Windows Migration Assistant transfers your contacts, calendars, email accounts, and more from a PC. It migrates this data to the appropriate places on your Mac. After migrating data to your Mac, authorize your computer for iTunes Store purchases. It’s important to authorize before you sync or play content that you download from the iTunes Store.
Google Assistant. It’s one of the Best Personal Assistant Apps, setting the trend on ablaze. If you are an Android user, get this app for sure. Google Assistant is available only on Marshmallow and Android Nougat. But, if you are having your phone rooted running on android 6 or 7, you can use the Zip Mode of the Google Assistant app.
If you're migrating from one Mac to another Mac, follow the steps to move your content to a new Mac.
Before you begin
To prepare for a smooth migration:
- Make sure that Windows is up to date. Migration Assistant works with Windows 7 and later.
- Make sure that you know the name and password of an administrator account on your PC.
- Connect your Mac and PC to the same network, such as your home Wi-Fi network. Or connect an Ethernet cable between the ports on your Mac and PC to create a direct network connection. Some Mac models require an Ethernet adapter, such as the Belkin USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter or Apple Thunderbolt to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter.
- If you're using Microsoft OneDrive on your PC, follow Microsoft's instructions for uninstalling OneDrive before continuing. You can reinstall OneDrive after migration is complete.
Then use the check disk (chkdsk) utility on your PC to make sure that your Windows hard drive doesn’t have any issues:
- Right-click the Start button, then click Run.
- Type
cmd
and press Enter. Command Prompt opens. - At the prompt, type
chkdsk
and press Enter. - If the utility reports that it found problems, type the following, where drive is the letter that represents your Windows startup disk, such as D:
- Press Enter.
- At the prompt, type
Y
, then restart your PC. - Repeat this process until the check disk utility reports no issues. If the utility can't fix every issue that it finds, you might need to have your PC serviced. Then migrate your data to your Mac.
Move your data
This section guides you through migration, post-migration, and what to do if the steps don’t work for you.
How to move your information from a PC to your Mac
- On your PC, download and install the appropriate Windows Migration Assistant, based on the version of macOS on your Mac:
- Windows Migration Assistant for macOS Mojave or later
- Windows Migration Assistant for macOS Sierra and High Sierra
- Windows Migration Assistant for OS X El Capitan or earlier
- Quit any open Windows apps.
- Open Windows Migration Assistant, then click Continue.
- Start up your Mac. Setup Assistant automatically opens the first time you turn on your Mac. If you’ve already set up your Mac, open Migration Assistant, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- On your Mac, follow the onscreen prompts until you get to the migration pane of the assistant. Select the option to transfer your information “From a Windows PC,” then click Continue.
- When prompted, enter an administrator name and password.
- Click Continue to close any other open apps.
- In the migration window on your Mac, select your PC from the list of available computers. Then wait for the PC to show the same passcode that your Mac shows.
- When both computers display the same passcode, click Continue on your PC and Mac.
- Your Mac scans the drives on your PC to build a list of information to migrate. When the scan completes, select the information that you want to migrate to your Mac and click Continue. Learn about some of the data that you can transfer.
You can watch the progress and estimated time remaining on both the PC and your Mac. They tell you when migration is complete.
After you move your data
When migration completes, close Windows Migration Assistant on your PC. Then log in to the new user account on your Mac. The first time you log in to a user account migrated from your PC, you’re asked to set a password. You can use the same password that you used on your PC, or create a new password.
After logging in to the user account that you migrated, your computer for iTunes Store purchases. It’s important to authorize before you sync or play content downloaded from the iTunes Store.
If you have issues moving your data
- Quit all open apps on your PC, then try migrating your content again. For example, you can press Alt-Tab to choose an open application, then press Alt-F4 to quit it.
- If your PC doesn't appear in the Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant window on your Mac, make sure the computers are connected to the same network. You can create an network by connecting a single Ethernet cable between your Mac and PC. If that doesn't help, check for firewall software on your PC and turn it off. Firewall software can block network ports needed during migration. After migration completes, you can turn firewall software on again.
