If you are looking for a way to get more out of your MacBook or MacBook Pro, consider a solid-state drive (SSD). SSDs offer faster data read and write speeds, fast file transfers, speedier boot times and will save you some battery life. In the past, SSDs were considered somewhat pricey upgrades and out of reach for many users. Today, prices are dropping and quality drives can be had for a song through retailers like Amazon and OWC.

Today I will show you how to install an SSD, specifically the Samsung 840 series into a June 2012 MacBook Pro. The proceedure in this tutorial video will work for any SATA-based Mac notebook with a few monior adjustments to the physical installation of the disc.

Keys to Success

Remember: before doing a full hard-disc transplant, make a full backup of your computer. Rather than restoring from a backup to a new drive, I used Carbon Copy Cloner and a Seagate Thunderbolt Adapter to clone my internal drive's contents before installing the new SSD. If you don't have a Seagate Backup Plus drive you can pick up a universal drive dock or Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade Kit for about US$30. They're nice to have around anyway.

This whole upgrade process is super easy and you should be able to complete it in a few hours depending on how much data you need to transfer. Now go forth and do yourself a solid.

Disclaimer: Note that opening a new MacBook Pro won't void your warranty, but replacing stock parts with your own third-party parts will void the standard Apple warranty.

Mac 101: Upgrade to SSD originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mac 101: Upgrade to SSD originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 14 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you're having a hard time getting iTunes and App Store links to launch from Google Chrome right to the app from your browser, MacStories editor-in-chief Federico Viticci has found a nice workaround in the App Store support community.

The workaround requires editing program files, so be careful if you're new. The issue deals with Chrome's protocol handlers. If your issue is with iTunes rather than the Mac App Store look for the line that says "itms" instead of "macappstore." Here's the hack from support community member Dahveed.

1. Close Chrome

2. Open "/Users/[my user name]/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Local State" in a text editor. TextEdit will do fine.

3. Look for the line "macappstore": true, under "protocol_handler":

4. Delete this line and Chrome will start to prompt you to open MAS links.

5. Change the true to false and MAS links will open without prompting.

6. Save the file and Quit the text editor.

Double check to make sure this is actually a problem for you before you dive head-first into that code, but if you've been aggravated by this glitch, we're happy to have passed this information along.

Make Chrome open iTunes store links in iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Make Chrome open iTunes store links in iTunes originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 09 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Nobody likes spam, but if you use Apple's Mail on Mountain Lion, at least you have some tools to deal with it.

Plenty of Mac users rely on Mail to read, manage and process their emails... and spam messages. If you use email, you have spam -- that's just the way it works. Following up on Kelly's how-to from a few months back, let's take a look at some ways to manage spam efficiently and decrease your email processing time.

Built-in Spam Filtering

Mail's built-in spam filtering is enabled by default. You'll find it in the Junk Mail setting in Preferences. Make sure that the box labeled "Enable junk mail filtering" is selected. You can also determine where spam messages go after detection, or add exemptions to your filter.

[Note that some online mail services -- Gmail in particular -- recommend disabling Mail's onboard spam filtering. Be sure to check the setup instructions for your service provider. --Ed.]

In the Viewing preferences tab, disable "Display remote images in HTML messages." Some spammers send out messages with web bugs -- invisible images linked to the specific message you received -- that notify the spammer that your email is an active email account once you click on the message. From the spammer's perspective, this "validates" you as a real, live address, which then generates more spam for you. Not good. Turning off this feature prevents the spammer from recognizing your email as an active email account.

Creating Rules

Mail lets you create rules to fine-tune your spam filtering. One helpful method is to create a new mailbox for messages that meet your spam criteria. Once your new mailbox is created and properly labeled (i.e., "Spam-ish"), go to the Rules setting under Preferences and create specific actions based on a predetermined set of criteria. For example:

If all the Content-Type Contains 'multipart/related' then Move Message to [the mailbox you just created].

Now that you've set that rule, messages that meet your criteria are moved to that mailbox.

Fine-Tuning

No spam filter is completely foolproof, so you will get false positives and false negatives. Mail allows you to select a message and click on "Not Junk" or "Load Image" which will correct the labeling of the message. The more times you correct these errors, the better Mail gets at reducing them. A good rule of thumb is to review your Junk Mail folder periodically to make sure valid messages haven't slipped through the cracks.

Cloud Mail

If you're not using Mail on your Mac, you still have options in the cloud. An iCloud or Gmail account can act as a buffer between malicious spam and your computer. In some cases, the cloud service filters may be a bit too aggressive; if you suspect some of your inbound mail is being blocked incorrectly, be sure to check the support page for your provider and test with another account.

