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I have creating a simple workflow in Automator which will extract text from a list of URLs and save them into one text file.

The actions are:

  • Get Specified Text
  • Get Text from Webpage
  • New Text File

Whenever there is a problem with one of the URLs, Automator throws an error and stops working - is it possible to make it ignore the problem URL and continue?

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2 Answers

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Could you use curl or wget instead?

for u in $(cat urls.txt); do curl -L "$u"; done > output.txt
brew install wget
wget -i urls.txt -U mozilla -O output.txt
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Im sorry, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about...even Automator is a struggle for me to understand. Can you advise what I would do with the above code? – henry Feb 27 at 13:00
OP included a terminal command in their answer. Since it's a bit over your head, I'd recommend following Philippe's answer. – Zach Latta Feb 28 at 2:29
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The reason is, the "Get Specified Text" does not allow returns (if you are putting more than one line of text).

In order for me to fix this problem (mine was similar), I found an automator text actions pack on line and bought it (really cheap). You can find it here:

http://www.automatedworkflows.com

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Thanks I have just bought the text actions pack....but I am having the same problem. I have this setup:The problem is when any supplied URL has a timeout. Is there a way to set a condition where it attempts to retrieve the text, but if unable, moves onto the next URL. – henry Feb 28 at 3:27

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