Paste text without Formatting

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imagesI don’t know about you, but I never, want to paste something into a fresh document AND carry across its original formatting. I always want to paste and remove the format.  On both the Mac and Windows, there’s a keyboard shortcut that will allow you to do that. Unfortunately, that keyboard shortcut is not simple to do.

On a Macintosh, to paste without formatting (i.e. as plain text), hold down Shift + Option + Command and hit V. It’s a tricky keyboard combo to master but with a little practice you’ll get used to it.

On Windows, in most versions of recent Windows versions,  Ctrl + Windows Key + V also pastes text as plain text. All you have to do is to relearn these command sequences as your standard paste command. If you do that, you’ll always be getting text only without the added format.

Protect your Mac from Power fluctuations with a UPS

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A75-2114-mainVFluctuating or unclean power is one of the things that cause electronics most problems. Fortunately uninterruptible power supplies, UPS’s, are readily available and relatively inexpensive. A UPS plugs in to the electric current coming from your house and provides additional outlets.  These devices condition the power coming from the electric outlet before it gets to your computer so that spikes and fluctuations are mitigated. If that sounds similar to a surge suppressor, it’s because it UPS will replace your surge suppressor. It provides the same functions but it also provides one great additional benefit. An uninterruptible power supply provides battery backup for the electrical power coming from your outlook.

UPS’s are made with a battery internal to the unit. All electrical power goes from the outlet in your house to the battery and charges the battery. The battery then supplies power directly to anything plugged in to the device.  If there are spikes, fluctuations or brown outs in the electricity coming from the power company the battery takes over and keeps those from affecting your electronic devices.  If the power coming to your home goes out completely, the battery takes over powering the devices for a certain amount of time depending upon the size of the battery that’s included in the UPS. This function is all well and good, but on a Macintosh, the UPS has the ability to connect to the computer and intelligently give the computer commands telling it that the power is out.  There are similar functions in windows but these often require additional software installed that comes with the UPS.

Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 4.40.07 PMIn recent versions of the Macintosh operating system, Apple has included support for UPS devices built-in. This support is controlled in the energy saver system preference panel. Without a UPS connected, you cannot see the controls. Once you plug in a UPS with a USB cable thats usually included with the device, new and additional options are provided in the same energy saver panel. It is important to note that this USB cable typically needs to be plugged directly into the computer and not through a USB hub.

With the UPS connected, looking at the energy saver panel you have the ability to turn on an icon in the menu bar that allows you to check the charging status of the battery in the UPS. You also have the ability to set shutdown options that tell the computer how to correctly shut down based upon the power being given from the battery in the UPS device. Typically, you would want to turn on the option that allows the computer to be shut down when the UPS power reaches something near 25%.

This setting will allow your computer to get through all brown outs and power fluctuations Screen Shot 2014-07-17 at 4.38.47 PMwithout being affected. It will also continue to power the computer for a period of time after the power goes out. In this way you’re able to not have to force the computer to shut down if the power outage is short. If the power outage continues for a period of time that causes the battery power to reduce down by 75%, the computer will begin the shutdown process. The final 25% of the power in the UPS will get the computer shutdown correctly. This way, the hard drive on your computer doesn’t abruptly shut down with the possibility of file loss.

There are a number of UPS devices on the market, but the major player in this field is APC. Uninterruptible power supplies from APC are recognized directly by the Mac and allow this built in software in your operating system to control the UPS.

If you live in a location where the power is not stable, or have reasons that the power fluctuates, a UPS may be just the thing to protect your computer.

Clean up your Mac with Disk Doctor

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Screen Shot 2014-07-09 at 7.45.25 PMFor years I recommended a product called CCleaner to clean up all the cash files on your Mac computer. Unfortunately, the company that made that product quit updating it for your releases of the Mac operating system. Recently I’ve run across the another product that will do very similar things.

Disk Doctor, available from the Mac App Store, is a very simple utility that can clean up all of this I needed information.
With just a few clicks, Disk Doctor can empty the following:

– Applications Caches
– Application Logs
– Browser Data
– Mail Downloads Folder
– Downloads Folder
– Large Files (files within your user folder that are greater than 100 MB) *Mountain Lion Users only*
– Trash Can

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And while the product is someone of a one trick pony, it is very inexpensive costing only $2.99.  Running this utility takes only a few minutes and will certainly get rid of a lot of information that you have no reason to keep. Running it once a month will ensure that your Mac is running as fast as cleanly as possible.

