Applications for automation

[ryan101]

Hi, I'm looking for recommendations on automation applications that can perform certain tasks without requiring extensive coding knowledge or dealing with a very complicated interface.

Specifically, I need an application that can observe and record my actions for specific tasks, and then replicate those actions automatically. It's almost like recording my actions and playing them back. I have heard of Keyboard Maestro and some other applications, but I'm not sure if they can do what I need or if I've misunderstood their capabilities.

Here are a couple of examples of what I'm looking to achieve:

1. Open all PNG files in a specific folder on the Desktop, and then use a particular application to compress those files.
2. Open all Word files in a specified folder and replace every instance of "Company Z" with "ABC Co."

These are just a few simple examples. Ideally, I want something that can handle tasks like these efficiently.

Thank you.
Ryan

 

[Slartibart]

There is probably no way around Applescript & Co on this one IMHO.

Here is a nice solution for 2. But otherwise you can record macros in Word to automate simple tasks.

And here is a one line Applescript solution for 1.:
do shell script "zip /Users/you/Desktop/out.zip /Users/you/Where/Ever/The/Files/Are/*.png"
For this task you can also just use spotlight to select all PNGs in a folder and then compress the files into a zip-archive via the context menu.

 

[gilby101]

@Slartibart has answered your specific examples. What it shows is that there is no one size fits all automation needs.

For one-off tasks (like your examples) there is (with a bit of web searching) a way to do them - most often using shell scripting or AppleScript.

For tasks which you will want to do frequently or automatically, you do need to look at automation tools:

From macOS, a) Automator (which I mostly use to wrap up shell or AppleScript), and b) Shortcuts.

When that isn't enough Keyboard Maestro https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/ opens up all sorts of possibilities - but has a definite learning curve. There is an extensive user forum which is the main resource for learning how to do things.

Hazel https://www.noodlesoft.com/ allows you to automate tasks to run when files are added to folders. Following your example 1, I would use Hazel to compress a png whenever one is added to the folder. Relatively simple to get started. It also has a good user forum.

 

[ryan101]

@Slartibart has answered your specific examples. What it shows is that there is no one size fits all automation needs.

For one-off tasks (like your examples) there is (with a bit of web searching) a way to do them - most often using shell scripting or AppleScript.

For tasks which you will want to do frequently or automatically, you do need to look at automation tools:

From macOS, a) Automator (which I mostly use to wrap up shell or AppleScript), and b) Shortcuts.

When that isn't enough Keyboard Maestro https://www.keyboardmaestro.com/main/ opens up all sorts of possibilities - but has a definite learning curve. There is an extensive user forum which is the main resource for learning how to do things.

Hazel https://www.noodlesoft.com/ allows you to automate tasks to run when files are added to folders. Following your example 1, I would use Hazel to compress a png whenever one is added to the folder. Relatively simple to get started. It also has a good user forum.

@gilby101 I am sorry for the delayed response. I already have Hazel and I downloaded Keyboard Maestro 6 months ago, but haven't got around learning it. My main issue is that age old problem - time! Thank you for your help. Appreciate it.