Tutorials

How to Enable a Finder Extension on macOS Ventura

April 28, 2023 by

In this tutorial, we will explain what Finder extensions are and how to enable a Finder extension on macOS Ventura.

What is a Finder Extension?

A Finder extension is a type of macOS plugin that adds functionality to the Finder app. These extensions can be created by developers to add new features to the Finder, such as the ability to perform custom actions on the files and folders you are viewing in Finder. Once enabled, Finder extensions can appear in the context menu when you right-click on a file or folder. A Finder extension can also add a custom button to Finder’s toolbar.

Image showing user interface elements added to the Finder via a Finder extension.

How to Enable a Finder Extension on macOS Ventura

Step 1: Open the System Settings app

The first step is to open the System Settings app. You can do this by clicking on the System Settings icon in the Dock or from Launchpad. You can also open the System Settings app by clicking on the Apple menu at the top left corner of your screen and select “System Settings” from the dropdown menu.

Screenshot showing how to open the System Settings app from the menu bar on macOS Ventura.

Step 2: Click on “Privacy”

In the System Settings window, click on the “Privacy & Security” option in the sidebar. Scroll all the way down in the main pane and choose “Extensions” as highlighted in the screenshot below:

The "Privacy & Security" section of the System Settings app on macOS Ventura.

Step 3: Enable the Finder Extension in the “Added extensions” List

Click on “Added extensions” to view the app extensions list. You will see a list of all available extensions provided by your installed apps here. It’s worth noting that other types of extensions are displayed in this list as well. To enable a Finder extension specifically, simply click on the “Finder extensions” checkbox that appears below the app name.

The "Added extensions" list in System Settings is where you enable Finder extensions on macOS Ventura

Step 4: Use the Extension

Once you have enabled the extension, open the Finder app and you can begin using the extension. It’s worth noting that some extensions may require additional permissions to work properly. If this is the case for your Finder extension, ask the the app developer what additional steps are required to get the Finder extension working.

Final Thoughts

Finder extensions are a powerful tool that can add a lot of functionality to the Finder app on macOS Ventura. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you can easily enable and use a Finder extension to streamline your workflow and make working with files and folders on your Mac even easier.

Want to use Finder extensions on your Mac now? Check out these great apps:

File Cabinet Pro provides a Finder extension that allows you to create various text documents right in a Finder window.
Desktop Ghost Pro provides a Finder extension that allows you to show and hide all the icons on your Desktop from the Finder when you are viewing the desktop directory.
Open Directory in Terminal allows you to open the selected directories in Finder in a new Terminal window or tab.

How to Locate App Crash Reports on iOS 16

April 26, 2023April 26, 2023 by

Apps can crash for a variety of reasons, including issues with the app itself, conflicts with other apps or software on the device, or problems with the operating system. When an app crashes on iOS, a crash report is usually generated. A crash report is a file that contains information that can often help app developers identify and fix the underlying issue. In this tutorial, we’ll go over how to locate app crash reports on iOS 16.

Steps to Locate App Crash Reports on iOS 16:

Open the “Settings” app on your iOS 16 device and tap on “Privacy & Security” in the list.

Screenshot of the Settings app on iOS 16 with the "Privacy & Security" item selected.

Select “Analytics & Improvements” as demonstrated in the screenshot below:

Screenshot of the "Privacy & Security" section of the iOS 16 Settings app with "Analytics & Improvements" selected in the list.

Scroll down to the “Analytics Data” section and select it in the list.

Screenshot of the Settings app on iOS 16 in the "Analytics & Improvements" section with the "Analytics Data" item selected in the list.

Here in the “Analytics Data” section is where you can locate app crash reports on iOS 16. It’s worth noting that not all the files shown in the list represent crash reports (other diagnostic information is captured in files shown in the list). Look for any entries that include the name of the app that recently has crashed. You can filter the entries by typing the name of the app that crashed in the search bar to find a crash report.

Analytics data section in the Settings app on iOS 16.

Tap on a report to view more details.

You can save the report to a file, send it in a e-mail or text message from the Share Sheet by clicking the “Share” button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

Final Thoughts

By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you should be able to easily locate crash reports on iOS 16. While these reports can be technical, they provide valuable information that can help you and app developers identify and fix issues that may be causing crashes. If you’re having trouble with a specific app, consider sharing the crash report with the app developer to help them improve their app and provide a better user experience for everyone.

How to Convert Decimal to Hexadecimal

April 19, 2023 by

Decimal and hexadecimal are two number systems that are widely used in the fields of computer science and mathematics. Decimal is a base-10 number system that uses the digits 0-9, while hexadecimal is a base-16 number system that uses the digits 0-9 and the letters A-F. In this tutorial, we will show you how to convert decimal to hexadecimal.

