Other pesky problems
From Bluetooth bothers to stuck software, try these fixes for common issues
An annoying scenario is where your mouse or keyboard isn’t working, so you can’t operate
macOS to fix the problem. Fortunately, any USB keyboard or mouse should work. If you have just one, you can still manage. (Apple’s Magic Keyboard works over USB using its Lightning cable.)
Most features are accessible with a mouse. To type, go to System Prefs’ Keyboard pane, turn on the keyboard and character viewers, and use the menu bar to open the former and start typing. If you have only a keyboard, press ç+[ spacebar] to access things by name. Type ‘keyboard’ to open that preferences pane, then look up navigation shortcuts.
≈+@ moves to the menus; ≈+* to the icons; the arrow keys navigate; and
® chooses an item. You may need to hold ƒ and other modifiers; ^ means ≈.
Ensure Full Keyboard Access is set to All Controls (≈+& toggles this). Now press † to reach the required control, then [spacebar] to click or tick it.
Unresponsive Finder
Hold ≈+å, click Finder’s Dock icon and choose Relaunch. Apps are generally unaffected, but file transfers will terminate immediately.
Gatekeeper blocks an app
In System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General, you can opt to allow only App Store apps or those from all ‘identified developers’. When you double-click an app downloaded from another source, macOS may say it can’t be opened. If you’re sure the app is legit and trust its source, ≈- click it and choose Open for an option to run it anyway.
Bluetooth ache
If your Mac stops recognising a Bluetooth device, ≈- click the device in System Preferences > Bluetooth and try disconnecting and reconnecting it, or removing and pairing it with your Mac again.
If that fails – or Bluetooth stops working altogether, which is indicated by the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar turning into a greyed-out zigzag line – try restarting your Mac.
Finally, hold ß+å and click the Bluetooth icon in the menu bar (which you can make visible in the Bluetooth preferences pane). You’ll see a Debug submenu, which includes an option to reset the Bluetooth module. This temporarily disconnects your mouse and keyboard, if they’re wireless. Wait for the process to finish and they should reconnect.
An optical disc is stuck
If your Mac has a CD, DVD or Blu-ray drive and a disc won’t eject, hold down the mouse or trackpad button, or the Eject key or ™ on your keyboard, when starting up your Mac. If the disc is properly stuck in an iMac, Apple has a trick, but it’s at your own risk: see bit.ly/ejectcdmac. We recommend taking your Mac to a Genius Bar or service provider.
Back to My Mac
iCloud’s feature for remotely accessing your Macs is handy, but needs a few boxes ticking. If it fails, see bit.ly/bttmreqs (and the troubleshooting link at the bottom). Google’s Chrome Remote Desktop is a surprisingly simple substitute: see bit.ly/chrmrem.