internet is that for them to really be secure, they should all have a different password. For example, if you use the same password for your bank account, your email account and some shady disreputable website, you are asking for trouble.

My solution to this is to use an application called 1Password to create and remember all my passwords for me. The only three passwords that I remember myself are my email password, my bank password and a master password for 1Password. All the others - for Facebook, reddit, Amazon, etc - are randomly generated 20 character strings that are created and remembered for me by 1Password. When I go to one of those web sites, 1Password simply prompts me for my master password, then fills in the rest for me.

Some of this functionality can be replicated for free using Keychain Access, but the real benefit of 1Password is its automation, and the fact that it works in Safari, Firefox and on your iPhone so you don't have to save your passwords separately for each.

5. Turn on the firewall
Mac OS X comes with a built in firewall, but it is actually turned off by default. You can turn it on in the Security section of System Preferences. The Mac OS X firewall is really simple to set up - just click start to turn it on. Some applications will have trouble working through the firewall, instant messengers for example. If you find you start having connection problems with an application, just add it to the allowed list in the firewall preferences.

6. Little Snitch
While a Firewall protects your computer from unwanted connections from the outside, Little Snitch does the opposite and blocks your private data from being sent out. If you start an application and it tries to send some data out to a server on the Internet, Little Snitch will inform you and ask if you want to allow it. Read more over at the Little Snitch site.

7. Encrypt and hide your private files
It isn't entirely obvious how to password protect files or folders in Mac OS X but there are a couple of ways.

If you just want to protect a single iWork or PDF document, you can do this from within the specific iWork application or from within Preview. In Pages, Keynote and Numbers '09 you can choose "Require password to open" from the Document section of the Inspector window. In Preview, when choosing "Save As.." on a PDF there is a checkbox to encrypt.

If you want to password anything else, you have to password protect an entire folder. The way this is done is using encrypted disk images. Once created these appear as a single file on your hard drive with a dmg extension. When you double-click on one, it will ask you for the password. If you enter the password correctly, it will mount a disk image on your desktop. So while unlocked, the disk image is just like a temporary folder on your desktop. You can copy files to it and delete files from it, and as soon as you eject it, the contents will be password protected again. Here’s a detailed article about how to set up a disk image.

8. Use FileVault
Personally, I don't use this option, but for those who want to be ultra-secure it is an amazing feature. It is similar to creating an encrypted disk image for some files, but instead it does this for your entire user folder. It is much more straightforward and transparent than setting up an encrypted disk image too. Just turn it on the Security section of System Preferences, and all your files will be unencrypted and encrypted on the fly when you log in and out of your computer.

I would say this is probably overkill for most users. If you have an encrypted disk image for your most sensitive files, then it is a bit redundant to then encrypt your entire user folder. It also causes some problems concerning Time Machine backups, and also huge problems if you happen to forget the password…

9. Secure Empty Trash
More and more people now realise that when you delete something off your hard drive, it doesn't actually get physically removed from the disk. All references to it are gone, but it stays there until something else is written over it. For private documents this is a bad situation because someone with some special software can recover you supposedly deleted files.

To prevent this, you can use the "Secure Empty Trash…" option which is in the Finder menu. This takes longer than the normal trash emptying, because your computer is actually writing nonsense data over the top of your deleted files.

10. Securely erase an entire hard disk
If you have an old Mac you are thinking of selling or throwing away, it might be a good idea to securely erase all the data from it. To do this you need to start up from the installer CD that came with your Mac by inserting it and holding the C key while the computer starts up. In the installer, choose Disk Utility from the menu bar.

If the hard drive you want to erase is not your main hard drive, you can skip starting up from the install disk and just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.

In Disk Utility, choose the hard disk from the list on the left, click on the Erase tab, and then click on the Security Options button. Now you have four levels of security to choose from. Each higher level of security takes longer to erase, so the 35-pass erase will take upwards of 24 hours and is only for the truly paranoid.

Of course, if you are throwing away the Mac or even just the hard drive, nothing works better and is quite as satisfying than the physical destruction option. Just take the hard drive out of the Mac and completely destroy it with a hammer.

I've mentioned GeekTool a couple of times before, and it has recently been updated to version 3. The best thing about the update is how much simpler the interface is. Before the interface was a bit intimidating, but now it is much easier to use.

For those who don’t know, GeekTool is a preference pane that allows you to display different kinds of information on your desktop. These bits of information are called Geeklets, and they can be text, images, files, and the output of shell commands. Some of the most common things to use it for are displaying to do lists, today’s iCal events, the date, the current iTunes song and unread mail.

The latest version now allows you to save your Geeklets and share them with each other, so I’ve created a site just for that. It allows you to submit your Geeklets and vote on others to see which are most popular. If you are new to this, it also has a page for getting started with GeekTool.

Here are a few tips for using GeekTool.

1. Set stacking order
If you have overlapping Geeklets, you might find that the wrong one is on top. Just right-click on the Geeklet and change the order by choosing “Send to back” or one of the other options.

