Apple - Automator

About

This page is a child of: Apple

Automator is an application developed by Apple Inc. for macOS that implements point-and-click (or drag-and-drop) creation of workflows for automating repetitive tasks into batches for quicker alteration, thus saving time and effort over human intervention to manually change each file separately. Automator allows the repetition of tasks across a wide variety of programs, including Finder, Safari, Calendar, Contacts, and others. It can be used to create simple scripts to automate tasks and can combine a series of existing scripts into complex workflows.

Practical Example - Resizing Images from the Finder Context Bar

Here I've used Automator for something I do ALL the time - resizing images to either 400, 600, or 900 pixels wide to upload to this wiki.

In action (once setup).

To set it up... use the search bar for "Automator" then pick this option.

Set it up like this... and save it... then it will be in the right-click menu in finder (and on desktop).

Features

Automator provides a graphical user interface for automating tasks without knowledge of programming or scripting languages. Tasks can be recorded as they are performed by the user or constructed from a list of actions, dragged from a list and arranged in sequences. Actions can be chained together, forming complex automated workflows.

Usage Examples

• Renaming large groups of files
• Resizing images in bulk
• Automating backup processes

Creating a Workflow

A basic workflow creation process in Automator might involve: 1. Selection of a template for the new workflow. 2. Addition of actions from a list of available tasks. 3. Saving the workflow for future use.

Links

• Automator User Guide - Official guide and support for Automator by Apple.
• Wikipedia - Automator (software) - Wikipedia page for Automator.