4 Free Automator Applications to Increase Productivity

In the never-ending quest to organize my life, I’ve developed some tools to make the fight a bit easier. Most of the disorganization on my MBP comes from my internet browsing. I am constantly generating a pile of files that need to be processed, but my nonexistent attention span is always taking me to the next beta release before I have a chance to unzip and install the previous one. Thanks to a couple of organizational suggestions from GTDers, though, I have been able to get things under control. I’ve developed a few automator applications that should make your internet gleaning more about collection and less about mounting, zipping, and the like. First, let me explain my system for handling new files.

Thanks to Quicksilver, my dock only contains open applications and three drag and drop apps: FileChute, EverNote, and AppCleaner. My stacks are a bit numerous: Recent Apps, Applications, Download, Drop Box, Documents, and Workflows. Most of my incoming document/app/media/disk image traffic comes from the internet, so all downloads go directly to my downloads folder just as Steve Jobs intended.

I don’t like opening folders and interacting with files, so I went to Automator to avoid frustration. I’ve included some of my latest work in Automator for you to download and enjoy. The applications below can be tweaked to work out of whatever folder you have designated as your Inbox, but they come stock with the Download folder designation.

Perfect Dismount searches the download folder for .dmg files, mounts them and then trashes the file. All you need to do is drag the app into the Application folder shortcut that most developers include on their disk image. Or, just select the application, invoke Quicksilver, call up the current selection proxy and move to Applications. All that you need to do manually is move the folder and eject the disk.

The Zipper looks for zip files in your downloads folder and unzips them, and after a 10 second pause moves the zip file to the trash. If you have tons upon tons of zip files, you may need to tweak the pause time for proper unzippage.

Applicator should be run after The Zipper. This app moves all the applications in your downloads folder into your applications folder. I made sure that your stack icon would not be moved with a little caveat in the workflow. If you have a stack icon other than the Download.app then you’ll need to modify the name of the application.

Tunes to Trash will import your audio files into your iTunes Library. You can change the playlist in this app in case you have an iTunes inbox. That actually sounds like a good idea. I should try that one out.

50% of the useful information that comes from MacApper is in the comment section. Feel free to tweak these apps and post them in the comments section. If you’re not able to host the files, email them to tips@macapper.com and we’ll host them for you.

For even more productivity points, use some triggers in Quicksilver to activate these workflows or allow Lignon or SmartShuno to run these apps automatically. In then end, I hope I’ve made you a little more efficient, or at least lazy.