open safari with automator

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How to Open Websites Automatically with Automator

In this post, I’m going to show you how to open any website (or websites in bulk) automatically at any given time using Mac’s Automator.

Once this is set up, your Mac’s default browser will be launched automatically at the date and time given, and it will open the websites you desire. You can also repeat this on any given date or weekly.

The tools involved in getting this to work include:

• Automator app
• Calendar app
• Your default browser

Instructions:

• Launch Automator. Double-click Calendar Alarm .
• On the sidebar, Choose Internet , then double-click Get Specified URLs .
• Under the Address section, click the Add button to add all URLs of websites you want to be loaded. In this case, we will load apple.com and hongkiat.com .
• After adding the websites, double-click Display Web Pages , so it gets added to the right panel.
• Click the Run button on the top right to make sure the automation works.
• If everything seems ok, go to File > Save , then give the automation a name. We will call it Open websites. Click Save .
• The Calendar app will then be loaded with the Open websites event added on today’s date.
• Double-click the event, change its time to a minute later, and wait for the automation to run.
• If the automation runs successfully, you can then set the automation to run at any time or day you wish.

Repeating the Automation

You can repeat the automation at any given time, day, or week you wish. Here’s how to do it.

Double-click the event in Calendar , under repeat , select the dropdown and select how frequently you want it to be repeated.

If you select Repeat weekly , it will run on the same day and time every week.

Delete the Automation

You can delete the automation if you don’t want it anymore. And you should, so you are not adding unnecessary junk files to your system.

Here’s how to delete the automation file thoroughly.

• Delete the event from your Calendar app.
• Go to Macintosh HD > Users > your_username > Library > Workflows > Applications > Calendar, and move its .app to Bin.

Alternatively, you can delete it from CleanMyMac X . Look for the app under Applications > Uninstaller.

Click here to see more hidden features of CleanMyMac X.

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How to Use Automator on a Mac

Take the tedium out of common tasks by creating scripts

Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. Tom is also president of Coyote Moon, Inc., a Macintosh and Windows consulting firm.

What to Know

• Can use Automator to open applications, folders, and URLs.
• To open URLs, Library > Internet > Get Specified URLs > Add > enter URL > Enter > drag URL(s) to Display Webpages pane.
• To test workflow, select Run at the top-right corner. To save workflow, File > Save .

This article explains how to use Automator on a Mac. Instructions apply to devices running Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and later.

How to Use Automator to Open Applications and Folders

It only takes a few clicks to get Automator working for you. Here's how to use it to open applications and folders in your Finder.

Open Automator from your Applications folder.

Select New Document in the window that pops up when you first open Automator.

Older versions of Mac OS X don't have the New Document step. You can click on Application first.

Select Application and click Choose .

In the  Library  list on the left side of Automator, select  Files & Folders .

Locate Get Specified Finder Items  in the middle panel and drag it to the panel on the right side of Automator.

You can also double-click Get Specified Finder Items in place of dragging it.

Click the  Add  button to add an application or folder to the list of Finder items.

Navigate to the application or folder you want to open, select it, and then click Add . Repeat this step until you've added all the items you want to open.

Drag the Open Specified Finder Items  to the workflow pane beneath the previous action.

This completes the part of the workflow that opens applications and folders. To have your browser open a specific URL when you run your program, continue on with the next step.

How to Work With URLs in Automator

You can use Automator to open URLs automatically. Use this feature to not only open Safari but to get to the pages you need to use without entering the addresses or clicking bookmarks manually. Here's how to set it up.

You can include both applications and URLs in the same workflow.

In the Library pane, select Internet .

Drag the Get Specified URLs  action to the workflow panel.

This action will include Apple's home page as a URL to open—select the Apple URL and click the Remove button (unless, of course, you want that URL to open in your program).

Click the Add button to attach a new item to the URL list.

Type the URL of the site you want to open and press Return . Repeat this step for each additional URL you want to open automatically.

When you're done adding URLs, drag  Display Webpages  to the workflow pane, just below the previous action.

How to Test, Save, and Use the Workflow

When you've added the applications and URLs to your workflow, here's how to test and save it.

Test your workflow to make sure it functions correctly by clicking the Run  button at the top-right corner of Automator.

Automator runs the workflow. Check to be sure that all the applications opened, as well as any folders you may have included. If you wanted to open your browser to a specific page, make sure the correct page loaded.

