Microsoft® Office 2008 for Mac® Bible

Chapter 35. Working with AppleScript

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Introducing AppleScript

• Viewing the Script Editor window

• Using Office scripts

• Working with Automator

• Using Office workflows

AppleScript is a scripting language built into Mac OS X to help users create instructions to tell the computer what to do without needing to use a mouse or keyboard. Granted, you're already doing that through commands, menus, clicking and dragging, and so on, but scripting is writing specific instructions tailor-made for your needs. For example, perhaps you have a folder filled with files you need to convert to another format. You can write a script that automatically converts the file formats for you, thus saving you oodles of time and effort ordinarily spent doing the task yourself, opening each file, going through the steps of saving them under another file format, and so on. That's just one tiny example of how you might use AppleScript. You can come up with literally hundreds of scripts to help make your own computer work easier.

If scripting isn't your thing, then you can skip all the programming language and use the Automator tool to whip up workflows for repetitive tasks. By using built-in actions, Automator lets you assemble a workflow step-by-step to instruct an Office program to handle tedious tasks while AppleScript works in the background.

In this chapter, you learn how to tap into the beauty of AppleScript by running some simple scripts in Office. You also learn how to use sample workflows and the Automator ...