OS X includes a service where you can open the OS X Terminal at a selected folder, but this is not always the optimal approach. For one, it requires you select a subfolder to act on, which will have the Terminal open it instead of the current Finder window, requiring you to then “cd ..” to get to the folder you want. This also requires there be a folder to select in order for this to work in the first place. Alternatively, there are three additional approaches you can use which may be quicker and easier approaches. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Automator
Get word and character counts for any selection in OS X
If you regularly need to count the words in text that you are composing or otherwise managing, then there are several approaches for doing this. A common one is to simply copy whatever text you are interested in and paste it in a Word or Pages document, and then use the word counting features in there to count your words; however, if you find yourself doing this frequently then you can create a special service for counting words. Continue reading
Easily schedule tasks with Calendar in OS X
Managing documents and opening applications in OS X is relatively straightforward; however, there might be times when you would like to schedule specific files to open. These might be an application or two, or perhaps a document such as a PDF that you might access at a given time every day, or perhaps only use on Mondays or Fridays. Additionally, if you have scripted routines, including those made with Automator, then you might Continue reading
How to set up and use Folder Actions on your Mac
One of the hidden gems in OS X is a scripting service called Folder Actions, where you can bind an AppleScript to run whenever the contents of a specified folder are changed. This feature can be exceptionally useful, not only for helping you organize files and folders, but also for helping you monitor aspects of your system.
Unfortunately Apple does not promote Folder Actions, and perhaps they might someday go the wayside Continue reading
Create a service to print selected text in OS X
If you have used Windows systems you might have found its ability to print a selection of text to be rather useful, and may wish for this feature to be in OS X. Unfortunately, Apple does not have this as an option by default; however, Apple does support the creation of custom services using Automator, and if needed, you can make one that will allow you to do this, and then bind it to a hotkey so you can quickly invoke it. Continue reading
How to quickly resize images in OS X
There may be times when you have a photo or other image on your Mac that you would like to resize. These may have been downloaded from the internet, taken on your iOS device or with another camera, or taken as a screenshot on your Mac.
While often you can embed an image in a document or e-mail, and then resize it in this medium, sometimes a Continue reading
How to change or unlink files from applications in OS X
OS X will automatically associate programs to handle file types they are built to read. For instance, if you have a file with a non-standard extension such as .xyz, then if you double-click it OS X will likely ask you to select an application to use; however, if you have installed an application that can handle .xyz file types, then OS X will detect this and launch this application when you open a file of this type. While convenient, if you would like to unlink this association then you will have to jump through a couple of hoops. Continue reading