Q
The only problem I have encountered
after upgrading to macOS Mojave is
that the flags I use for messages in
Mail vanished for a moment, then returned
with colour names appended. How can I turn
off those words?
by DUNCAN BRACKA
Some people who have upgraded
to Mojave have found that its new
version of Mail does this, because it
changes the column width, which gives the
flags column the space to reveal colour names.
To make the names vanish, at the top ofMac software GENIUS TIPS
the column drag the right-hand divider
leftwards to narrow the column’s width until
only the coloured flags show. There’s no
control to turn off the written descriptions.
If that doesn’t help or won’t stick, open
Mail with ß held down, then quit it and start
your Mac up in safe mode (bit.ly/mfsafemd),
leave it in that mode for a couple of minutes,
then restart and enter macOS as normal.
A few people have also reported that
some previously flagged messages lose their
flags in Mojave; there doesn’t seem much that
can be done about that, apart from applying
those flags again.Mac software
quick-fire
questionsWhy are tag names showing in Mail?
How do I add a
digital signature to
a Word document?
> Microsoft Word
doesn’t have built-in
support for proper
digital signatures on
the Mac, only images of
signatures through its
Signature Line feature.
If you must have a full
digital signature, you’ll
need a web-based
service like DocuSign,
which costs upwards
of £8 per month.What can I do
with a .ps file?
> That file type contains
pure PostScript data,
not EPSF or PDF.
By default, it should
open in Preview, which
automatically converts
it to PDF, ready to save.
Few other apps can
now read or convert
PostScript like this.macformat.com @macformatQ
I’ve used minor fixes to keep
Adobe Photoshop CS5 and
CS6 running on High Sierra,
but they don’t work on my new iMac
with the same macOS. What can I do?
by KENNETH THORPEA
The most common problem
with trying to use old versions
of apps from the final few
releases of Creative Suite is that they
require Apple’s Java 6 legacy runtime
to be installed first. That’s still available
from bit.ly/mflgcjava, and officially
supports High Sierra, but not Mojave.
The snag is that these compatibility
issues grow with every major update tomacOS, and at some time this year
those versions are likely to become
unusable when macOS 10.15 is released.
There are two workarounds that can
be used for any legacy software though.
As detailed in Genius Tips in MF #337,
older Macs can be set up to boot into
different versions of macOS. It isn’t
easy, and requires discipline to ensure
that the two versions of the system
never come into contact.More practical would be to run an
older macOS in a virtual machine using
a paid-for tool like Parallels Desktop
(parallels.com), and install legacy apps
there. On a fast new Mac with ample
memory, that may work acceptably.
If you won’t or can’t do that, it’s time
either to bite the bullet and pay for an
Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, or
to switch to a different image editor
like Affinity Photo.What’s the future of Adobe Creative Suite 6?
Rival image editors like Affinity Photo
can give Photoshop a run for its money,
and don’t require paying subscription fees.To hide colour names shown with flags
in the classic version of Mail’s message
view, adjust its column width.