2. Useful Tips

      • Apple Mail : HTML signatures with externally hosted images

        To set an html signature:

        1. Create a new signature in Mail, can be blank > attach the signature to whichever account you want to use it with
        2. Quit Mail
        3. Navigate to your home folder > Library > Mail > Signatures > note which signature has just been created
        4. Write the html code or even just a valid CSS file with style applied to the element “body” > save it as signature.html on your desktop
        5. Open Safari > File > Open > Desktop > signature.html
        6. File > Save As > Home > Library > Mail > Signatures > click the signature which was created today > the dialog box should automatically name the file you’re about save exactly the same as the signature you clicked on
        7. Open Mail > New Mail > check the signature to make sure it’s working

        You can use the html or css:background property to embed an image hosted on a remote server but most email clients will automatically block this so don’t count on it being seen by everyone.

        This can remove the need to embed your logo as an attachment but it will be blocked by the majority of email clients, it’s probably most useful for styling with CSS.

      • iTunes sync error with iPhone/iPad/iPod : required file or folder cannot be found

        Syncing an iPhone to iTunes 10.1 I was today hit with the error message “the required file cannot be found” when syncing pictures from iPhoto. I traced the problem to the iPod Photo Cache within the iPhoto library, removed the cache folder and iTunes was able to sync again. The procedure is as follows in Finder :

        1. Go menu > Home > Pictures > iPhoto Library (or wherever your iPhoto library is if you’ve moved it)
        2. Right click the iPhoto Library > Show Package Contents
        3. Drag the iPod Photo Cache folder to the Desktop
        4. Open iTunes and Sync