After you confirm that the workflow works as expected, save it as an application. To do so, select Save under the File menu.

Enter a name and location for your workflow application and click Save .

Saving the workflow creates an application on your computer. Double-click it to run the actions you specified. Because it works just like any other Mac application, you can also click and drag the workflow application to the  Dock or to a  Finder window sidebar  or toolbar.

Other Tasks You Can Do with Automator

These instructions are just two of the things Automator can do. It contains a variety of commands for several different applications, including Mail, Music, and System Preferences.

You can also create workflows in the iOS Workflow app  for your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch.

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How to use Automator on macOS to automate repetitive tasks

• Post author: Harish Kumar
• Post published: April 22, 2023
• Post category: macOS
• Post comments: 0 Comments
• Reading time: 5 mins read

In this beginner’s guide, we’ll cover “How to use Automator on macOS to automate repetitive tasks”

Are you tired of doing the same tasks over and over again on your Mac? If so, Automator can help. Automator is a built-in tool on macOS that allows you to create workflows to automate repetitive tasks. In this blog post, we’ll show you how to use Automator to automate tasks on your Mac.

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Getting Started with Automator

To get started with Automator, you’ll first need to open the app. You can do this by searching for “Automator” in Spotlight or by going to the Applications folder and finding the app there. Once you’ve opened Automator, you’ll be presented with a list of different workflows that you can create.

Creating a Workflow

To create a new workflow, click on “New Document” and select “Workflow.”

• You’ll then be presented with a blank canvas where you can start building your workflow.
• On the left-hand side of the canvas, you’ll see a list of different actions that you can add to your workflow.
• These actions can range from something as simple as opening a file to something more complex, like running a shell script.

To add an action to your workflow, simply drag and drop it from the list on the left-hand side to the workflow canvas. You can then configure the action by adjusting its settings. For example, if you add the “Open Finder Items” action, you can choose which files or folders you want to open.

Once you’ve added all of the actions you want to include in your workflow, you can save it by going to “File” > “Save” and giving your workflow a name. You can then run your workflow by either double-clicking on it or by right-clicking on it and selecting “Run.”

Creating a Quick Action

In addition to workflows, Automator also allows you to create Quick Actions. Quick Actions are similar to workflows, but they’re designed to be triggered with a keyboard shortcut or by clicking on a button in the Touch Bar. To create a Quick Action, simply follow the same steps as above, but select “Quick Action” instead of “Workflow.”

Once you’ve created your Quick Action, you can assign a keyboard shortcut to it by going to

• “System Preferences” > “Keyboard” > “Shortcuts” > “Services.”

Your Quick Action should appear under the “General” category, and you can assign a keyboard shortcut to it by clicking on it and entering a new shortcut.

Automator is a powerful tool that can help you automate repetitive tasks on your Mac. With just a few clicks, you can create a workflow or Quick Action that can save you time and effort. So why not give it a try and see how it can help you be more productive?

Harish Kumar

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How to use the Automator on Mac

Learn how to use the automator on Mac and all of those cumbersome jobs can be eradicated in a flash!

If you've ever wondered how to use the Automator on Mac, then we can assume one thing: you've actually spotted the Automator app on your computer. We'd hazard a guess that most Mac users — including those who have used computers such as the MacBook Pro for many years — don't even know that it is built into macOS.

But there it is, with its cute robot icon waiting, almost begging, to be used. The idea is that it helps you to make light work of repetitive or menial tasks such as batch renaming multiple files , mass quitting apps, keeping a download folder clean or converting images. It does so by letting you create workflows that can be as simple or as complex as you like.

To aid you, Automator comes with loads of actions and, in many ways, the first step towards mastering this app is to read through everything it does. It can take a little while to get your head around all of the things it can do, but if you think of it like some basic “if this then that'' programming, plus some dragging and dropping, then you're halfway to cracking it. Try it and you'll see what we mean.

Here's how to use the Automator on Mac.

1. Launch the Automator app

Press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight Search, type "Automator" and click the icon . You can also open Launchpad from the Dock and find the app there.

2. Click File and select New

In this example, we are going to create a workflow that will batch convert and resize images but there are other things you can do. To get started, click File and select New .

3. Choose a workflow

Now, you will see eight different types of workflows. It can feel overwhelming but let's take a look at what each one does.

