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Apple today seeded the sixth beta of macOS Ventura to its public beta testing group, allowing non-developers to test the new macOS Ventura operating system ahead of its release. The sixth beta comes following the fifth public beta and it corresponds with eighth developer beta released earlier this week.

clock-weather-macos-ventura.jpeg

Public beta testers can download the macOS 13 Ventura update from the Software Update section of the System Preferences app after installing the proper profile from Apple's beta software website.

macOS Ventura introduces Stage Manager, a new multi-tasking option for focusing on a task while having other apps waiting in the wings. Stage Manager puts your main app front and center, tucking your other apps to the side for quick access.

Continuity Camera allows you to use your iPhone as a webcam for your Mac, offering much better camera quality than the built-in Mac camera. Apple is building special stands to hold the iPhone with a Mac, and there are neat features like Desk View, which uses the Ultra Wide lens.

Handoff now works with FaceTime so you can answer calls on the Mac and then transfer them over to another device, and Messages is gaining undo, edit, and mark as unread features. SharePlay now works in Messages in addition to FaceTime, and the Mail app has been overhauled. Search is more relevant, emails can be scheduled, and there's even an option to undo an email for up to 10 seconds after it's sent.

Apple brought the Weather and Clock apps to the Mac, redesigned System Preferences and renamed it System Settings, and added support for Shared Tab Groups. Passwords are being replaced with more secure Passkeys in iOS 16 and macOS Ventura, and there are updates to Spotlight, Visual Lookup, Live Text, and more.

There are a ton of other features in macOS Ventura, and we have a full rundown available in our dedicated macOS Ventura roundup.

Article Link: Apple Seeds Sixth Public Beta of macOS 13 Ventura
 
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Downloading the public betas to my M1 iPad Air 5G and my M1 Mac Mini now... I can't wait until the actual releases are made in a bit. I hopped on the beta bandwagon due to the expanded focus modes - they actually made it possible to separate my work and home lives without having to use separate accounts on my Mac. (I am a freelance writer working from home.)

This makes me curious about Apple's plans for iWork. I dumped Office for iWork '09 and have been a fanboy ever since. Paired with Scrivener and the occasional forays with Google Docs, I have never needed to use Microsoft Word. Though I will admit I miss the old full-screen mode from Pages '09. The new one just isn't the same.
 
Downloading the public betas to my M1 iPad Air 5G and my M1 Mac Mini now... I can't wait until the actual releases are made in a bit. I hopped on the beta bandwagon due to the expanded focus modes - they actually made it possible to separate my work and home lives without having to use separate accounts on my Mac. (I am a freelance writer working from home.)

Did you have any issues with Focus modes previously?
I tried to use them because I genuinely find the idea great - but no matter what I set up it always told my partner that I had notifications silenced.
Which I didn’t. In fact, she’s set up one of the few people who get through even when I’m on “Sleep”.
 
I'm not super excited about most of the features in Ventura but the (unexciting) mail ones seem the most useful: better searching and ability to undo a send. I just think 10 seconds is not enough time to undo. I would prefer they let the user set the time available to cancel a sent email (and adding a corresponding delay in sending), I'd want it more like 30-90 seconds and I wouldn't mind if my emails got delayed by that much.
 
Did you have any issues with Focus modes previously?
I tried to use them because I genuinely find the idea great - but no matter what I set up it always told my partner that I had notifications silenced.
Which I didn’t. In fact, she’s set up one of the few people who get through even when I’m on “Sleep”.
The main problem was with email. I have separate email accounts for work, personal, and junk. Beforehand I could only figure out how to block the mail app entirely, which wasn't ideal considering I needed to get messages from clients while working. Ventura allows me to specify the email accounts and people to craft focus modes perfect for the situation. For instance, I have my work mode set up for between 8-12 and 1-6 with a separate lunch mode from 12-1. I get notifications of personal emails during lunch but not after, and business emails are silenced during lunch. Junk isn't available until after I clock out at six when it and personal get unblocked, though with business getting blocked.

Similar thing with my cellphone. Outside of work hours, all my business contacts get shunted to voicemail or silenced until the start of the next day. While at work, I only allow clients and immediate family (my husband and one of my brothers) to call/text me.

