IN THIS CHAPTER

Adding a printer or a scanner to your system

Using Photo Booth

Chatting with Messages

Connecting with friends and family using FaceTime

This chapter is all about getting interesting things into — and out of — your iMac. Some of the devices I mention are mundane and pretty easy to take care of, such as scanners and printers. Then I might surprise you with something new to you, such as your iMac’s built-in FaceTime HD video camera, which gives you the ability to place and receive video and audio calls to friends and family on their Macs, iPhones, and iPads. You can send and receive instant messages from your friends as well, whether they have Macs, iOS devices, or smartphones from another manufacturer.

Heck, I also show you how to turn your iMac into an old-fashioned photo booth, just like the expensive models at your local mall or amusement park. Think “iMac selfies” at your next party — complete with outrageous effects!

Connecting Printers

All hail the USB port! It’s the primary connection point for all sorts of goodies. In this section, I concentrate on adding a local USB printer and the basics of adding a network printer to your system. (Find more on connecting a wireless Bluetooth printer in the Bluetooth Bonus Chapter at www.dummies.com.)

Connecting Scanners

USB scanners practically install themselves. As long as the model is listed as macOS-compatible and supports the TWAIN device standard (as just about all scanners do), things really are plug-and-play. (Not sure whether a scanner is macOS-compatible? Check the system requirements on the scanner’s box or on the manufacturer’s website.)

If you have the scanner manufacturer’s installation disc, go ahead and use it. Most scanners don’t require specialized drivers, however, so even that orphan model that you picked up from Uncle Milton last year should work (if it’s recognized by macOS). It doesn’t hurt to check the manufacturer’s website to see whether any of the software has been updated since the disc was produced.

If macOS doesn’t directly support your older scanner, a third-party application maybe able to help. Get thee hence to Hamrick Software at https://www.hamrick.com, and download a copy of the latest version of VueScan. This great scanning application supports thousands of scanner models, including several that don’t work with Monterey otherwise. At $50, it’s a world-class bargain to boot.

Ready to go? Make sure that your scanner is powered on and connected to your iMac (and that you load a page or photograph to scan). If your scanner’s installation disc provided a proprietary scanning application, I recommend that you use that application to test your scanner. In fact, it’s Mark’s Maxim time!

If your printer or scanner includes bundled applications, try them!

Sure, macOS has the Printers & Scanners pane within System Preferences for printers and the Image Capture application for scanners and digital cameras, but these tools are bare-bones compared with the print manager and image acquisition software that comes bundled with your hardware. I turn to the built-in hardware-handling stuff that comes with macOS only when I don’t have anything better.

Hey, I’m not saying that anything’s wrong with Image Capture (which is in your Applications folder, in case you need to use it). But don’t expect Image Capture to support any specialized features offered by your scanner, such as one-button email or web publishing. You have to use the application especially designed for your manufacturer and model to take advantage of any extras that it offers. In summation: It pays to try all the available scanning software that works with your hardware so that you can use the scanning application that best matches your desired feature set!

For alternatives, many image-editing applications (such as Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements) may offer more scanning features than Image Capture.

Using Photo Booth

Many Apple Switchers and first-time owners quickly notice the tiny square lens and LED light at the top of the iMac’s svelte frame. What gives?

Mystery solved, good reader: That’s the lens of your iMac’s built-in FaceTime HD camera, which allows you to capture video in iMovie, video chat with FaceTime, or snap a quick, fun series of photos or video clips via the Photo Booth application that comes with macOS.

Yes, I know we all have a love-hate relationship with video conferencing as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but how do you put that FaceTime HD camera to work? I answer that question in the next two sections!

The FaceTime HD camera’s indicator light glows green whenever you’re taking a snapshot or recording video … which, when you think about it, is A Good Thing (especially if you prefer chatting at home in Leisure Mode).

If you need a quick picture of yourself for use on your web page, or perhaps your user account icon needs an update to show off your new haircut, use Photo Booth to capture images. Although today’s digital cameras can produce a much-higher-quality photo, you can’t beat the built-in convenience of Photo Booth for that quick snapshot!

To snap an image in Photo Booth, follow these steps:

1. Launch Photo Booth from the Spotlight box or from Launchpad.

   To try things out in full-screen mode, choose View ⇒   Enter Full Screen.

2. Choose to take one image, four quick photos as a group, or digital video.

   The three buttons in the bottom-left corner of the Photo Booth window allow you to switch among taking one photo, four photos in a row (arranged as a square group, like an arcade photo booth), or a movie clip.

3. (Optional) Click the Effects button to choose an effect you’d like to apply to your image.

   Photo Booth displays a screen of thumbnail preview images so that you can see how each effect changes the photo. To move through the thumbnail screens, click the Previous and Next arrow buttons that appear at the bottom of the window.

   You can produce some of the simple effects you may be familiar with from Photoshop, such as a black-and-white image or a fancy colored-pencil filter, but you can also play with some mind-blowing distortion effects and even very convincing faux thermal and X-ray cameras!

   You can always launch your favorite image editor afterward to use a filter or effect on a photo (such as the effects available in the Photos application), but Photo Booth can apply these effects automatically as soon as you take the picture.

4. (Optional) Click a thumbnail to apply the desired effect.

   When you choose an effect, Photo Booth automatically closes the Effects display.

   To return the display to normal, click the Normal thumbnail, which appears in the center. (Um, that would be Paul Lynde’s spot, for those of you old enough to remember Hollywood Squares.)

5. Click the red Camera button.

   The image (or video clip) appears in the filmstrip at the bottom of the window.

