macOS Catalina gives you more of everything you love about Mac. Experience music, TV, and podcasts in three all-new Mac apps. Enjoy your favorite iPad apps now on your Mac. Extend your workspace and expand your creativity with iPad and Apple Pencil. And discover smart new features in the apps you use every day. Now you can take everything you do above and beyond.
Check compatibility
If you're using one of these computers with OS X Mavericks or later,* you can install macOS Catalina. Your Mac also needs at least 4GB of memory and 12.5GB of available storage space, or up to 18.5GB of storage space when upgrading from OS X Yosemite or earlier.
MacBook introduced in 2015 or later
MacBook Air introduced in 2012 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in 2012 or later
Mac mini introduced in 2012 or later
iMac introduced in 2012 or later
iMac Pro (all models)
Mac Pro introduced in 2013 or later
* To upgrade from Lion or Mountain Lion, first upgrade to El Capitan, then upgrade to Catalina. To find your macOS version, Mac model, memory, and storage space, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu . If your Mac isn't compatible with macOS Catalina, the installer will let you know. View the complete list of compatible computers.
Make a backup
- This is the official curriculum of the Apple El Capitan 101: OS X Support Essentials 10.11 course and preparation for Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP) 10.11 certification–as well as a top-notch primer for anyone who needs to support, troubleshoot, or optimize OS X El Capitan.
- Read reviews, compare customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about Learn - OS X El Capitan Core Concepts Edition. Download Learn - OS X El Capitan Core Concepts Edition for macOS 10.7 or later and enjoy it on your Mac.
Before installing any upgrade, it's a good idea to back up your Mac. Time Machine makes it simple, and other backup methods are also available. Learn how to back up your Mac.
Apple MacBook MF865HN/A Ultrabook (Core M/8 GB/512 GB SSD/MAC OS X El Capitan) laptop has a 12.0 Inches (30.48 cm) display for your daily needs. This laptop is powered by Intel Core M-5Y10 processor, coupled with 8 GB of RAM and has 512 GB SSD storage at this price point. It runs on MAC OS X El Capitan operating system. OS X El Capitan: The Missing Manual by David Pogue Paperback $21.63 Customers who viewed this item also viewed Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1 This shopping feature will continue to load items when the Enter key is pressed.
Get connected
It takes time to download and install macOS, so make sure that you have a reliable Internet connection. If you're using a Mac notebook computer, plug it into AC power.
Download macOS Catalina
If you're using macOS Mojave, get macOS Catalina via Software Update: Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Software Update.
Or use this link to open the macOS Catalina page on the App Store: Get macOS Catalina. Then click the Get button or iCloud download icon.
Begin installation
After downloading, the installer opens automatically.
Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. You might find it easiest to begin installation in the evening so that it can complete overnight, if needed.
If the installer asks for permission to install a helper tool, enter the administrator name and password that you use to log in to your Mac, then click Add Helper.
Allow installation to complete
Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart, show a progress bar, or show a blank screen several times as it installs both macOS and related updates to your Mac firmware.
Stay up to date
After installing macOS Catalina, you will be notified when updates to macOS Catalina are available. You can also use Software Update to check for updates: Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Software Update.
Or get macOS Catalina automatically
If you're using OS X El Capitan v10.11.5 or later and your App Store preferences or Software Update preferences are set to download new updates when available, macOS Catalina will download conveniently in the background, making it even easier to upgrade. A notification will inform you when macOS Catalina is ready to be installed. Click Install to get started, or dismiss the notification to install later. When you're ready to install, just open the file named Install macOS Catalina from your Applications folder.
Learn more
- If the installer shows a list of apps that are not optimized for your Mac, learn about 32-bit app compatibility, then choose whether to proceed with the installation.
- For the strongest security and latest features, upgrade to macOS Catalina. If you have hardware or software that isn't compatible with Catalina, you might be able to install an earlier macOS, such as Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, or El Capitan.
- You can also use macOS Recovery to reinstall macOS.
OS X El Capitan gives you simpler, smarter ways to do the things you do most with your Mac. Like working in multiple apps at the same time using Split View. Searching for information with an even more helpful Spotlight. Keeping your favorite websites handy with Pinned Sites. Managing your email with full-screen view and swipe gestures. And turning notes into useful checklists. Improvements under the hood make your Mac snappier and more efficient for all kinds of everyday tasks — from opening PDFs to loading your email. And with Metal for Mac, you get faster and more fluid graphics performance in games and high-performance apps.
Split View
Give two apps your undivided attention.
