Take Control of Upgrading to El Capitan cover

As has been my custom since 2003, when Apple released Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, I’ve written a book that helps people upgrade to the latest version of OS X. This morning, Apple released OS X 10.11 El Capitan, and this afternoon, Take Control published version 1.1 of my book Take Control of Upgrading to El Capitan.

Version 1.0, which was published a few weeks ago, covered the process of preparing for the upgrade. The new version (which is a free update to anyone who bought version 1.0) is roughly twice as long; it adds step-by-step instructions for downloading and running the installer and dealing with all the little surprises that may come up thereafter.

This version has been “done” for some time, but as I ran through a few test installations of the final version of El Capitan today, I noticed some changes from the GM Candidate release I’d been working with, so I updated the manuscript in order to give readers the most up-to-date instructions. If, as time goes on, I find out about any other serious anomalies, I’ll update the book yet again.

If you’re thinking about upgrading to El Capitan from an older version of OS X (even if it’s as old as 10.6 Snow Leopard), this book will help you do so safely, smoothly, and confidently.

Here’s my MacVoices interview about the book:

Take Control of Apple Mail cover

But that’s not all! Take Control has also published a greatly expanded and revised third edition of my book Take Control of Apple Mail, with 24 pages of new material. This book covers Apple’s Mail app in both El Capitan and iOS 9.

I’m happy to say that the new versions of Mail are significantly faster and less buggy than the ones they replace! Even so, Mail certainly has a lot of quirks, hidden features, and confusing user interface elements. If you want to learn Mail inside-out—from the snazzy new features to background on things like IMAP, POP, and SMTP—this book is for you.

Besides covering Mail’s most important features, the book explores ways to extend Mail with plug-ins and other third-party software, not to mention AppleScript and Automator. It even helps you become a better correspondent and bring order to an overflowing inbox.

Once again, I spoke to Chuck Joiner about this new book:

I hope you’ll enjoy these two new Take Control books. While you’re reading them, I’ll be working feverishly on the next couple of titles in my queue—Troubleshooting Your Mac: A Joe On Tech Guide and a new edition of Take Control of iCloud. See you when I come up for air!