Step 1: Divide the Decimal Number by 16

The first step in converting a decimal number to a hexadecimal number is to divide the decimal number by 16. Write down the quotient and remainder of the division.

For example, let’s convert the decimal number 4096 to hexadecimal.

4096 ÷ 16 = 256
Quotient = 256
Remainder = 0

Step 2: Convert the Remainder to Hexadecimal

The next step is to convert the remainder from the previous step to hexadecimal. To do this, you can use the following conversion chart:

Decimal	Hexadecimal
0	0
1	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10	A
11	B
12	C
13	D
14	E
15	F

In our example, the remainder is 0, so the hexadecimal equivalent is also 0.

Step 3: Repeat the Process Until the Quotient is 0

The next step is to repeat the previous two steps until the quotient is 0. In our example, we have:

256 ÷ 16 = 16
Quotient = 16
Remainder = 0

16 ÷ 16 = 1
Quotient = 1
Remainder = 0

1 ÷ 16 = 0
Quotient = 0
Remainder = 1

Step 4: Write the Hexadecimal Equivalent

Once the quotient is 0, you can write down the hexadecimal equivalent by writing the remainders from the last step in reverse order. In our example, the remainders are 0, 0, 0, and 1, so the hexadecimal equivalent of 4096 is 1000.

Therefore, the decimal number 4096 is equivalent to the hexadecimal number 1000.

Final Thoughts

Converting decimal to hexadecimal may seem complicated at first, but it’s actually quite simple once you understand the process. Just remember to divide the decimal number by 16, convert the remainder to hexadecimal, and repeat the process until the quotient is 0. By following these steps, you can easily convert decimal to hexadecimal for any number.

Want to convert Decimal to Hexadecimal Even Faster?

Hex Converter is an application for macOS that can instantly convert decimal numbers to hexadecimal (and vice versa); get Hex Converter on the Mac App Store at a very low price here!

How to Redeem a Promo Code on the Mac App Store on macOS Ventura

April 18, 2023 by

Redeeming promo codes on the Mac App Store is a simple process that allows you to download and use apps for free. In this tutorial, we’ll guide you through the steps to redeem a promo code on the Mac App Store on macOS Ventura.

Step 1: Launch the Mac App Store

The first step is to launch the Mac App Store on your Mac. You can do this by clicking on the App Store icon in the Dock or by searching for it using Spotlight.

Step 2: Sign in to your account

Before you can redeem a promo code, you need to sign in to your Apple ID on the Mac App Store. Click on the ‘Sign In’ button located at the bottom of the sidebar on the left-hand side of the screen. Enter your Apple ID and password and click ‘Sign In.’

Step 3: Access the Redeem Page

Once you’ve signed in, click on your name in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. A dropdown menu will appear, and you should select ‘Redeem’ from the options listed.

Step 4: Enter the Promo Code

On the Redeem page, enter the promo code you received in the text field provided. Make sure to enter the code exactly as it was given to you. Promo codes are usually case sensitive, so be sure to enter uppercase and lowercase letters correctly.

Step 5: Confirm your Redeem

Click on the ‘Redeem’ button to confirm your code. If the code is valid, the app or item associated with the code will start to download. If the code is not valid or has already been used, you’ll receive an error message.

Step 6: Download and Install the App on your Other Macs

Once the code has been redeemed, you can download and install the app from the Mac App Store on any Mac signed in with the same Apple ID you used when you initially redeemed the code. You can do this by clicking on your name in the bottom left-hand corner of the Mac App Store screen again. The app will now appear in the “Purchased section” of your account and you can download it at no charge.

That’s it! You’ve successfully redeemed a promo code on the Mac App Store on macOS Ventura. Promo codes can be a great way to try out new apps for free, if the App developer is nice enough to give you one.

Easily Bind an NSProgress Object to an NSProgressIndicator in Objective-C [Open Source]

February 12, 2020 by

In UIKit UIProgressView has an observedProgress property. If you set the observedProgress property on a UIProgressView, it will automatically update its appearance when you make changes to the NSProgress object. On macOS (in AppKit at least) NSProgressIndicator does not have an equivalent API. I created a simple category on NSProgressIndicator that adds an observedProgress property on NSProgressIndicator. The source code is available on Github here.

Adding Force Touch Features to macOS Apps with a Custom Gesture Recognizer [Open Source]

January 23, 2020September 10, 2018 by

I created a simple subclass of NSGestureRecognizer, ATForceTouchGesture, to simplify the process of adding Force Touch features to macOS apps. You can use this gesture recognizer to add a feature like force clicking to start editing a label (see the screenshot below).

