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AUTOMATOR RULES!! (Use "Jock" voice here!)
- Thread starter James Philp
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Yeah - feel a bit stupid, but I would like the two separate - likeApplespider said:
1. Automator plug ins/extensions
2. Completed scripts (using the standard set for now) to install
That would be of a little more use.
Abstract said:What if the name of a file is something like "01_Intro.mp3", and I wanted to rename the album liket this: "01. Gorillaz - Intro.mp3"???
I want to keep the number sequencing and add the "Gorillaz - " bit into the filename, and then keep the title. I do this so often that it would be great if I can automate it. It doesn't sound possible, but you never know.
Also, how do I make a Workflow act like an app? If I make a workflow and save it to the desktop, I want to be able to double-click it and have it execute without it opening up the Automator app. I want the workflow to act on its own without executing the application itself, sorta like it has been compiled and run. Right now its like I have to open XCode and running an app I wrote in there each time I want to use it. What's the point?
this sort of off-topic, but, I am obviously new to apple products, in regards to iTunes, when I import a CD, the preferences are set to keep the song files in the correct order of the CD. However, whenever i play the album it always plays the music in alphabetical order, how do i make it play the original order of the album?
P.S
sorry about my grammar & syntax, i've been up for days, studying for finals
munkle said:I've got a 'convert to PDF' Automator action going, which I'm using surprisingly often. If this Automator thing takes off Apple's gotta start thinking about shipping a two button mouse!
See I can't figure out how to do this. I want a one button / menu item to save a webpage as a PDF. Ultimately, I'd like it to remove all images and just save the text of the page to a PDF. Any ideas? Do you need to use Applescript?
I really like Automater,. I made a great one that takes any music files in a certain folder, copies them to iTunes, and then deletes the original files. Only problem is a) it ionly works as an Automater workflow, when I save it as an app it does nothing, and b) Automater runs really slow and buggy for me. I checked the console and this is what I get:
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextGetCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextConcatCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextConcatCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextConcatCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextSetFillColorWithColor: invalid context
but about 10 times as many messages. Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas?
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextGetCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextConcatCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextConcatCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextConcatCTM: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextClipToRect: invalid context
Jun 3 11:45:12 Sam-Wheelers-Computer /Applications/Automator.app/Contents/MacOS/Automator: CGContextSetFillColorWithColor: invalid context
but about 10 times as many messages. Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas?
Claudia said:
Right-click on the column names in your library/playlist and make sure Track Number is checked (if not, check it).
Then just click the Track Number column to sort by it.
James, please excuse my cultural ignorance, but I have to ask you something: Who is "Jock"?James Philp said:
PPT to PDF with automator
does anyone know a way to use automator to print powerpoint files to PDF? I have about 5 GB of powerpoints that I would like to compress (some are 100 MB files each) and save as PDF. I've read that it can be done with FinMac 2005, but I don't know what that software is. Anyone have a simple solution?
does anyone know a way to use automator to print powerpoint files to PDF? I have about 5 GB of powerpoints that I would like to compress (some are 100 MB files each) and save as PDF. I've read that it can be done with FinMac 2005, but I don't know what that software is. Anyone have a simple solution?
Did you know that even if you can't use Automator to do it you can do it manually? To do it open your PowerPoint presentation you want to be a PDF file then go the the file menu and select File-->Print on the PowerPoint menu. Next click on the PDF drop down menu from the print dialogue box and select the option "Compress PDF" now choose the place you want to save the PDF and there you have it -- a compressed PDF file of your PowerPoint!Huff said:
Anywhere you print on your Mac you can save it as a PDF instead. Trust me this is one of the coolest things ever because if I make an email account (or one type of account or another), I don't need to print out my email address, username and password instead I can save the information as a PDF file. This lower my paper work. And remember if I need to find something fast Spotlight will search the text within a PDF file. You can't search your paperwork that you printed out this easily.
Enjoy this feature.
GodBless said:Did you know that even if you can't use Automator to do it you can do it manually? To do it open your PowerPoint presentation you want to be a PDF file then go the the file menu and select File-->Print on the PowerPoint menu. Next click on the PDF drop down menu from the print dialogue box and select the option "Compress PDF" now choose the place you want to save the PDF and there you have it -- a compressed PDF file of your PowerPoint!
Anywhere you print on your Mac you can save it as a PDF instead. Trust me this is one of the coolest things ever because if I make an email account (or one type of account or another), I don't need to print out my email address, username and password instead I can save the information as a PDF file. This lower my paper work. And remember if I need to find something fast Spotlight will search the text within a PDF file. You can't search your paperwork that you printed out this easily.
Enjoy this feature.
This is also one of my favorite features; however, I want to let automator do this for me. I have hundreds and hundreds of powerpoint files that I don't want to have to open manually and print. I need a plug-in to do the work for me. Thanks for your help though. Anyone have any suggestions?
I'm afraid I have to add a dissenting voice to this discussion. Automator was one of the few main features that I considered killer, and I've been really disappointed by it.
Initially, it is very difficult to shrug off the fact that it runs about as well as a rhinocerous covered in treacle through a minefield. It is absolutely dog slow on my iBook, and it has repeatedly frozen on me when even doing basic actions such as selecting actions. (FWIW, this is my fourth Tiger installation for various reasons, and it's been the same on all of them. This time it's a clean install.) It's difficult to increase productivity with it when it won't work without freezing up half the time.
Then it's just the scope of it. The main actions I want automated I just can't do. I frequently upload things to a server for various website projects and then link to them and comment on them on the site itself. What I'd love to be able to do, for example, would be:
Step 1 - Choose the file to upload to the preset path
Step 2 - Choose the Link content
Step 3 - Add comment
On this, it would then upload the file, and incorporate my link and the comment to my webpage, and upload that.
