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Micah Sargent (6:50)

You may also see a couple other options here that are not appearing in this kind of default setup Drivers, which of course are custom drivers to give apps and in particular hardware access to system functionalities. So if you are using a tool that needs drivers, you would see that information here and Endpoint Security Extensions, which enhance security functionality by monitoring system events for potentially malicious activity. Now I'm using Apple's words for this so that you can kind of understand how Apple describes it. But essentially what that does is if you have a tool that's specifically integrated with the system to look for changes to the system and then let you know if something has installed something in a location on your Mac, that's what that tool is for. File Providers I think these are very cool. It's essentially a way for you to see local and remote files whenever you're in Finder. So if you click on Finder and you move down to locations, that is where you will see this pop up. So in this case I can click the eye and I see Corsync and I see Finder Helper. This is for Google Drive in one case and Adobe in the other case. And so these help the system to be able to display those external options of accessing files. So here you might see Dropbox, you might see Google Drive, you might see your Adobe Creative Cloud as part of the file providers Location Finder extensions are those basic tools that Let you do different things with your files. Now this will depend on the type of file. So if you don't see the option, then it means that that file is not able to do one of these things. But if I turn this off, rotate left markup and trim and just keep Create PDF, Convert Image and Remove background, I'll click Done here. Now when I go to one of these files and I go to Quick Actions, you'll see that those other options have been removed. So I need to go back into here and choose Finder and turn those back. Now you can create new Finder actions by Finder extensions, I guess is the best way to put it, by using the Automator tool. And that will allow you to do things like create custom. And I actually have an earlier episode of Hands on Mac that kind of walks you through the process of doing that. This is how Apple describes those Finder extensions Enhance search and organization functionalities for files, documents, images and more. And then of course you turn on the extensions that you want from the Quick Actions menu on the desktop and in the Finder and also in that Finder Preview pane. So if you have Preview turned on, we'll go up to View in while we have Finder in the front and we choose Show Preview. Now if I were to select this image, the options down at the bottom are available to me per the options that I've chosen in that Finder menu. Next is an option called Media. So it says these add new controls for playback, editing and sharing. Extensions can also be used for playing various formats. So if you have special files that wouldn't otherwise play on your Mac, then that is where you would see the Media option appear. That gives you access to files that wouldn't otherwise media files that wouldn't otherwise be able to be read. And so that is the reason why Media would by chance open on your Mac. I have to tell you, I wish that I had a tool that would allow me specifically to sort apps that I could use based on what extensions they have. Because it would be cool to see exactly how different apps kind of handle this. Network Extensions is another one you might see here. This is especially if you are working with a VPN or a content filter. You will see that Network Extensions option appear where you can then go in and say no, I don't want that network extension turned on. Or yes, I do Photos Projects. So this is the ability to add photo projects to your Mac. This is specific to the Photos app. There are apps that have integrated with the Photos app that let you create things like books and, you know, canvas prints and mailers. And so you will see in this extensions menu those specific apps that you've downloaded that in many cases don't have an app of their own, but are an extension of the Photos app itself. That's Photos Photo Projects. Photos Editing is another option that is separate from that, where these are apps that are able to edit photos within the Photos app. So in the Photos app, you're able to make edits via markup, but you're also able to make edits via pixelmator Pro if you have that app installed. So if you have Photos apps installed, those are going to be your options to do that, both in the Photos app and then of course, you know, just doing those direct edits to those files. So you can open the Photos app, you can say, I want to edit with the pixelmator Pro app. And what it does is it tries to give you that view within the Photos app. So you don't have to leave the Photos app. Oftentimes it'll be kind of a slimmed down, trimmed down version of the app that you're using. Quick look extensions. Very cool. What they allow you to do is Quick look, of course, is the ability to select a file. We've talked about Quick look before. I can select a file, hit Spacebar, and that will show me a quick version of that file. If you're working with files that would otherwise not be able to be viewed because your Mac is not able to display that, this will instead allow you to see those files. So a great example of this would be maybe like a 3D file that is specific to an app that you use to create a 3D file or a custom file. If you're using an app that you know creates custom vectors, for example, and your Mac would otherwise not be able to display them, a Quick look extension created by an app would allow the Mac to display those simply by hitting the space bar. So the options that are installed here include InDesign, so an InDesign file could be displayed with that space bar. Bear the notes app. Cleanshot 10, which is an app for capturing screenshots and screen recordings, drafts the app fantastical to see an event very easily. Keep it, which is an app for collecting files and links. News Explorer, another kind of RSI parcel, which is for delivery. So quick looking at delivery is very easy to do. The Tips app from Apple itself so that you can quick look that information. All of those are Quick look options, and toggling those on or off will give you the ability to see or not see certain files in with a simple press of the space bar. Sharing. This is kind of the big one. This is the one where you're going to see the most options. In fact if you look Here it shows several options and 30 more. Sharing is your share sheet. So what pops up in the share sheet on the Mac is going to depend on what you have turned on. Here there are two options. Well actually there are a couple of options that are default extensions and those are not able to be turned off. So here you'll see them actually grayed out. Airdrop Mail and messages are all untoggable. But importantly you are able to reorganize these options. If you find yourself doing something more or less then you may want to move that to the top like copying a link at the top. Airdrop Yes, I don't use the reading list in Safari Mail. I don't use that app very much. But messages often is something that I use. I might save it to my notes so I can bring that up. Adding to photos is something I often do. Opening in news rarely. So I might turn that off. Reminders I would turn off. And then you can also see the other options here as well. I would turn on shortcuts but you know, add to photomator add to an app called Play Annotate it, contact suggestions. So of course those are, you know who you might send it to. You can have that on or off whether you bring it into Drafts or Freeform if you pin it to the screen if it's this is specific to clean shot, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And then I can click done to move out of that. So your sharing thing is going to be probably the most jam packed section and that's what you'd find there. A few other options that are available here as well include smart card readers if you are this is especially common if you are using a, you know, machine that belongs to a business where you use a smart card to authenticate yourself. Those extensions will appear here and allow you to manage if you have access to this smart cards and certificates to authenticate and to complete tasks across apps. So knowing how those smart card extensions work and being able to make changes to those is all available via that Smart card readers extension Spotlight which is showing up here. These enhance search functionality and in many cases what it means is that these apps are giving Spotlight access to their own databases. So if I click the eye icon I can see that the keepit app is saying hey look here as well, when you're searching for files, pixelmator Pro, look here. When you're searching for files, transmit look here and Xcode look here. And then also in Spotlight, being able to display the content from these apps where otherwise it would not appear. So it's kind of a mix of quick look and then search together saying, check these places. I'll feed you all of that information and let you look for it here. But also I will give you the knowledge that you need to be able to display to translate what's being shown so that you can show it to the user. And of course, toggling those off would make it so that Spotlight does not look in those places. And last but not least, this is becoming an increasingly uncommon one. It is Touch bar. If your Mac has a touch bar, then you can turn on the extensions that you want to access from it. So this is the ability to say, you know, these are the extensions that I want to be able to view in my touch bar whenever I am in a specific app. So, dear friends, dear listeners, dear viewers, that is a look at extensions, how to manage extensions, and I think more importantly, just to understand what each of these extension types are, there are loads of different apps that make use of these extensions and you may see some and not see others because again, it all depends on what apps you have installed and the extensions for which of which they make use. So that is a look at extensions in macOS Sequoia. Of course it is. You know, it's. It's also something that you would want to know for previous versions of Mac OS as well. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Hands On Mac. Of course you can always email me if you have questions. Micahwit TV and I look forward to being back next week with you for another episode of Hands On Mac. Bye bye.

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