Automator... useless?

[ifjake]

So after over a year, I finally found a use for Automator. Here at college I don't have a printer. I have to attach whatever files I want to print to an email, send them to a webmail address, go to a lab and print from there. Yeah it's a pain, but I made an Automator workflow that does all the stuff on this end in one step, since I have it as a Finder workflow and can ctrl+click to get to it. I simply select my file(s), click on the command and the work flow ...
1. Gets the selected Finder items.
2. Makes an archive out of them on the desktop.
3. Attaches the archive to an email automatically addressed to my webmail account.
4. Sends the email.
5. Gets the archive from the desktop.
6. Moves it to the trash.

As you can probably tell I'm relatively proud of myself, and glad that I was finally able to get some real practical use out of Automator. Yay.

 

[p0intblank]

I really need to sit down and use Automator for a couple hours. I know it can do some wonderful multitasking, but I find it sort of difficult to learn.

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

I haven't had a good time with automator either.

However, I did use it to wake me up in the morning with iTunes, by setting my iCal to run the Automator script for playing iTunes at a certain time. That's about it.

 

[tekmoe]

i am sure it can do some amazing stuff, i've just yet to figure out how to use it.

 

[jive]

The scale thing is good for images if you've sending them to someone over email... And err, the mass rename tool... That's about all I've used...

 

[slackersonly]

Apple.com and other websites have some great Automator items prebuilt.
I grabbed the screenprint/email and photo resizer ones so far. I found it easier to download a bunch of these and then take 2-3 minutes testing them as their descriptions leave alot unanswered.