I'll readily admit that I'm no computer scientist, but this is supposed to be scripting for everyone - if I can't manage it, then this certainly isn't scripting for everyone.
(Incidentally, I say this not in an arrogant way, but I think we all know the situation - not that many people are good with computers, and if a strong hobbyist user can't master something, very few others can. If the main body of interest for Automator is for people that were already into scripting anyway, it has totally defeated the object of its creation.)
Automator is an ambitious app, and one I'd like to see continue to evolve over the next few years. It has great potential, but for me, that potential has barely been tapped.
Initially, it is very difficult to shrug off the fact that it runs about as well as a rhinocerous covered in treacle through a minefield. It is absolutely dog slow on my iBook, and it has repeatedly frozen on me when even doing basic actions such as selecting actions. (FWIW, this is my fourth Tiger installation for various reasons, and it's been the same on all of them. This time it's a clean install.) It's difficult to increase productivity with it when it won't work without freezing up half the time.
Then it's just the scope of it. The main actions I want automated I just can't do. I frequently upload things to a server for various website projects and then link to them and comment on them on the site itself. What I'd love to be able to do, for example, would be:
Step 1 - Choose the file to upload to the preset path
Step 2 - Choose the Link content
Step 3 - Add comment
On this, it would then upload the file, and incorporate my link and the comment to my webpage, and upload that.
I'll readily admit that I'm no computer scientist, but this is supposed to be scripting for everyone - if I can't manage it, then this certainly isn't scripting for everyone.
(Incidentally, I say this not in an arrogant way, but I think we all know the situation - not that many people are good with computers, and if a strong hobbyist user can't master something, very few others can. If the main body of interest for Automator is for people that were already into scripting anyway, it has totally defeated the object of its creation.)
Automator is an ambitious app, and one I'd like to see continue to evolve over the next few years. It has great potential, but for me, that potential has barely been tapped.
Does anyone know how I can resize pictures based on whether the width or height is larger in Automator? Let me explain. If I resize a list of pics to a common width or height, then either the vertically-oriented ones or the horizontally-oriented ones will be smaller. Let's say I want my pics to be a maximum of 640 pixels in either dimension. What I want is to be able to say is:
"If the width is larger than the height, then resize the width to 640 pixels and resize the height proportionally. Else (if the height is the larger dimension), then resize the height to 640 and resize the width proportionally."
Any way to do this with Automator? I know it's possible, and if I got desperate enough I'm sure I could code my own Automator action to allow for this. But of course I'd rather avoid that and use an existing action if one exists.
"If the width is larger than the height, then resize the width to 640 pixels and resize the height proportionally. Else (if the height is the larger dimension), then resize the height to 640 and resize the width proportionally."
Any way to do this with Automator? I know it's possible, and if I got desperate enough I'm sure I could code my own Automator action to allow for this. But of course I'd rather avoid that and use an existing action if one exists.
HiRez said:
If you use the Automator 'scale image' action, it does this automatically (I'm not sure how to stop it doing it!). It will reduce the largest 'side' to the size you say. I've just tested it with a screen grab workflow that I have that shrinks things to 350 pixels and converts to a jpg. Here are the results
595 x 711 to 293 x 350
955 x 505 to 350 x 185
thequicksilver said:
The only time mine freezes is when I try to get it to look up a playlist/album in iTunes/iPhoto. If I leave it on the Main Library, it beachballs but works eventually; clicking the dropdown kills it. My PB does have lots of RAM though.
Those 'actions' aren't yet there until a developer decides to write them or script them. I agree at the moment we are limited to common tasks already built into Apple apps or the OS for the most part. Since FTP isn't easily accessible through the GUI of OSX for the average user, it's not easily Automated either.
I can't script. I've looked and been overwhelmed by the complexity several times. I enjoy figuring out things in Automator though and get a real sense of achievement when I get a workflow to work as I want. But for the most part, there have been actions available for the steps I need to do. As more actions become available, I expect Automator to become more useful.
Incidentally, there's an upload to FTP server action here that you might find useful for Step 1. It copies the URL to the clipboard where you might be able to make automator pick it up and get Safari to open that link to get step 2 underway? Good luck!
Hah! You're right, it does what I want by default! Automator is smarter than I gave it credit for. Now I feel dumb for asking.Applespider said:
Thanks. Applespider said:
After reading your posted I have test it by selecting like 10 jpg images, that are allready touched up in photoshop and saved, to resize to 500 px for easy online viewing without scrolling and to also make thumbnails at the same time which also created new file with addition _tn (ThumbNail) to files name which will become link later. After saving and selecting the images that I wanted to process, it took Automator only couple of seconds to process them all.
WOW This is really cool once you know how to use it. The old way of doing such thing would take me couple of hours considering that I have quite a big number of images to process.
TIGER RULES!!!
Applespider, Does the scale image automatically convert to JPEG?
If not, what action did you add to choose to convert and scaled image to JPEG?
If not, what action did you add to choose to convert and scaled image to JPEG?
acedickson said:
No, it doesn't automatically convert it to jpg.
You need to add the Preview Action 'Change Type of Images' and set it to jpg (or 'Show Action when Run' to be offered the choice to choose the image format as it runs)
Applespider, I've tried this extract music video Automator app., and it doesn't work under iTunes 4.9. You can download it here but if you've update to 4.9, it won't work. Automator flashes an error and then closes. Safari also gives an error. I think Apple began caching the videos differently in 4.9.
I haven't tried my action since I updated to 4.9 so I guess it's broken too...
Oh well, it was good while it lasted!
Oh well, it was good while it lasted!