Macworld Article > Power tools: Make events on your Mac trigger iOS notifications

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Let’s say you’ve got a really cool Automator workflow that saves you tons of time but takes a while to run. Do you really have to sit around, twiddling your thumbs while waiting for it to finish? Wouldn’t it be nicer if you could go get a latte instead and get an alert on your iPhone when the workflow is finished? That’s just one example of the kind of thing possible with the latest version of If This Then That (IFTTT). [Read more on Macworld.com...]

Adobe Illustrator Automator Actions Released in the Mac App Store

ai_pack_icon110x110I'm pleased to announce that my AI Automator Action Pack, which includes 20 actions for interacting with Adobe Illustrator in Mac OS X, has been released in the Mac App Store. It can be found here.

Information about my other Automator action packs can be found here.

-Ben

Adobe Photoshop Automator Actions Released in the Mac App Store

PSDPack_110x110I'm pleased to announce that my PS Automator Action Pack, which includes 35 actions for interacting with Adobe Photoshop in Mac OS X, has been released in the Mac App Store. It can be found here.

Information about my other Automator action packs can be found here.

-Ben

MacVoices Interview > Ben Waldie Clarifies the Situation with AppleScript and Mavericks

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Ben Waldie helps cut through the controversy surrounding OS X Mavericks, the iWork suite and get to just the facts. There has been concern about the current lack of support in Mavericks, and also in Numbers, Pages and Keynote. Ben calms the waters a bit, explaining what is missing, what still works, and what his expectations are for scripting in both Mavericks and iOS 7 going forward.

[Listen in iTunes]

[Listen or Download Online]

Automation Changes in Mavericks – Official Tech Links

Lots of AppleScript and Automator changes were introduced with OS X 10.9 Mavericks. Here are links to official Apple technical resources that discuss some of them...

For a general overview of the automation changes in Mavericks, visit macosxautomation.com (not hosted by Apple Inc.).

Macworld Article > 5 Automator workflows everyone should have

automator-icon_580-100036496-largeI meet a lot of people with Automator anxiety: they think using OS X’s built-in workflow-maker is a lot more complex than it really is. The truth is that Automator workflows are (a) pretty simple to assemble and (b) great for simple but repetitive tasks that you do all the time anyway.

To show you what I mean here are five workflows that I think pretty much every Mac user should have. They do things we all need to do: Wrap text in quotation marks, for example, or count the number of words in a selection of text. There might be other ways of doing the same things, but Automator is built into your Mac and you can implement them yourself for free in a couple of minutes.

[Read more on Macworld.com...]

TUAW Post > AppleScripting Email > Developing a Quoted Reply Service

outlook_autoA reader recently wrote to me with a problem. Apparently, Microsoft Outlook no longer contains the ability to create quote level chunks of text when replying to messages in plain text format. Why this functionality was removed, I can't say. But, with a little help from AppleScript and Automator, I was able to help the reader to add this functionality back via a Service. Better yet, the Service can be set up to work in any email client, or even systemwide in any app. Here's how you can do it...

[Read more on TUAW...]

TUAW Post > Triggering AppleScripts from Calendar Alerts in Mountain Lion

calendar_scriptAppleScript's are great tools for increasing your daily productivity. They're even better when they can be set to run unattended, at night, on weekends, or during downtime.  In Lion, iCal included a handy option for attaching a script to a calendar event.  Just create an event, add a Run Script alarm, point it to the desired script and you're good to go.  Things changed in Mountain Lion, though.  Presumably for security reasons, the Run Script alarm option was removed from the Calendar app.  Despite its removal, however, there are still some ways you can trigger scripts from Calendar events.

[Read more on TUAW...]

Macworld Article > 100 More Things Every Mac User Should Know > Five Useful Automator Workflows

The April 2013 issue of Macworld magazine includes a special feature - 100 More Things Every Mac User Should Know: Essential Knowledge for Anyone Who Wants to be Savvy.  I wrote the Automator section.  It includes the following 5 useful workflows:

  • Wrap selected text in quotes
  • Get a word count of selected text
  • Create a subfolder in the Finder
  • Add dates to files in the Finder
  • Toggle hidden Finder files on/off

Hope you find it useful.  This issue is available in print and in the iBookstore.

-Ben

TUAW Post > More Tips for Troubleshooting Automator Workflows

troubleshoot_automatorIn my last post, I shared some useful tips for troubleshooting Automator workflow problems. I didn't cover everything, though. There are lots of other ways you can troubleshoot your workflow. Here are some more tips to help.

[Read more on TUAW...]