Network attached storage for the home: The good the bad

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Screen Shot 2014-07-02 at 2.06.00 PMEverything you hear these days is about cloud computing. Articles about ways that people are moving to the cloud seem to be all over the internet.  Many are related to many products that can store your files in the cloud.  I have had the opportunity to try a couple of network attach storage devices recently and had one very good experience and one not so good.

So why would you want a home network attached storage device? Well that’s pretty easy to explain . If you’re using cloud storage today you’re likely limited by the amount of cloud storage that’s provided at a low-cost. You can definitely add additional storage for additional cost but that still does not solve the problem of having enough storage for what you want to put in the cloud. Vendors have realized this need and have developed network attached storage devices that you can put in your home and that will provide you a large amount of storage for a relatively low cost. You also have the added security of knowing that your cloud data is located where you put it. There is no risk of the cloud service going out of business or losing your data by doing things this way. It does not eliminate the need for a backup of your network device, but it does provide you that peace of mind in knowing that you have the data and are the only one with the data.Screen Shot 2014-07-02 at 2.06.27 PM

The first one I tried is made by Western Digital called My Cloud. Western Digital is a storage company that makes hard disk drives that are available at a local electronic stores so they were a natural to get into the network attached storage business. If you’re familiar with an external Western Digital hard drive,The My Cloud device will look very similar. On the back of this device you will find an ethernet connection port. This port connects to your local home network and allows you to configure the device for access outside the home. It also provides a USB3 port on the back of the device to allow you to either upload photos from a digital camera or connect directly to your computer.

Screen Shot 2014-07-02 at 2.10.13 PMSetting up the device only takes a few minutes. Once you install the included software on your computer it provides access to the device You then connect to the device across your home network to do the configuration. Once it’s connected you can map drive to your computer or you can access the files from the Internet. It’s very easy to work with and works very quickly. Western Digital offers mobile apps for the Android and iOS operating systems that which helps solve another problem many of us face: data fragmentation caused by having stored files on multiple devices. Install the apps onto your smartphones and tablets, and you can send all your media files over the Internet to your My Cloud.

One of the best parts of this network attached device is the cost. A 2 TB unit costs about $150. A 3 TB unit is about $200. Considering the cost of the drive itself is at least $100 to $150, these devices are are absolute bargains.

Unfortunately, I can’t be nearly as positive about the second device I’ve had experience Screen Shot 2014-07-02 at 2.28.24 PMwith. This unit was called Transporter from Connected Data. (recently purchased by Drobo). If you were giving points for looks, the transporter would certainly be a winner. It has a very odd shape and a beautiful blue light that pulses when date is being accessed. But looks are about the end of the good things I can say about transporter. The software for this product has been extremely buggy. I ‘ve also found that when I have the software running on my computer in noticeably slows my machine down. You might be able to forgive the company for some problems with the software, but the problems with the transporter only begin there.

The Achilles’ heel behind the beautiful looks of the transporter is that it uses only a 2 1/2 inch drive. As a result, the costs are much higher for drives in a transporter. Plus many small 2 1/2″ drives are truly intended for laptops and not intended for something that spins and runs 24 hours a day. The result of this drive choice is that transporters are expensive and slow compared to other devices. As an example, a 2 TB transporter costs $350. That’s a full $200 more than the Western Digital My Cloud.

Screen Shot 2014-07-02 at 2.28.35 PMOne of transporters claims to fame is that can it can automatically mirror your data to another transporter. In practice, this proved to be difficult to make happen. Configuration, firewalls, and general lack of ability for the device to see itself on the network made doing this difficult. When you add in the fact that to make this work you need a second transporter, you have to wonder what these people were thinking about in their design and selection of product features.

You have to wonder why a company like Drobo, that provides high-quality storage devices, would purchase transporter. Couple that with the fact that Drobo doesn’t even advertise transporter on it’s own website makes me believe that the purchase was more related to software or people that it was to the device itself.

From my experience with these two devices there is no choice. If you’re looking for a low-cost network attached storage device, to build your own cloud in your home, choose the Western Digital My Cloud. Steer away from transporter.   It really does not perform as well as it should, and costs way too much.

Don’t let your first Tablet experience be a bad one

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Screen Shot 2014-06-23 at 11.37.31 AMI saw it on the Internet just this morning!

