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chevyboy60013

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2021
457
242
My iMac is now scheduled to arrive by Wednesday, so it’s time to finalize my setup strategy. How does this sound? It's based on the iMac Essentials guide and the very helpful comments here. It seems pretty straightforward, but is there anything I've got wrong or am missing?
  1. Plug everything in and turn on
  2. Connect to wi-fi
  3. Sign in with Apple ID
  4. Create account
  5. Make this my new Mac (this is where it syncs with my iCloud?)
  6. Create second (wife’s) account (syncs with her iCloud?)
  7. Install the extra apps I need
  8. Plug in external HDD and start copying over data from PC
  9. Set up Time Machine on empty, external 2TB HDD
  10. Start learning how to actually use my new Mac!
Once again, thank you very much for your assistance!
Looks good to me. However I have never had to set up a second account so not sure how that would work. Enjoy your new mac, and never look back .
 
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Ben J.

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2019
1,044
606
Oslo
My iMac is now scheduled to arrive by Wednesday, so it’s time to finalize my setup strategy. How does this sound? It's based on the iMac Essentials guide and the very helpful comments here. It seems pretty straightforward, but is there anything I've got wrong or am missing?
  1. Plug everything in and turn on
  2. Connect to wi-fi
  3. Sign in with Apple ID
  4. Create account
  5. Make this my new Mac (this is where it syncs with my iCloud?)
  6. Create second (wife’s) account (syncs with her iCloud?)
  7. Install the extra apps I need
  8. Plug in external HDD and start copying over data from PC
  9. Set up Time Machine on empty, external 2TB HDD
  10. Start learning how to actually use my new Mac!
Once again, thank you very much for your assistance!
Sounds good.

The setup assistant makes the process pretty easy. Do you have a Apple ID? And stuff in icloud? Like from an iphone or another mac? If not, just skip the 'Import documents and settings' part.

I think you should relax and take a few days just to get to know the mac. It comes with a lot of apps, take some time and just play around with it, before customizing it and installing apps.

Enjoy MacMost.com videos. Lots of good info, like this:

Mac Quick Start Guide for New Users


When you feel ready, start installing apps. One at a time, checking things inbetween, because installing of apps is typically where things can change or stop working, so it's best not to change too many things at once.

You might consider not using the "Desktop and Documents" option in icloud settings if you're not planning on accessing your documents on several apple devices. It can be a bit confusing and sometimes cause problems.
 
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2024

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2024
44
22
Thanks for the encouragement and advice. Fedex originally said delivery on Monday (today), then changed it to Wednesday, then delivered it today anyway. So it's here, but my desk wasn't quite ready for it yet. I'm planning to fire it up tomorrow, and am definitely taking a few days to get things more organized and get my toes wet before really diving in. I already have iPhones, an iPad, and Apple IDs for myself and my wife, and there will be some stuff to import from iCloud. I'm using the 50GB plan now, and think that'll be enough initially.

However, I don't want most of my docs, music, etc., to sync everywhere because there's too much of it, so I want to learn how to pick and choose what I want on all devices. I'm thinking I can do that with docs via iCloud Drive, and with music by not adding most of it to Apple's music library. I'm expecting a lot of experimentation and headscratching til I get a better handle on everything. I'm not afraid of it; just want to get it right the first time if I can.
 

chevyboy60013

macrumors 6502
Sep 18, 2021
457
242
The main thing is to forget how things worked in windows and enjoy learning it and enjoy how nicely it just works
 

2024

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2024
44
22
That's just what I've been doing, and it's been interesting. Everything is on the iMac now, though most folders are still on the desktop while I decide how best to proceed. All my email accounts are set up, which is nice, and every day sees a new experiment or two to find how more things work.

I do have a question though: Are there more mouse gestures available through an app? I've learned the basic ones for scrolling, etc., but could use a few more if any others can be added. I'm thinking specifically of the Back button on my old Logitech mouse.
 

Ben J.

