In another post recently we showed you the basics of Automator, a Mac tool for automating tasks. However, besides the basic stuff you can do with Automator, you can actually accomplish a lot more with it that might not be obvious by just following the ‘usual’ instructions.
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What is the Mac Automator App? The Automator is an OS X tool that allows users to create custom workflows for performing simple to complex tasks. These include renaming multiple files in a folder, combining PDF files, as well as, converting movie files from one file type or format to another. Training Video (52m) There’s more to Automator than the drag-and-drop creation of “automation recipes.” The following video from the CMD-D Conference shows what workflow variables, contextual system integration, and direct access to all of the automation power of the OS can do for you.
In this entry we’ll show you how to use Automator to create keyboard shortcuts to launch applications on your Mac, which should prove very useful since most Mac apps can’t be launched by custom shortcuts.
Let’ get started.
First, open Automator and choose to create a new document. From the available options (where you can choose a Workflow, Application and such), select Service.
Once you do, you will be shown the Actions library. There, search for Utilities and select it. Then, on the panel to the right, look for the Launch Application action (use the search field at the top of the window if you can’t find it) and then click on it and drag it into the rightmost panel, where you will create your workflow.
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You will now notice a small panel above the action you just dragged. There you can tweak a couple of variables. Where it says Service receives, select no input. Then, to the right, select any application.
After that, head to the action you dragged in the first place and select the application you want to launch from the drop-down panel. For this example, I’ll use Clear, a really nice task management app that we have covered before.
Before closing Automator (don’t worry, we’ll create the keyboard shortcut in a moment), save the service you just created using a name that is easy to remember.
Once your newly-created service is saved, open your Mac’s Preferences and go to the Keyboard menu. There, head to the Shortcuts tab and click on Services on the left panel.
Then, on the right one look for the service you just created (Hint: In most cases, the services you create with Automator can be located under General).
Select your service and you will see an Add Shortcut button appear. Click on it to set the keyboard shortcut you want to use to launch the app.
Important Note: Make sure to use a unique one, since I found that OS X Mavericks will favor an application’s native shortcuts if they are the same as the one you created.And there you go. Up until a short while ago, I thought it was not possible to create your own shortcuts to open apps on your Mac in a simple manner. Of course, you could always use third party apps like Better Touch Tools for example, but as you can see, Automator is a very powerful tool that provides a native way to take care of this issue without having to fiddle with external software. So try it out and tell us what you think!
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.Also See#automation #keyboard
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In 1835, Thomas Davenport developed the first practical EV.
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One really nice thing about Mac OS X is the ease with which you can automate tasks. This comes down to AppleScript – an easy-to-learn scripting language for getting apps to do things – and Automator, a drag-and-drop tool for creating a series of automated actions, known as a workflow.
In this beginner Automator tutorial I’ll walk you through the process of creating a simple Automator workflow, from start to finish. The workflow, called “Zip and Send”, will zip up selected file(s) and automatically email the resulting zip archive to an address you specify. Multiplayer chess app mac. Best mac photo editor app.
Opening Automator
To run Automator, open your Applications folder in the Finder and double-click the Automator icon. When Automator starts, you can choose a starting point for a new workflow:
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These options just provide basic templates to get you going. For now, just choose the Custom icon, as shown above, then click Choose.
About Automator Actions and Workflows
The Automator window contains an Actions/Variables area (on the left) and a Workflow pane (on the right):
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Mac best calendar app 2018. There’s also a small bottom-left pane that describes each action or variable.
What are actions, workflows and variables? I’ll cover variables in another tutorial; here we’ll concentrate on actions and workflows. Ableton granulator 2 download.
Actions Mx player app for mac. are simple tasks that Automator asks other apps to carry out, such as “New Folder” or “Pause iTunes”. You string actions together to make a workflow, which is a script of tasks for Automator to run. You can then save your workflow and run it whenever you like.
