The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Streamlining your life! Automator! A Must READ!

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by xbandaidx, Aug 5, 2006.

  1. xbandaidx

    xbandaidx Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    174
    Messages:
    1,402
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    55
    There are a quite a few new Mac users that commonly post here for help on something, and there's nothing wrong with it at all, we are all here to help one another.

    One of the applications we all mightv't heard a bit about is the Automator, which was designed to start replacing AppleScript. Automator is basically a program that allows you to create your own workflows to maximize your productivity and save you time.

    __________________________________________________

    I strongly encourage many to try out the program yourself, as you will find that it's not that challenging at all. To get some people started I made a very simple guide on how to use Automator.

    I noticed many asking about burning stuff to a CD or DVD, so by following this guide, you can avoid opening such applications as Disk Utility or Toast to burn.

    1. First off you want to go to your Applications folder and load the program Automator, have patience as Automator appears to be one of the longer loading applications, even if you have maxxed out your memory like me.

    2. Now in the left window inside the main application window, under Library. select 'Finder' and than in the window to the right, choose 'Get Selected Finder items' and drag it to the right in the large space located there. Also you will notice for each action you select a short description of what the action does will appear.

    - This action is pretty straightforward, as it tells Automator that whatever you have selected in Finder, to be selected by the Automator script for the next step.

    3. Now select 'System' under Library in Automator. Find 'Burn' and drag it over underneath the first one. Check "Show action when run".

    4. Now go to File > Save As Plugin.. Make sure you have it set for Finder in "Plugin for" dropdown box. Type in a name such as 'Burn' and hit Save.

    5. Ta Da now you're done and can close out of Automator, from now on if you need to burn a folder or file, just select it in Finder and right click > Automator > Burn.

    The Automator script you made will now run and popup asking you to name the disk and a couple other settings.

    Please note, this is a simple burning automator that is designed for just burning a data CD, you can however set it up for other type of burns.

    __________________________________________________

    Now like I said, I encourage you to expand your horizons and play around with Automator, you'll find many more scripts you can make, such as I have a script that starts when I login that connects me to my share on a windows machine on my network.

    To find more automator scripts already done by others, go to http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/automator/
     
    xbandaidx, Aug 5, 2006
    #1
  2. eamsednfds

    eamsednfds Notebook Guru

    Reputations:
    8
    Messages:
    55
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    eamsednfds, Aug 6, 2006
    #2