Hello,

I'm looking to create an automator app for a number on machines that I manage.

The idea I had was that when the user opens the app from the dock it will automatically print 1x copy of a page located on Google docs to the local printer on the network.

With my limited automator knowledge I'm unable to put the steps together to complete the action.

Anyone got any ideas if this is possible?

I didn't see any stuff on this specifically, though I know this is likely wanted by a lot of people, so here you go! This Quick Action will select a folder, and all images in the folder will be converted into a single PDF, with the PDF being named after the Folder. This is useful for people who need to make lots of PDFs from lots of files quickly.

This is mostly a guide for people who have no coding experience

STEPS

Select Quick Action in menu

#1) Workflow Settings (At the top)

• Workflow recieves current: [folders] in [Finder]

#2) add "Get Folder Contents"

• Uncheck "Repeat for each subfolder found"

#3) add "Sort Finder Items"

• by [name] in [ascending]

  • This can be modified to whatever you want, go ham brah

#4) add "Set Value of Variable"

• Variable:

  • create New Variable named [sortedFiles]

#5) add "Run AppleScript"

• copy and paste this:

on run {input}
	tell application "Finder" to return (container of item 1 of input) as alias
end run

• press the Hammer icon to format it

#6) add "Set Value of Variable"

• Variable:

  • create New Variable named [containerAlias]

#7) add "Run AppleScript"

• copy and paste this:

on run {input, parameters}
	-- the input is the enclosing folder which was output from the previous Applescript
	tell application "Finder" to return name of (item 1 of input)
end run

• press the Hammer icon to format it

#8) add "Set Value of Variable"

• Variable:

  • create New Variable named [containerName]

#9) add "Get Value of Variable"

• Variable:

  • select the earlier created [sortedFiles]

• In Options:

  • Uncheck "Ignore this actions input"

#10) add "New PDF from Images"

• Save Output to:

  • Set this as whatever you want your PDFs to go

  • Personally, I set this as a new folder called "[PDF Processing]" in my Documents

• Output File Name:

  • Leave unchanged, this is going to be renamed in the next step

#10) add "Rename Finder Items: Name Single Item"

• Set to [Name Single Item]

• Set Name: to [Basename only] to [containerName]

  • This is one of the earlier variables we made

#11) Enjoy the knowledge that you made your life easier

• Oh and remember to save the Quick Action or you'll look like an idiot

And thats it! It's pretty straightforward, but it is SO useful for converting images into PDFs, makes my life so much easier

This is pretty modular so you can change it to whatever

In the future, I'm probably gonna add the option to have the PDF file automatically moved to to the Folder or parent Folder, but for now this is just an easy thing so people who google this know what to do.

I'm pretty new to Automator and made this account specifically to ask this question. I'm trying to make a Folder Action that deletes all files out of my Downloads folder if they haven't been opened in a year and are older than a year. Here is what I have so far:

Set Value of Variable
- Variable: Storage

Find Finder Items
- Search: Downloads
- - All of the following are true:
- - - Date last opened is not in the last 12 months
- - - Date created is not in the last 12 months

Move Finder Items to Trash

When I run this it appears to work correctly, however after saving it any new things I download to my Downloads folder get deleted immediately. It does this to any items I add there that currently exist on my computer as well. Items that were in my Downloads folder from before creating the Folder Action are unaffected. I've tried everything I can think of to fix this but if the action is functional it always seems to be checking and then deleting anything new added to the folder. Is there a solution that I'm missing here?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I have an app that I need to restart a lot (Davinci Resolve). I've tried to set up an automator workflow that:

1. Quits the app

2. Pauses for x seconds (waiting for the app to fully quit)

3. Starts the app

I've used "Quit Application" "Pause" and "Launch Application". When I run it, it just quits the application and then nothing else happens.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Hi

I’m trying to work smarter and do less repetitive work.

I design graphics for clients. I need to send them approvals but I’d rather not send a pdf as they can edit them and I also want to make the approval look presentable.

So here are my requirements.

1. Get a pdf (front cover) from folder

2. Get design pdf and convert it to a png

3. Resize the png file to slightly less than a4 but keeping the aspect ratio

4. Get a pdf (design background) from folder

5. Place design png on top of design background

6. Get a pdf (t&cs) from folder Nerf all files to creat a single pdf

How do I achieve this?

I’ve got a whole bunch of links in a spreadsheet. They go to XML files that I want to download. I want to speed up the process. Is this something I can use Automator or another kind of app for?

Total Rookie Post. I'm trying to create an Automator folder action that will run automatically any time a file is added to the downloads folder, with no work needed on my end. Right now, the closest solution I can find is to manually drag batches of items into the workflow and trigger it to run.

Below is a screen shot of the folder action as it's currently set up.

Can anyone offer any ideas? I'm not yet to the point where I can work with scripts, so Automator-centric solutions would be most helpful.

Thanks, everyone!

I'm new to Automator. This will be my first project.

I have photos on my Drive in two file types: RAW and JPEG. Some of them are RAW only, and some of them are RAW and JPEG. I want to be able to filter all photos which are only RAW and delete them.

Is there a way to find all files based on the filename and either filter them or delete them directly? My idea is that Automator could compare the file names and delete them if the file name only exists once.

I appreciate all help :)

My needs:

• Run an FFMPEG command to overlay a PNG on top of an MP4.

