Macintosh Basics

Finder

Finder manages the disk and directory windows. In addition, Finder has its own menu bar which is used to perform some standard operations.

Desktop

The background screen. All the windows and icons are on the Desktop.

Apple Key

The key on either side of the space bar. This key also has a picture resembling a four leaf clover on it, and is also known as the Command Key.

Clipboard

Where text or graphics that have been cut or copied are kept for pasting. Note the clipboard only keeps one selection at a time. When a new item is placed in the clipboard, the old one is lost.

Cut & Paste

Operations where you select text or graphics and move it between applications. This uses the Clipboard as an intermediate storage location. Cut moves the selection to the Clipboard, removing it from the original application, while Copy copies it to the Cl

Double clicking

Pressing the mouse button twice rapidly will double click on the pointer location. This will generally "open" whatever is pointed at, if that action is appropriate. If you double-click a file, the Mac will attempt to run (also known as launching) the crea

Dragging

Clicking on something, holding the button down, and moving to a new location and releasing the button. This normally "drags" the item along with the mouse pointer.

Launch

Launch is often used as a synonym for running a program. (Launching an application)

Icon

A picture representing a disk, directory, file or application.

Menu Bar

A bar across the top of the screen that provides options for the current application. To use the menu bar, click on an item and hold the button down. A list of choices (called a "menu") drops down. To select one, move the pointer to it and release the but

Scroll Bar

A bar along the right and/or bottom edge of a window. A window gets its name by being a "window" into a larger display area. The scroll bar has a button inside it called the handle which represents the window's position within this display area . You can

Selection Box

Starting a drag without selecting an item often creates a "selection box". When this happens instead of dragging an outline of an item, you get an animated box. When the button is released, anything inside this box is selected. This is sometimes called "r

Trash

Where you put files to delete them. This isn't always irreversible, the Trash may be opened like any other icon. Any items still in the Trash may be moved to another location, thus undeleting them. To delete a file, drag its icon into the Trash, and selec

Window

A rectangular area of the screen where information is displayed. Windows may be a particular application, such as a document in a word processor, or a file list.