- If Migration Assistant doesn’t open on your PC, turn off any antivirus software on your PC. Then try to open Migration Assistant again. After migration completes. You can turn that software on again.
- If you still can't migrate your information successfully, you can use an external drive or file sharing to manually copy important data to your Mac.
What data can I transfer?
Migration Assistant lets you choose the data to move to your Mac. Here’s what moves over for specific apps and data types:
Email, contacts, and calendar information
Email messages, email-account settings, contacts, and appointments move based on which version of Windows you're using and which accounts you have.
Email messages, email-account settings, contacts, and appointments move based on which version of Windows you're using and which accounts you have.
Outlook1
Data from 32-bit versions of Outlook in Windows 7 and later move as follows:
Data from 32-bit versions of Outlook in Windows 7 and later move as follows:
- People move to Contacts2
- Appointments move to the Calendar app
- IMAP and Exchange settings and messages move to the Mail app
- POP settings and messages move to Mail2
Windows Live Mail
Data from Windows Live Mail in Windows 7 and later moves as follows:
Data from Windows Live Mail in Windows 7 and later moves as follows:
- IMAP settings and messages move to Mail
- POP settings and messages move to Mail2
Windows Mail
Data from Windows Mail in Windows 7 and later (excluding Windows 8) move as follows:
Data from Windows Mail in Windows 7 and later (excluding Windows 8) move as follows:
- IMAP settings and messages move to Mail
- POP settings and messages move to Mail2
- People move to Contacts
Bookmarks
Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Safari for Windows, and Firefox move to Safari.
Bookmarks from Internet Explorer, Safari for Windows, and Firefox move to Safari.
System settings
Language and location settings, and custom desktop pictures move to System Preferences. Your web browser homepage moves to Safari preferences.
Language and location settings, and custom desktop pictures move to System Preferences. Your web browser homepage moves to Safari preferences.
Pictures
Photos and other images move to your home folder. You can then add them to Photos, or open Photos and let it search your Mac for photos to import.
Photos and other images move to your home folder. You can then add them to Photos, or open Photos and let it search your Mac for photos to import.
iTunes content
Migration Assistant transfers your iTunes media as follows: music to the Apple Music app, videos to the Apple TV app, podcasts to the Apple Podcasts app, and audiobooks to the Apple Books app. What happened to iTunes?
Migration Assistant transfers your iTunes media as follows: music to the Apple Music app, videos to the Apple TV app, podcasts to the Apple Podcasts app, and audiobooks to the Apple Books app. What happened to iTunes?
Other files
Migration Assistant also moves these files:
Migration Assistant also moves these files:
- Files from the top-level folder of the currently logged-in user’s home directory
- Non-system files located in the Windows or Program Files folders
- Top-level folders located on the Windows system disk and other attached disks
1. Migration Assistant doesn’t support 64-bit versions of Outlook. You can manually migrate Mail, Contacts, or Calendars from Outlook 2013 or Outlook 2016 by signing in and entering the content on your Mac manually.
2. Migration Assistant transfers only the Mail or Contacts data that belongs to the logged-in Windows user. To transfer data from another user account, use Migration Assistant again while you’re logged in to another Windows account. Each time you migrate, your Mac creates a new user account.
I stopped using the default iOS Calendar app when the popular alternative Fantastical was released last year, but in the world of mobile apps, there’s no end to new approaches for achieving the same results.
Recently released “smart calendar” iPhone app Tempo (free) ties your pertinent data from your email, calendar, and contacts accounts, as well as Facebook and LinkedIn connections, into one place – saving you the trouble of opening two or more apps to locate related data for scheduled events and appointments.
But is it any good? Let’s find out.
Merging Calendar and Contacts
What’s most useful about Tempo is that it merges data from your calendars and contacts so that there’s less tapping and searching to get at important when it comes to calendar and event appointments.
For example, say you have a 3:45 appointment at the local Apple Store today. That item will show up in Tempo along with contact information for the Apple Store, including the location.
I can tap on that information and the app maps directions, which provides a driving time from my current location, and available parking information. Tempo can also show or link to related flight statuses, LinkedIn profiles, and in-app connections to Foursquare and Yelp entries for locations.
