HowTo Quit Quickly All Running Mac Applications. Code Radio ? + ? 24/7 concentration music for programmers ? jazzy beats from freeCodeCamp.org freeCodeCamp.org 567 watching Live now. It runs perfectly inside Automator but when I save and execute by double clicking on the.app, strange things happen. Get a 'The action Open Finder Items encountered an error' message. The workflow seems to continue and the 'Subtitles' app runs but it does not include subfolders (this option is set on the 'Get Folder Contents' actions. Feb 02, 2017 Mac Basics- Automator. MacDevCenter.com- Write Your Own Automator Actions. Try using Spotlight to search for it. LaunchPad is not a part of System Preferences. It is a standalone application that should reside in your Applications folder. If it's not there and you cannot find it on your computer, then you have deleted it.
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If you've been manually performing a task on your Mac over and over, you can automate it with Automator and use iCal to schedule when you want the task to run. Apple includes a free copy of Automator on all new Macs running the OS X operating system. The Automator library comes with a variety of actions to help you automate tasks to work with documents, files and folders, email, music, images and more. All new Macs also come with iCal, Apple’s application for scheduling tasks in a calendar.
Begin Automator
Click “Applications” on the Dock of your Mac. Then click “Automator” to launch Apple’s native program for automating tasks. The Automator window appears. Click “Application” to create a new empty Automator application window. A list of actions appears in the library in the left pane of the Automator window.
Create a Task
Drag the name of an action from the Automator library into the main Automator window. For example, you could drag a series of actions to create a task that selects a specific folder on your Mac’s hard drive and copies them to another drive, or creates thumbnail images of the latest photos in your Photos folder. Mac desktop app for viewing surveillance camera camera.
Save the Automator Task
Click “File” from the Automator menu, type a name for the Automator application you just created, and then click a folder on your Mac where you want to save it. Click “Applications” on the Dock of your Mac. Then click “iCal” to launch Apple’s native calendar application. Click a day on the calendar to select it.
Add Automator Action to iCal
Click “File” from the iCal menu. Then click “New Event.” A new event appears on the date you selected. Click “Repeat.' Then click a scheduling option, such as “Every Day,” “Every Week” or “Every Month.” Click “Alarm,” and then click “Open File.” Click “Other” and click the folder on your Mac where you saved the Automator application for the task you just created. Click the name of the Automator task, click “Select' and click “Done.” The Automator task you selected will now run according to the schedule that you designated in iCal.
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About the Author
Julius Vandersteen has been a freelance writer since 1999. His work has appeared in “The Los Angeles Times,” “Wired” and “S.F. Google blogger app for mac. Weekly.” Vandersteen has a Bachelor of Arts in journalism from San Francisco State University.
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- Justin Sullivan/Getty Images News/Getty Images
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Vandersteen, Julius. 'How to Schedule Automator Tasks in Mac OS X.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/schedule-automator-tasks-mac-os-x-39132.html. Accessed 26 August 2019.
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Vandersteen, Julius. (n.d.). How to Schedule Automator Tasks in Mac OS X. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/schedule-automator-tasks-mac-os-x-39132.html
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Automator is an often overlooked utility that lets you build workflow assistants that can take repetitive tasks and automate them for you. Of course, you don't have to use Automator only for complex or advance workflows—sometimes you just want to automate a simple task like opening your favorite apps and documents.
You probably have specific work or play environments you use with your Mac. For instance, if you’re a graphic designer, you may always open Photoshop and Illustrator, plus a couple of graphics utilities. You may also keep some project folders open in the Finder. Likewise, if you're a photographer, you might always open Aperture and Photoshop, plus your favorite website for uploading images.
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Of course, opening applications and folders is a simple process; a few clicks here, a few clicks there, and you're ready to work. However, because these are tasks you repeat over and over, they're good candidates for a bit of workflow automation.
In this step-by-step guide, we're going to show you how to use Apple’s Automator to built a program that will open your favorite applications—as well as any folders and web pages you frequently use—with just a single click.
What You Need
- Automator: This app comes with your Mac. The instructions below are relevant for macOS High Sierra, but with a bit of tweaking, you can make it work for other versions of the Mac operating system, too.
- Applications: Compile a list of the applications you want to open automatically when you launch the program you'll create with Automator.
- Folders: If there are specific folders you work from on a regular basis, the application you create with Automator can open them in Finder windows.
Automator For Mac Os
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Open Applications and Folders
- Open Automator, located at /Applications.
- Select Application in the window that pops up when you first open Automator. In some versions of Mac OS, you might need to first select New Document and then Application as the template type.
- Click the Choose button.
- In the Library list on the left of Automator, select Files & Folders.
- Locate Get Specified Finder Items in the middle panel and drag it to the panel on the right-hand side of Automator. You can also double-click it in place of dragging it.
- Click the Add.. button to add an application or folder to the list of Finder items. Keep doing this until all the items you need for your workflow are present. Don't include your default browser (in my case, Safari) in the list of Finder items—we'll choose another workflow step to launch the browser to a specific URL.
- From the Library pane, drag the Open Finder Items to the workflow pane, below the previous action.
This completes the part of the workflow that opens applications and folders. To have your browser open a specific URL when you run your program, continue on with the next step.
Otherwise, to finish here, see the last section below on how to save and run the workflow.
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Working With URLs in Automator
- In the Library pane, select Internet.
- Drag the Get Specified URLs action to the workflow panel, below the previous action. This action will include Apple's home page as a URL to open—select the Apple URL and click the Remove button (unless, of course, you want that URL to open in your program).
- Click the Add button to attach a new item to the URL list.
- Double-click in the text box for the URL to change the URL to the website you want to open when you run your program.
Repeat these steps for each additional URL you want to open automatically. When finished, return to the Library > Internet pane and drag Display Webpages to the workflow pane, just below the previous action.
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Test, Save, and Use the Workflow
When you're finished creating your workflow, you can test it to make sure it actually functions correctly. To do this, click the Run button at the very top-right corner of Automator.
Because we're creating an application, Automator will issue a warning about how it won't receive input when running inside Automator. You can safely ignore this warning by clicking the OK button.
Automator will run the workflow. Check to be sure that all of the applications opened, as well as any folders you may have included. If you wanted to open your browser to a specific page, make sure the correct page loaded.
Once you've confirmed that the workflow works as expected, you can save it as an application.
Automator App For Mac
- Click the File menu in Automator and select Save..
- Enter a name and location for your workflow application and click Save.
With the .APP file created wherever you saved it, just double-click it to run the workflow. Because it works just like any other Mac application, you can also click and drag the workflow application to the Dock, or to a Finder window's sidebar or toolbar.
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If you're on-the-go, you can create workflows in the iOS Workflow app for your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.