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Posts with tag Automator

Mac Automation: create a Mail-triggered "spy cam"

Have you ever been away from your Mac, then come back only to find that your co-worker has stolen your favorite Apple pen? Well, I am going to show you how to catch them in the act by creating a Mac "spy cam." For this how-to, you will need to create an Automator workflow, AppleScript, and some Mail rules. So, cue the James Bond music, and let's begin.
You do need an iSight or a newer Mac with a built-in camera. (Yes, I know there are some tools prebuilt to do this -- but what's the fun in that?)

Continue reading to learn how to create the Mac spy cam.

Continue reading Mac Automation: create a Mail-triggered "spy cam"

Create a PDF of newspaper headlines with Automator

Some of you news hounds may be aware of Newseum, the "interactive museum of news." Every day, they publish the front pages of over 600 newspapers from several companies. Wouldn't it be cool to get just the ones you like delivered to your (virtual) door as a single PDF? Automator to the rescue!

Dave Bednarski sent a great script he wrote to the folks at 37signals which serves that purpose. Basically, you enter the addresses of the papers you'd like to receive, filter for PDFs, download the result to the desktop and combine the lot by appending the pages into one big file. It's just that easy.

For an added bonus, attach this script to an iCal event and have your news waiting for you each morning. All that's missing is your mug of coffee, and the muddy pawprints of the family dog on the carpet after he runs out in the rain to chase the paperboy.

Mac Automation: automating Microsoft PowerPoint 2008

Welcome to the 3rd Microsoft Office 2008 automation post. Previously we covered automating Excel 2008 and Word 2008, now we shine the spotlight on PowerPoint 2008. In this how-to, I will show you how to create an Automator workflow to automate the daunting task of applying animations to the slides and converting a presentation into a QuickTime movie file.

For this workflow, you'll need the following Automator actions (in the same order):
  • Apply Animation to PowerPoint Slide Parts
  • Convert PowerPoint Presentations to Movies
  • Play Movies
Continue reading to learn how to create this workflow.

Continue reading Mac Automation: automating Microsoft PowerPoint 2008

Mac Automation: automating Microsoft Excel 2008

This is the second part of Mac Automation: automating Microsoft Office 2008. In this how-to, I will show you how to create an importer for Microsoft Excel 2008. This importer will allow you to type text in TextEdit.app (or other text editor) and import it into an Excel file.

For this automation, you will need the following Automator actions (in the same order):
  • Create New Excel Workbook
  • Set Excel Workbook Properties
  • Get Specified Finder Items
  • Import Text Files to Excel Workbook
  • Save Excel Workbooks
Continue reading to learn how to automate this process.

Continue reading Mac Automation: automating Microsoft Excel 2008

AppleScript language guide updated, finally!

Many people have criticized Apple for not updating their AppleScript language documentation regularly (myself included). Scoff no more, because Apple updated their documentation yesterday. The last update to the AppleScript language documentation was on May 5, 1999 -- almost 9 years ago.

For anyone who thought that Apple was abandoning AppleScript for other ways of automation (such as Automator), fear not. This shows that Apple is still committed to bringing custom automation/scripting to Mac OS X and the 21st Century.

Mac Automation: automating Microsoft Word 2008

When Microsoft released Office 2008 for Mac, they did something that I must applaud -- they joined the ranks of Mac developers creating Automator-able applications. When you do a search in Automator for "Microsoft," it will reveal all of the Automator actions that ship with Microsoft Office 2008. There is lots of great stuff included, so we'll be covering some of it in this four part Mac Automation series. I will take you through how to automate each of the Microsoft Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage.

First off, let's take a look at what you can automate in Word 2008. Doing a search for "Word" in Automator will display the available actions for Microsoft Word. As you can see, there are plenty of actions that you can automate. For this how-to, we'll focus on a workflow that does the following:
  • Creates a new document
  • Sets document properties
  • Gathers text from the clipboard
  • Places a watermark in the document
  • Saves the document
  • Prints the document
Continue reading to learn how to create this workflow.

Continue reading Mac Automation: automating Microsoft Word 2008

Mac OS X 10.5.2 offers Automator fixes

Apple has been on a tear for the first two months of 2008, releasing over 20 software updates. What's been lacking, lately, is a descriptive explanation of the changes. While OS 10.5.2's description was pretty well documented, it wasn't exhaustive.

This silent treatment isn't universal -- thanks are due to Automator World for sharing a description of the undocumented changes in Automator, including
  • Show When Run issues
  • Tiger-based actions not working because of File-or-Folder typing
  • Tiger-based droplets not responding
  • Incorrect Find and Filter action results
If you're an Automator junkie, you should find these changes more than welcome.

Mac Automation: listen to a text document

Don't have time to read that Word, Pages, or TextEdit document at your desk? Why not listen to it on your iPod instead? In this Automator how-to, I am going to show you how to create an audio file using text that you have in an open document, then sync that using iTunes to your iPod or iPhone.

Creating the workflow
For this workflow, you need the following Automator actions (placed in the same order):
  • Get Contents of TextEdit Document
  • Text to Audio File
  • Import Files into iTunes

Continue reading to learn how to build this workflow.

Continue reading Mac Automation: listen to a text document

Mac Automation: Save websites to iPod for later

iPods are great. They allow you to take your complete music library on-the-go, along with some iPod games, and movies. But what if you are in the middle of reading, say, your favorite blog (you know, us), and you want to go somewhere? Well, you certainly don't have to stop reading! I am going to show you how to use Automator to create a workflow that gets the current text from Safari and syncs it to your iPod as a new note.

Continue reading to learn how.

Continue reading Mac Automation: Save websites to iPod for later

Mac Automation: Birthday greetings

I am sure that everyone has forgotten other peoples birthday's from time-to-time (*raises hand*). Luckily, with Mac OS X's built-in Address Book and Automator, you can automate the remembering and sending of greeting cards by e-mail -- thus eliminating the awkwardness of forgetting. In this how-to I will show you how to create a birthday field in your Address Book contacts, and how to send an e-mail birthday greeting when the time is right.

To learn how to do this, read on.

Continue reading Mac Automation: Birthday greetings

Mac Automation: notes on your iPod

Many iPod users run into this challenge: we are always carrying our iPods, so we want to use them to help us remember things. Well, using Automator, we can easily address this issue. In this how-to, I will walk through creating iPod notes very easily (and all without opening a text editor).

For this how-to, you will need the following Automator actions loaded into a new workflow:
  • Ask for Text
  • New iPod Note
  • Update iPod

Read on for the next steps.

Continue reading Mac Automation: notes on your iPod

Mac Automation: image tweaking plug-in for Finder

Here's a task that most computer users run into on a daily basis: cropping and dealing with small image tweaks. This could be a daunting task if it were not for the Mac and Automator. In this how-to, I will show you how to make a small Finder plug-in that will allow you to manipulate images quickly. Please note, some of the actions required for this how-to are dependent upon Pixelmator being installed.

For this automation, you will need the following Automator actions (in the same order):
  • Get Selected Finder Items
  • Transform Images (this action is only available when you install Pixelmator)

Continue reading Mac Automation: image tweaking plug-in for Finder

Mac Automation: saving Automator workflows

Now that you've been introduced to Automator, let's let's get into the "nitty-gritty." In the previous Automator post, we learned how to make a workflow that would take photos from your camera, import them into iPhoto, then allow you to e-mail them. Let's look at the three ways in which you can save this workflow for later reference.


Workflow File
You can save the workflow as an actual Automator workflow file by clicking File > Save; choose "workflow" from the format drop-down menu. By saving as an Automator workflow all of your actions are preserved, and when you re-open the file, you will be presented with your workflow just as you left it. This is a great way to save your workflow for editing later on.


Continue reading Mac Automation: saving Automator workflows

Mac Automation: holiday photos

Now that you have downed the Egg Nog and feasted on the holiday food, it's time for the worst part of Christmas ... importing and organizing all those photos. Thanks to Automator and iPhoto, this task can be extremely easy. In this how-to, I will show you how to import your photos, carefully tuck them away in a new photo album, and e-mail them to friends and family. This tutorial assumes that you are using Mac OS X Leopard, and iPhoto 08; however it may work with Tiger and iPhoto 06.

Continue reading Mac Automation: holiday photos

Mac Automation: Automator for Leopard

A few people commented on my first Mac Automation post that they didn't understand Automator. This post will clear that all up.

AppleScript is very powerful, but it has a learning curve. When Apple set out to make Automator, they tried to make an automation environment that not only gave the user flexibility, but also power. Apple includes several actions that programs can use; they also include a plug-in type model for developers of Mac software to add even more actions.

Continue reading Mac Automation: Automator for Leopard

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