Comments on: Tutorial: Automator Basics

By: David Luskin

David Luskin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 22:36:49 +0000

Hi, How do I make a workflow on automator that opens up a web page, then refreshes the webpage every 2 minutes. It then tells me if anything changes on that webpage.

Thanks,

David

By: Giuseppe

Giuseppe — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:49:04 +0000

I watched a tutorial on Youtube yesterday and found out how to rename a large number of photos quickly. So that was great. The pictures were all renamed but I noticed that that the date when they were made was not in order like in the original ones from the camera.
Has anyone had the same problem?

By: vicki Woodyard

vicki Woodyard — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:56:51 +0000

Automator somehow got turned on and I don’t want it. It happened like this. I clicked on Fetch and Automator opened. I closed Automator and it still opened when I clicked on Fetch. Now I don’t know how to get to Fetch to upload something to my website. Darned automator. Tell me how I can close it so that Fetch opens like it is supposed to. I need help with this today.

By: Programming

Programming — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:03:14 +0000

[...] hat ein Tutorial zu QuartzComposer veröffentlicht. Teil 2 folgt. Auch die Automator-Tutorials sind zu [...]

By: Jose Jacob

Jose Jacob — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:32:16 +0000

how do we know that an application supports automator?

By: tl

tl — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:58:25 +0000

How does one set up to trigger a workflow with a keyboard shortcut? thanks. nice tutorial

By: Loweded Wookie

Loweded Wookie — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 05:54:56 +0000

I discovered Automator when trying to find a free way to turn iTunes into an alarm clock and from that day on I’ve used it a lot.

The recording feature in Leopard is cool but not as cool as I would have liked it to be. It’s the equivalent to ScriptIT on Windows but I was hoping more for something like ZenWorks on Novell which is so much better.

That being said though it means anything can be scripted including closing down applications. The trade off is that it isn’t pretty as it picks up movement so your cursor will go all over the place which looks untidy, but then ScriptIT on Windows is similar.

By: Jack DeLong

Jack DeLong — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:37:23 +0000

Thanks for posting this, it was a big help!

By: Tutorial: How To Make a Flickr Uploader: Part 1 | MacApper

Tutorial: How To Make a Flickr Uploader: Part 1 | MacApper — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 10:01:05 +0000

[...] It’s good to note that Apple’s Automator Actions download page has a wide selection of useful Automator Actions to add to Automator this way. If you feel like what you’re seeing here is a bit over your head please go and check out the Automator Basics Tutorial. [...]

By: pinotbob

pinotbob — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 23:11:03 +0000

I can’t get this to work! “Data Conversion failed” is in the log. Any ideas?

By: links for 2007-06-16 | blog.ftofani.com

links for 2007-06-16 | blog.ftofani.com — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 20:17:52 +0000

[...] Tutorial: Automator Basics | MacApper aprenda a usar o Automator (tags: automator osx mac tutorial howto Apple backup) [...]

By: pristina.org | everything design » links for 2007-06-16

pristina.org | everything design » links for 2007-06-16 — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 02:21:20 +0000

[...] Tutorial: Automator Basics | MacApper aprenda a usar o Automator (tags: automator osx mac tutorial howto Apple backup) [...]

By: Diigo daily 06/15/2007 « fuzzybrain|daisychain|blogdrain

Diigo daily 06/15/2007 « fuzzybrain|daisychain|blogdrain — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 17:29:35 +0000

[...] Tutorial: Automator Basics | MacApper [...]

By: Backup: Set up simple file versioning with Automator at SoftSaurus

Backup: Set up simple file versioning with Automator at SoftSaurus — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:54:29 +0000

[...] The backup methods used are very similar to my simple version control system for Windows, but this Mac solution takes advantage of the much-maligned/beloved Automator. Not only is this a useful versioning method, but the post also serves as a nice introduction to Automator. MacApper [...]

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 13:16:44 +0000

One suggestion I have would be to make the versioned file name in the order:

XXXX_Backup_YYYY-MM-DDTHHMM

(this is based on the standard ISO 8601)
The ‘T’ is based on the standard but it’s not crucial, just make sure you use leading zeros on all numbers and use the 24-hr clock.

This way, all your like-named files will be chronological when sorted alphabetically
Filename_backup_2007-06-01T1403
Filename_backup_2007-06-01T1407
Other File_backup_2007-05-30T0743
Other File_backup_2007-05-31T0918

If you would rather have all files chronological regardless of content, the YYYY-MM-DDTHHMM can go at the start, I use a combination of both systems for different purposes – Date/Time at the start for time specific files (business expense receipts etc.) and Date/Time at the end for content specific files and versioning (this keeps like-named files together)

This dating system works without the dashes but they make the filenames easier to read (and to make Smart Folders with – Name contains “2007-06″ for a Smart Folder with all June 2007 files)

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:02:10 +0000

Mason:

No, this action will make a copy of any files you select, even if they have not changed since your last ‘backup’.

Maybe with Leopard, we can make use of Time Machine as ’subversion for the rest of us’ (and maybe some of the new features in Automator 10.5 will help this process)

By: Il Liceo » Blog Archive » Backup: Set up simple file versioning with Automator

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 11:07:32 +0000

By: Dawud

Dawud — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 10:02:47 +0000

I’ve found it to be most useful when saved as a Finder plugin. This way I can just right-click on a folder or file, select Automater->BackUp my data is archived. Thanks for the great tutorial.

By: Simple version control for the Mac « CogiDDo ergo sum

Simple version control for the Mac « CogiDDo ergo sum — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 02:28:31 +0000

[...] — cogiddo @ 10:29 pm Using the Automator. Thanks to Lifehacker, for bringing me this link. I will study it tomorrow, as I can really use a simple version control system and don’t feel [...]

By: Uri

Uri — Tue, 29 May 2007 22:09:06 +0000

Keep posting more workflows; Automator rocks!!

By: 42daze » Blog Archive » How do you use Automator?

42daze » Blog Archive » How do you use Automator? — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:24:04 +0000

[...] Automator Basics [...]

By: Mason

Mason — Tue, 29 May 2007 16:00:42 +0000

Does the backup workflow you provided make updated (meaning it only adds modified files after the first backup) backups?

By: David Mendez

David Mendez — Tue, 29 May 2007 03:23:11 +0000

Very nice tutorial! I have never really gotten into Automator, not sure why exactly, but this is a great walkthrough and certainly makes it more appealing to try out for all sorts of things