Coby Kyros -4

7″ Tablet 4GB

Android 4.0 WiFi

just $49

Wow! What an amazing bargain. An android tablet running android 4.0 for just 50 bucks. Why would anybody pay for a tablet from Apple or Samsung when they can get one for just $50, right? Is this the shape of things to come, or is this just a big mistake waiting to happen?

Many times my father told me you get what you pay for. I’ve always felt it was that way when it came to purchasing computers. Purchasing on a machine and you’ll end up being sorry down the line. Or purchase a name brand machine and you’ll always be able to find support somewhere on the Internet either from the vendor or from other people with that machine type. When it comes the tablets, the story is exactly the same. I’ve talked to many people who have never had a tablet before and who have been thinking about purchasing a tablet. One of these people often ask me is are the jeep was just as good as the expensive ones? Well I can give you the answer. No! They’re not as good.

I feel strongly that the Apple iPad is the best tablet on the market. But that said, there are very good android tablets available also if that’s the choice and direction you want to head. But there are things you need to think about before you just purchased the odd inexpensive android tablet. First off, tablets from Samsung are good products. Even the models that are you’re too old are still very good devices that can download software applications and run them very well. Samsung, and android in general, are getting very good when it comes to interface use also. So what happened from Samsung, or one of the tables from Google are a good choice. Amazon is making some wonderful tablets also these days and they connect to Amazon’s own stores. But beyond that, you need to take a look at the specifications and the connectivity options.

Most low in tablets every slow processors and very small amount of memory. Many of them also have plastic covered screens that scratch very easily. When you buy one of these lowing tablets these features and up being very important to you after using the tablet for a short period of time. But probably the most important thing is that the tablet to purchase leads to be tied to one of the major software stores. If you’re purchasing an Apple tablet you obviously don’t have to worry about this but if you’re purchasing an android tablet you need to make absolutely sure that it connects to the Google play store or to the Amazon store, if it’s a Kindle fire. If you look at the specs for the tablet that I mentioned above you see things like:

16:9 Widescreen, 800 x 480 Resolution – (very low resolution by todays standards)

1.0 GHz Cortex A5 Processor – (Slow processor using a designation “A5” that makes it sound like faster one on the market)
1GB RAM ( for an Android tablet, this just is not enough to be usable in Android 4)

All of these items are much less than any of the competition makes available today. In fact, they are so much less than many applications will not even run on this new tablet she would purchase today. But here’s the more important spec that you need to check. If the android device talks about connecting to something other than Google’s play store you need to shy away. This particular tablet says the following:

Get access to thousands of applications from GetJar marketplace with plenty of games, social media, and productivity tools to meet your needs.

That single statement means that you may not have access to many of the things available from Google, Google stores, or android updates. That makes it a very poor choice, regardless of the cost. I’ve been asked to help people with their tablets many times and the towels in the being the small off brand versions. Basically what we generally find out is that these temples are not upgradable, they cannot perform functions that the user wants, and I cannot get software that they’re looking for.

So if you’re going down the android tablet path, make sure you purchase a good model tablet so that your first tablet experience won’t be a bad one.

Talking to your Mac doesn’t mean that you’re crazy

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Screen Shot 2014-06-16 at 6.59.36 PMI absolutely love dictation on my iPhone and iPad. It truly does a great job of converting my speech into text. So it goes without saying, that I would want to use the same text to speech on my back too. To turn that on, you go to system preferences and select dictation. You press on button and it turns dictation on. You can change the shortcut key issues on it to turn on the dictation mode if you like or it will default to the function key. So double tapping on the function key brings up a small microphone location I’m using. When that microphone is on the screen unable to talk and it converts that to text just like it does on my iPhone and iPad.

Now, being the overachiever that I am, I also turned on the enhanced mode. The enhanced mode gives me the ability to be able to use text-to-speech off-line by downloading the text-to-speech conversion dictionary onto the Mac and converting it directly on the Mac. The added benefit of this mode is that it also shows the text as you’re speaking it. Unfortunately, whenever I try to use text-to-speech it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. The thing that I find particularly interesting is that it is much worse on the Mac in this mode that it is on even the iPhone or the iPad. I find many of the words I say cannot be converted to text correctly. Then I must going to changes to the text that I speak.

I’ve tried an external mic also to see if it made it better. With the external mic I find that it still doesn’t understand me nearly as well as the iPhone or iPad does. I was very nearly ready to abandon speaking to my computer. Me. The enhanced text-to-speech mode that downloads the dictionary might be causing my problem. As soon as I turn that off text-to-speech immediately got much better.

