Choose which users you want to have remote access or the ability to control your Mac. You can either select All Users, which means any other device on your network, or any Mac you own, can access and connect, or click the plus sign to pick the exact users.

There will undoubtedly be times when you are away from your Mac but need to access a file or two on it. While the advent of services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Google Drive, Box.com, OneDrive, and MediaFire have made accessing your files easier, most of them require you to organize your files in specific synchronized folders on your Mac. They also have the drawback of storing your files on third-party servers, which might not be the most desirable place for personal or sensitive information. If you would like to remotely access files that are stored on your Mac, there are several ways to do it. But before doing so you will need a way to access your Mac from wherever you are on the Internet. There are a number of “dynamic DNS” services that can do this, but perhaps the most convenient (and arguably best) option is to use Apple’s Back to My Mac service. Setting up Back to My Mac Configuring Back to My Mac isn’t difficult.

Just follow these steps: • Create an Apple ID if you don’t have one. • Log into iCloud in the iCloud system preferences. • Enable the “Back to My Mac” service. You'll find the option for enabling Back to My Mac within the iCloud system preference. At this point, any Mac you have similarly configured with iCloud should be able to access the one you set up with Back to My Mac. Keep in mind that Back to My Mac requires that the remote Mac be connected to the Internet.

Also, it should be configured to wake on demand so that when it’s asleep, it can act on a Back to My Mac request. To help ensure that this happens, launch System Preferences, choose the Energy Saver preference, and enable the Wake for Network Access option.

Another issue you might run into is if your network has a firewall configured that prevents Back to My Mac access. If you can set up Back to My Mac but cannot seem to connect from a remote location, you might need to check your router's settings to ensure UPnP, or NAT-PMP services are enabled. In addition, check or reset your router's firewall (toggle it off, and test the connection), and also update your router's firmware to its latest version. It’s a good idea to test such a connection from a local coffee shop before needing to use Back to My Mac for mission critical work. When Back to My Mac is set up, you have several options for connecting to your remote Mac—opening programs and files directly on it, copying files to and from it, and controlling it remotely from the command line.

Here’s how they shake out. Share another Mac’s screen The most intuitive way to access and manage your remote Mac is Screen Sharing, which streams the desktop view from your remote computer to the Mac you’re currently using. While the performance of this service depends on the speed of your broadband connection, you can use this to work as if you were sitting in front of your Mac. To enable Screen Sharing, go to the Sharing system preferences, enable the Screen Sharing service, and ensure that your user account is allowed access. By default only administrators are given access, but you can add specific users to the list or select the option to allow all users.

When done, you can select your Mac in the Finder sidebar of another Mac configured with the same iCloud account and then click the option to share the remote Mac’s screen and open applications and documents on it. Enable Screen Sharing or File Sharing on your remote Mac and access it from another Mac's Finder window sidebar. Screen Sharing supports additional options such as synchronized clipboards and drag-and-drop support for file sharing.

With these, you can drag files from the Finder in your current Mac to the screen sharing window to copy them to the remote computer. You can similarly copy files from your remote Mac. To use the shared clipboard option (enabled by selecting “User Shared Clipboard” in the Edit menu), copy any selected text or images on either Mac and the data will stream to the clipboard of the other. Then you can paste it by pressing Command-V.

Since OS X supports multiple user accounts, you may connect to your remote Mac when another user is logged on. In these instances, Screen Sharing supports multiple sharing sessions. Powerpoint viewer.

In this scenario you are given the choice to either log into your account behind the scenes or view what the current user is seeing (with his or her permission). Note that for either approach, anyone sitting at your computer will see an indication in the status menus that you are logged on. Messages allows you to share a friend's screen. Finally, while Screen Sharing can be set up for your personal Macs, this service is not limited to your own computers and can be used to connect to any others on a local network with Screen Sharing enabled. Additionally you can request screen sharing access to a friend’s Mac via Messages. (Yosemite now allows you to do this between two people with iCloud accounts. Under Mavericks you could do this only via a third-party service such as AIM, Jabber, and Google Talk.) When chatting with a friend or colleague using Messages, you can click the Details button at the top of the conversation, where you will see options for communicating with your contact.