[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by typoon

I've actually created 2 of them. 1 was for my work which will help people setup their Mail.app. They will just need to enter the info and it set up an account for them. the second I created was an action to move widgets to the ~/Library/Widgets folder since some of the ones you download don't move them there automatically.

Care to share the latter one?

[ASIMO]

Damn. Automator is even cooler than its icon suggests.

How does one mount another Mac's drive via the Network directory in Finder? I am trying to automate a crude implementation of syncing a pair of folders by copying and pasting.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

Von Wrangell, I came up with this:

1. Get Selected Finder Items
2. Get Folder Contents
3. Filter Finder Items -> Whose Name Extension is equal to mov
4. Move Finder Items -> to Movies

You could run something like that on a folder. The only problem I see is getting it to loop and do multiple types of files; maybe adding another "get folder contents" will work. I'll tinker some more.

Thanks, I'll try that and see if I figure out the rest

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally Posted by kman42

I have been getting much use out of my "Add Spotlight Comments..." workflow (finder plug-in), but I would like to make another one called "Add Spotlight Comments -R..." which performs this recursively. I ran across the option in "Get Folder Contents" to get the contents recursively, but the problem is that it doesn't get the folders themselves only the contents. I would like to add the comments to the folders as well as the contents so this isn't quite working. Anyone have any ideas?

kman

This is a big frustration, it can't be done as far as I can tell (short of an applescript).

[kman42]

Originally Posted by Silky Voice of The Gorn

This is a big frustration, it can't be done as far as I can tell (short of an applescript).

Should be a simple script though. Hopefully, someone will write it and post it as an action.

kman

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

Von Wrangell, I came up with this:

1. Get Selected Finder Items
2. Get Folder Contents
3. Filter Finder Items -> Whose Name Extension is equal to mov
4. Move Finder Items -> to Movies

You could run something like that on a folder. The only problem I see is getting it to loop and do multiple types of files; maybe adding another "get folder contents" will work. I'll tinker some more.

Hmm, I tried that yesterday but couldn't get it to work. Any ideas?

[CaptainHaddock]

Von Wrangell, here's a screenshot of a workflow that will sort and move files based on file type. My version just scans a directory for movies and jpeg pictures, moving them to Movies and Pictures respectively. You can add on as many file types as you want.



It's basically just four actions that repeat, with just file extension and directory location changing. Put whatever your downloads directory is into each "Get Specified Finder Items" action.

You can save this as an application and run it from the dock, or you could make a folder plug-in and do it from the Finder (I think).

[gabe824]

The first workflow I made starts playing my "WakeUp" playlist in iTunes at a resonable volume. I attached it as an alert to a reoccuring iCal event and now my iBook starts playing my tunes at 7:00 am every morning.

[Appleman]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

Malique, I don't have an ISO to try out myself, but would this workflow do the trick?

1. Get Specified Finder Items (add the disk image file here)
2. Mount Disk Image
3. Launch Application (choose Warcraft III from the list)

No, still asks for the CD

[osxisfun]

Originally Posted by gabe824

The first workflow I made starts playing my "WakeUp" playlist in iTunes at a resonable volume. I attached it as an alert to a reoccuring iCal event and now my iBook starts playing my tunes at 7:00 am every morning.

does your ibook wake up from sleep? or do you leeave it on?

thks

[Appleman]

Originally Posted by malique

I applescripted (till now) that the WarCraft.iso which I made to keep my CD-ROM quiet is mounted and then the game is loaded off my HD.

How did you do this? I tried with Disk Utility and with Toast, but my game (Breakthrough) still wants to see the disc inside, or won't play. It's not really a big deal, but everytime I need the DVD-unit for something else I first have to remove the CD and one of these days there will be a scratch on it and it won't play anymore, so any suggestions to get this done would be more than appreciated!

[gabe824]

Originally Posted by gabe824
The first workflow I made starts playing my "WakeUp" playlist in iTunes at a resonable volume. I attached it as an alert to a reoccuring iCal event and now my iBook starts playing my tunes at 7:00 am every morning.


does your ibook wake up from sleep? or do you leave it on?