Third-Party Spam Utilities

Several third-party spam utilities are available to further enhance your spam-squashing powers, including SpamSieve from C-Command Software. It's been around for quite a while and works very well. A single license will cost you US$30; a free trial is also available.

SaneBox is an online application which helps to sort your email into proper boxes and reduces your email processing time. An added feature is that it runs through spam amazingly well. The Smart filtering feature of SaneBox reads your email messages, determines the level of importance and moves unimportant messages out of the inbox.

The @SaneBlackHole will not only delete your spam messages but makes sure you never receive email from the sender again and automatically unsubscribes you from the mailing list. You can also defer processing your email by placing your email in the "@SaneTomorrow" or "@SaneNextWeek" folder and it will automatically pop back into your inbox when the time comes. The cost for SaneBox is US$5/month but if you refer other people you'll receive extra credits.

The free Mailstrom.co service also can help you reduce spam along with unwanted subscriptions, newsletters and so forth. Mailstrom groups your email by big-picture criteria (sender, subject, size, etc.) and lets you archive or delete in bulk with a single click. For catalog emails or newsletters, you can also unsubscribe in only a few steps, rather than having to track down and confirm individual unsubscribe requests.

By using these techniques, hopefully the only place you will see spam is in your musubi.

Mac 101: Beef up your spam filters in Mail (video) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Mac 101: Beef up your spam filters in Mail (video) originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Inspired by the conversation, I wanted to create a clone-sized partition to mirror my SSD. I had an extra external drive on my desk but, like most, it already had some important data on it. In this video I will show you how to add a partition to an existing drive so it can be repurposed to make a clone of your boot drive.

I'll be using Dolly Drive Revo, a free Dolly Drive 10 GB Account and Disk Utility in Mountain Lion. The actual cloning can also be done with Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper! if you prefer.

Warning: Before you attempt any disc-related modifications, please be sure to have a backup of the data contained on that drive.

Add a clone partition to your backup drive originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Add a clone partition to your backup drive originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 09 Apr 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The way we watch movies and television is evolving, as more people adopt on-demand video. But still, the old question remains: "What's on that's worth watching?"

The free web service Can I Stream It can help provide an answer. It lets you search for your favorite shows and movies to see if they are available on popular streaming, rental and digital purchase services. Can I Stream It will notify you when a currently unavailable program or film later becomes available on your selected services.

Can I Stream It is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone and as a Chrome extension. Just today, I was poking around and discovered Snatch, one of my favorite Guy Ritchie flims, available on YouTube for free. Being so used to watching streaming content via Netflix and Hulu Plus, I had forgotten YouTube streams many full-length movies because of large content providers like Crackle.

The next time you find yourself in the mood for some Aaron Sorkin, Charlie Kaufman or Ernest P. Worrell, Can I Stream It can whisk you away into the cinematic worlds of The Newsroom, Synecdoche, New York or Kamp Kikakee.

Can I Stream It makes movie night simpler originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Can I Stream It makes movie night simpler originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Today is World Backup Day 2013, the day we (and other technology sites) try to implore our readers to make sure that they back up their data early and often.

Believe it or not, as much as we hammer on the topic of backing up data, there are still a lot of people who just don't pay attention to backups... until it's too late. Here are some hints and tips to get you thinking about backing up your Apple devices.

iOS devices

Many iOS users don't realize it, but one big reason iCloud exists is to keep the files on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch safe. When you set up an iCloud account, you immediately have the choice of backing up much of the data on your device.

Note that there are a few items -- extremely large camera roll movies, for instance -- that won't back up to iCloud. Also, your movies and music that you didn't purchase from the iTunes Store won't be backed up; you should handle that in your computer backups instead.

To kick off iCloud backups, you just need to make one simple settings change. Launch the Settings app, then tap iCloud and scroll down until you see "Storage and Backup." Tap on that and you can see how much iCloud space is currently being filled with your data. There's also a switch at the bottom for iCloud Backup. Make sure it's switched to On.

When that switch is turned on, your device's camera roll/saved photos, accounts, documents and settings will be backed up whenever your device is plugged in, locked, and connected to Wi-Fi. That means that just about any time your iPhone or iPad is being charged, it's also getting backed up. (Those of you on limited-quota broadband plans should keep this in mind, if you're wondering why your iPad is chewing up so much WiFi data overnight.)

There's also a button marked "Back Up Now" for those situations where you want to kick off a quick backup manually.

Earlier this year, I reviewed another device that makes it easy to back up photos and other documents on an iOS device to a flash drive and then move them to a Mac or PC. That device is the PhotoFast i-FlashDrive HD, and it uses a free app to move images, PDFs, and more from your iOS device to its built-in flash drive.