So now, when I turn off enhanced text-to-speech mode, it must go to the Internet to be able to create the text from my speech. It also doesn’t show the text as I’m talking it only shows the text when I get the done key. But the conversion process is almost immediate, and it finally understands me again and does.

Hopefully in the next release of the Mac, Apple will make the enhanced mode in text-to-speech better. I really like the idea of being able to see the text, as I speak it, but I just can’t live with the poor quality of conversion but I’m seeing in the enhanced mode.

So my recommendation is, if you haven’t turned on enhanced mode in Dictation, don’t do it. Then the conversion of your text to speech will work very similarly to the way your iPhone or iPad does. And for me, that makes it very usable again.

CamRanger: Remote DSLR Photos with all the bells and whistles

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DeviceAndCaseWouldn’t it be nice if you could set your camera off remotely. Most DSLR cameras these days allow you to do that with a small hand-held infrared remote. The problem with doing it this way is you’re not able to see what you’re taking a shot and you’re not able to modify the settings of the camera based upon what you see. There are many ways to get around this using all sorts of computer applications but most of these require you to tether your camera to a computer. What if you could do it remotely from your iPhone.iPad, Android device, or computer?

CamRanger is a stand-alone device that connects to select Canon or Nikon DLSR cameras with a provided USB cable. It creates an ad-hoc WiFi network that your device (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, Android, or Mac or Windows computer) can then connect to. The free CamRanger app then enabled control of the camera. There is no need for a computer or existing Internet connection.  CamRanger creates its own Wi-Fi hotspot that your device connects to.  Once connected you run their software and it gives you complete control of the camera and also the ability to view what the camera seeing. You iPad_LiveView_Smallcan easily make changes to the controls of your camera, adjust any setting, and see the results through the camera lens.

In addition to simply letting you take pictures, the applications also provide the ability to do macro photography and focus stacking, take HDR images, and time-lapsed shots.  The real place that the CamRanger excels is its ability to be able to use literally any setting your camera has. If your camera can do it CamRanger likely supports it.

There are many products in the market today to do this similar function but in taking a look at CamRanger it seems to me that it may be the best at providing you control of your creativity. If you’re interested in photography and want to be able to set your camera off remotely and see what it’s taking a picture of, CamRanger maybe the tool for you.

Cloud Storage Options

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Screen Shot 2014-05-28 at 10.08.05 AMWhere once there was one now there many. Cloud storage is a big fad of these days. Being able to store documents and have them accessible from any location on any device is not just nice but it serves A real business purpose. The ability to open documents created on one device on all your devices could be of great help to you. But how do you know which cloud storage system to use? With so many choices in the market today, it’s hard to make that decision. So let’s take a look at some of the major players in the market for class storage and see what their benefits and weaknesses are.

Before we look at each option individually, let’s get some of the preliminaries out-of-the-way. All of these storage options give you the ability to store documents locally on your computer and have them automatically synchronized to the cloud for use in other locations. All of the major players in the marketplace today support Macintosh, Windows, Android, iOS, and browser-based access. All of these major players also provide a free trial of their service with a small amount of cloud storage space. They also all allow you to purchase additional storage if you have the need. And finally, all of these players are major companies vying for your use of the cloud. In general they all do the same thing, but in practicality, some have benefits over others.

So let’s look at the major players:

Dropbox

Dropbox is been around for quite a while. As a result of his longevity, many more applications support the use of dropbox storage then any other cloud storage on the market. If any system can be called the standard for cloud storage, Dropbox is the one. You can store any kind of file in Dropbox, by either uploading to the Web site or adding it with the desktop apps. Those apps live in your file system so you retain copies of them on your computer for easy and fast use. Dropbox provides you 2 GB of free storage. I use dropbox every day for storing documents I want to have access on my iOS devices. It’s easy-to-use integrated into both Microsoft and Windows and Mac and works seamlessly with almost any other device type you might use. It also supports sharing files when you use tons of different kinds of devices.

Google Drive

If you already have a Google account, you can already access Google Drive Just go to drive.google.com and enable the service. You get 15GB of storage for anything you upload to Drive, including photos, videos, documents, Photoshop files and more. However, you have to share that 15GB with your Gmail account, photos you upload to Google+, and any documents you create in Google Drive. When it comes to a web-based client, Google drive truly excels. It’s web-based interface is the best of the bunch and its integration with Google services provides a high level of value. If you’re a Google user, Google drive is already part of the service your getting. Other than issues related to privacy, with Google in general, I think Google drive is probably the best service available today. I use Google drive every day to store documents and use them on multiple devices. This service is highly recommended.

