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This may come as a shock if you think you know your Mac pretty well, but here goes: Mac OS X actually offers system-wide autocomplete of big words, just like the iPhone.
We’re not talking about the spelling checker, and we’re not talking about text substitution. We’re talking, you start typing a word, and the Mac finishes it for you. It’s ideal when you’re in a hurry, when you’re not sure how to finish a word (is it independance or independence?), or when you’re trying to solve a crossword puzzle.
It works in all the standard Mac programs (TextEdit, Mail, Safari, Pages, and so on). Once you’ve begun typing a word, press either F5 or Option-Esc to produce the list of possible word completions, as shown here. If the Mac correctly anticipates the rest of the word, great; press Tab, Return, or the space bar to accept the suggestion, and then keep right on typing.
If it guesses wrong, you can either select a different word in the list (using the mouse or the arrow keys), or tap Esc and continue typing.
Learn more about this topic from Mac OS X Snow Leopard: The Missing Manual.
For a company that promised to "put a pause on new features," Apple sure has been busy-there's barely a feature left untouched in Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard." There's more speed, more polish, more refinement-but still no manual. Fortunately, David Pogue is back, with the humor and expertise that have made this the #1 bestselling Mac book for eight years straight. This one witty, expert guide makes it all crystal clear.
