Automate your MacOS workflow with AppleScript and Automator! Learn how to create custom tasks and save time.

Getting started

Are you tired of doing repetitive tasks on your Mac? Do you want to improve your productivity and workflow? Then learning how to automate tasks with AppleScript and Automator is for you!

AppleScript is a scripting language that allows you to automate tasks on your Mac.

Automator is a visual tool that allows you to create workflows by combining actions.

By learning how to use these tools, you can save time and increase your efficiency.

This guide is for anyone who wants to learn how to automate tasks on their Mac, regardless of their technical background.

Whether you’re a casual user or a power user, you can benefit from automating tasks.

How to

1. Launch Automator from your Applications folder.
2. Select the type of document you want to create, such as a workflow or an application.
3. Drag and drop actions from the left pane into the workflow area.
4. Configure the actions by specifying input and output parameters.
5. Save the workflow or application and run it.
6. To use AppleScript, open the Script Editor application from your Applications folder.
7. Write your script using AppleScript syntax.
8. Save the script and run it from the Script Editor or from the command line.

Best practices

• Start with small, simple tasks and gradually build up to more complex ones.
• Test your workflows and scripts thoroughly to ensure they work as expected.
• Document your workflows and scripts so that you can refer to them later.
• Back up your workflows and scripts regularly to avoid losing your work.

Examples

Let’s say you want to automate the process of resizing and renaming a batch of images.

Here’s how you can do it:

You: Hey Siri, can you help me resize and rename these images?

Siri: Sure, what do you want to name them?

You: I want to name them “beach_[number].jpg” and resize them to 800 pixels wide.

Siri: Okay, here’s what I suggest.

First, launch Automator and create a new workflow.

Then, add the “Get Specified Finder Items” action and select the images you want to resize and rename.

Next, add the “Scale Images” action and set the width to 800 pixels.

Finally, add the “Rename Finder Items” action and configure it to use the custom name “beach_” with a number suffix.

Save the workflow and run it.

You: Wow, that was easy! Thanks, Siri.

Siri: No problem, happy to help!