Questions tagged [automator]
An application developed by Apple for macOS that implements the creation of workflows.
1,285
questions
-1
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13 views
How to increment a number in a TEXT file each time the automator script runs? [closed]
I want to create a script that has automator open a TEXT file each time it runs and increment the number inside that text file. After it runs, the text file should be saved until next time.
How do I ...
0
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0answers
20 views
Creating a handler for moving and deleting files
Is it possible to have a listener be called whenever a file is moved or deleted? Preferably, I would be able to abort the action, but this is not required. I would need to know the original and, if ...
0
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0answers
13 views
Help with simple Automation to send emails through a web-form through pre-existing list of hyperlinks?
Goal: automate the sending of a private message, the text of which is stored in clipboard, to multiple users through an online engagement platform. Here's the setup:
Each person I wish to send the ...
0
votes
1answer
22 views
Make a single line of text bold in Mail message using Automator?
I have an automator script that creates a new email using the Mail app.
In this message, I would like a single line in bold as seen here:
on run {input, parameters}
set clipContent to (the ...
0
votes
1answer
39 views
Apple Automator: where does it store a new filename?
I have a line of code (that I can run successfully in Terminal) I'd like to incorporate into an Automator workflow but I can't work out how to reference the filename. I've set up my workflow as a ...
0
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1answer
33 views
Add unlock sound effect
Whenever I unlock my macOS machine, I want it to play a sound effect from an mp3 file.
So I created an automator .app to play the sound using Afplay
shell command.
Tested the app successfully.
And ...
1
vote
1answer
21 views
Automator AppleScript: Only Click Checkbox if Unchecked
I'm creating an Automator workflow to click the Enable This Account checkbox in the Contacts preferences pane. I used Watch Me Work in Automator to make most of it easy. The automation runs fine, but ...
0
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0answers
23 views
AppleScript copy file timing out
Hello guys I had a simple automator/script to copy one file to another folder, but since the last update of the system (I am using Mojave 10.14.6 with my MacPro), the action will always time out and ...
0
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0answers
13 views
Dark Mode ruins Automator 'Results' pane for Object view
From the below image, you can see the "black on dark grey" text for the Objects button in the Results pane is for better eyes than mine.
Is there a way I can change this to "white on ...
0
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1answer
39 views
Using Variables with AppleScript Action in Automator
Hoping someone can help me figure this out. I'm trying to build a Quick Action in Automator that copies three text values, stores them as variables, then pastes them when directed. Right now I built ...
1
vote
1answer
45 views
Automator script to click button on web page generates “The operation couldn’t be completed." error
The AppleScript below is supposed to click the first element with the magnifier class on a predefined web page.
The script runs successfully if you comment out the JavaScript line, do JavaScript "...
1
vote
1answer
25 views
Automator service to look up words works with Latin characters but not Chinese characters
The following Automator script is supposed to open a Chrome tab and look up a Chinese word.
The service opens the Chrome tab when Latin characters are chosen, but mysteriously fails to open a tab when ...
0
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1answer
33 views
Automator: Open the current PDF file in Preview with another app
After I open a PDF file with Preview, I want to open the same file in another PDF viewer (Skim or Adobe Acrobat). How can Automator do this?
0
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0answers
10 views
How can I automate a key press with command and option keys involved on a MacBook? [duplicate]
I'd like to automate the simultaneous key press of command, option and "s" on my MacBook, but unfortunately, I don't know Apple Script well enough to programme this. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
0
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0answers
17 views
Prevent finder from removing network shortcut from the sidebar
Whenever I try to reach a folder from the network - and the server is not properly loaded yet (which is also another mystery, since it is always on) - Finder says it could not find the item and just ...
3
votes
1answer
92 views
Automator workflows fail to replace selected text with their actions’ output in Safari 14
After updating from Safari 13 to Safari 14 (on macOS 10.15.6),
I have noticed that all of my text-filtering Automator workflows
no longer work correctly when invoked from the updated Safari.
For an ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
Similar video finder app/script/solution
I have a videos folder, which has a bunch of duplicates. Problem is your average duplicate file detector apps can't detect these, because the videos are not 100% identical (the videos will have 20 min ...