My iBook is generally asleep so I use the schedule on the Energy Saver preference pane to start up or wake my computer at 6:59 am.

I used to use iBeeZz to do the same thing, but it doesn't support tiger, luckly I don't need it anymore.

[osxisfun]

Originally Posted by gabe824

My iBook is generally asleep so I use the schedule on the Energy Saver preference pane to start up or wake my computer at 6:59 am. Adding the ability to wake up the computer, as opposed to just start up, is a new tiger feature.

I used to use iBeeZz to do the same thing, but it doesn't support tiger, luckly I don't need it anymore.

thanks! super handy!

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

Von Wrangell, here's a screenshot of a workflow that will sort and move files based on file type. My version just scans a directory for movies and jpeg pictures, moving them to Movies and Pictures respectively. You can add on as many file types as you want.

.....snipped image...

It's basically just four actions that repeat, with just file extension and directory location changing. Put whatever your downloads directory is into each "Get Specified Finder Items" action.

You can save this as an application and run it from the dock, or you could make a folder plug-in and do it from the Finder (I think).

Thanks, that works!

[ppmax]

Question about the Add Spotlight Comments workflow...

I have a smart folder/saved search. I drag this to Automator. I drag "Add Spotlight Comments" the the workflow. I push run. Comments get added to the smart folder, but not the contents of the smart folder.

What am I missing?

thx
pp

[malvolio]

Wow, lots of neat ideas here!
All I've done so far is create a simple little Finder plugin to convert my screenshots to jpegs and move 'em to a specified folder. Kindergarten stuff.

[malique]

Originally Posted by Appleman

How did you do this? I tried with Disk Utility and with Toast, but my game (Breakthrough) still wants to see the disc inside, or won't play. It's not really a big deal, but everytime I need the DVD-unit for something else I first have to remove the CD and one of these days there will be a scratch on it and it won't play anymore, so any suggestions to get this done would be more than appreciated!

huh … I can't remember — it is an .iso so maybe I did it with toast? Was no big deal as far as I remember.

BTW: I didn't get it to work with Automator. So still my first Automator action has not yet happened … if someone really finds out how to do it, I'd appreciate it!

[Prijker]

Is there any workflow to cook me a cheezy pizza with lots of pineapple and mushroms?

Vic

[CaptainHaddock]

Originally Posted by ppmax

Question about the Add Spotlight Comments workflow...

I have a smart folder/saved search. I drag this to Automator. I drag "Add Spotlight Comments" the the workflow. I push run. Comments get added to the smart folder, but not the contents of the smart folder.

What am I missing?

I think you need to add another Finder action: "get folder contents". That'll choose all the files in your folder, to which you can then add Spotlight comments.

[Steve Bosell]

anyone know why this does not work?
all I want to do is run the terminal command "touch" on a file!

[JLL]

You're touching the folder and not the content it seems.

[Steve Bosell]

I replaced the smart folder with a single file, it still will not work the error is:

"An error touch: Apps./: No such file or directory"

[AuPhalanx]

Hi, all!

This is a cool thread--it's giving me some really good ideas. Here is a workflow I made and saved as a plugin so that it shows in my contextual menu. It's a workflow to attach multiple files to an email.

New Mail Message > Get Selected Finer Items > Add Attachments to Front Message

So, you open Finer and selct the files that you want to send, right click and select the pluging, which I named "Attach to email", and then wait for the email to be created with the files attached. It saves me some time from dragging and dropping. I hope that you dig it. Thanks!

Have fun... Tony.

[torifile]

Originally Posted by AuPhalanx

Hi, all!

This is a cool thread--it's giving me some really good ideas. Here is a workflow I made and saved as a plugin so that it shows in my contextual menu. It's a workflow to attach multiple files to an email.

New Mail Message > Get Selected Finer Items > Add Attachments to Front Message

So, you open Finer and selct the files that you want to send, right click and select the pluging, which I named "Attach to email", and then wait for the email to be created with the files attached. It saves me some time from dragging and dropping. I hope that you dig it. Thanks!