OneDrive (formally SkyDrive)

If you are a user of Windows 8 and 8.1, you have OneDrive built into your operating system, where it shows up in the file explorer next to all of the files on your computer’s hard drive. But, anyone can use it on the Web or by downloading a desktop app for Mac and earlier versions of Windows, and OneDrive is also available for Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and Xbox. If you were a Windows user OneDrive makes perfect sense for you use. If you subscribe to Office 365 you get additional storage as part of that subscription plan. But if you’re not a Windows user or subscriber there’s probably not much reason for you to use OneDrive as your primary cloud storage location.

Box

Box has been around for a long time but has never really taken off with users as a class storage system. Box service’s list of sharing and privacy features were built specifically for business and IT users. Because it is not backed by one of the major players or integrated into many applications box is simply another option for you to look at for storage space on the web. Unless your an IT organization  looking for large amounts of storage in the cloud for your business, you likely need to look elsewhere for personal or small business needs.

But what about iCloud?

Apple has taken a slightly different tack to cloud storage. Like many things in the Apple universe, apples cloud storage is intended for use with their devices only. Apple seems to believe that cloud storage should be transparent and as a result provides iCloud that works in the background to store many things including documents. Unfortunately this only works really well if you’re using Apple products or products Apple supports (ie Windows).Apple provides the ability to synchronize contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and other information is used on a daily basis with iPhone, iPad, or computer. And let’s be clear, for this use, Apple does a great job. Storage and use of these pieces of information are absolutely transparent to the user one set up. But in my opinion Apple holds is proprietary system to close to itself to make iCloud be your only class storage system. I wholly recommend that for these items mentioned above iCloud is your best choice. But when it comes to storage of documents, iCloud is probably not your solution. If you’re to only use Apple products such as pages, numbers, and keynote, did Apple store system works perfectly but if you use other documents or want to be able to store other file types iCloud leaves you wanting. This seems to be because Apple integrates I call use into his applications making it just as transparent as the storage of your contacts. But unfortunately Apple does not allow other vendors to integrate iCloud so closely in their applications. So unless Apple applications are the only thing you use, one of the other cloud storage systems is better suited for document storage. My recommendation for iCloud use is that if you have iPads, iPhones, or Macs, use iCloud to stor ad sync contacts, calendars, bookmarks, and other personal information but use one of the other cloud document storage systems for storing documents in the cloud.

Below is a table from a Cnet article on cloud storage options.  If your are looking for more depth on the subject, take a look at this article.

Screen Shot 2014-05-28 at 10.06.38 AM

So what are my final recommendations? I think there’re many reasons to use more than one cloud storage system. Each system has integration in certain areas that the other systems lack. Story documents in more than one location can never be a bad idea. But the bottom line is that class storage systems are here to stay. If you’re not using them now you need to begin to look at them. With so many new devices using solid-state storage and providing less storage then you might have had on a machine with a spinning hard drive, there’re many reasons to start storing some of your information in the cloud.

Beware of the “tech support pass off”

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imageRecently, I installed a new computer for an individual. I migrated all of the files over to their new computer from their old one and they were up and running. Unfortunately, their old computer had been around for a long time and so had the printer that was being used with it. While I was able to get the printer installed, it certainly was not very compatible with the new version of Windows, Windows 8.  I recommended that they purchase a new printer and give me a call if they needed help installing it.

Fast forward about two weeks. I get a call from the individual telling me that they are having more computer problems. They told me they installed the new printer, and had a few questions about its operation. The main question has to do with being able to print black print only rather than  color print on every print out. Since this was a seemingly minor question, they called the printer vendor for assistance. Once the printer vendor determined that this was not a functional problem with the printer, the vendor forwarded their call to a third-party support firm that could “help them with all their computer issues. ” Up to this point the owner did everything correctly. But the next step was a big mistake.

Somehow in the process of asking a question, the third-party company asked to connect to their computer. They made the connection, downloaded some software to do some testing, looked around on the machine, did some installs, and finally told them they were infected and full of viruses. Keep in mind, this is a brand-new computer installation and it would be very unlikely to have viruses infected already. But nonetheless, they showed the owner things on the computer that they said were problems and needed to be fixed. Then they told them that it would cost them $225 for some special software to be downloaded that would take care of all their problems. Keep in mind here, the initial question had to do with printing in black instead of color. Unfortunately, this unscrupulous third-party, never got around to that problem. They told them that the viruses were preventing the computer from printing in black.

