The well-known macro application Keyboard Maestro has been updated to version 3 and adds some interesting new features. In addition to a revamped interface, the new release allows you to record macros (series of key presses, mouse clicks, etc.) and play them back via various triggers. There are also new ways to trigger the macros; besides the normal hotkeys, macros can also be triggered with AppleScripts and even remotely with Keyboard Maestro's built-in web server. If you've ever wanted to automate your Mac, it's definitely worth a look.
Keyboard Maestro 3.0 is $36 with upgrade pricing from $18 - $26 for previous users; a demo is available.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Hazel is a TUAW favorite, and we have been anxiously awaiting the day when Hazel 2 exits beta. Well, folks, today is that day. Hazel 2 is now available for purchase (a free upgrade for current users, and $21.95 for a single user license).
Hazel is an automation tool that makes organizing your files a snap. You can create a number of sophisticated rules based on everything from file age to location, and then have Hazel act on those rules. Hazel will delete files for you, archive things, add labels, and much more.
New in Hazel 2 are:
App Sweep: Hazel keeps an eye out for when you delete an app. When you do, it offers to throw away all the other associated files with that app (support files that is, not files that you created with the app itself).
Growl support
New actions including rename file, sort into subfolders, and more.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Read the release notes for the fully skinny.
It's been a while since we've hit the Automator beat; too long, in my opinion. And what better way to bring everyone's favorite little automate-able robot back into the TUAW spotlight than with the Flickr upload Automator action from James Pitts? After some simple instructions for installing, this action is prime for all sorts of image-related workflows, such as a Folder Action that allows you to drop pictures onto a folder to simultaneously add them to iPhoto, Aperture and Flickr (with tags) - all without lifting a finger (well, that is, if you don't count the original finger you had to lift to drop the photos on the folder in the first place).
I ran into a catch getting this installed, however: following James' instructions to the letter, I couldn't get Automator to see the action when I installed it for all users - it would only work when installed in my own user's Home directory. That isn't too big of a deal, personally, since I'm the only user on my machine, but I figured this was worth noting for those who work on multi-user Macs.
I instantly fell in love with Hazel from Noodlesoft the first time I found it back in September '06, and since then it has received a literal landslide of new features that make it even more indispensable to any heavy file trafficker. For those just tuning in, Hazel is fundamentally a file organization utility; it allows you to set up a series of rules that watch files in directories of your choosing, and then it carries out various actions based on your criteria. For example: I download a lot of videos, particularly motion pieces I find from studios all over the web. I also download a lot of DMGs and ZIPs in the name of TUAW, and as you might guess, after just a busy morning of all this watching and downloading, my desktop is about as messy as the typical freshman dormroom.
Enter Hazel, the background file management ninja. For these two scenarios, I have a couple of rules that watch my Desktop for files of type Movie, DMG or ZIP which were added more than 1 day ago. These rules will then move said files into their respective directories (Movies and Software, as one might guess) and apply a blue label to them, just to make sure I know what was moved how.
Nyhthawk at Automator.us has put together two Automator actions for Google Earth. The first is a 'Go To Location' action, while the second is a 'Save Screenshot' action. Since I can't find any version requirements for gEarth, I can only assume for now that they work with any version of the app (does anyone know any better?). Stefan Geens at Ogle Earth - a blog about Google Earth - points out that the obvious thing to do with these actions is to use them to created automated audio tours of locations, and he even created his own tour of Stockholm, while Nyhthawk provides tours of Silicon Valley and Paris on the Automator action's download page.
Geeze, with Mac OS X 10.4, Automator and Google Earth - who needs a tour guide anymore?
NetworkLocation is a handy utility that allows you to create templates of actions and settings based on (you guessed it) your network location. Like WiLMa and Location X before it, NetworkLocation can set up batches of settings to apply, apps to open and scripts to run, and keep them all accessible at the click of a mouse. It comes with preset actions, such as loading a specific iTunes playlist, setting system volume and connecting to a server, but it can also run AppleScripts, leaving the possibilities wide open. NetworkLocation does all this with a very slick and flashy UI; in fact, it might be too over-the-top for those who just want to get at the meat of automating their system. In fact, the UI is so glammed up that John Gruber had a hard time figuring out how to quit the app. Here's a tip if you're in the same boat, as there are two ways to do it: click on its menubar item, then click on the timer in the window that pops up, and then click the power button that slides out. You can also simply use cmd-q when that timer window comes in to focus. See what I mean about a funky UI?
Getting back to this concept of automating all forms of system settings - it's a great one, and I was first turned on to it by Location X (recently Universal-ized), which is still my favorite primarily because it handles all these tasks automatically in the background, based on which network(s) you connect to. There's no need to pop up a window and chose a location - you simply set up your batches of settings, and it gracefully performs your tasks automatically as you move between your home, work and favorite coffee shop's network.
But I digress (again) - this is a post about NetworkLocation, as it looks like a capable (though flashy) approach to network-based Mac automation. A demo is available, and a license costs $15.
I'm no developer, but I can call a good dev tool when I see one. BuildFactory from Bleep Software sounds like 'Automator for developers', with features like automated builds, building refreshed sources from Subversion, using your own external editor for errors and warnings, and building multiple projects with one click. A healthy dose of other features are offered in this handy tool, so why not check them out for yourself or watch some tutorials to see BuildFactory in action. The author has even posted a poll on the main product page to find out what features developers would most like to see added. At least you can't say BuildFactory's dev doesn't care about feedback.
A demo of BuildFactory is available, while single licenses sell for $35, with a 5-pack for $150.
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 workflow construction,
deployment, debugging and advanced topics such as creating shell scripts, Applescripts and plug-ins." The
book also comes with over 70 Automator actions, including many requested actions for Microsoft Word, Excel and
PowerPoint.
Discovering Automator sells for $14.99 at Amazon.com,
but if you'd like a taste, you can download both a sample chapter and the table of contents at Hanaan's site.
Freeverse has announced a free set of automation plug-ins for Sound Studio 3, their fantastic, easy-to-use audio editing
application which we've blogged
before. Dubbed "Monbots" (short for Monkey Bots),
these are but the first three in what Freeverse promises to be a series of handy automation plug-ins and tools.
The first monbot, Clean & Convert, is an audio scrubber for tidying up any misbehaving or noisy audio. The
second, called Mastering Console, offers a set of tools and effects for (you guessed it) mastering audio, while Bookend
Audio allows you to easily add intro and outro audio to a file or group of files. A fourth monbot, capable of stitching
multiple pieces of audio together into one file, is aptly called Stitch and is listed as coming soon.
It
looks like the monbots are free, so all you need is a copy of Sound
Studio 3 which sells for a mere $79.95.
The well-known macro application Keyboard Maestro has been updated to version 3 and adds some interesting new features. In addition to a revamped interface, the new release allows you to record macros (series of key presses, mouse clicks, etc.) and play them back via various triggers. There are also new ways to trigger the macros; besides the normal hotkeys, macros can also be triggered with AppleScripts and even remotely with Keyboard Maestro's built-in web server. If you've ever wanted to automate your Mac, it's definitely worth a look.
This is the 
Many people have criticized Apple for not updating their 
Now that you've been introduced to Automator, let's let's get into the "nitty-gritty." In the 
NetworkLocation is a handy utility that allows you to create templates of actions and settings based on (you guessed it) your network location. Like 
I'm no developer, but I can call a good dev tool when I see one. 
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 
Freeverse has announced a free set of automation plug-ins for 