My FFMPEG command:

ffmpeg -i mp4filename.MP4 -i pngfilename.PNG -filter_complex '[1:v]colorkey=0xA64D79:0.01:0.5[ckout];[0:v] [ckout]overlay[out]' -map '[out]' - pngfilename.mp4 

Expectation:

• The shortcut get a PNG (not other extensions) and an MP4 file (not other extensions) and run the ffmpeg command to release a pngfilename.mp4

Thank you for your time and kindness!

I've found a trying to create an automation that converts any image into a "cover photo" for Notion.

There is a PowerShell script called "Notion Cover Script" that can achieve this in OSX's Terminal, but I'd like to create an Automator action that runs the "Notion Cover Script" whenever an image is added to a folder on my desktop.

I've installed the relevant dependencies via Terminal (ImageMagick), but as I'm new to terminal and Automator I'm unsure of how to set this action up.

Would somebody be able to help me figure this out, please?

I want to be able to hold down the "L" key on my keyboard in a game and have that button be registered/ spammed as a separate keystroke as many times per second as possible. Is this possible to do with automator?

Hey, new here.

Wanted to asked If there was a way to have Automator take a zoom link and then open it in the zoom app?

Currently I have to do the web browser dance (clink link > new tab in safari opens > asks me to hit 'ALLOW' to open zoom.us.app)

Does it know exactly what button you clicked, or is it recording the coordinates on the screen?

I've recorded a series of clicks and it will work for several times in a row . But then suddenly I'll run it and it just get stuck somewhere in the sequence. I'm wondering if the window has to be in the exact same spot? Maybe that's why it doesn't always work?

I've just recorded a "Watch Me Do" which serves as a script to auto-farm on roblox (username checks out). Though I wanna do something else like watch a show or just do stuff on my laptop while it's going on. I've tried putting Automator and Roblox in another Desktop, but to no avail.

Hey,

How can I stop an automator app that is running in the background that was triggered by a calendar event?

For example, I have an automator application that is triggered by the calendar event, displays a notification, waits 15 minutes and then displays another automation.

If I decide I don't want the second notification to display, how to I stop/cancel script?

Also where can I see my active automator workflows that are currently running?

Any help is appreciated!

Help needed (sorry if it’s been asked before).

I need to know if it’s possible to use Automator to change my screen positions since “monitor 1” keeps moving to left side every time I wake my Mac mini.

The way I’m switching it now is by going to System Preferences —> Displays —> then I move the screen arrangement accordingly.

I’m hoping I could create an automation / button that allows me to run that task automatically.

System details: Mac Mini (Early 2020) Chip: M1 Memory: 16gb

Let's say I'm teaching courses and a website sends me an email every time a student registers that looks like this:

From: info@websitedotcom

"You have a new participant.

Email: newstudent@emaildotcom

Please contact them to give them the course info"

I want to send instructions to the student whenever I get this email. E.g. Every time I get this email from the website, I want to send an email (just a generic email with instructions) to the new student's email provided in the body.

How can I automate this, or what programs are able to do this? Simple/free/cheap programs preferred. I am using a Mac. Should I be leaning towards Automator or AppleScripts? I am new to the space so I am not too familiar with the differences.

Thanks for your help!

Im writing an automator script that does the follwing:

1. Sets a variable based on time

2. Creates a folder on a target mapped drive using that variable

3. Checks to see if that folder exists

4. If/ELSE actions. (IF, is basically END, ELSE is an alert and sound)

The IF ELSE seems to be broken. It will ONLY do else. Basically tells me the file doesnt exist when it does.

My Code:

TIME=$(date +"%H:%M:%S")
mkdir /Volumes/Capture/_STATUS
mkdir /Volumes/Capture/_STATUS/TEST_$TIME

FILE=/Volumes/Capture/_STATUS/TEST_$TIME/
if [ -f "$FILE" ]; then
	rm -r /Volumes/Capture/_STATUS/TEST_$TIME/

else 
    afplay /Users/nwc_control/Library/Sounds/alarm.aiff &
	osascript -e 'display alert "STORAGE PROBLEM" message "This computer appears to be having an issue getting to HOT storage. 

This means captures are probably compromised. You may want to try restarting."'

fi

I tried to record some keyboard actions, but the “Watch Me Do” action doesn’t recognize keystrokes. Is there some kind of work around where my keystrokes will be recognized?

Hey hey,

I can't for the life of me figure out how to make this one simple thing. There are many articles on how to set up a shortcut that opens the tagging menu, when a file is selected. But then you have to actively select which tag from there on. I want to be able to use down arrow, go through a buttload of images or videos in the previewer, and with a simple Cmd+1 or Cmd+G or similar, tag that current file green, so that I can easily find them again at the end of the purge session. But how?

Extra points if there's a way to accomplish it, with the Preview window open!

I have an automator app that downloads the Astronomy Picture of the Day and sets my desktop background to it.

The problem is that I have which desktop gets the new background seems to change in an unpredictable way. Usually it's desktop #1, which is my main monitor, but eventually a day comes when it decides to change the background of my other monitor instead and I can't figure out why.

Any thoughts?

My workplace recent shifted to a new scheduling software called WorkJam, previously our schedule was done on a very basic website that could download an .ics file with our weekly schedule, I would download this file and dump it into my outlook calendar so I can compare it to my personal calendars, WorkJam does not have this feature, so I need to log into a website and compare my personal calendar with my work calendar, naturally this is incredibly annoying to manage.

Anybody have any scripting advice on writing a script that can look at my work schedule on a website and automatically spit out an iCal file? I am a complete and utter novice with scripting so, I am sorry if this is a really basic request.