Many actions have an output (such as a piece of text or a file name) that is then passed to the next action as an input. This is indicated by a little arrow symbol between the 2 actions:
Building the Workflow
Here you’ll create a simple but useful workflow to zip up some selected file(s) and email the zip file to a specified email address. Follow these steps to create the workflow:
1. Add an action to create a temporary folder for the zip archive
In the Actions/Variables pane click Files & Folders in the left-hand column, then drag the New Folder action in the right-hand column into the right-hand Workflow pane. https://cggvja.weebly.com/blog/best-stock-exchange-app-for-mac. Click the Name field in the action and type ArchiveTemp. Make sure Where is set to Desktop – this will create the ArchiveTemp folder on your Desktop:
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2. Add an action to get the items selected in the Finder
With Files & Folders still selected in the left-hand column, drag the Get Selected Finder Items action below your previously-created New Folder action in the workflow. This action grabs the names of any selected files and folders in the Finder and passes them as input to the next action:
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3. Add an action to remove the temporary folder from the selected items
Unfortunately the selected items grabbed by the second action will also include the ArchiveTemp folder created by the first action, so you need to remove this folder from the list of selected items. You can do this with the Filter Finder Items action. As before, drag this action below the other actions in your workflow. Set the first option to Name and the second option to is not equal to, then type ArchiveTemp into the box:
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4. Add an action to create the archive
Now you’re ready to add an action to create a Zip archive of the selected items. First though, you need to manually create the ArchiveTemp folder on your Desktop so you can tell the action where to save the archive. So right-click (or Control-click) your Desktop, choose New Folder, and name the folder ArchiveTemp.
Now switch back to Automator and drag the Create Archive action into the workflow, below the other actions. Click the Where option in the action, choose Other from the pop-up menu and select the ArchiveTemp folder that you just created on your Desktop. Leave the Save as box saying Same name as input – this will name the archive after the selected file (if more than one file was selected, it will call the archive simply “Archive.zip”):
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5. Add actions to send the email message
The next step in the workflow is to send the created archive file as an email attachment. Click Mail in the left hand column, then drag the New Mail Message action to the bottom of your workflow. Click the Options button at the bottom of the action to display the action options, then click the Show this action when the workflow runs checkbox. This will pop up a dialog prompting for the recipient and other details when the workflow is running:
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The New Mail Message action takes the archive file generated by the previous Create Archive action, and attaches the file to a new email message.
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To actually send the message, you need to use the Send Outgoing Messages action. Drag this action below the New Mail Message action in the workflow:
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6. Add actions to remove the temporary folder
That’s the archive created and emailed. All that’s left to do now is clean up by moving the ArchiveTemp folder to the Trash.
First, add an action to select the ArchiveTemp folder. Click Files & Folders in the left column, then drag the Get Specified Finder Items action to the bottom of your workflow. Click the Add button in the action, then in the dialog that appears choose the ArchiveTemp folder on your Desktop:
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Finally, drag in the Move Finder Items to Trash action to delete the ArchiveTemp folder:
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Testing the Workflow
You’ve now created your workflow! To test it, first switch to the Finder and click a (reasonably small) file or folder to select it. Then switch back to Automator and click the top-right Run button. You’ll see Automator moving through each action in your workflow. When it’s time to send the email, you’ll get a dialog asking you to enter the email details – do this, then click Continue:
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Automator now automatically composes and sends the email. Job done!
Saving the Workflow
The last step is to save your workflow so you can use it again later. There are a few different ways you can save workflows. In this example you’ll save your workflow as a Finder plug-in so you can run it straight from the Finder.
Choose File ⇨ Save As Plug-in, then make sure Finder is selected and enter Zip and Send. Click Save to save your workflow:
You can now easily zip and send any selected file(s) or folder(s) in the Finder. Select the item(s), then right-click (or Control-click) one of the items and choose More ⇨ Automator ⇨ Zip and Send:
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(Click image to enlarge) https://awnew406.weebly.com/blog/unblock-mac-app-store.
All done!
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I hope you found this Automator tutorial helpful. Let me know if you like it and I’ll write some more tutorials! ?