Automation Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

More Tips for Troubleshooting Automator Workflows

by Ben Waldie (Mar 11th, 2013)

In my last post, I shared some useful tips for troubleshooting Automator workflow problems. I didn't cover everything, though. There are lots of other ways you can troubleshoot your workflow. Here are some more tips to help. 1. Use Get Selected Finder Items Wisely Automator workflows are ...

AppleScript Productivity > Create OmniFocus Followups from Contacts

by Ben Waldie (Feb 25th, 2013)

As an OmniFocus for Mac user, it's important that I can quickly create tasks at any time, in any app. OmniFocus makes this pretty easy, by providing integration with OS X Mail, a keyboard shortcut for clipping content in apps such as Safari, a system-wide Quick Entry window and a Services menu ...

AppleScripting Notification Center > Scheduling Do Not Disturb

by Ben Waldie (Feb 4th, 2013)

Mountain Lion's Notification Center is great for keeping you in the loop, but it can be a huge distraction when you need to get stuff done. Sometimes, a little peace and quiet is all you need to stay productive. As you may know, iOS 6 includes a handy Do Not Disturb feature, which can be turned ...

Preparing Blog Images with Automator

by Ben Waldie (Dec 3rd, 2012)

Automator's the perfect tool for streamlining some of the repetitive things you do on a daily basis. One thing it's great at is doing basic manipulation to lots of image files. Need to resize a bunch of images or convert them from one format to another? No problem, Automator is ready to help. In ...

Fake.app makes powerful Web automation easy

by Brett Terpstra (Sep 6th, 2010)

Todd Ditchendorf (Celestial Teapot Software) is probably best known for creating Fluid, a Site-Specific Browser app that we love to talk about. While Fluid was a great and well-executed idea, Todd's latest app, Fake, is truly inspired. The easiest way to describe Fake is to say it's Automator for ...

Savant: iPad to "Redefine home automation"

by Dave Caolo (Feb 16th, 2010)

Automating one's home with a Mac isn't new. Indigo has been around for a while, as has XTension. Heck, you can even feed your dog remotely. The folks at Savant offer a way to control your home or office's entertainment system, climate, security cameras, lighting and more with an iPhone or iPod ...

Sikuli can automate any UI by taking screenshots

by Mike Schramm (Feb 1st, 2010)

This is pretty impressive --of course there are already lots of ways to automate actions on your Mac, and odds are that you may have messed around with scripting or Automator more than once before. But Sikuli is a new app that makes automating as simple as taking screenshots. Instead of programming ...

TweetMyMac: Remote control of your Mac via Twitter

by Aron Trimble (Sep 2nd, 2009)

Important safety tip: Please read the instructions for TweetMyMac carefully, especially the part about creating a separate Twitter account for your Mac -- do not use your regular Twitter account, or anyone you follow will be able to control your machine. We have previously covered some of the ...

Use iCal to tweet automatically

by Aron Trimble (Jul 17th, 2009)

Recently, the question came up of how to automatically "tweet" a birthday message to a friend or loved one on their special day. After thinking on this question for some time I finally came to a solution. As it turns out, intrepid TUAW blogger Dave Caolo wrote a Mac 101 article all about attaching ...

Mac mini and Dropbox: Getting it done

by Dave Caolo (Jun 27th, 2009)

Yesterday I wrote about my love of the Mac mini. So dependable and unobtrusive, it's the Honda Civic of computers. In the post, I briefly described how we use Dropbox to send routinely-updated Keynote files to the mini. A few of you wrote to ask for details, so I decided to share that information ...

WWDC Demo: QuicKeys 4

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 24th, 2009)

WWDC isn't all about iPhone apps. Long before the iPhone was a twinkle in Steve's eye, WWDC was all about developing for the Macintosh. I had a chance to sit down with the guys behind QuicKeys, a venerable Mac app that will save you a lot of time on repetitive typing tasks. I got a look at the ...

Snow Leopard offers more Automator "purrfection"

by Cory Bohon (Jun 11th, 2009)

If you know me, then you know that I love Automator and scripting things on the Mac. I believe that Automator should be something that everyone can take advantage of, not just the select few that already know how to use it well. That's why I've been working on the TUAW Mac Automation and ...

Meerkat 1.2, 100% more AppleScript support

by Brett Terpstra (May 27th, 2009)

If you work from non-secure networks (coffeehouses, airports, hotels, etc.), or if you've ever wanted to bypass a firewall (YouTube or TUAW blocked at work?) you may be familiar with SSH tunneling. It's come up more than once here on TUAW. It allows you to conduct your Internet business through a ...

Mac Automation: Make your text speak its mind

by Cory Bohon (Apr 13th, 2009)

Have you ever wanted to type something into your Mac and have it record what you typed audibly using any one of the Mac OS X voices? It's easily done with a few Automator actions, and in this Mac Automation post, I'll show you how. Open Automator and find the following actions, then drag them to ...

Woof! An iPhone-controlled dog treat dispenser

by Steven Sande (Dec 4th, 2008)

While you're geeking out with your techie friends building battle bots or pumpkin cannons, why not give your dog a little love at the same time? TUAW reader Stephen Myers sent us a link about a fun little project he worked on. He wants to be able to check on his dog's well-being and reward the dog ...