Running lots of apps at the same time is one of the great things about using a Mac. Focusing on just one app in full-screen view is another. With Split View, you get the best of both. It automatically fills your screen with the two apps you choose. So you can make dinner plans with a friend in Messages while finding the restaurant in Maps. Or work on a document in Pages while doing your research in Safari. All without the distraction of your other open apps, and without having to manually resize and drag windows around. And your desktop is always just a swipe away, so it's easy to get back to everything else you were doing.
Mission Control
You've never been so good atspace management.
A streamlined Mission Control makes it easier to see and organize everything you have open on your Mac. With a single swipe, all the windows on your desktop arrange themselves in a single layer, with nothing stacked or hidden. Mission Control places your windows in the same relative location, so you can spot the one you're looking for more quickly. And when you have lots of windows competing for screen space, it's even easier to make more room for them. Just drag any window to the top of your screen and drop it into a new desktop space. It's never been this easy to spread out your work.
Call out your cursor.Lost your cursor on your crowded desktop? Just shake your finger back and forth on the trackpad or give your mouse a shake, and the pointer gets bigger so it's easy to spot.
Spotlight
Even more versatile. And helpful.
Spotlight gets even smarter in El Capitan, delivering results for weather, sports, stocks, web video, and transit information. And now you can ask Spotlight to find a file using natural language — so when you're looking for the presentation you created last Friday, just type 'presentation I made on Friday.'1 Spotlight is also more flexible: You can resize its window to see more results and move it anywhere on your desktop.
Searching for files has never been easier now that Spotlight understands natural language.1 For example, type 'email from Harrison in April' and Spotlight shows you email messages that match. You can also use more complex searches, like 'spreadsheet I worked on yesterday that contains budget,' and you'll get just what you're looking for. You can search with your own words in Mail and the Finder, too.
Look what just landed in your inbox.
Improved full-screen support and swipe gestures in Mail let you make quick work of your correspondence. OS X also helps you manage your calendar right from your inbox.
Work more easily in full screen.The enhanced full-screen view in Mail lets you juggle all your email conversations at the same time. The email message you're composing slides to the bottom of the screen, so you can access your inbox — perfect for copying text or attachments between messages. And if you're managing multiple email threads, you can switch between them with easy-to-use tabs.
Add suggested events.When you receive an email containing details for an event like a flight or a dinner reservation, you can add it to Calendar with just a click.1
Swipe to manage your inbox.Now you can take care of your email with a swipe, just like on your iOS devices. Need to triage your inbox? Swipe right to mark an email as read or unread, or swipe left to delete. You'll be focused on what's important in no time.
Notes
Collect more than just your thoughts.
The powerful new Notes app is more than a great way to jot down a quick thought and keep track of it for later. Now you can turn a list into a checklist in a snap. Or easily add a photo, video, web link or map location to a note. And thanks to iCloud, all your notes and everything in them are kept up to date across all your devices. So you can create a note on your Mac and look at it on your iPhone when you're out and about.
Add all kinds of content.Notes easily handles almost any type of file you'd like to include. Save documents, web links, photos, map locations, PDFs, videos and more to a note with a simple drag and drop.
Save content from other apps.Planning a trip? Save a hotel website to a note right from Safari, or a restaurant address from Maps. You can save content to Notes from many other apps as well. Just click the Share button in an app to save items to existing notes or create new ones.
Create useful checklists with a click.Now it's easy to create checklists in Notes. With a single click, you can create an interactive to-do list, grocery list or wish list. Then check off items as you complete them.
Use the Attachments Browser to see everything in one place.All the attachments you've added to your notes are organized in one simple view: the new Attachments Browser. You can sort through photos, videos, map locations and web links without having to remember which note you put them in.
Your notes. On all your devices.Notes works with iCloud, so your notes are up to date and with you no matter what device you're using. Make a checklist on your Mac, and you'll have it on your iPhone when you're out on the go. Check an item off the list on your iPhone, and it's checked off on your Mac. Take a picture on your iPhone, add it to a note, and it will be synced to all your devices. Any changes you make to a note on one device instantly appear on your other devices.
Photos
More things to do, places to go and people to see.
Give your photos a more personal touch with third-party editing tools. And with enhanced organization capabilities, support for the new Live Photos format and faster performance, the Photos app gets even better.
New editing extensions let you go further with your photos.OS X El Capitan supports third-party tools that will be available from the Mac App Store and accessible right in the Photos app. Use multiple editing extensions from your favourite developers on a single photo, or use a mix of extensions and the editing tools built into Photos. From adding subtle filters to professional-quality noise reduction, you can take your photo editing to a whole new level.