For your problem - it may be worth it to dump all of the focus modes on your devices and start from scratch. I found that sharing focuses between devices can be *interesting* at times, with one device saying/doing one thing and the rest doing something else. So dump it and write your own from scratch!
 
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have they fixed Stage Manager yet? It's so annoying Preview being tabbed by it, and app centric notifications also getting tabbed by Stage Manager.
 
Going to download in my Ventura VM tonight. Currently on Beta 3 (I think). I've had weird download issues in the VM in the past where System Preferences freezes and I have to restart the download, so hopefully it works!
 
I have yet to upgrade from Big Sur to Monterrey. It’s gonna be a while before I upgrade to Ventura. Based on all the bugs iOS 16 GM is experiencing, it’s safe to say, Ventura will have its share.
 
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The main problem was with email. I have separate email accounts for work, personal, and junk. Beforehand I could only figure out how to block the mail app entirely, which wasn't ideal considering I needed to get messages from clients while working. Ventura allows me to specify the email accounts and people to craft focus modes perfect for the situation. For instance, I have my work mode set up for between 8-12 and 1-6 with a separate lunch mode from 12-1. I get notifications of personal emails during lunch but not after, and business emails are silenced during lunch. Junk isn't available until after I clock out at six when it and personal get unblocked, though with business getting blocked.

Similar thing with my cellphone. Outside of work hours, all my business contacts get shunted to voicemail or silenced until the start of the next day. While at work, I only allow clients and immediate family (my husband and one of my brothers) to call/text me.

For your problem - it may be worth it to dump all of the focus modes on your devices and start from scratch. I found that sharing focuses between devices can be *interesting* at times, with one device saying/doing one thing and the rest doing something else. So dump it and write your own from scratch!

Yeah, that sounds familiar 😅
Sounds worth a go trying it from scratch. Thanks!
 
I'm not super excited about most of the features in Ventura but the (unexciting) mail ones seem the most useful: better searching and ability to undo a send. I just think 10 seconds is not enough time to undo. I would prefer they let the user set the time available to cancel a sent email (and adding a corresponding delay in sending), I'd want it more like 30-90 seconds and I wouldn't mind if my emails got delayed by that much.
You can choose between 10, 20 or 30 seconds.
 
I have yet to upgrade from Big Sur to Monterrey. It’s gonna be a while before I upgrade to Ventura. Based on all the bugs iOS 16 GM is experiencing, it’s safe to say, Ventura will have its share.
I'm hanging onto Catalina but got the Studio Display recently and didn't realize it had SOFTWARE requirements lol. In the past a display was just a display and it was a hardware requirement only.

So I want to make one big jump to ventura. Will probably get on board with the first gm, and hope the .1 comes out quickly.
 
Have they either fixed or improved system preferences/settings?
I haven't noticed any changes so far. The thing I miss the most is the Sleep/Wake functionality under the Energy Saver. Now I lost control over when my iMac wakes up. Probably can be controlled from Terminal command but if they don't add it by October release I will have to ask a nice support person to change this for me.
 
Haven't installed yet, but download is going fine.

@ONJ I agree, System Settings is an absolute mess. I get it, the old System Prefs was a 20 year old design, but really?! At least work on it a little bit more before even releasing a beta
 
have they fixed Stage Manager yet? It's so annoying Preview being tabbed by it, and app centric notifications also getting tabbed by Stage Manager.
Not only have they not fixed it (unless this is intentional) but when I just updated my M1 MaBook Pro, it's turned off and you can't turn it on. Anyone else?
 
Have they either fixed or improved system preferences/settings?
Have they either fixed or improved system preferences/settings?
Yes, they've cleaned it up and are adding some shading to separate lines. They're never going back, but as MacSparky has speculated, they simply couldn't get it completely done before release, so they're doing what they can and counting on next year's MacOS Weed (or whatever) will have a much better version.
 
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I'm hanging onto Catalina but got the Studio Display recently and didn't realize it had SOFTWARE requirements lol. In the past a display was just a display and it was a hardware requirement only.

So I want to make one big jump to ventura. Will probably get on board with the first gm, and hope the .1 comes out quickly.
My Studio Display finally got its Firmware update I was wanting for a couple of months now just last week after I updated to the previous public beta. I suspect earlier betas weren't stable enough to do a firmware update on any hardware.
 
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