Workflow: This will allow you to create a workflow that can be run from within the Automator app. As this suggests, you'd need to launch Automator to make use of it.

Application: This is the one to choose if you'd rather have a standalone app for your workflow.The app will run when you open it and you'll be able to drop files or folder into it.

Quick Action: Want your workflow to be at your fingertips? Select this and you can add a workflow to Finder windows, the Services menu and Touch Bar.

Print Plugin: You can create workflows that are related to printing documents. This kind of workflow places will be run from the print dialogue. You could save printed PDFs to a folder, for example.

Folder Action: This creates a workflow that is linked to a specific folder in Finder. The workflow will trigger when the contents of a folder changes. For example, an image could be automatically watermarked by dropping it in the folder.

Calendar Alarm: By tying a workflow to the calendar, you can ensure a task is performed when a specific event takes place.

Image Capture Plugin: This workflow is connected to Image Capture – a Mac app that lets you transfer photos and videos to a Mac from a camera device.

Dictation Command: Finally, this workflow would run when triggered by dictation – the accessibility feature which allows you to control your Mac using your voice.

Simply select the type of workflow you want to make use of and click Choose . We have chosen Folder Action.

4. Select a Folder

Since we've selected Folder Action, a folder needs to be selected. Click Choose Folder at the top of the window, select Other and create one .

5. Choose an input category

Now look down the first column — click to expand the Library if necessary.

You need to choose an input category . In our case, we are selecting Files and Folders because we want to create a folder that we drop images into.

6. Select an action

Now select an action from the next column. Drag it to the workflow window to the right. In our case, we want to start with a new folder.

7. Customize the action

Adjust the parameters of your action . Here, we want to give our new folder a name and determine where it should go (the Desktop).

8. Add more actions as necessary

The idea is to build more actions to create a workflow. Drag the next action from the left to below the first action . We've chosen Get Folder Contents.

9. Save down

When a workflow is complete, click File and select Save . In our example, a folder will be placed on the Desktop.

Record your own action

You are not limited to the functions suggested within Automator. You can also create your own. One of the most flexible ways of doing this is to hit record in the top right of the screen instead of searching for a particular in-built action.

After hitting record, you then need to perform some actions, for example, clicking on a sequence of buttons. When you stop recording, that task will be converted into an action that you can use.

Running an Automator workflow

We created a Folder Action and that has placed a folder on the Desktop. In this case, all you will need to do is identify images that you want to batch convert and drag and drop them into that folder.

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So let's see what takes place to give you a better understanding of how the workflow example above works.

1. In Step 4 above, you created a folder . This is the one that appeared on your Desktop – the one that allowed files to be dropped in for batch conversion.

2. When an image is dropped into the folder, it's instantly converted into specific file format and scaled the way you specified.

3. Since you told the workflow that you wanted a new folder to be created called Batch Convert and Resize (at least, that's what we called it), any files dropped into the original folder end up in this new folder.

And there you go. You should now have a solid idea of how to use the Automator on Mac but, of course, we've only covered one kind of workflow. Your next step is to experiment and see what else can be done so play around and explore the options. As you will see, it's a powerful tool. Even so, it's not the only one. Why not take a more in-depth look at how to use macOS or learn useful tricks such as how to show the hidden files in Mac , or how to clear the cache on Mac ? You can also take your computing to the next level by checking out 9 MacBook Pro tips everyone needs to know . If you're new to macOS and need some basic tutorials, get started with how to type a hashtag on Mac .

David Crookes is a freelance writer, reporter, editor and author. He has written for technology and gaming magazines including Retro Gamer, Web User, Micro Mart, MagPi, Android, iCreate, Total PC Gaming, T3 and Macworld. He has also covered crime, history, politics, education, health, sport, film, music and more, and been a producer for BBC Radio 5 Live.

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Open Web pages automatically

My recent tips about Automator seems to have piqued the interest of readers who normally don’t touch this fine automation tool. Take Chase Swift, for example, who asks:

I am wondering if Automator can be programmed to display particular Websites at a specific time of day. Is that possible?

Sure. It’s done this way:

Launch Automator and, when prompted, choose iCal Alarm from the template chooser that first appears. Click Choose and in the resulting workflow add two actions: Get Specified URLs and Display Webpages.

