Apple has a long history of making the automation of repetitive tasks easier on the relief of us . begin with HyperCard and AppleScript , and now with Automator , Apple has created custom programme to make your Mac even more well-disposed and hefty .
You ’ll see the Automator program inside the Applications folder . The icon is that of a little risque robot ( appropriately named Otto ) ready for you to program using pull and drop . Automator works by taking a figure of building mental block ( called Automator actions ) and combine them to build up a work flow .
One of the more repetitious project you could do on a computer is prepare items for impression . We ’re fit to bet at a few ways Automator can help out with these to get you bulge .
This is the Automator startup screen.
If you launch Automator in Snow Leopard , you ’re presented with the following templates . I ’ll show you how to create an action for printing the contents of a leaflet and combining Mail message for printing .
This is the Automator inauguration screen .
Print a folder’s contents
New to Automator in Snow Leopard is the ability to create avail , which can be made available to any or specific programs through the Services menu ( Application_Name- > Services ) . Automator makes it gentle to get the contents of any folder on a Mac as a textbook file ready for printing , batch processing , or any other purpose .
This is the main Automator workspace .
Here ’s what it should look like .
This is the main Automator workspace.
The activity you create is in the of the Services menu .
Combine Mail messages for printing
Here ’s a three - action Automator applications programme to combine multiple messages in Apple ’s Mail into a exclusive ( new ) atomic number 99 - mail substance . you could then impress this undivided message , which saves gross ton of newspaper .
The Mail message combining software .
These are just two of the endless ways you could employ Automator to make printing process quicker and more commodious . Once you ’ve tried some Automator workflows , I ’m certain you ’ll get ideas of ways to cannonball along up other applications and workflows you use .
Here’s what it should look like.
There ’s plenty of entropy out there about Automator forOS X 10.6andOS X 10.5 , and of course I hope you’re able to unite us atMac OS X Hintsfor even more Automator goodness .
[ Craig Arko is the editor ofMac OS X Hints . ]
Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
The action you created is in the of the Services menu.
The Mail message combining application.