Have fun... Tony.

Thanks Tony, but I think that this one is already covered. It's actually one less step than you have: get finder items -> new mail message. Voila! There is no step 3!

[AuPhalanx]

Originally Posted by torifile

Thanks Tony, but I think that this one is already covered. It's actually one less step than you have: get finder items -> new mail message. Voila! There is no step 3!

torifile!

Thanks! I did not see it. I guess it's time for me to go to RIF.org or something like that. I'm going to try it like that. Good info! I'm glad I posted it anyway. Thanks!

Have fun... Tony.

[SuperHard]

Since you have QT Pro and I recently went through this....
Open your movie in QT, select [cmd-j] or Window->Show Movie Properties. Select the video track so it's highlighted. On the tabs, select Visual Settings. There you can rotate the video. Much easier, much faster.
As for getting the video to look properly when played on a TV (b/c it is now "taller" than a TV screen) check out the Audio/Video forum.

Cheers.

Originally Posted by MartiNZ

I wasn't sure about it to begin with, but then along came a perfect opportunity to use it:
I had some movies from my digital camera, in iPhoto, that were taken in portrait, if you will. I was never sure if there was an easy way to rotate them, but what I ended up doing was:
- register QuickTime 7 Pro
- open .avi and export to image sequence
- select image sequence in Finder and create workflow
- set to rotate files right

For one of the movies, only 40 seconds long, it made a 1176 file long image sequence, so the workflow took rather a while and pretty much locked up Finder, but it was well worth it as a way of getting to like Automator .

Of course I then also had to work out how to add the sound back to the rotated movie, having not used QT Pro features before ... wasn't too hard though. I was pleased overall.

How do you add workflows to the contextual menu from Finder?

[philm]

Originally Posted by gabe824

The first workflow I made starts playing my "WakeUp" playlist in iTunes at a resonable volume. I attached it as an alert to a reoccuring iCal event and now my iBook starts playing my tunes at 7:00 am every morning.

Very nifty!

[Simon]

I was trying to use Automator to get Safari to open the URLs of MacNN new post e-mails automatically. Somehow it's not working.



It seems there is no direct way to have Mail filter messages for URLs and then pass them to Safari.

[CaptainHaddock]

Simon, step #4 would have to be sophisticated enough to identify where in an email a URL begins and ends, and filter it from the rest of the email.

My guess is that an Applescript using regular expressions to parse out the URL would work. You could drop the script in for step 4. Writing the script will be tricky, though, if you're not familiar with Applescript.

[Betox]

This is what I want:

1) Open selected images on the Finder with Photoshop.
2) Auto Levels and Auto Balance.
3) Save for web in "Medium Quality"
4) Close Photoshop.
5) New Mail with those images.
6) End.

I haven't found a way to do it... help me guys.

[Sharky K.]

I can't get the following to work
1. spotlight: find files on desktop with .zip
2. Move to trash

[CaptainHaddock]

Betox, I think some of the Photoshop steps might have to be done with a native Photoshop action (through the Action palette). You can call the action with one of the Automator actions available for download through Apple's Automator page.

[akghetto]

I have a folder with the contents that constantly update:

File - Jan 1 2005 - Part 1.xxx
File - Jan 1 2005 - Part 2.xxx
File - Jan 1 2005 - Part 3.xxx

I want to combine all the files into one through Automator. I thought I'd do it with the 'Run Shell Command' action, something as simple as "cat File\ \-\ Jan\ 1\ 2005\ \-\ Part\ * > File\ \-\ Jan\ 1\ 2005.xxx" would work, however with this route I can't figure out how to account for the differing date each day. I'd run this each night so I wouldn't have to worry about differing dates being in the folder at the same time....

Ideas?

