Performing a repetitive task on a computer is rather tedious. However, it\u2019s not difficult to get your Mac to put in the legwork, and leave you free to do something more interesting. This requires a little effort.<\/p>\n
Contents<\/p>
You can find\u00a0Automator\u00a0in\u00a0Applications<\/em>. This feature will let you program your Mac without any technical know-how. The idea is that you assemble a time-saving\u00a0Workflow\u00a0by combining various off-the-shelf Actions<\/em>, which are individual tasks such as finding unread emails, converting file formats, importing files into applications, etc.<\/p>\n Workflows\u00a0can perform some pretty complicated things, such as publish podcasts or choose and store full-size images from an online gallery of thumbnails by adding them to your\u00a0iPhone Library, and so on.<\/p>\n Automator comes with a large collection of\u00a0Actions, arranged down the left side according to the application they relate to. To start a\u00a0Workflow, you should drag an action into the right-hand pane, and tinker with its settings, if necessary. Then, you can add another action. Make sure this Action<\/em> makes sense as a follow-up to the first, as if it doesn\u2019t, you\u2019ll see red text where the two Actions<\/em> should link together.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve strung a few Actions<\/em> together, hit the\u00a0Run\u00a0<\/em>button to see if your Workflow functions as planned. It can fail on the first try, but in this case, you should rethink the Workflow from start to finish, make some tweaks, and try again. Once everything\u2019s working correctly, hit\u00a0Save As<\/em>\u2026\u00a0in the\u00a0File\u00a0menu and save a\u00a0Workflow\u00a0file. Next, click\u00a0File \u2013 Save As<\/em>\u2026\u00a0and export your Workflow file as a standalone application. This way, you can run it without opening\u00a0Automator. You can also give your newly created app its own icon and drag it onto the Dock<\/em>.<\/p>\n Note that you\u2019re not limited to the\u00a0Actions\u00a0that come with the\u00a0Automator. You can find lots of extra\u00a0Actions\u00a0available to download and import. You can even design your own\u00a0Action<\/em>, though you\u2019ll first need to learn more about\u00a0AppleScript<\/em>.<\/p>\n To a certain extent, Automator is a friendly interface for\u00a0AppleScript<\/em>, the Mac scripting language. AppleScript<\/em> is essentially a series of commands that can be opened, edited, or exported as a mini-application.<\/p>\n Open\u00a0AppleScript Utility<\/em>\u00a0from\u00a0Applications \u2013 AppleScript<\/em>,\u00a0and check the box to activate the AppleScript<\/em> menu to see the sample scripts that came with OS X. A new icon will appear up on your menu bar, near the clock. This icon will reveal scores of scripts when clicked. You can download thousands of other apps from the internet, as well.<\/p>\n AppleScript Studio\u00a0is part of Xcode, an OS X programming toolkit.<\/p>\n If you want to try your hand at programming, and create your own\u00a0Automator Actions<\/em>, learning\u00a0AppleScripts<\/em>\u00a0is a good place to start. Compared to most programming languages,\u00a0AppleScript\u00a0<\/em>is very user-friendly, with code that even the uninitiated can make some sense of. However,\u00a0AppleScript<\/em>\u00a0is a powerful source, especially if you master\u00a0AppleScript Studio<\/em>,\u00a0which is a development environment for building fancy graphical interfaces onto your scripts. To begin, download a basic tutorial and experiment with\u00a0AppleScript Editor, which is located in\u00a0Applications \u2013 Utilities.<\/em><\/p>\nHow to Create Workflows<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
Adding Actions to the Automator<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
AppleScript<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
How to Write AppleScripts<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
Links<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n