24 Hours of Leopard: Automator

Feature: The new and improved Automator.

How it works: When Tiger was released Automator was a highly touted new feature, and though it's certainly developed a certain fan base on sites like Automator.us and MacScripters, I can't help but feel like it hasn't quite not taken off the way Apple had hoped. Leopard brings a substantial upgrade to Automator, most marked by the addition of UI Recording and Playback. Basically, you can have Automator watch you perform a task such as a mouse-click and then save that task as an Automator action that can be integrated into a Workflow. The new Automator also adds a significant degree of sophistication to Workflows by allowing the use of variables.

Who will use it: As I suggested above, Automator is intended for all users, but it hasn't quite lived up to its promise of allowing everyone to "program" their Macs. Nonetheless, the Leopard version may just be the ticket for getting average users to take more control of their Macs.

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Feature: The new and improved Automator.How it works: When Tiger was released Automator was a highly touted new feature, and though it's...

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Steve Weintraub

Just to shamelessly pimp my site, Automator World has a review up of Automator 2.0. :
http://automatorworld.com/archives/automator-20-review/

In short, it's a very good update.

October 31 2007 at 8:38 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Fritz Laurel

I was (and still am) confused about the differences between automator and applescript's Script Editor. I think the evangelists need to do some work here to clear things up.

October 26 2007 at 4:32 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

mandaris Moore

What I would like to know is if you could start an automator script using an ical alarm or do you have to use an applescript to start it.

October 26 2007 at 12:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

cfasca

I'm with Bob. I love Automator and can't wait to dig into its next incarnation. Quicksilver + Automator = 1 Happy Mac User. From my perspective, the reason that it hasn't taken off is lack of consistent exposure. That said, people are beginning to take notice. I created a little Append Comment folder action that a few folks at my organization are using to tag files. And when I see someone struggling with renaming files, I mention they could whip up a finder action that would speed this process up. My feeling is that once you start, you can't stop. I'm even interested in learning Applescript (when I have time) to get even more out of it.

October 26 2007 at 10:52 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Macroy

At least this is a lot handier than GUI scripting.

October 26 2007 at 10:24 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Audun

I loved that feature in Windows 3.x!

I have always wondered where it went.

October 26 2007 at 9:09 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Lerxst

What I miss is a nice, deep Automator book, like the nice ones O'Reilly publish for some many subjects.

October 26 2007 at 8:59 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Sharninder

The cat is out ... finally

http://sharninder.blogspot.com/2007/10/cat-is-out-finally.html