2. Don’t set refresh to zero
By default, GeekTool sets the refresh time to 0, which means it continuously refreshes as quick as it can. It is best to avoid this as it can take a considerable toll on your system, hogging resources and slowing things down. For things that really have to be updated very regularly, consider a refresh time of 5 or 10 seconds instead.

3. Group your Geeklets
By putting your Geeklets into separate groups, you can quickly and easily enable and disable them based on their grouping. Note that Geeklets can be in multiple groups - as long as one of the is enabled, the Geeklet will be shown.

4. Use the menubar item
GeekTool now has a menubar item that you can enable from the preference pane. From here you can enable and disable groups, force a refresh on all Geeklets, disable GeekTool, and access the preference pane.

5. Check out other people’s Geeklets
Check out the Geeklets other people have posted to get some inspiration for your desktop. Vote up your favourites, and share your creations too.

If you are looking to reduce the size of your Time Machine backup, it's quite easy to go through you backups and remove files.

Just enter Time Machine, locate the file you want to delete, right-click on it and choose "Delete All Backups..." But which files do you delete?


You want to get rid of large files, but not those that are important. The best way to do this is to use an application called GrandPerspective. Pierce Wetter has created a modified version of this application specifically for Time Machine backups.

It searches through your backups, and finds large files that have only been backed up once. These will be the files that either constantly change by small amounts or were only on your Mac for a very short time.

It then produces a nice "map" of your backup, so you can easily see which files are taking up the most space. Hold you mouse over one of large boxes, and make a note of the backup date and location, shown at the bottom. Then just enter Time Machine, go to the date, and remove the backup as usual.

If you find that a lot of the files you are removing are in the same location, you might want to exclude that folder from the Time Machine backup. To do this, just go to the Time Machine section of System Preferences, click the Options button and then drag the folder into the list.

Here's a tip I just read over at the brilliant Hawk Wings blog.

You can copy a person's email address in Mail by clicking on their name and choosing "Copy Address from the contextual menu. For some reason, Snow Leopard will copy the email address in angle brackets, instead of just the address. So when pasting you will get <matt@macosxtips.co.uk> instead of just matt@macosxtips.co.uk.

This might be useful for some people, but I really prefer the previous behaviour. To change the behaviour of Mail back to the old way without angle brackets, just use the following Terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool NO

To run it, open up Terminal located in Applications/Utilities. Paste in the line, then hit return. Quit Mail if it is open, and now when you next open it you won't get any angle brackets when copying addresses.

Every time Apple brings out a new version of OS X, we compile a list of our favourite Terminal commands for enabling hidden features and changing hidden settings (here are the lists for Tiger and Leopard).

For those who are new to Terminal Commands, here's a quick run down of how to use them. Don't worry, it's really easy. Start by opening up Terminal, located in the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. In the window that appears, paste in one of the lines provided below, and then hit return. For the changes to take effect, you need to restart the application concerned. For applications like the Dock or Finder, it is easiest to just type killall Dock or killall Finder into the Terminal to restart them. To reverse the changes, you just need to change the last word of the command and run it again. If the last word is YES, change it to NO, change 1 to 0, and change TRUE to FALSE and vice versa for all.


1. Folder previews in Quick Look

This is my favourite hidden feature in Snow Leopard. When enabled, using Quick Look (hit the space bar) on a folder will show you a preview of the folder's contents inside a translucent folder icon. The previews of the files inside the folder also cycle through so you can see all of them. Just use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.finder QLEnableXRayFolders 1

You will need to restart the Finder, either by typing killall Finder into the Terminal or by Control-Option-clicking on the Finder in the Dock and choosing Relaunch.

2. Globally enable Text Substitutions

You may have realised that the new text substitutions feature in Snow Leopard isn't enabled in all applications by default, most noticeably in Safari. To enable it , you need to right-click on a text box and choose Substitutions then Show Substitutions. To globally enable text substitutions, use the following three commands one at a time. The first one will enable substitutions, while the second will enable dash replacement and the third will enable spell checking.

defaults write -g WebAutomaticTextReplacementEnabled -bool true
defaults write -g WebAutomaticDashSubstitutionEnabled -bool true
defaults write -g WebContinuousSpellCheckingEnabled -bool true

If you decide there are some specific applications where you want to disable these again, you can do it in the normal way. As always you will need to restart each application for the changes to take effect.