0
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0answers
51 views
AppleScript (to start screen recording) takes 6 to 12s to even start running. Why?
I use the following AppleScript (assigned to keystroke Cmd+Ctrl+5) to start screen recordings (adapted from here). If I create an Automator Quick Action and assign the keystroke to it, it takes 6s ...
1
vote
2answers
71 views
Why does my zsh program run fine in terminal, but not as an automator app? [duplicate]
I got a mac last week and am trying to learn the basics by coding a few projects I came up with. I've been creating a few apps I can place on the dock that automate simple functions that I use often. ...
0
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0answers
26 views
AppleScript script for exporting only iCloud contacts
I wrote this AppleScript script, below, which extracts all contacts. How do I extract only the ones from iCloud?
set desktopPath to (path to the desktop folder as string) & "contactBackup&...
1
vote
1answer
35 views
Get Value of Variable stops appending on last call & sets result to only that last variable
I have created a simple workflow in Automator to ask questions & send an email. I followed the tutorial at https://macmost.com/create-customizable-text-inserts-using-automator.html. This has ...
1
vote
2answers
79 views
Access Application Menu Item with AppleScript
I am trying to create a global hotkey for a function of an app by building an AppleScript in Automator.app and then assign a hotkey to it in Service. But the AppleScript doesn't work.
Specifically, I'...
0
votes
3answers
82 views
Automator: Decode Decode64 selection and display output in a new TextEdit window
I would like to display a service in a context menu for a selected text which is a base64 string. The service has to decode it to string with a base64 via terminal script and display an output in a ...
0
votes
2answers
49 views
How can I tell Automator to display an image with Preview but actual size?
I am trying to have Automator do a simple task: display an image, but actual size. The problem is that Preview by default wants to 'fit' the image on the screen, but there appears to be no way to tell ...
0
votes
2answers
181 views
How to get folder path in Automator Folder Action?
How do I get a path (or a name) of the folder an Automator Folder Action is attached to and save it into a variable?
My folder action is attached to Downloads, I copy newly dropped files into a ...
0
votes
3answers
72 views
Leaving the last 9 characters of a filename in Automator
I have a ton of files to rename where we only need the last 9 characters of the file.
The files are currently named as this: FirstName_LastName_000000000.pdf.
Essentially, I want to rename the files ...
2
votes
1answer
85 views
How to remove leading whitespace in a folder for OneDrive upload on mac os
I am currently transitioning my files from local to a OneDrive folder on my mac and after I have copied all of the files in I have hundreds of Sync issues which relate to file names containing spaces ...
0
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0answers
21 views
Automator folder action leaves files ghosted in Finder
This is my action:
When I drop an item in ~/Downloads, this happens:
I've redacted other files in that pic - they are black ink and I can do normal things with them in Finder. The pic-of-bigmac.jpeg ...
2
votes
1answer
70 views
Shell commands work in Terminal but not in Automator service
I try to implement these two very simple commands in an Automator service to be run by a keyboard short (takes a screenshot and OCRs it):
screencapture -i /tmp/tesseract.png
tesseract /tmp/tesseract....
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Applescript to output UTC Datetime at cursor without SystemEvents
It would be enormously helpful if I could bind a script that outputs the current UTC timestamp to keybindings and have the output magically appear at my cursor in whichever application I was using. ...
0
votes
0answers
16 views
How to share the URL of an image in a webpage to an Automator workflow via context menu
I would like to create an automator service that accepts images which allow me to right-click any image in Safari (on my computer) and perform a google reverse image search on it without needing to ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
How to force quit and restart a service every hour?
The Underlying Problem
This is rather specific to my machine but basically, because of how my Mac, dock, & keyboard are connected, my keyboard software (Corsair iCUE) will occasionally freeze/hang ...
0
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0answers
10 views
Is there a keyboard shortcut to switch to a specific input source? [duplicate]
I have many input sources - English, French, Chinese Simplified and Japanese Hiragana, and pressing cmd+space or ctrl+space to scroll through the menu just doesn't do the trick. Is there a way to set ...
0
votes
1answer
58 views
how to create a repeating event in Automator?