In addition, Tempo links to emails and document attachments associated with a scheduled event so you don’t have to go hunting that information down in your mail accounts.
You can also schedule and add events from within Tempo, which are then synced to your default calendar account. Scheduling events in Tempo is not quite as fast as with Fantastical, but you can use Siri from with the app to schedule events as you regularly do with the voice activation feature.
Suffice to say, Tempo could save you a lot of time.
Setting Up Tempo
You need to give Tempo permission to access your email and contact accounts. Tempo supports Exchange, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, and IMAP email, which covers most major providers.
The key to getting the most out of Tempo is to intelligently use it with the type of information available in your contacts list. If, for example, I name an event simply “dermatology appointment“, Tempo may not be smart enough to locate related information in my contact list. Instead, if I input the name of the dermatology office listed in my contacts, then Tempo will locate and connect with that information.
The same goes for improving and accessing flight status information. Tempo suggests that you put the airline and flight number in your event title, location, or note so that it can find the flight status, gate and terminal information for you.
Unfortunately, Tempo is not always as intelligent as it could be. In my testing of the app, it was indeed able to pull related emails to a scheduled calendar event, but it failed to connect the sender’s name with her contact information in my Contacts list. The same goes for a listed car registration appointment. Tempo wasn’t smart enough to link to my DMV contact information, which is listed in the appointment.
The ability to manually add a contact link to an event when you use the app to make the appointment would improve the functionality.
Tempo’s Other Features
You can view calendar events and appointments in Tempo by Agenda, List, Day, Week, or Month. When you tap on an event, there’s also a convenient way to send an email message that automatically puts the name of the event in the subject link. Similarly, you can tap to share an event, which automatically puts the event information in the email.
Tempo also allows you to send a quick “running late” message via email or SMS, depending on what contact information is listed.
You can also set up Tempo to help you deal with scheduled conference calls. Tempo looks for listed event titles, locations and notes of known conference call patterns. So in your event, you might list the conference call number, followed by the passcode, e.g., 1-888-800-8888 passcode: 12345. When you tap the phone number listed in your Tempo agenda, the app will make the call and input the passcode for you.
As you might expect, Tempo also allows you to send Facebook birthday wishes directly from the app, after you give it access to your account. Likewise, allowing Tempo to connect to your LinkedIn account could reduce the need to open yet another app to reach contacts related to an event or appointment.
Your (Other) Personal Assistant
Tempo has a clean and pleasant user interface, and in my tests it updated almost immediately after I added information to my calendar, contacts, and supported social network accounts. The app might be a little more useful if it also connected to your Reminders app, and if possible allowed you to manually link emails and contacts to events and appointments.
Download: Tempo Smart Calendar for iPhone & iPod Touch (Free) [No Longer Available]
![For For](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125857233/976828013.jpg)
Tempo is not (yet) optimized for the iPad, so check out Simon Slangen’s round-up of three great alternatives to the iPad’s Calendar application3 Great Alternatives To the iPad's Calendar Application3 Great Alternatives To the iPad's Calendar ApplicationRead More if you’re using a tablet.
What do you think of Tempo? Will it replace the current Calendar app on your iPhone? Add your thoughts and app suggestions to the comments, below.
- These criticisms below are normal for a new industry and product; especially as evidenced by a couple of quick fixes on the back end to search/index the contacts field, or using the new iOS 7 background refresh options. Let's pray they are in for version next!
- I'm sure the guys at Tempo are tired of seeing me write this, but reviewers (everyone I've read) fail to mention some serious shortcomings. For example: it's billed as a great app for business people. But if you type in 'meet the guys from Time Warner Cable' it has no idea who that is, because Tempo does not search in the company field of your contacts. And yes, as a Tempo user for many months, I have verified this with Tempo. It will look for 'Time Warner Cable', and will come up with a bunch of suggestions. But there is no way to choose the correct one. Tempo uses its own sync server. So if you add a bunch of appointments on your computer, they will never appear in Tempo unless you load up and app and let it refresh. I want to love Tempo, but with those and other shortcomings, it's hard to switch from apps like Fantastical. Even 'Donna' will find business names in your contact file (without having to upload them to another server).