In the Get Specified URLs action, click the Add button to add the names and URLs of the sites you’d like to view. For example, click Add and in the Bookmark field enter Macworld and follow it with http://www.macworld.com in the Address field. Add a couple more sites that you’d like to view. Click Automator’s Run button and Safari will launch (if it’s not already running) and display those sites in separate windows or within tabs in the same window. (Which happens depends on how you’ve configured the Open Pages in Tabs Instead of Windows option in Safari’s Tabs preference.) If the sites open in tabs, the tab order will reflect the order of the sites in the first action.

Once you’ve verified that the workflow operates as expected, choose File -> Save. You’ll be prompted for a name for your workflow. Enter it and click Save.

iCal will now launch (if, again, it’s not already running) and within it you’ll see a new Automator calendar entry as well as a new event within that calendar associated with the workflow you just created. This is essentially an alarm that triggers the workflow. So, for example, if you want to view these Websites every workday at 5:00 PM, you’d choose Custom from the event’s Repeat pop-up menu and select Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Then enter 5:00 PM in the From area and click Done. Now, every weekday at 5:00 PM, Safari will launch and show you the webpages you requested.

Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)

Author: christopher breen , senior editor.

Chris has covered technology and media since the latter days of the Reagan Administration. In addition to his journalistic endeavors, he's a professional musician in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Turn Any Website into an App with Automator

Mac OS X makes it possible to launch webpages as standalone apps from Finder without the need to open Safari. This can be quite handy to get to websites quickly and does away with the usual Safari controls for bookmarking and entering web addresses. Besides this, it’s actually quite cool to see a webpage viewed as an app. What’s more, you can tell the website that you’re using an iPhone or iPad and view those sites on your Mac. This article shows you how to quickly turn any website into an app using Automator.

Create an App with Automator

The first step is to open Automator from the Applications  folder or type the name into Spotlight. When launched, you’ll be prompted to choose the type of document you’d like to create so select Application and hit the Choose button.

From the left-hand side panel there’s a long list of all the available actions. Scroll down the list (or type it into the search box) until you find Get Specified URLs . Double click the item and it’ll appear on the right hand side with the default settings as follows.

Your Automator screen should now look something like the following. Change the default address in the Get Specified URLs box on the right to the website of your choice.

Now locate the Website Popup action in the list – it’s probably quicker to enter the name in the search field. Once you’ve found it, double click to add to the list of actions on the right as shown below.

The two actions you’ve configured should now contain the website you want to use in the top box, and the lower box presents several options to control the website’s size and user agent (i.e. which browser you are using). For example, you could view the website as it’s intended to be viewed on an iPad or iPhone. There are also options to set the position on screen (such as Centered). Just choose the settings that you feel are most appropriate.

In our example, we’ll view the Chris Writes website correctly sized for an iPad and so we’ll also set the user agent  iPad. This setting tells the web server what device we’re using (or, fools it into thinking we’re on another type) and therefore it’ll give us a version of the site optimised for that type of device if available.

Now that the configuration is complete, select Save from the File menu to finalise everything.

When prompted, enter an application name and save location. The file format should be  Application . Next, hit the Save button to finish and create the app.

Automator saves your app in the specified location (such as the desktop) and assigns it the default Automator icon (though you can easily customise icons in Mac OS X ).

Finally, double-click the new icon to launch the app. Depending on which options you’ve selected and the target device, you should see something like that shown below. In this example we set the size so we get a page optimised for an iPad. Note the Cancel and OK buttons at the bottom right of the app – both buttons close the app. A small spinning cogwheel also appears on your main menu bar – you can also close the app by clicking on that and then the little “x” button.

Now that you know how to turn any website into an app, you can create dozens more and easily access them from the Dock or Finder, or even access iPhone and iPad-specific versions of websites on your Mac!

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About the author.

Roland Banks

I've been passionate about Apple ever since I bought my first iPod followed by a white polycarbonate MacBook in 2007. I currently own a MacBook Pro Retina, an iPad Mini Retina, and an iPhone 6. Roland's Google Profile

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This is pretty cool and a nice tip! Many thanks!!

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Is there a way in macOS to automatically open a URL when another URL is opened?

Using Automator, macros, browser plugins or the alike to in the background "listen" for a URL to be opened and when it is open another URL. I want a specific URL (that triggers an application) to open when I open one of several other specific URLs.