Of course, the default setting in iTunes is to back up your connected iOS devices every time you sync, if you haven't enabled iCloud backup. You can synchronize via a cable (30-pin or Lightning), or over your local WiFi connection (just check the "synchronize over WiFi" checkbox in the iTunes detail page for your device). Even if you do have iCloud backups running, you can force a manual backup in iTunes -- a good idea before iOS upgrades -- by right-clicking your device icon in iTunes and clicking "Back Up," or by clicking the Back Up Now button in the device detail screen.

Over time and iOS upgrades those iTunes-based device backups may start to chew up an appreciable amount of disk space. In iTunes' Preferences, you can click the Devices tab and remove any legacy backups you no longer need.

Finally, if you just want a way to back up your camera images to a cloud service of some sort, consider saving your crucial images to one of the other available services like Dropbox, SugarSync, or Google Drive. The Dropbox app for iOS can automatically upload your camera images to a folder in your Dropbox, and selectively do so only on WiFi or when your location changes. (This only applies to your camera roll; images synced to your device from other sources like iPhoto or Aperture will not be backed up automatically.)

Macs

There are many ways to back up a Mac, which begs the question "Why do people wait until it's too late to back up their Mac?" Here's a quick overview of some of your options.

Copy files to a flash drive or SD card

The cheapest way to back up files -- if you have very low storage requirements, and only a few crucial files -- is to purchase a simple USB flash drive and then copy files to it on a regular basis. 8 GB flash drives are available for as little as $7 from Amazon, and they're frequently free giveaway items at computer expos like Macworld/iWorld. Need something bigger? 128 GB flash drives are a bargain, starting at price points around $60. (You can even use a flash drive for Apple's built-in Time Machine backup tool, if you reformat it as HFS+ in Disk Utility.)

Many Macs include a built-in SD drive slot. SD cards range in capacity and speed, with 32 GB cards running as low as $20 and 128 GB SD cards starting at about $100. Whether you use a flash drive or SD card to back up your most important files, you still need to perform the backup manually on a regular basis, and it's easy to get out of the habit. That's why Time Machine is probably the best backup method for most Mac users.

Time Machine

Apple makes it simple to back up your Mac by just plugging an external disk drive (as long as it is formatted in the crucial HFS+ Journaled format). When you do so, OS X asks if you want to use that drive for Time Machine backups. Answer in the affirmative, and Time Machine does a full backup of your computer. Once it's done doing that, it starts looking for changed or new items on your Mac on an hourly basis.

Time Machine is ridiculously easy to use; you can see a quick five-item FAQ here that covers most of its important options. Restoring files that you inadvertently discarded is a fast and fun process. What makes this option so attractive is that it's cheap to implement, too! A quick look at Amazon showed 1 TB external hard drives available for as little as $79.99, and a smart shopper could probably find one for even less. Need more capacity? I found a 4 TB Seagate USB 3.0 drive for only $160.

As fellow blogger and writer Erica Sadun puts it, "I can't tell you how many times Time Machine has saved me. Whether it's book revisions or development, Time Machine is version control for our lives." Amen!

There are two things to remember if you decide to use Time Machine for backups. First, get the highest capacity hard drive that you can afford, because Time Machine tends to eat up a lot of space on backup hard drives. If you run out of space, it begins trimming back your oldest backups. Second, note that Time Machine is useless if your computer and backup hard drive are both destroyed by a catastrophe. That means that it's good to have a second backup that is off site.

SuperDuper! / Carbon Copy Cloner

As much as I love Time Machine's ease of use, I never liked how my Mac seemed to slow down once an hour as it looked for changed filed and did the backups. Most of my work is done online anyway, so a daily backup works just fine for me. My solution was to attach a 3 TB USB 3.0 hard drive to it and then perform an initial full backup of my iMac with SuperDuper! (free, $27.95 for full feature set). Once a day, usually after I'm fast asleep in my bed, the app silently repairs permissions on my drive, checks for all of the changes made that day, and does a "Smart Update". The cool thing about my SuperDuper! backup? It's fully bootable. If my built-in Fusion Drive takes a dirt nap, I can still boot from the backup and be right back where I was before the failure.

Carbon Copy Cloner ($39.95) is another favorite app for making bootable backups, and works in a very similar manner.

Online Backups

There's probably nothing easier than using one of the online backup services. In most cases, your personal information is encrypted on your computer, and then uploaded to servers where it is continuously updated until such time that your computer fails or you lose a file -- and then you can get it back.

Despite the convenience and safety of pushing your files offsite, there are some inherent issues with online backups. First, the initial backup can take months (literally) to complete, depending on the amount of stuff you have and the speed of your ISP upload bandwidth. You may have a wicked fast download connection, but it's that smaller, asymmetrical upload bandwidth that controls how quickly your files reach Backblaze, CrashPlan or Mozy. Users on satellite or DSL broadband may be completely out of luck when it comes to upload performance.