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2019
1,044
606
Oslo
I do have a question though: Are there more mouse gestures available through an app? I've learned the basic ones for scrolling, etc., but could use a few more if any others can be added. I'm thinking specifically of the Back button on my old Logitech mouse.
The Magic Mouse gestures I use most often are:
One-finger swipe, left or right to go back and forth between web pages.
Two-finger swipe to move between spaces.
One-finger double-tap on a website column to zoom in. (Firefox, and I think Safari also.)
Two-finger double-tap to enter Mission Control.

Just a tip: Probably the most useful little general utility I have ever used on a mac:
Select any text anywhere in any app, and a small menu shows up with little tools to: copy/paste, search the web, look up in dictionary, create note/stickie/reminder, translate +++. It's totally customizable and comes with hundreds of options. Not free, but worth every penny.
 
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2024

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2024
44
22
Ha, I keep forgetting about the swipe to go back. It may take a while to stop automatically pressing the left side of the mouse with my thumb. 😄

Thanks re PopClip; I will definitely check it out. Something I just came across that has me puzzled: I set up two user accounts, both with admin privileges, but I can't seem to view one from the other in Finder. I don't have the requisite permission. I'd like to have equal access from each to everything in the other. What setting am I missing?

Thanks again!
 

2024

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2024
44
22
It took me a while, but I found a way to gain full read/write permissions on both user accounts. I thought I'd recap the steps here in case it might help another noob. In Finder in your own user account:
  • Open Macintosh HD
  • Open Users
  • Right click on the name of the user account you want to change permissions in, and select Get Info
  • Click on the padlock icon at the bottom of Get Info, and enter your own account password
  • Click on the now-active + sign to the left of the padlock
  • Click on Users & Groups and the desired user account owner, then on Select
  • Click on the ⌄ arrow, and select Apply to Enclosed Items
Maybe there's a simpler way, but this worked for me. I did it for both accounts, and now I can see and edit everything (that I've tried so far) in both w/o having to switch accounts.
 

Ben J.

macrumors 65816
Aug 29, 2019
1,044
606
Oslo
I was going to reply to your previous post, but never got to it; It's how it works. You're not supposed to have access to other users' folders and files. The two obvious ways to share between accounts is 1. The "Shared" folder in /Users folder, that's available to all users, and 2. connect a second drive to the mac, or create a new volume on the existing one, they will also be available.

(The "Shared" folder is most often filled with files that applications install to let all users use the same apps and have the apps' files, libraries etc be installed only once and not in each user's folder, but you can also use it to share files between accounts. Creating a new volume is super easy on Apples' APFS file system; in Disk Utilities, select Macintosh HD, click the 'plus' sign, give it a name, and it will show up and be available to all users. Volumes are not partitions, but behaves the same way mostly. One big difference is that you don't have to set a volume's size like you do with partitions. Volumes on APFS take only the space they need. IOW, they 'share' the free space. Really nice.)

I've never seen or heard of anyone doing what you did to the user folder permissions. I know how to change permissions and use the 'enclosed items' function, but doing it to the whole user folder… I'm not sure. MacOS sets up the folder structure and permissions the way it does for a reason, and it expects to find it that way. F.ex the music app expects to find a 'Music' folder in your user folder, and if it's not there, it will create one. I wouldn't expect your adding permissions for your account on another user's user folder (and enclosed) to create problems, but one could perhaps view it as a potential vulnerability securitywise. Anyway, I suppose in your starting phase now, it would be easy just to delete the user account (system settings - user/groups) should you run into any problems.
 
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2024

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 7, 2024
44
22
Thanks once again for the very useful tips and explanations. I know it wasn't strictly necessary to set it up this way, but it's how I'm used to working. It's just the two of us here, and I do 95% of the computer work, so this method has always proven faster for me in Windows file explorer. Whether it's a good idea or not on the Mac only time will tell, and I do understand that it's a bit of a security compromise. I'll think about it and see how it goes.
 
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