• It's technically possible. I use a program called Choosy (free trial, US$10) which replaces the system URL handler with one which displays a dialog box asking me whether I want to actually open this link in Safari, Firefox, or Chrome. I believe it should not be hard to add a handler, with or without Choosy, to open two URLs or a different URL instead (not sure which of these you want). –  tripleee Commented Mar 7, 2018 at 19:06
• Ok, interesting. I want a specific URL (that triggers an application) to open when I open one of several other specific URLs. –  Roberth Johansson Commented Mar 7, 2018 at 19:20
• Instead, or as well? Still not sure. –  tripleee Commented Mar 7, 2018 at 19:23
• A, now I understand. As well. –  Roberth Johansson Commented Mar 7, 2018 at 19:44

I believe Choosy will let you do what you are asking. There is an Advanced pane where you can specify custom rules which trigger e.g. on specific URLs, and one of the options is to launch the URL in multiple browsers. (You may have to do something funky to convince Choosy that your other app is one of the "browsers", though. Maybe you can set up a browser you only use to redirect to your app, Chrome Canary or Opera or something else you don't otherwise wish to use.)

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15 Automator and AppleScripts You Can’t Live Without

Computers were designed to do repetitive tasks efficiently and consistently, so why then are we still sitting around and renaming files on our computer by hand? Why are we still relying on our memory to remind us of our friend’s birthdays? There’s got to be a better way, and there is with Automator and AppleScript.

Sure, these things may sound like something out of an episode of The Jetsons, but with today’s Macs, not only is automating repetitive tasks readily available, but it’s also easy to do. That’s why we would like to present you with 15 Automator and AppleScripts that you can’t live without.

Because we have over 15 different Automator workflows and AppleScripts that we will be presenting to you, we have also made the project files available as a download from our website by clicking here . If you get stuck at any point, or simply don’t feel like building out the projects, refer to these fully completed workflow and script files.

Intro to Automator

Automator allows you to automate tasks using a drag and drop interface that makes programming these tasks easier for beginners.

Automator is an application that Apple has distributed with Mac OS X since version 10.4 (Tiger). Automator allows anyone to easily create “workflows” that mimics a repetitive task. To create a workflow, you drag and drop Automator actions from the actions listing (on the left-hand side of the application) to the workflow area (on the right-hand side of the application). These actions can then be stacked on top of one another, like puzzle pieces, until the desired workflow has been completed with all of the necessary steps.

You may be overwhelmed with Automator at first, but you’ll soon be creating new Workflows in no time. Each Automator action has a certain input and output functionality (e.x. You may feed keyboard input into an action and get a text file on your Desktop as the output). To get the details of the Automator actions, select them in the actions listing and read the information in the description view – a small panel underneath the actions listing. The description view will also tell you the necessary action input(s) and what the action will be outputting. You can run a workflow from within Automator by clicking on the “Run” button in the top-right corner of the application, or save the workflow out as an Automator file or stand-alone application. To save the workflow as an Automator .workflow file, use the Standard save dialog (File > Save).

A workflow file will allow you to open the workflow again in Automator, while an application format will let you run the workflow as you would any other app on your Mac. To save the workflow as a stand-alone application that will work just like other Mac OS X apps, click File > Save As. A new save dialog will open, allowing you to type in the name and specify a save location. But before clicking on the Save button, select “Application” from the File Format drop-down menu. This will allow the workflow to run outside of Automator, just like any native app. These are the basic features and save options behind Automator. In the following workflow tutorials, you will use what you learned here to build 10 Automator actions that can help save you time when using your Mac. Remember, if you get stuck, you can download the project files by clicking here .

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9 Useful Automator Workflow to Improve Your Productivity in macOS

Do you find yourself performing the same monotonous tasks over and over again? In this tutorial, I’ll show you how to use automator to automate 5 of those frustrating, repetitive tasks that are taking up far too much of your time in macOS.

1. Convert PDF to Plain Text

2. create a “quit all” switch, 3. batch rename hundreds of files, 4. rotate any image from landscape to portrait, 5. text-to-audio: turn any piece of text into narration, 6. word count, 7. make desktop nasa image of the day, 8. convert graphics by dropping images onto an icon, 9. record a voice memo.