For that very reason, many of the services now provide a way for you to back up your data onto a hard disk drive and then ship it to a location where it is immediately copied onto the backup servers. This "seeding" may incur an additional charge, but if you're in a situation that calls for it, it's probably worth it. You can also try to be a bit selective about which folders and files are backed up, noting that some large chunks of data (an iTunes Match-protected Music folder, a Dropbox or Google Drive folder already linked to the cloud) are self-protecting with their own corresponding cloud services.

The second issue with "pure" cloud backup is that if your hard drive fails, you'll either have to wait a long time for all of your data to be restored to your computer -- or pay extra to have a hard drive sent overnight to you for restoration. That's why many of the services allow you to set up a secondary local backup using the same interface and administrative tools you use for the cloud backup.

CrashPlan (one of the WBD sponsors, along with Backblaze) adds a cool wrinkle to the cloud scenario; in addition to backup to a local drive, you can "buddy up" with a friend or family member and back up to a remote drive connected to their computer, for free. You could do the same with your work computer and home computer, IT powers-that-be permitting; the backups are encrypted, so your helper can't snoop. Naturally this requires healthy bandwidth on both ends, and it's only polite to reciprocate the favor for your backup buddy, but in a serious data-loss situation it could be a huge help.

There's one very big reason to use online backups -- in case your house or computer is destroyed by some catastrophe, you have a backup that is physically removed from your location. I personally use three levels of backup -- first, my most important files are in a Dropbox folder so that they're not only backed up to the "cloud", but also copied to my other computers and even accessible from my iOS devices. My second level of backup consists of that nightly backup to a local external disk drive. And my third level of backup is to back up all of my documents, photos, music, and more to CrashPlan.

What more could I do? One good idea is to make a full backup of your device on a hard drive and then put it in a safe deposit box at a bank, updating that backup at frequent intervals. There are plenty of other approaches, of varying complexity; please do share your approach in the comments.

As mentioned above, you have plenty of choices among reputable online backup firms, including BackBlaze, CrashPlan, Carbonite and Mozy. Rates start at just $4/month depending on your needs.

You can also consider services such as Dropbox, SugarSync, and GoogleDrive as online backup locations for your most critical data. iCloud is a perfect place to back up any documents that you have created in Apple's iWork suite. Any of these services are good for small quantities of very critical files, and make your files available from just about any computing device. For an extra charge, Dropbox's Packrat option for Pro accounts guarantees that every version of every file you sync to the service will be archived in perpetuity -- even the ones you delete on purpose.

Conclusion

If you haven't yet lost data on your Mac or iOS device, you will. At some point, whether due to an accidental deletion, a physical glitch in your hardware, a disaster striking your home or office or the terrifying power of bored teenagers, you'll find that some precious family photos or important documents are gone forever. You can't go back in time to retrieve that information, so make sure it is backed up now.

This was a long, cursory look at backup technologies and methods. If you have a favorite way to back up your data, let your fellow readers know in the comments.

For a bit of history about World Backup Day, be sure to check out the press release below.

World Backup Day 2013: Don't be an April Fool! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 31 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

World Backup Day 2013: Don't be an April Fool! originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Sun, 31 Mar 2013 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

If you use your Mac for any period of time, you will find the need to open a document with a different program other than the one set as default. The "Open With" menu appears in the Finder whenever you right-click or control-click on the icon of a document. The "Open With" command is designed to give you a list of alternative choices to handle the file that you've selected, but after long-term use you will find this list can get a little bit messy.

Duplicate entries in your "Open With" menu can be easily cleaned via a simple terminal command. We initially covered this command in a 2009 post about rebuilding your launch services, but this post is updated with video and a few new methods that'll work in OS X Mountain Lion. In the video below, I will demonstrate the basic terminal command. I will also show you how to create a bash script to make it easier to repeat this cleaning whenever needed, as well as create an Alfred workflow to do the same (requires the Alfred powerpack.)

Below you'll find the commands used in the video. If you are creating the .bash_profile alias method, remember you will have to quit and relaunch terminal for this to work.

Fix Duplicate "Open With" Terminal:

Fix Duplicate "Open With" via Bash alias:

If you are a little shy of monkeying around in terminal and bash, you can use utilities such as Onyx or Cocktail to get the job done.

How to spring clean "Open With" duplicates originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How to spring clean "Open With" duplicates originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Have you ever purchased an iBook and then wished that you had an audiobook version of it? Macworld UK's Mark Hattersley wrote a wonderful post today on how to use Siri Dictation to speak either a portion or all of the text from an iBook.

To begin setting up Siri to read your books aloud to you, go to Settings > General, then scroll down to Accessibility. Tap Speak Selection, slow down the speaking rate a bit to make Siri's reading somewhat more natural sounding, and then turn on Highlight Words so that you can see where Siri is reading in the iBook.