I would like to programmatically create a repeating event. I'm using Automator and it seems that Automator can't do this, plus I want to pass variables provided by the user into the event creation ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
Is there a MacOS automation that can detect pixels on screen?
I need to automate some keyboard and mouses actions depending on what is shown on the screen.
But because the applications don't have applescript hooks, there is no way to know of certain events ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Can an Automator workflow generate an Application?
I'm building a "Wizard" of sorts that uses Automator and some Appliescript, and at the end I would like it to generate an "Automator Application" that does things when launched, ...
0
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0answers
15 views
How do I organize screenshot based on window in Mac?
I tried to write a custom service in Mac with Automator to organize screenshots based on the window that is screenshot-ed. For example, if I use dictionary app in Mac in a full screen mode, and do ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
Reliable shortcut for non-ASCII text insertion
I occasionally use text strings such as ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Unfortunately, I don't have a ¯ or a ツ on my keyboard, so using such strings can be a bit of a pain, usually involving a web search and copy and paste....
1
vote
1answer
251 views
Add exif creation time with correct timezone (TZD) to filename
Hi i have a problem renaming a lot of photo and images files. I use a shellscript in automator to rename them by EXIF date and time. But the time is given by UTC and im living in europe with +0100 in ...
0
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0answers
16 views
Knowledge Request- Automatically Log Out of Google Services Script
TL;DR- is there a way to set Gmail to automatically log itself out?
I am in the process of distancing myself from Google's services, and while it is inevitable that one will always interact with ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
How to convert pdf file to tiff, then tiff to pdf with automator?
I have a lot of pdf files with different type of data in it: text, images, stamps etc. And I need to convert them to look like it's a scanned pdf, i.e. bitmap pdf. I need the same file with the same ...
1
vote
1answer
82 views
In automator, apple claims you can create a dialog with a progress bar. Is this feasible or outdated?
At this link:
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/LanguagesUtilities/Conceptual/MacAutomationScriptingGuide/DisplayProgress.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40016239-CH37-SW1
We see ...
0
votes
1answer
20 views
In Applescript, how can I correctly obtain values for a process window that is the not the front window?
I currently have an Applescript that takes values from Google Chrome, but it only works if Chrome is the front window. In the case Chrome is behind another window, it no longer works:
tell application ...
1
vote
0answers
59 views
I have an automator script that runs a curl request, how can I retrieve and display the progress in the menu bar?
On Automator, I created a service item that uploads a file by executing a BASH script that uses a cURL request. The Applescript code looks like:
on run {input, parameters}
set pathtofile to (the ...
1
vote
1answer
43 views
How to make Automator service that enters highlighted text into Chrome address bar?
I'm trying to make an Automator Quick Action that will show up in the right click menu under Services that will take the highlighted text and put it in a new tab in Chrome.
Looking at various other ...
0
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0answers
15 views
I want to hold a key (1), and for it to repeat every 0.5 seconds until I release it using 'Automator' or 'AppleScript'?
When I was on Windows, I used AutoHotKey to allow me to hold down the "1" key, and for it to simulate pressing it every 0.5 seconds until I let go.
I managed to do something in Automator (or ...
0
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0answers
33 views
Mac OS X screenshot with tagging of front most application
I would like to automate the filing of screenshots according to which application window was front most when taking a screenshot. I would like to do a hazel rule but I do not have the information of ...
1
vote
1answer
70 views
How to use Applescript to open a printer app and select items within?
I have absolutely no knowledge or experience in using Applescript or Automator. I'm hoping by using either to create an app (or script) that will print a test page off my printer automatically. I know ...
1
vote
1answer
285 views
com.automator.runner.xpc is not allowed to send keystrokes
I have two MacBooks. Both run the same MacOS version. I installed the same Automator script in both.
But on the older MacBook I get:
The action “Run AppleScript” encountered an error: “System Events ...
0
votes
0answers
13 views
Batch command to lock multiple files using Box Drive
My company uses Box.com and Box Drive to host collaborative files. Box gives the ability to lock files so multiple people can't work on them at the same time.
With Box Drive I can right click ...
