• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Mark Ratledge .com

writer and wordpress consultant in montana

  • Home
  • About
  • Articles & Columns
    • Points in Case
    • Slackjaw
    • McSweeney’s
    • Medium
    • Random Tech
    • The Buffalo Post
    • Words on WordPress
    • Rocks and Bones
    • Mac Q & A on Macs and macOS
    • State of the Arts Tech Talk
  • WordPress
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Mac Q & A on Macs and macOS / Mac Q & A: Make your MacBook Location Aware

Mac Q & A: Make your MacBook Location Aware

April 25, 2010 by Mark Ratledge

My Mac Q & A Question: I had this idea that I’d like my MacBook to automatically change my default printer when I’m either at work or at home. Is there a way to get that to work? S.L, Missoula

There is a way to make that work; the broader term is making your Macbook be “location aware,” and there are several programs that will do that for you.

What they all do – a bit differently among them all – is monitor the location that you set in your Network Preferences (selected under the Apple Menu) and change other settings on your MacBook in relation to the network you’re using.

So if you change your location setting (or if it changes automatically if you have it set to “Automatic”), then you can have the Location program change other things for you, like your default printer, start a program like a word processor, change a backup system, change Mail settings, etc.

This can work well if you use a laptop often between home and work, so you can have printers and other things change automatically when your location changes.

There are three programs available now, one free and two that are $20-30 to use. (There are a few others out there, but they are fairly out of date).

MarcoPolo – Context-aware computing for Mac OS X is free and open source, but has a few problems working with Snow Leopard; there is a patched version that works with Snow Leopard, though. MarcoPolo is the most versatile among the three, but also the most complex to set up.

There are two other “paid” programs that work. NetworkLocation – Manage settings on your Mac is $29 and works with Snow Leopard. But I liked Locations the best. It’s a Preference Pane and is easy to use and works well. Download it and it will install in your Preference Panes and will also be available from your menu bar. It has a seven day demo period before you need to pay $19 for it.


Related Posts:
  • Mac Q & A: Update an Old MacBook
  • Mac Q & A: Right Clicking with a MacBook
  • Mac Q & A: Archive and Install with Snow Leopard
  • Mac Q & A: Delete Preference Files to Fix Problems
  • Mac Q & A: Adding More Memory to a MacBook

Primary Sidebar

Stack Exchange
profile for markratledge on Stack Exchange, a network of free, community-driven Q&A sites
I'm a "Top Rated" consultant on Upwork

Copyright © 2023 · Mark Ratledge Privacy and Terms of Use