Now head over to the iBooks app and open the book you want to hear. Tap the aA icon at the top right of the iBook display, and tap on Themes. Of the three choices, select Scroll. Next, tap a word in the book to select it, then -- while holding your finger down on the drag handle -- scroll down through the text as far as you want.

Once you've selected the text, a menu appears. Tap Speak, and Siri complies by reading your book. Should you need to pause the reading, just select another piece of text (even one word will do) and tap on Pause from the menu that appears. The short video below gives you an idea of how this all works.

Siri trick turns iBooks into audiobooks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Siri trick turns iBooks into audiobooks originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 18 Mar 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

When you're in the middle of recording a podcast, chances are you'd like your Mac to be focused on that job -- not other network-hungry activities like syncing Dropbox, or CPU- and disk-intensive tasks like saving a Time Machine backup.

Gabe at Macdrifter wrote about his Pause TimeMachine Macro, which he uses when he starts using Skype. He adds that he knows there are other (potentially "better") ways to do this, but that his was just a fast-and-dirty solution.

Seeing Gabe's macros reminded me that I wanted something like this for when I am recording the Impolite Company podcast. Gabe's macro enables and disables Time Machine, but I also want to enable and disable CrashPlan and Dropbox.

Like Gabe, I have a tendency to forget to turn things back on, so I wanted to automate this as much as possible. Since I tend to only run Skype when I am actively recording a podcast, I decided to trigger my macros around the Skype.app either launching or quitting.

So I wrote two Keyboard Maestro macros: one for when Skype starts and one for when Skype quits.

Prepare For A Podcast

My first new Keyboard Maestro macro is called (wait for it) "Prepare For A Podcast". This is what it looks like in Keyboard Maestro:

Translation: In Keyboard Maestro's language, this is what the above means:

Whenever Skype launches, Keyboard Maestro will automatically do the following:

1) If a file exists at /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.crashplan.engine.plist (which is where CrashPlan's launchd file is stored) unload that file (which will disable CrashPlan) via AppleScript:

        do shell script "launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.crashplan.engine.plist" with administrator privileges 

n.b. "with administrator privileges" will prompt the user for their password. Also note that I am using Growl notifications to tell the user what is happening, especially when a password is being requested.

2) Likewise, disable Time Machine with another bit of AppleScript:

        do shell script "tmutil disable" with administrator privileges 

3) If Dropbox is running, quit it.

4) Open the "Sound" preference pane (which I want so I can make sure that my USB mic is configured properly for Skype).

Resume After A Podcast

What happens after a podcast is pretty much exactly the opposite:

Translation: This macro will be triggered automatically whenever Skype quits, and this is what it will do:

1) If the plist is found, load it into launchd:

        do shell script "launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.crashplan.engine.plist" with administrator privileges 

2) Resume Time Machine:

        do shell script "tmutil enable" with administrator privileges 

3) If Dropbox is not running, launch it via shell script:

        open -a Dropbox 

Download

As with Gabe's macros, I am sure that there are other (potentially better) ways to do this, but I hope that this might be useful to others. These macros assume that you don't generally leave Skype running for general use, but that you only launch it when it's podcast time.

To download my Keyboard Maestro macros, you can either check them out at Github or right (control) click on the links below:

• prepare-for-a-podcast.kmmacros
• resume-after-a-podcast.kmmacros

Use Keyboard Maestro to get ready for podcast recording originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Use Keyboard Maestro to get ready for podcast recording originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 12 Mar 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

What happens if your workflow doesn't run as you expect, though? Finding and solving problems in Automator is often easier said than done. Suddenly, the simple tool that's supposed to make your life easier has become a real pain in the neck. This week's post covers some things you can do to troubleshoot a finicky Automator workflow, track down the problem, and hopefully solve it, so you can get back to work.

1. Run Saved Workflows in Automator

Automator workflows are saved and run in a variety of ways - as apps, iCal alarms, print plugins, and more. When a saved workflow encounters a problem, however, it may be next to impossible to figure out what went wrong. This is because saved workflows don't really include any diagnostic tools. In some cases, the workflow may even fail silently, without alerting you that something is wrong. Your only indication of a problem may be a lack of the end result you were expecting. Not very helpful, especially in a longer multi-action workflow. When you encounter a problem with a saved workflow, your best bet is to open up the workflow in Automator, and try running it there. By doing so, you'll gain access to some of the techniques described below.

2. Fake Workflow Input

When you run a workflow app or plugin within Automator, you may see an alert indicating that the workflow will not receive input.