[Randman]

Originally Posted by akghetto

I have a folder with the contents that constantly update:

File - Jan 1 2005 - Part 1.xxx
File - Jan 1 2005 - Part 2.xxx
File - Jan 1 2005 - Part 3.xxx

I want to combine all the files into one through Automator. I thought I'd do it with the 'Run Shell Command' action, something as simple as "cat File\ \-\ Jan\ 1\ 2005\ \-\ Part\ * > File\ \-\ Jan\ 1\ 2005.xxx" would work, however with this route I can't figure out how to account for the differing date each day. I'd run this each night so I wouldn't have to worry about differing dates being in the folder at the same time....

Ideas?

Maybe make it a smart folder and apply the rules to it?

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally Posted by Sharky K.

I can't get the following to work
1. spotlight: find files on desktop with .zip
2. Move to trash

No need for Spotlight:

[desertmac]

Hey guys. Any way to do this with Automator?

I want to translate old AppleWorks files (about 4k of them) into Word or Pages formats. I know I can do this with MacLink Plus Deluxe, but I don't want to have to do this file by file. Any suggestions about how I can automate or simplify the translation process?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

[Sharky K.]

Originally Posted by Silky Voice of The Gorn

No need for Spotlight:
http://www.dalahus.com/trash_zip.png

strange, now it is working

edit: it is working from Automator but not as a finder plugin

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally Posted by Sharky K.

strange, now it is working

edit: it is working from Automator but not as a finder plugin

There seems to be a bug with this situation.

[Sharky K.]

this is also not working:
1. Find People with birthdays
2. Ask for Confirmation: Someone's birthday is coming up [cancle] [show]
3. launch application: ical
4. find events in ical
... doesn't show you any search results.

[Betox]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaddock

Betox, I think some of the Photoshop steps might have to be done with a native Photoshop action (through the Action palette). You can call the action with one of the Automator actions available for download through Apple's Automator page.

I did it!

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally Posted by Betox

I did it!

[wataru]

Originally Posted by xMetal

Automator is very cool, but it needs SO many more options in it's actions. There just so many things I've thought of to do that I don't haev the options for.

For example, I wanted to make a simple backup routine. I want it to:

- look at my Documents folder
- Get the list of all folders (i.e. each work project is in a folder)
- get the folders that have been modified today
- copy those to another drive, replacing any existing folders of the same name

There's options for doing this with *files*, but you can't filter out only folders that have been modified today, and since I have a mirrored copy of all my project folders on the other drive, I just want it to take the folders modified today and copy them, replacing the old ones. It won't really work if you start just copying inidividual files.

I'm sure this will improve with time, but in many cases just a teeny bit more flexibility and you could do so many more things.

You want rsync. There's no need to reinvent the wheel.

[Appleman]

Originally Posted by Betox

I did it!

Where do you get the "Photoshop Do Action" from?

[Big Mac]

Are the files created by Automator actually regular AppleScript files?

[digital_dreamer]

Originally Posted by mism

I was trying to do the following:

"copy current URL in safari and paste into new mail message"

and

"copy selected text and paste into new mail message"


I can do it all (copy, new mail message) but can't work out the paste part?

I am going to set up some simple contextual menu workflows for 'move the selected file to X'. I tend to download to one folder, from there I will be able to easily move a file to 'movies' or 'widgets' for example.

The "copy current URL in safari and paste into new mail message" can be done in Javascript. Just bookmark this:
javascript:location.href='mailto:?SUBJECT='+docume nt.title+'&BODY='+escape(location.href)

regards,
MAJ

[Abit667]

Originally Posted by Appleman

Where do you get the "Photoshop Do Action" from?

I think he got it here:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos...pdoaction.html

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Originally Posted by Big Mac

Are the files created by Automator actually regular AppleScript files?

Short answer: No
Long answer: No, but workflows may contain applescripts...but they aren't editable with applescript itself, it's all embedded in the .wflw file.

[Big Mac]

Thank you for the explanation, SVoTG.

[Silky Voice of The Gorn]

Please, my friends call me "Silky"

[Appleman]

I made a workflow that is checking on a daily basis if there is someone having a birthday, then send an email to that person with a birthday card.

AddressBook: Find People with Birthdays
Mail: Send Birthday Greetings
Mail: Send outgoing Messages

Saved as Application and put in Login Items.