Everything in its place.Photos has been fine-tuned to make it even easier to manage your library. Now you can add a location to a single image or a group of photos. You can batch change photo titles, descriptions and keywords. Naming your favourite people in Faces is faster with a streamlined workflow. You can also sort your albums — and the contents inside them — by date, title and more.
Safari
The smartest way to surf.
With new tools built in.
With OS X El Capitan, the best browser for your Mac brings new tools for better surfing. Now Safari lets you keep favourite websites open and accessible with Pinned Sites. You can quickly mute audio without hunting for the tab it's coming from. And use AirPlay to stream video from a web page to your HDTV.
Pinned Sites keep your favourite websites handy.Keep websites you visit often — like your webmail, Facebook page or Twitter feed — open, up to date and easily accessible by pinning them. They'll stay active in the background, and they'll stay put on the left side of your tab bar.
Use AirPlay to share web video without sharing your whole screen.Play video from a web page to your TV with Apple TV — without showing everything else on your desktop. Just click the AirPlay icon that appears on compatible web videos and you can watch your video on the big screen.
Easily tune out a tab.Want to stop the music without hunting for the tab it's coming from? Now you can mute it right from the Smart Search field. If you're listening to audio in one tab and another website starts to play, you can mute the one you don't want to hear. And if what you really want is silence, you can mute all audio from your browser, too.
Maps
Now arriving. Public transit info.
If you get around by train or bus, you can now get around more easily in select cities around the world thanks to Maps. You'll find everything you need to go from point A to point B, including built-in public transportation maps, directions and schedules.
Mass appeal.Choose a destination in Transit view and Maps offers you the best routes, with detailed walking, subway, train, bus and ferry directions. See routes for complex trips, such as linking a bus ride to a subway ride via a two-block walk. You can also plan your trip according to when you want to leave or when you need to arrive.
Get directions on your Mac.Read them on the go.
Apple El Capitan Download
Plan your route on your Mac, then send it to your iPhone with just a few clicks for stop-by-stop directions when you're out and about.
Fonts
A distinctly modern take on type.
OS X El Capitan introduces new fonts that look crisp and beautiful on your Mac and in your documents — a modern, space-efficient system font called San Francisco, a new Chinese font called PingFang with thousands of redesigned characters and six new line weights, and four new Japanese fonts that offer even more choices for everything from presentations to email.
San FranciscoDesigned from the ground up for use on all Apple devices, San Francisco has been fine-tuned for optimal readability on a Mac, and looks particularly crisp and refined on a Retina display. The new San Francisco system font optimizes legibility with size-specific letter shapes and dynamic character spacing. You'll feel its subtle effect in the things you do every day. Apple imovie download mac.
Distinct charactersEl Capitan For Mac
Similar characters like a capital I, lowercase L, and the number 1 are now more easily distinguished.
Dynamic spacingSpacing between letters and words shifts depending on the font size, which helps readability.
PingFang Enhanced readability.The new Chinese system font PingFang was designed specifically for digital displays, delivering unmatched legibility in both Simplified and Traditional Chinese.
More variety.PingFang is available in six weights from ultralight to semibold. The different weights give you flexibility for headlines, captions and more.
Japanese FontsOS X El Capitan includes four new Japanese fonts, each available in two weights, that add personality to your documents and presentations.
Hiragino Sans Enhanced Hiragino Sans.Hiragino Sans, the Japanese system font for OS X, now offers a full set of ten line weights for use in documents.
Input Methods
Mac becomes even more fluent.
Now it's easier to write Chinese and Japanese text on your Mac.
Chinese Advanced keyboard input.Thanks to advanced learning capabilities that quickly memorize your word choices, using the keyboard to input Chinese has never been simpler or faster. Vocabulary lists are frequently updated so you can use the latest words and phrases, and a smarter candidate window displays more character selections.
Improved trackpad handwriting.Enter characters on the trackpad as swiftly and accurately as you do on paper — just by using your finger. A new Trackpad window reflects the proportions of your physical trackpad, gives you more room to write and lets you write multiple characters in a row.
Japanese Live conversion for keyboard input.El Capitan Software
OS X El Capitan dramatically improves the ease and speed of entering Japanese text. With an enhanced vocabulary and improved language engine, it automatically transforms Hiragana into written Japanese as you type — eliminating the need to press the space bar for individual word conversions.