Some of you may think this sounds ridiculous, but this is what we deal with in today’s world. Calling hardware technical support is certainly a reasonable thing to do. But allowing any technical support to pass you off to a third-party company that wants to connect and install software on your computer is a big mistake. My experience tells me that I’ve seen this much more often from printer vendors than any other.  Obviously, if there are viruses or spyware on this machine, it was this third-party companies software that installed them.

I know some of you will find this hard to believe, but the Internet is full of unscrupulous people trying to make a buck off of you.  How sad it is that this printer vendor is hooked up with one of these, but it’s easy to find many instances of the exact same issue.

One time when I was in a fun loving mood, I went to one of these websites that tells you they can scan your computer for problems and tell you whether you have any.  I ran their web-based software on my machine and it came back with hundreds of viruses and spyware issues on my computer. They then offered for $29, to sell me software that would fix all the problems. The funny thing about this was, the computer I ran the scan on the Macintosh.  Many of the viruses they told me I had, or PC only viruses.  Now obviously, I wouldn’t pay for their software, but this just goes to show there’s a sucker born every minute.  In an attempt to save a little money from hiring a reputable hardware and software support individual, people do this every day.

Unless you are an enterprise user Microsoft does not provide support for windows. The vendor you purchase the computer from must provide support for the windows software,  I have also seen other situations when people have searched the web looking for Microsoft support.  The links you find will all be these third-party support companies.  Never use any of these as often times they will get you into the same situation

The moral of the story is fairly simple. If someone you don’t know wants to connect to your computer and install or run any program, back away and hang up. I can  tell you that there are times when reputable vendors need to do this process, but in today’s world, more times than not, the problems only begin when you let these vendors work on your machine.

It is entirely reasonable to call a hardware or software vendor about their product. It is completely unreasonable to accept a handoff to a new third-party company, that has nothing to do with the original vendor, in these situations.  Contact someone you know. Someone you trust. Someone who can look at your computer and determine if there really are problems before you spend money on an Internet solution.

It is much easier, and less expensive for you to have a professional look at your machine, or answer your question, than it is to try to fix problems after the fact that are caused by one of these Internet solution providers.

Organize iPhoto with Keywords

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Image 5-15-14 at 3.55 PM
It’s easy to forget where you put a photo. Even an iPhoto it’s sometimes hard to go back to the photo you’re thinking about without a little help. IPhoto, like most other photograph applications allows the use of keywords to help you find and organize your photographs. Most people believe that they’ll be able to go back and remember when the photo was taken for the subject of the photo and find it in their library but in truth without some additional help such as the keyword it can be very difficult.

IPhoto makes the use of keywords barely easy. The best way to work with keywords is toScreen Shot 2014-05-15 at 4.35.41 PM first go to the view menu and select Info to turn on the iPhoto sidebar.  The sidebar in iPhoto shows you information about the photograph you took, allows you to change the filename, and description, identify faces, and add keywords. Once you click into the keyword field and begin to type the keyword, the work will be completed if it is already in your keyword list. If it’s not in your keyword list it will add a keyword.

IPhoto also allows you to select a group of photos and apply keywords to them to. First select a group of photos you want to add keywords to and then enter the keyword. That keyword or series of keywords Will be applied to all the photos selected.

To edit the keywords you’ve used, go to Window > Manage My Keywords. From the resulting pop-up window, you’ll see a list of your keywords. You can drag keywords into the Quick Group field, which assigns a letter to a keyword, letting you add it with a single keystroke. Click the Edit Keywords button, and you can add or remove keywords, rename them, and assign a letter for a shortcut.

If you want to learn more about keywords and using them in iPhoto Apple provides a support document that covers this.

Screen Shot 2014-05-15 at 4.36.16 PMThe key to making good use of keywords just use the same word each time. This way if you’re looking for photos of birds you can search for the keyword “birds” and find all of the photos that you’ve assigned that keyword to. It’s simple to find any keyword by using the search box in the lower left corner of the iPhoto dialogue. Simply begin to type the keyword you’re looking for and it will show you the photos that you’ve assigned that word too.

The real key to making good use of your photographs is to be able to find them and iPhoto provides Easy-to-use keyword functionality to do just that.