Automator Actions For Mac Office 2016

• Microsoft Word Automator Actions
• Mac Automator For Windows
• Automator Actions For Mac Office 2016 Version
• Automator Actions For Mac Office 2016 64-bit
• Mac Automator Tutorial

Automator Actions

Automator lets people automate time consuming and repetitive tasks by constructing workflows. A workflow consists of one or more actions, each of which performs a single, specialized task in the system or an app—such as opening a file, resizing an image, or opening a webpage. When a workflow runs, its actions execute sequentially, working together toward a common goal. For example, a workflow might include several actions that work together to download images from a webpage, resize them, and import them into Photos.

Within a workflow, information can flow from one action to the next like an assembly line. Most actions accept information as input, and then pass information as output (result) to the next action in the workflow. Actions also often include settings, which the user can adjust to refine the action’s behavior.

Microsoft Word Automator Actions

The system includes actions for performing tasks in most Apple apps, including Mail, iTunes, Photos, and Safari. Your app can extend the capabilities of Automator by providing actions of its own.

Automator Actions. Automator lets people automate time consuming and repetitive tasks by constructing workflows.A workflow consists of one or more actions, each of which performs a single, specialized task in the system or an app—such as opening a file, resizing an image, or opening a webpage.When a workflow runs, its actions execute sequentially, working together toward a common. Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 (and 2008) includes several Automator workflows, but Microsoft is no longer providing Automator actions for Office 2016. So, you must run an AppleScript from the Automator workflow Here is the script (edited). 4 The Filter Finder Items action is used to ensure that only image files are passed to the next action for import into Photos. NOTE: since Photos can store multiple media types, such as videos and images, you can adjust the filtering parameters of this action to reflect the type of import data you want the workflow to support. 5 Since Automator’s built-in Import Files into Photos action. Ultimate Productivity Automator Action Pack 3.19 for Mac is free to download from our application library. The software is included in System Tools. This Mac app is an intellectual property of Automated Workflows, LLC. This Mac download was scanned by our built-in antivirus and was rated as clean.

Consider offering at least a basic set of automator actions. Each additional action extends the power of Automator by letting people build a wider range of useful workflows. By providing actions, you enable users to streamline their processes and integrate your app with the system and other apps in unique ways.

Create narrowly-defined actions. Keeping actions simple ensures they can be combined in a variety of useful ways.

Make actions configurable. You can’t always predict how people want to use your app. By letting people configure actions to meet their specific needs, you magnify the usefulness of your actions.

Consider letting people configure settings at runtime. Even well-defined workflows often require flexibility. For example, a user might not want a workflow that resizes images to use the same output folder every time the workflow runs. To provide versatility, many actions can be configured to appear onscreen at runtime to allow on-the-fly adjustments.

Allow an action to ignore its input whenever possible. Passing information between actions in a workflow isn't always possible or desirable. As such, create configurable actions that can accept or ignore any input they receive. When an action is set to ignore its input, the workflow should continue to operate. For example, the workflow shouldn't fail if your action can't locate a document to receive for input. Instead, the workflow skips over your action and proceeds on to the next.

Provide a conversion action when one of your actions produces nonstandard output. Most actions accept and produce common types of information, such as files, images, PDFs, and text. Automator tries to ensure compatibility between actions by performing automatic data conversions whenever possible. For example, when one action outputs files and the next inputs text, Automator automatically converts the files to text-based file paths so the workflow can proceed without fail. Some actions, however, produce more specialized content that Automator doesn’t understand, such as app-specific documents or objects. If your actions do this, you can provide a conversion action that doesn’t appear in a workflow, but runs behind the scenes whenever necessary to ensure compatibility between actions.

Communicate progress when it takes time to populate an action’s interface. Sometimes, an action must gather data to populate its interface. For example, the Get New Mail action gets a list of email accounts and displays them in a pop-up button. If it takes more than a second or two to gather necessary information, your action should show a progress indicator so the user knows that data is loading. (See Progress Indicators.) It’s also a good idea to disable interface elements while data loads so the user doesn’t try to interact with them.

Action Design

Provide a clear action title. Action titles should be short verb phrases that use title-style capitalization. They should clearly describe the action’s purpose so it’s easy to locate at a glance.

Create action titles that have between two and five words. For example, Eject Disk, New Mail Message, and Get Definition of Word.

Include your app name if it adds context. For example, Get Specified iTunes Items, Get Specified Finder Items, and Get Specified Calendar Items.

Provide sufficient descriptive information about an action. Automator includes a description area that shows detailed information about a selected action. People often use this area to learn about an action and decide whether to include it in a workflow. Each action should provide a detailed description consisting of one or more sentences that clearly describe the purpose of the action. In addition, each action should detail its input and result types, requirements, options, notes, warnings, related actions, version, and copyright information.