An Automator Input Alert for a Text Service Workflow

This is because, often, saved Automator workflows expect input for processing. For example, a workflow app may expect dropped files or folders as input, a service workflow may expect text as input, or a print plugin may expect PDF files from the print system. In any case, just dismiss the alert and add an action to the beginning of the workflow to retrieve the required type of input. If your workflow processes files, for example, add a Get Specified Finder Items action. If your workflow processes text, add a Get Specified Text action. Whatever you add, just be sure to remove it once you're finished troubleshooting.

Get Specified Text at the Beginning of a Text Service Workflow

3. Check Action Results

Automator works by passing information to actions for processing. Most actions perform a very specific function. As such, they accept specific types of information as input. And, they produce different types of output. The New TextEdit Document action, for example, wants text as input. It then adds this text to a new TextEdit document, and passes the document as output for further processing.

Often, when a workflow fails or produces an undesired result, it's because actions aren't receiving or producing the expected types of information. To diagnose this problem, click the Results button beneath each action in your workflow. Then, when you run the workflow, you can see exactly what information is being passed from action to action.

Suppose, for example, I have a workflow that should take the contents of a text file and add it to a new TextEdit document. I may try creating my workflow with the following actions:

• Get Specified Finder Items - Configured to get a text file
• Filter Paragraphs - Configured to look for non-empty paragraphs
• New TextEdit Document

All the actions appear to link up properly, and the workflow may even run without an error. But, the result is not what I want. Rather than the content of the text file being added to the new TextEdit document, the path of the document is added.

A Misbehaving Text Workflow

An Undesired Workflow Result

By displaying the result area of each action in the workflow, I can see that a file path was passed to the Filter Paragraphs action as input. I can also see that the same file path was output by the action, rather than the paragraphs I was expecting. This tells me that there's something wrong with the Filter Paragraphs action.

Action Results Indicate Potential Problems

Checking the action's description area provides additional clues. It tells me the action expects text as input, not files.

Action Descriptions Specify Input and Output Types

So, in this case, the fix is to insert an action that outputs text, rather than files, before the Filter Paragraphs action.

NOTE: Surprisingly, Automator doesn't include an action for reading text from a file. There are third-party actions available that can do this. Or, as a workaround, you can try using the Combine Text Files action, which receives one or more files as input and outputs their text content.

4. Check Automator's Log

Checking the results of an action doesn't always tell you what went wrong. You may glean a little more information by consulting Automator's log area. Press Command+Option+L or choose View > Log to display it. When you run a workflow, the log area tells you which actions ran, and often indicates problems that were encountered along the way, such as an action that wasn't supplied with the appropriate type of input.

Automator's Log Area Indicates Successes and Failures

Sometimes, the log tells you that information was converted from one type to another. This is because, in some cases, Automator tries to make incompatible actions work together. This doesn't always work, however, and can result in an error. So, be on the lookout for failed conversions.

5. Step Through Workflows

Running a workflow and checking action results is great, but it's even more useful to check the results of each step of your workflow as it happens. You can do this by stepping through the workflow step by step. Click the Step button in the workflow's toolbar or select Workflow > Step from the menu bar.

Automator's Step Button

The above techniques may not resolve every problem you encounter with Automator, but they will certainly help you to more easily identify solutions for some. Happy Scripting!

Tips for Troubleshooting Automator Workflows originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tips for Troubleshooting Automator Workflows originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

icon_16x16.png

icon_16x16@2x.png

icon_32x32.png

icon_32x32@2x.png

icon_128x128.png

icon_128x128@2x.png

icon_256x256.png

icon_256x256@2x.png

icon_512x512.png

icon_512x512@2x.png

iconutil -c icns "$@"

Preparing high-res icon files with Automator originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Preparing high-res icon files with Automator originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 31 Dec 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The iPhone has a great little digital camera built into it. If you're thinking about getting those last photos of the neighborhood and indoor holiday lights before they all come down, here are a few hints to make sure you get a memorable picture.

Let's start with exterior lights. The iPhone isn't a terrific low-light camera, but it can still take some stunning shots. The first thing to remember is that you don't want to wait until it is completely dark. If you do, all you'll see in your photo are the lights and some small areas of the house that are illuminated by them.

The best time to take your outdoor holiday light photos is just after sunset. Dusk photos will work just fine. You'll have about 20-30 minutes of twilight sky to make your photos keepers. You'll see some sky texturing that way, and the house and holiday lights will both be very visible. If you have a newer iPhone with iOS 6, try the built-in panorama mode, but be sure to hold the phone really steady. Remember, the lower the illumination, the more steady you have to be. Check the gallery below for an example of a panorama shot.

Gallery: Holiday Light Panorama

Indoor lights are easier to photograph with your iPhone. To add some interest to the photos, place some objects like candles in the foreground to focus on, which will put the holiday lights in soft focus in the background. Of course, people are good foreground subjects -- be sure to focus on them, and let the tree and lights be in soft focus in the background.