3. Bring back AppleScript Studio palette

As of Snow Leopard, AppleScript Studio has be deprecated in favour of AppleScriptObjC. You can still work on AppleScript Studio projects, but you can't create new ones, and the AppleScript Studio palette in Interface Builder is gone. To bring it back, use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.InterfaceBuilder3 IBEnableAppleScriptStudioSupport -bool YES

4. Disable "focus follows mouse" in Terminal

In Leopard there was a Terminal command to make the Terminal's window focus change with mouse movement. If you had previously enabled this, you will find things don't work quite right in Snow Leopard when you use Command-Tab to switch between applications in different spaces. To fix this, you will need to disable the focus follows mouse behaviour using the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Terminal FocusFollowsMouse -string NO

5. Force Dictionary to only use one window

If you aren't a fan of using Command-Control-D to quickly look up definitions, you might use the "Look up in Dictionary" contextual menu item or Services menu item. In Snow Leopard, each word you look up using these methods opens in a new Dictionary window, which gets a bit annoying. To make each word you look up open in the same window, just use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.Dictionary ProhibitNewWindowForRequest -bool TRUE

6. Change the behaviour of the green zoom button in iTunes

With the release of iTunes 9, Apple messed around a bit with the behaviour of the green zoom button in iTunes. Things are back to normal as of iTunes 9.01, but briefly the green button maximised the window instead of switching to the mini-player. If you liked the temporary change, you can bring it back using the following command:

defaults write com.apple.iTunes zoom-to-window -bool YES

Of course, you can always get the alternative behaviour by holding the Option key and clicking in the green button.



7. Debug menu in Address Book

The debug menu has been available in Address Book for some time, but there are some new additions in Snow Leopard. If you don't already have it enabled, the command is:

defaults write com.apple.AddressBook ABShowDebugMenu -bool true

Restart Address Book, and then click Debug in the menu bar to see the new options. You can enable reflections under contacts pictures, get to the "People Picker Panel" and enable a debug panel called "Ye Olde Debug Settings".

8. Autoplay movies in QuickTime X

One of the weird things about the new version of QuickTime is that it has no Preferences. Luckily you can still change things using the Terminal. To make a movie automatically start playing when you open it, use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGPlayMovieOnOpen 1

9. Keep QuickTime in full screen when switching applications

If you are watching a movie in full screen in QuickTime and you use Command-Tab to switch to another application then the movie will automatically exit full screen. To make it stay full screen in the background, use the following command:

defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGFullScreenExitOnAppSwitch 0

10. Disable Rounded corners in QuickTime

If the slightly rounded corners of movies in QuickTime bug you, use the following command to disable them:

defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGCinematicWindowDebugForceNoRoundedCorners 1

11. Always or Never show titlebar and Controller in QuickTime

The following two commands either permanently enable or disable the titlebar and controller that pop up when you mouse over a movie in QuickTime:

defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGUIVisibilityNeverAutoshow 1
defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGUIVisibilityNeverAutohide 1

12. Automatically show closed captioning and subtitles on opening

This turns on subtitles and closed captioning automatically when you open a movie that supports them.

defaults write com.apple.QuickTimePlayerX MGEnableCCAndSubtitlesOnOpen 1

13. Make list view stacks work like grid view Stacks

This command slightly changes the behaviour in Stacks in list view. Once enabled, they act more like grid view Stacks, but with a single list of files and icons on the left. The main difference is when "drilling-down" through folders within the Stack.

defaults write com.apple.dock use-new-list-stack -bool YES

You will need to restart the Dock for changes to take effect. The easiest way is to use killall Dock in the Terminal.

14. Enable mouseover highlight in stacks

If you want items in grid view stacks to highlight when you move the mouse over them, use the following command. It's slightly different from the equivalent in Leopard. Also, note that you can get the highlight behaviour in Snow Leopard without using this command by using the arrow keys to select items in a stack, or by clicking and holding on a stack before dragging the mouse up onto the grid.

defaults write com.apple.dock mouse-over-hilite-stack -boolean yes

You will need to restart the Dock for changes to take effect. The easiest way is to use killall Dock in the Terminal.



15. Set a precise screensaver password delay

A useful new feature of Snow Leopard is the ability to set how long your Mac is asleep or how long the screen saver is on before it requires a password to wake up again. You can access this from the Security section of System Preferences. However, you have to choose a time period from a drop-down menu, and you can't enter your own custom time period. To do this, use the following command. The number at the end is the time in seconds. For example 1800 is 30 minutes, which bizarrely isn't an option in the drop-down menu.

defaults -currentHost write com.apple.screensaver askForPasswordDelay -int 1800

If you find you have a multi-page PDF with huge margins on every page, you can use Preview to crop those margins down.

With the PDF open in Preview, make sure that the sidebar is visible (in the View menu) and set it to display thumbnails using the button at the bottom.

Change to the select tool using the toolbar button, the Tools menu or by pressing Command-3. Drag a box around the region you want to keep, then click in the sidebar and press Command-A to select all pages.

If you have some pages that are a different orientation (i.e. landscape), you can hold Command and click on these pages to de-select them.

Finally, choose Crop from the Tools menu, or just press Command-K.

Just a quick welcome to our latest sponsor, TotalApps.net. It looks like they've got some really good detailed reviews of Mac and iPhone apps, as well as some great competitions. Be sure to check them out.

If you often find yourself changing file extensions, you might be tired of the annoying "Are you sure you want to change the extension..." dialog box. For example I often end up changing the extensions of text files from .txt to .html.

Luckily, you can disable this warning quite easily. Just go to the Finder Preferences (under the Finder menu in the top left) and click on the Advanced tab. In here, un-check the checkbox "Show warning before changing an extension".

Now whenever you change a file extension, you won't be presented with an "Are you sure" warning.