Mac Hacks

Chapter 5. Make It Automatic

In the olden days, computers promised shorter workweeks and more leisure time (or, as some call free time, naps). It hasn’t quite worked out that way. Accountants don’t get to use all the time they save from not having to do computations for naps—they just get to use that time for other accounting tasks. That doesn’t mean a computer can’t save you time or that you should give up the dream. Computers are great at doing things without your supervision, you just have to tell them what to do. This chapter explains some ways to automate mundane tasks.

Hack 22. Getting Things Done with AppleScript

Everyone wants a clean desktop, but no one wants to perform all the dragging and dropping required to achieve a tidy computing environment. Forget the carpal tunnel–inducing drag-and-drop method: let AppleScript do the work.

Everyone uses their Mac a little differently. Some people are conscientious and put all their documents in the Documents folder, all their pics in the Pictures folder, and all their movies in the Movies folder. Some people don’t work that way: they use the desktop just like you’d use a real desktop—as a temporary storage place for whatever you happen to be working on at the time. Still other users use the desktop as a repository for every file they run across during a particular computing session. They don’t bother putting anything away until the desktop is cluttered beyond hope.

The old excuse for having a cluttered desktop is that it was the easiest ...