There is a sample project available on Github here.

Exporting NSTableView to HTML [Open Source]

January 8, 2017 by

I needed to export the contents of a NSTableView to HTML, so I wrote a little NSTableView subclass in Objective-C to do this.

ATHyperTextTableView is a simple NSTableView subclass that makes exporting a table view to HTML easy. You can customize the look of the exported HTML table with your own CSS too.

Screenshots Below:

Screenshot of exported HTML from a the tableView, loaded into a WebView. — Screenshot of the exported HTML loaded into a WebView.

Screenshot of exported HTML from a the tableView, loaded into a WebView with custom CSS set. — Screenshot of the exported HTML loaded into a WebView, styled with custom CSS.

There is a sample project available on Github here.

Mac Tutorial: How To Enable an App Extension

July 8, 2016July 8, 2016 by

Starting with OS X 10.10 (Yosemite), Mac applications can include embedded app extensions. App extensions add custom functionality to your Mac. How you can use an app extension depends on what kind of extension it is.

At the time of this writing, there are four different kinds of app extensions available on the Mac:

–Action: Action extensions can manipulate content in another supporting app. Action extensions often work in text editing applications like Text Edit.

–Finder: Finder extensions add functionality to the Finder.

–Share Menu: Share extensions allow you to share content with other

–Today: These are widgets that can be added to the Today view in the Notification Center.

While there are several different kinds of app extensions available, every app extensions requires the user to enable them in System Preferences before they can be used. If you recently purchased an app and cannot figure out why you are unable to use a feature advertised in the app description, there is a chance that the feature you are looking for requires you to enable an app extension.

How to Enable an App Extension

To enable an app extension, open the System Preferences app on your Mac. In the System Preferences window, click on “Extensions.”

Screenshot of System Preferences on OS X El Capitan annotated instructions 'Go to extensions pane.'

Once you are in the “Extensions” section of System Preferences, you will see a list of all the app extensions you have on your Mac. To enable or disable an app extension, simply check or uncheck the box next to each extension in the list. That’s all there is to it.

App extensions pane in System Preferences on Mac.

How to Disable NSScrollView Scrolling

January 20, 2020May 18, 2015 by

Unlike UIScrollView on iOS, NSScrollView on Mac does not have a handy scrollEnabled property for you to set to NO if you need to temporarily disable scrolling in your app.

If you Google around, you can find several posts on websites like stackoverflow that ask questions like How can I disable the vertical scrolling of a NSScrollView? Some have suggested setting the hasVerticalScroller property to NO as the answer. However, the hasVerticalScroller property only effects the visibility of the scroller, a value of NO does not actually prevent scrolling.

There are also ways to constrain scrolling from an NSView subclass, as described in Apple’s documentation here. Constraining scrolling from a view subclass can be useful, but what if you want to just temporarily disable scrolling?

The easiest way to disable scrolling it seems is to subclass NSScrollView and add a BOOL property with a name like scrollingEnabled. Then you can simply override the designated initializers (initWithFrame: and initWithCoder:) and set the ivar of the property to YES as the default value:

-(instancetype)initWithFrame:(NSRect)frameRect 
{ 
   self = [super initWithFrame:frameRect]; 
   if (self) 
   { 
       [self setUpOnInit]; 
   } 
   return self; 
}
 
- (instancetype)initWithCoder:(NSCoder *)coder 
{ 
    self = [super initWithCoder:coder]; 
    if (self) 
    { 
         [self setUpOnInit]; 
    } 
    return self; 
}
 
-(void)setUpOnInit
{
   //Set all default values. 
   _scrollingEnabled = YES; 
}

Now you can just override the scrollWheel: method and check the property:

-(void)scrollWheel:(NSEvent *)theEvent 
{ 
    if (self.scrollingEnabled) {  
      [super scrollWheel:theEvent];  
     } 
    else {  
       //scrolling is disabled. 
    } 
}

This technique will work in most cases, but there may be times when a view inside of a scroll view implements autoscrolling behavior (perhaps if the view is a dragging destination). If you need to temporarily disable scrolling in such a case, you should also subclass NSClipView and block scrolling by overriding the -constrainBoundsRect: method like this:

-(NSRect)constrainBoundsRect:(NSRect)proposedBounds
{
    MyScrollViewSubclass *mainScrollView = (MyScrollViewSubclass*)self.superview;
 
    if (mainScrollView.scrollingEnabled)
    {
        return [super constrainBoundsRect:proposedBounds];
    }
    else
    {
        //Disabled
        return self.documentVisibleRect;
    }
}