Mac OS X Lion: The Missing Manual

Doing More with Automator

Automator is not a static, this-or-nothing program: It’s a versatile, expandable tool with ever-increasing potential. There are two especially good ways to increase Automator’s power beyond using the factory-installed actions: adding more actions yourself, and using the new Watch Me Do feature.

Getting More Action(s)

Automator comes with dozens of actions, but you’re bound—eventually—to find yourself wishing there were a few more. Perhaps you’d like some Automator actions to control non-Apple programs like Photoshop, or you’d just like to have a few extra actions to control Mac OS X itself.

Fortunately, Automator can handle actions written by non-Apple programmers, too. Just visit any of the Web sites devoted to Automator actions (like http://macscripter.net or www.macosxautomation.com) and download any actions you’d like.

If the action’s programmers did their jobs right, you can just download the action and run the installer (or double-click the action to install it automatically). The next time you open Automator, the new action will be listed in the correct category in the Library list.

Tip

Some programs, such as Microsoft Office, Fetch, OmniOutliner, Pixelmator, and Transmit, include built-in Automator actions. No additional installation is needed; Automator just sees them and they show up in its Library.

Once in Automator, you can use your new actions just as you’d use the ones that came bundled with your Mac: dragging and dropping them in whatever order ...