Photo Booth keeps a copy of all the images and clips you take in the filmstrip so that you can use them later. After you click a photo or film clip in the filmstrip, the familiar Share button appears in the bottom-right corner of the window, inviting you to take any of a series of actions, including:

• Sending the photo in an email or as a Messages attachment
• Saving the photo directly to Photos
• Using the photo to create a new Notes entry
• Using the image as your macOS user account icon

To delete an image from the Photo Booth filmstrip, click the offending photo and then click the X button that appears in the top-left corner of the thumbnail.

Conversing with FaceTime

With Apple’s FaceTime technology, you can video-chat with owners of iOS devices and Macs, and if they can run the FaceTime app, they’re guaranteed to have the right video hardware. But wait: With new features in Monterey, you can even invite folks without an Apple device to join you!

You can use either a Wi-Fi or cellular connection to use FaceTime, and your iMac requires either a wired or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet.

To launch FaceTime, click the Launchpad icon on the Dock, and click the jaunty-looking video camera icon. (Naturally, you can also use Spotlight to launch the application; or, if the FaceTime icon appears on your Dock, it’s just one click away.) The first time you use the application, you have to enter your Apple ID and your email address. The folks you chat with on the other end use that same email address to call you via FaceTime. (You can call iPhone owners by using their telephone numbers.)

After you sign in, you can initiate a call with any contact by clicking the New FaceTime button near the top of the FaceTime window and typing the desired name, email address, or phone number. Click the email or telephone number that FaceTime should use, click the FaceTime button at the bottom of the dialog, and then the connection process begins.

Apple isn’t satisfied with providing access to your Contacts list, however. You can use the Recent Calls list (which appears along the left side of the window) to choose a contact whom you’ve called or attempted to call, or who has called you within the recent past. Entries in the Recent Calls list are sorted by date, starting with the most recent. As you hover your cursor over an entry in the list, you can click the Video icon that appears to start a video FaceTime call with that person. Click the Info icon (which looks like the letter i in a circle) to display that person’s Contact information or start an audio-only FaceTime call.

To start a group FaceTime call, click the New FaceTime button and click more than one of the suggested Contacts. Alternatively, click in the To field and type the first letter or two of each name to search your Contacts; then click the desired person. Click FaceTime to begin the session, with each person appearing in their own video tile within the FaceTime window.

When the call is accepted, you see a large video window with a smaller picture-in-picture display. The video of the other person(s) fills the large window, and the video that you’re sending appears in the small display. Click the End icon to end the FaceTime call.

If you’d like to chat with folks who don’t have an Apple device, or you’d like to send an invite through the web, click the Create Link button at the top of the Recent Calls list. FaceTime creates a link that you can send through Messages or Mail (or you can copy the link to your Clipboard and paste it into other apps). After you’ve sent the link, click the FaceTime Link entry in the Recent Call list and click Join. Those wanting to join the conversation should open their web browsers and paste that link to connect; you’ll have a chance to approve each person before they’re allowed to join.

Sending Instant Messages Across the Network

“If I can FaceTime or send an email, why use Messages?” When family and friends want to communicate with you by using their computers, they could certainly use Mail or FaceTime — but video and email may not be convenient (or as fast), and you’d miss that communication. Messages allows you to plug into the popular world of Internet instant messaging, which many Mac owners used before through various sources, like AOL or Google, or iMessages (between Apple computers and devices).

Sending a text message to another person is practically instantaneous — hence the name — and you can switch to an audio chat (sound only) or a video chat (using FaceTime) if the other person has a compatible device.

When you first run Messages, you’ll be prompted to use the Messages account that you’ve created on your iPhone or iPad. If you don’t have either of those devices, you can create a Messages account using your Apple ID. (Messages creates an iMessage instant messaging account, which you can use to send and receive text messages between your Mac and iOS devices like your iPhone and iPad.) If you’ve already set up SMS and MMS text messaging on your iPhone, those messages are also shown in Messages, and you can reply to them within the application as well!

Your iMac must be signed in to the same iCloud account as your iPhone to send and receive SMS or MMS messages.

To send a new message, click the Create New Message icon in the Messages toolbar, or press Command+N. Messages prompts you to type a name from your Contacts list that contains an instant message address, or enter an email address or telephone number if the recipient isn’t in your Contacts list. Now type your text in the entry box at the bottom of the window.

If you prefer using the Siri voice assistant, you can actually click the Siri icon in the Finder toolbar and say “Send a message to” followed by the person’s name and the message text.

If you want to use bold or italic text, highlight the text and then press ⌘  +B for Bold (B) or ⌘  +I for Italic (I). You can also add an emoji (a symbol that conveys emotion; in techspeak, also called a smiley) to your text: Click the text where you want the emoji to appear, click the Smiley button to the right of the text entry field, and then choose the proper smiley from the list.

To send a file (such as a photo or a Pages document) to someone during a chat, simply drag the file into the message area.

When your message is perfect, press Return to send it. You’ll note that Messages creates an entry (called a conversation) in the Sidebar at the left. You can click another conversation at any time to switch to that message exchange, allowing you to communicate with several people (or groups) at one time. (My youngest daughter can keep track of a dozen conversations simultaneously! Luckily, I’m not that popular.)

Did someone just send you a photo, website link, or News item in a message? You’ll find them in the new Shared With You heading within several Apple applications, including Photos, News, TV, Podcasts, and Safari. The heading appears in the Sidebar within these applications, making it ridiculously easy to jump directly to that image, visit that website, or read that News item, all with a single click. Note that each Shared With You entry is marked with the name of the person who sent it.