Smooth Automator
A case for one-off workflows.
I find myself doing repetitive tasks more often than I enjoy. Especially when it comes to file management and dealing with the idiosyncrasies of video production and web development. Until computers can execute complex actions triggered by thought alone, I’ll use the tools I have at hand, namely Automator.
I’ve found that much like real programming, it’s easy to get lost and too-specific when building Automator workflows. Just as you would in a programming environment, things work better when I break the chunks down into their simplest parts. Here’s two examples.
Batch Rename
There are many was to skin a cat and just as many ways to rename a bunch of files. While third -party applications and shell scripts offer powerful options, there’s two things Automator has that other options have yet to match. You’ve already paid for it, and it’s easy enough for your boss’s grandmother to install and use.
Here’s the proof. To build this workflow, simply drag the “Rename Finder Items” action into a blank workflow.
The Rename Finder Items action.
To make it useful, save this action and place it at this path in your home folder:
~username/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/
Now, when you Ctrl-Click on anything in Finder, you’ll have a new pop-up menu. When you select your workflow, it should run with the Automator status appearing in your menu bar.
Batch that ass.
That’s it. Here’s a few extra bits of info. I don’t include any extra actions to select or ask for Finder items. The items you have selected in the Finder at runtime will be thrown into Automator. If you leave “Show Action When Run” selected, you’ll be presented with the action’s dialog box at runtime. Lastly, I leave the action drop-down on “Replace Text”, but you can change it to any of the others to create a new default. That just happens to be the one I use most often.
If you find this challenging or complicated, download these files at the end of the article and never attempt to use a computer again.
Warning: Tiger + File Vault = Pain in the Ass
If you use File Vault with Tiger, your protected Home folder may crash your Finder actions and do nothing. If you keep trying, you may end up wasting more time than I did. If you’re curious, here’s the explanation. This is a bug that was introduced with File Vault, but has been fixed with Leopard.
The workaround is to move the files you’re working with to a non-File Vaulted portion of your system (ex. /Users/Shared)
Combine PDFs
This simple action overcomes a limitation of Tiger’s Preview app and improves upon a workflow in Leopard. Just as in batch renaming, there are many ways to stitch PDF files together. I find the simplest way to do it is to setup the following workflow:
The combinator.
Again, place it in your Workflows folder:
~username/Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder/
Then Ctrl-Click on a set of PDFs, wait for the spinny wheels and–voila!–Preview will pop open with you newly combined document. From there you can check it for errors and save it to a new file.
Batch Rename (4KB ZIP)
Combine PDFs (4KB ZIP)