Uses for Automator

March 30, 2006 4:33 PM

I'm overwhelmed by Automator. What are some of the ways that you use it?
posted by charmston to computers & internet (11 comments total)

I made a "burn this" action, so I can right click on any item or folder and immediately burn it to a cd; i've also made a stuff & ftp action for a particular off-site drive that i use to backup important stuff. And while this could probably be done though Firefox as well, I also have an automator action in the dock that opens firefox with a dozen tabs of various statistics pages I need to check every morning when I get to work.
posted by luriete at 4:55 PM on March 30, 2006

I use it to get round an Apple bug :)

I have one that changes the creator code of MP3s saved from Safari to iTunes's code, so that they open properly and transfer to the iPod. It adds them to a playlist, then deletes the originals.
posted by bonaldi at 6:08 PM on March 30, 2006

Can people answering this question post a link to their workflows, if possible? I find it really helpful to see how these things are actually set up inside Automator. I'd love to use the program more, but I have trouble doing the simplest things.
posted by odinsdream at 6:56 PM on March 30, 2006

To expound: Specifically, I'm interested in luriete's last comment, about opening a bunch of tabs in firefox. This would be really neat, so I opened up Automator and looked through the Applications list. I don't see Firefox, and I can't drag the Firefox icon into the list. So, as far as I know, Automator doesn't talk to Firefox. How do I make automator more useful for applications not already in the list?
posted by odinsdream at 7:00 PM on March 30, 2006

One shady: I had a lot emails come in that 'Click here to verify your email address', writing a quick script to run through Mail and open all the links in Safari took care of that! (Workflow Screenshot)

One useful: Using the 'Create an Archive' action and the Upload with SCP action, I created an Automator script to do nightly, remote, secure backups to another server of mine. (Workflow Screenshot)
posted by jeresig at 7:23 PM on March 30, 2006

luriete: On Linux systems, middle-clicking a bookmark folder (the action that also opens links in new tabs) will open all the bookmarks in that folder in new tabs. Would this be an easier way than using Automator to do it?
posted by jepler at 7:50 PM on March 30, 2006

what is the Windows equal to this program?
posted by crewshell at 9:45 PM on March 30, 2006

what is the Windows equal to this program?

vbscript, sort of. but not really.
posted by cellphone at 9:49 PM on March 30, 2006

I use Automator to go to a specific folder at my web host and download any files with certain name characteristics to a folder on my HD. These are my raw server log files.
posted by mikel at 4:43 AM on March 31, 2006

I have a "Zip and email" workflow that will zip files and/or folders that I have selected in the Finder and then add the zip file as an attachment to an email. My first version even filled in the To and Subject lines, but I've since revised it to be more generic.
posted by pmbuko at 7:11 AM on March 31, 2006

AFAIK, Windows has absolutely nothing like Automator.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:06 AM on March 31, 2006