Minimize action height. Actions are stacked within a workflow. Since screen sizes are wider than tall, you should consider ways to minimize an action’s use of vertical space. For example, you could use a pop-up button instead of a series of radio buttons, even if there are only two choices. In general, use smaller controls and 10 pt margins. Make sure your entire action fits onscreen without requiring scrolling.

Don’t include labels that repeat the action’s title or description. Labels that repeat information available elsewhere take up space without providing value.

Don’t use boxes. An action doesn’t need to separate or group controls within boxes.

Avoid visible tab views. Instead, use hidden tab views to alternate between different sets of controls.

For developer guidance, see Automator.

Automator: Folder Actions

Introduced in macOS 8.5 (way back before MacOS X and the new macOS series) the Folder Actions automation architecture has delivered the functionality of automatically processing items added to designated Finder folders. This unique macOS feature is integrated into Automator as a workflow template:

1 The Folder Action workflow window. Folder Actions are saved as workflow files, instead of applets, and are executed by the system “FolderActionsDispatcher” background process.

Mac Automator For Windows

2 Since a Folder Action is “attached” to a folder in the Finder, its input is files and/or folders added to the target folder.

3 The “attached folder” is selected from the popup menu, which summons a file/folder chooser dialog.

4 The workflow assembly pane where the workflow is assembled by adding actions from the Automator Library in the sequence in which they are to be exectued.

Example: Auto-Photos Import via AirPort

Here’s an example of combining the use of an Automator Folder Action workflow with an AppleScript “Watcher“ applet to create an autonomous AirDrop image repository whose content is added to by others through a non-attended import process triggered when users AirDrop images to the unmanned host computer.

The Folder Action

The first step is to create an Automator Folder Action workflow that will import the images placed into an “attached folder” in the Finder, into the Photos application.

DOWNLOAD the completed Folder Action workflow file.

1 The Folder Action workflow window. Folder Actions are saved as workflow files, instead of applets, and are executed by the system “FolderActionsDispatcher” background process.

2 The “attached folder” is the set to be the user’s Downloads folder in the Home directory.

3 The Pause action is added to give the items added to the attached folder, enough time to complete the copy process before beginning their processing by the other actions in the workflow. The delay value is indicated in seconds. Set this value to a higher value if the added files are larger and copied over a network or by AirDrop. Files added locally on the computer, require little or no delay.

4 The Filter Finder Items action is used to ensure that only image files are passed to the next action for import into Photos. NOTE: since Photos can store multiple media types, such as videos and images, you can adjust the filtering parameters of this action to reflect the type of import data you want the workflow to support.

Automator Actions For Mac Office 2016 Version

5 Since Automator’s built-in Import Files into Photos action remains broken in the latest version of macOS, a Run AppleScript action is used instead, containing a simple AppleScript script (see below) that imports the passed image files into the top-level of the Photos library.

6 Since Photos stores a copy on imported data, the Move Finder Items to Trash action is used to remove the original image files from the Downloads folder, and place them into the trash.

Automator Actions For Mac Office 2016 64-bit

To save and install the Folder Actions workflow, type Command-S (⌘S) or choose “Save…” from the File menu in Automator. Enter a name for the workflow in the forthcoming naming sheet. Click the sheet’s “Save” button and the workflow will be installed in the following directory and the Folder Actions server will be activated.

Home > Library > Workflows > Applications > Folder Actions

To edit the workflow file, choose Open… from the File menu in Automator to summon a file chooser dialog:

1 The file chooser dialog.

2 Press the Options button to toggle the display of the Type popup menu 3

3 Select “Folder Action” from the workflow Type popup menu to reveal the contents of the system Folder Actions folder 4 in the dialog.

4 The Folder Actions folder within the system Workflows folder.

5 Select the workflow in the Folder Actions folder.

6 Press the Open button to edit the workflow in Automator.

Mac Automator Tutorial

Automation Security

Now that you’ve created and installed the Folder Action, test it by dragging an image file into the Downloads folder. Starting with macOS Mojave, workflows containing Apple Event scripts (AppleScript/JavaScript) must receive a security approval by the user the first time the hosting workflow is executed. This approval is only required once and there will be no security prompt for subsequent runs of the Folder Action workflow.

In this example, the script is executed by the FolderActionsDispatcher background system application, which will be reflected in the security approval dialog that appears after you’ve triggered the execution of the workflow by adding an image file to the “attached” Downloads folder:

Once approved by the user, the FolderActionsDispatcher application will be added to the Automation access list in the Privacy & Security system preference pane:

NOTE: if you later edit the Folder Action workflow, you may be prompted again for a security approval. See the section on Automation Security for more information.