Avoid using the iPhone's flash if you can. It creates very harsh lighting that changes the mood of the photo, and there's always a potential of causing "red-eye" problems. Those devilish eyes can be removed with iPhoto for iOS, but it's better to not have the problem in the first place.

Tips for capturing holiday light memories with your iPhone camera originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Tips for capturing holiday light memories with your iPhone camera originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 25 Dec 2012 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

AppleScript Desktop Icon Race originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

AppleScript Desktop Icon Race originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 24 Dec 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

• Apps - Often, an app that supports Automator contains embedded actions. When Automator launches, it scans the apps on your Mac, loads their actions (if they have any), and displays them in the action library.

• /System/Library/Automator - This is where Apple puts all of the standard actions that come with OS X, such as actions for Calendar, Mail, and Safari.

• /Library/Automator - Here, you may find some non-embedded third-party actions. The Microsoft Office actions, for example, are installed here. Actions in this folder are available to all user accounts on your Mac.

• ~/Library/Automator - If you double-click action files you've downloaded or choose File > Import Actions... in Automator, the actions are installed here automatically. These actions are available to you, but not to other users on your Mac.

Where Automator Actions and Workflows Live originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Where Automator Actions and Workflows Live originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

You open your presentation in Keynote and select File > Export. Then, it happens. You remember that Keynote doesn't have a feature for exporting presenter notes. Sure, you could copy them one by one into Evernote, but that will take a while. Fortunately, you know this can be done quickly and easily with AppleScript. Here's how you'll do it...

Send Keynote presenter notes to Evernote with AppleScript originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Send Keynote presenter notes to Evernote with AppleScript originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 10 Dec 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

While the iPad mini is smaller, lighter and cuter than the regular 9.7-inch version, some people find text on the smaller screen to be hard to read. Some apps -- Kindle, Instapaper, iBooks and more -- have their own controls for making text larger, but what do you do for those built-in iOS apps? Macworld's Lex Friedman supplied an easy solution to the mini's small text problem today that we're passing along to you.

Pick up that iPad mini, fire up the Settings app, then tap on General > Accessibility. You'll find a button that says "Large Text" on it. Tap it, and select a font size from one of the many that are displayed. Once this is accomplished, text in apps like Messages, Notes, Mail and Contacts are all much easier to read in the larger font size.

Friedman warns that this doesn't work in all iOS apps, of course. For example, Apple's Calendar app still displays text in the usual tiny font, and many third-party apps ignore the accessibility settings anyway.

There's one more thing you can do to read those tiny letters on your iPad mini screen -- use the handy reverse-pinch gesture to magnify the text. While that's only a temporary solution, it may make it possible to read that message from your girlfriend and figure out if it says "I'm leaving you" or "I'm loving you"...

Make text more legible on iPad mini originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Make text more legible on iPad mini originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 07 Dec 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Preparing Blog Images with Automator originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Preparing Blog Images with Automator originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Mon, 03 Dec 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

You're busy. You've got tons of things going on at any given time. Your Mac's screen is constantly cluttered with a bazillion Finder windows, and you keep shuffling them around to find the one you need. Sure, Mission Control in Mountain Lion lets you view all of your Finder windows at once in a pretty tiled view. But, it doesn't sort them, and with a ton of little windows, finding the one you want is no piece of cake. How nice would it be if the Finder had a "Cascade Windows" feature? With a little help from AppleScript, your wait is over. In this post, you'll write a simple AppleScript that sorts your opened Finder windows and cascades them, making it quick and easy to find the one you want and clearing your cluttered screen in the process. Let's get started.

If you get stuck with any of the scripting in this post, you can download the complete scripts here.

Prep Work

First, you'll need some opened Finder windows. If you're interested in the topic of this post, then odds are good that you already have plenty of opened windows. If not, you can open some, or you can run the following AppleScript to create some for testing. Just open up AppleScript Editor in your /Applications/Utilities folder, paste in the following script and run it. The script creates a folder named Cascade Windows Test on your Desktop, adds 10 subfolders to it, opens them, and randomly positions them on your screen.

The Cascade Windows Test script creates a bunch of folders and opens them, ready for cascading.

Writing the Script

Create a new AppleScript Editor document and paste in the following script. Comments have been provided to explain each portion.

Running the Script

When you're ready, go ahead and run the script. Or, for quick access, save the script as an application and drag it to your Dock. When run, the script asks you to specify how many pixels you'd like between the menu bar and the first window. A default value of 10 pixels is suggested.

Tell the script how far down you'd like the first window positioned

Next, the script asks you how many pixels you'd like between the left side of the screen and the first window. Again, a default of 10 pixels is suggested.

