macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual

Chapter 12. The Free Programs of macOS

Right out of the box, macOS comes with a healthy assortment of about 50 freebies: programs for sending email, writing documents, doing math, even playing games. Some have been around for years. Others, like Maps and iBooks, are newer. They’re designed not only to show off some of macOS’s most dramatic technologies, but also to let you get real work done without having to invest in additional software.

Your Free Programs

A broad assortment of programs sits in the Applications folder in the main hard drive window, and another couple dozen less frequently used apps await in the Applications→Utilities folder.

This chapter guides you through every item in your new software library, one program at a time. (Of course, your Applications list may vary. Apple might have blessed your particular Mac model with some bonus programs, or you may have downloaded or installed some on your own.)

Tip

A reminder: You can jump straight to the Applications folder in the Finder by pressing Shift--A (the shortcut for Go→Applications), or by clicking the Applications folder icon in the Sidebar. You might consider adding the Application folder’s icon to the Dock, too, so you can access it no matter what program you’re in. Shift--U (or Go→Utilities) takes you, of course, to the ...