If you’re a Mac user then you might be aware of reports that the new OS X Mavericks is laced with a number of bugs.  This news isn’t actually all that shocking, as new software is rarely flawless – there will always be something that needs to be fixed. As far as updates to popular operating systems and programs go, users often complain that certain features have been removed, but in many cases it’s not that there’s anything missing, but rather, that the feature has just been moved, and can easily be unearthed with a little digging.

Below are a few helpful fixes to some of the “missing” OS X features that users cannot live without:

Text Expander:

This feature didn’t go away, it was just hidden.  To fix this, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Accessibility.  Then in the small window with the description “Allow the apps below to control your computer,” choose the TextExpanderHelper.app and TextExpander.app.

Maps:

There’s a new feature in Mavericks that allows you to transfer directions from your Mac to your iOS device, but some have found that this feature is not working for them.  The fix is simple: sign out of iCloud on your Mac via the iCloud System Preferences pane, then sign back in.  But, there are a few more things you need to do, such as conforming every specific iCloud synchronization you use, which data to keep and delete, and retyping the admin password for “Find My Mac” if it’s enabled.  Once everything is done, you will no longer have problems sending directions from your Mac to your iOS device.

Mail:

Some users are having problems with their Mail app – specifically, it’s failing to remember their iCloud password after they update to Mavericks.  It keeps asking for the iCloud password even though they’ve entered it multiple times.  To fix this, go to Preferences, click on the Accounts tab, and then the Advanced tab.  Look for the Authentication box and if you are encountering this problem, it will be set to “Password.”  Click on the box and select “Apple Token.”  Apple uses Tokens for a secure way to access iCloud services without the user having to use a password.

External Drive:

Some Mac users report losing data from their external hard drives after updating.  This is most likely due to some kind of hardware incompatibility, and so you have to check third party external drives to see if they have an update for Mavericks to solve the issue. But just to be safe, remember to back your data before updating anything, just in case ;-)

Preferences cached:

In Mavericks, the default system is caching preferences system-wide to improve performance of the user defaults API, which means if you do not customize this, you will not encounter problems. But if you edit any preference .plist file with a text or .plist editor, the cache will not be flushed even after restarting the program as it retains the old preferences.  It will take some time for the new preferences to kick in.  You need to log out then sign in again to fix this or make changes via the defaults command in Terminal to make the changes take place immediately.

Movie preview:

For those encountering problems with their .mov files no longer displaying previews in Quick Look, it’s because the movie codes are not permitted to be played.  You have to use an older version of QuickTime Pro for this as there is no fix, other than converting the file to make it compatible.

For more on Mavericks, check out our Tips and tricks for using OS X Mavericks.