Tell the script how far over you'd like the first window positioned

The script asks you how many pixels high you'd like each window, suggesting 300.

Give the script a desired window height

The script asks how many pixels wide to make each window, suggesting 350.

Give the script a desired window width

Choose how far apart you'd like the windows from one another. The default is 25 pixels, and should allow enough space to see each window's title bar.

Specify an offset between the cascaded windows

Finally, the script asks if you want to cascade the windows to the right. Doing so creates a staggered effect.

Choose whether you want your cascaded windows staggered to the right

The script finds any opened Finder windows, sorts them alphabetically by folder name, and cascades them.

Cascaded Finder windows, staggered to the right

Cascaded Finder windows without staggering

With your windows cascaded by name, just scan through the title bars to find the one you need and click it to bring it to the front. Your days of searching through a cluttered screen of windows has come to an end.

Cascade Finder windows with AppleScript originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Cascade Finder windows with AppleScript originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

This post shows how to use AppleScript to create template notebooks that contain default template notes. You can use these templates for creating new projects, jobs, or anything else you might need. Let's get started.

To Configure

1. First, go to the Documents folder in your home directory and create a folder named Evernote Templates.

2. Go into Evernote and begin creating some notes to serve as templates for your notebook. Suppose you're creating a template for a design project. You might create template notes for materials, meeting notes, phone notes, a status report, etc. Go ahead and enter placeholder text and assign default tags for these notes, as well.

Creating template notes in Evernote

3. Once you've created your template notes, select them all. You're going to export them so they can be imported later when you want to create a notebook.

Selecting your template notes in Evernote

4. Choose File > Export Notes to bring up the export window. When prompted, enter a name for your template notebook, such as Design Project, and save it into the Evernote Templates folder in your Documents folder. Make sure you're saving in Evernote XML Format (.enex), and that you've chosen to Include tags for each note.

Exporting your template notes as an Evernote XML file

5. Repeat the process for any other template notebooks you might want.

A folder of exported Evernote XML files that serve as templates

6. Launch AppleScript Editor, located in /Applications/Utilities, and create a new document.

7. Enter the following script into the document:

(If you have any trouble, you can download the complete script here.)

8. Save the script as an application and drag it to your Dock, so you can quickly trigger it at any time.

Saving the AppleScript as an application

To Use

Launch the AppleScript application you saved (if you prefer to test right from AppleScript Editor instead, click Run in the toolbar). First, the script looks in your Evernote Templates folder and retrieves a list of exported .enex files. It then asks you to choose one.

Choosing a notebook template

Next, the script asks you to enter a name for the new notebook. Type the desired name, and click OK.

Entering a notebook name

The script creates a new Evernote notebook named accordingly, and imports the chosen .enex file. The script then searches the opened Evernote window for the newly imported notes.

A new notebook created from a template

Notes imported into the newly created notebook

Congratulations, you've written your very own notebook template utility for Evernote! Now, with only a few clicks, you can quickly create notebooks containing pre-existing default notes.

Create Evernote 5 template notebooks with AppleScript originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Create Evernote 5 template notebooks with AppleScript originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Many of you may be receiving your iPad mini with WiFi + Cellular today or in the next few days, and there was some concern that people who already had a Verizon Family Share plan and were adding the mini to the plan would have to wait for postpaid SIM card to arrive from VZW prior to being able to use it. Well, David Chartier crossed his fingers and tried adding the mini to his plan from the Verizon website, and it worked just fine.

While Chartier has all of the necessary screenshots and verbiage over on his website, here's the short version of how it works:

1. Log onto My Verizon and select Activate or Switch Device.
2. Add a new line.
3. Type in your device ID, also known as the IMEI for the iPad mini. Chartier noted that he couldn't find it under Settings > General > About, and Megan Lavey-Heaton here at TUAW verified that it's no longer listed there (see screenshot below). You can get the IMEI from the box that your iPad mini came in ... you did keep the box, didn't you?
   
   
4. Verify your current plan and that you want to add the line. At one point, you'll be asked if you want to upgrade your shared data plan to account for that extra data you'll be using. That decision is up to you.
5. You'll be asked to verify your billing information and -- lucky you -- you'll get to pay another $35 activation fee. Verizon only shows that they'll charge you the standard $10 fee at the time you add the iPad mini to your plan, but they will also list the full charge that will be added to your next bill.
6. Restart your device.

At that point, your iPad mini will be on your Family Share plan and you'll be able to use your little device on Verizon's LTE network all you want. Thanks, David Chartier, for pointing out how to do this.

Add an iPad mini with Verizon 4G to an existing Family Share Plan originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Add an iPad mini with Verizon 4G to an existing Family Share Plan originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments