Actions Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Tips for creating an iPad-compatible Keynote presentation

by Sang Tang (Jun 3rd, 2010)

While the iPad version of Keynote represents a slight twist on Apple's flagship presentation app and serves as a gateway into multitouch computing on a large display, it has a few shortcomings when compared to its Mac OS X counterpart (as we noted back in April). As a result, those who start their ...

Working with Keynote builds

by Sang Tang (Oct 9th, 2009)

In Keynote (and also in PowerPoint), a build refers to the appearance and/or disappearance of elements (such as text, bullets, images, audio and movies) within a given slide. Working with builds is relatively straightforward. You select the item(s) that you want to create a build for and then ...

Photoshop Automator Action Pack updated to version 3.5 with CS3 support

by David Chartier (May 22nd, 2007)

I have rekindled my love for Automator and all things automation lately. If you can find any way to fit these tools into your workflow, I highly recommend exploring your options - including Ben Long's just-updated Photoshop Automator Actions pack. This collection of 86 actions has just hit v3.5, ...

Tumblr now has Dashboard widgets, Quicksilver add-on

by David Chartier (Mar 31st, 2007)

Tumblr is a unique new tumblelog service that employs a KISS philosophy: offering a very streamlined, one-column layout and a clever bookmarklet that is smart about what you're trying to share on your Tumblr blog. While the minimalist templates can be edited by hand to include just about anything ...

TUAW Automator Action: Mail Man - attach to email and automatically send

by David Chartier (Jan 18th, 2007)

A while ago I had to help the TV Squad crew cover an award ceremony by snapping screenshots with my Eye TV. I needed a way to fire these shots off to members of the team with the least amount of effort, so I put together a few Automator droplets that could take whatever files I drop on them, attach ...

Automator Action: PDF Confidential - compress, encrypt and email your documents

by David Chartier (Jan 5th, 2007)

It's been a while since I've paid attention to Automator actions, and I'm beginning to realize that I never quite worked them into my daily habits. Since I'm making more of a conscious effort to fit some handy actions into my workflow, I stumbled across PDF Confidential at Apple's Automator Actions ...

Unit Conversion plugin for Quicksilver

by David Chartier (Aug 15th, 2006)

I don't know how long the Unit Conversion plugin has existed for Qucksilver, but I just found it the other day in yet another one of those 'QS spelunking' adventures that many of its users sometimes embark on (I highly recommend them). They're almost always a good time for Quicksilver fans, as one ...

Photoshop Automator Actions v3.0 released

by David Chartier (Aug 3rd, 2006)

Ben Long has released v3.0 of his rocking set of Automator actions for Photoshop, introducing 11 new actions and a slew of new and updated abilities including: Add Layer, Add Empty Adjustment Layer, Duplicate Current Layer Render action allows saving as EPS, or using Save for Web Save for ...

Automator Action Packs galore

by David Chartier (Jun 20th, 2006)

In my newsreader today I saw an 'iPhoto Action Pack' from Automator World that adds a handy action for workflows involving iPhoto: "Find iPhoto Item Path". While debating whether that was TUAW-worthy, my newsreader became bombarded with more headlines like System Action Pack, TextEdit Action Pack, ...

Photoshop Automator Action Pack 2.2

by David Chartier (May 31st, 2006)

Ben Long has released a v2.2 update to his most excellent set of Photoshop Automator Actions, a collection of over 70 workflow-enhancing actions for automating everything from switching color modes to cropping images and even archiving them to a disc. New in v2.2 is Intel Mac compatibility (some ...

Access iPhoto and iTunes libraries with a simple Automator action

by David Chartier (May 3rd, 2006)

You could also file this under "fantastic Automator actions that Apple should've advertised when Tiger was being released." A post at macosxhints has discovered a simple Automator action you can use to open panel containing your entire iPhoto or iTunes library (pictured), complete ...

Book: Discovering Automator

by David Chartier (Apr 30th, 2006)

Discovering Automator is a new book from Hanaan Rosenthal that delves into the many facets of making your Mac do more work in less time for you with the power of Mac OS X Tiger's Automator. From Automator World's description, Discovering Automator details "the ins-and-outs of Automator: basic ...

Automator and Remote Desktop 3

by Dave Caolo (Apr 11th, 2006)

As you may know, the US online Apple Store went down briefly this morning, and returned to reveal Apple Remote Desktop 3 (RD3). As we pointed out, this is a major update with a slew of changes. Automator World is pointing to a page at Apple's site that details the Automator-specific changes to RD3. ...

Quicksilver basics: shake hands with your preferences

by David Chartier (Mar 8th, 2006)

Yesterday Quicksilver started acting a little goofy, and I wasn't surprised; I have just about every beta and extra turned on as I just can't stop exploring all the neat stuff this app can do. During my troubleshooting efforts I resorted to the simple trick of quitting Quicksilver and simply moving ...

Quicksilver scripts for tagging iTunes songs, creating playlists

by David Chartier (Jan 25th, 2006)

A MacOSXHints reader has put together an interesting set of Quicksilver scripts that will allow you to both easily tag your iTunes music as it is playing, and create on-the-fly playlists based on these tags. The way they work is simple: while music is playing in iTunes, you can use Quicksilver's ...