PDFs are essentially images of text, but what if you need to separate text from image? Don’t waste time and effort manually copy/pasting each and every paragraph into a separate text document! You can create an application that automatically extracts every line of text from a PDF, and then saves this text as a separate file.

1. Launch Automator, by opening your Mac’s Finder, navigating to “Applications” and then selecting the Automator app.

2. We’re creating an application, so select “Application -> Choose.”

3. You should now see the main Automator editor, where we’ll build all of our applications. Make sure the “Actions” tab is selected.

4. In the “Library” column, select “PDFs.”

5. Find “Extract PDF text,” and drag and drop this item into the editor. The “Extract…” action will now be added to the editor, ready for you to customize.

6. You can now specify whether Automator should save the extracted text as a rich text document or as a plain text document.

7. Open the “Save output to” dropdown and choose where the resulting text file should be stored.

8. Specify whether the resulting text file should have the same name as the original PDF, or you can assign it a unique name using “Output file name: Custom Name.”

9. In the Automator toolbar, select “File -> Save…” and give your application a name.

Now, you can extract all the text from a PDF, simply by dropping that PDF onto the application you just created.

If you have a habit of leaving multiple applications running in the background, then this can have a noticeable impact on your Mac’s performance.

While you could close every application manually, why not save yourself the time and effort, and create a dedicated “quit all” application?

1. Launch Automator, or select “File -> New” from the Automator toolbar.

2. Select “Application -> Choose.”

3. In the “Library” column, select “Utilities.”

4. Find the “Quit All Applications” item, and drag it onto the editor.

5. Are there some applications that you want to exclude from your “quit all” switch? To make an application immune, click “Add” and then select that application from the list.

6. When you’re ready to create your “quit all” application, select “File -> Save…” and give this application a name.

Now, the next time you want to “quit all,” simply run this application and it’ll close all currently running applications for you!

There are plenty of situations where you’ll need to rename multiple files, but my least favorite is renaming a bunch of photos I’ve just downloaded to my Mac, following a big event such as a holiday, wedding, or birthday party.

In these situations, you’ll want to use a similar name for every file.

1. In the Automator toolbar, select “File -> New.”

2. Select “Application > Choose.”

3. In the “Library” column, select “Files & Folder.”

4. When launched, this application should ask which files you want to rename, so find “Ask for Finder items,” and drop it onto the editor section.

5. Since we want to rename files en masse, click the “Add Multiple Selection” checkbox.

6. In the left-hand menu, find “Rename Finder Items” and drop it onto the editor.

7. At this point a popup will warn that this action may change the original files, and you’ll have the option to apply these changes to a copy of the original file. Since we’re only changing the file’s name, I’m not going to create a copy.

8. Next, select the “New Name” checkbox and let Automator know how it should rename your files. You can use whatever naming structure you prefer, but I want to add a sequential number to each file, so I’m selecting “Make sequential” followed by “Add number to: existing item name.”

9. When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click “File -> Save…”

Now, whenever you launch this application it’ll open a new Finder window where you can specify all the files that you want to rename.

Also read: Easily Download All Images from Web Pages in Safari with Automator

If you have a large number of photos, screenshots, PDFs or any other files that you want to rotate, then you can use Automator to rotate those files without having to open each file, rotate it manually, and then exit the file.

1. Either launch Automator, or select “File -> New” from the Automator toolbar.

3. In the “Library” column, select “Photos.”

4. Find “Rotate Images” and drop it onto the editor area.

5. At this point you’ll see a popup warning that this action may change the original files. Since we’re only changing the angle, I’m going to apply this change to the original file.

6. Tell Automator how it should rotate the file in question – left, right or 180 degrees.

7. You can now create this application, by selecting “File -> Save…”

Now, whenever you want to rotate a file, simply drag and drop that file onto your application. Note that unless you specified otherwise, the file will remain in its original location.

Sometimes, it’s easier to listen rather than read. You can use Automator to create a service that converts text into audio. To give you the flexibility to convert any text into audio, I’m implementing this workflow as a service that you can access directly from macOS’ context menu.

2. Select “Service -> Choose.”

3. In the “Library” column, select “Text.”

4. Select “Text to audio file,” and drag it onto the editor section.

5. Open the “System Voice” dropdown and choose your narrator. You can preview any system voice, by selecting it from the list and then clicking “Play.”

6. In “Save As,” enter the name that the generated audio file should use.

7. In the Automator toolbar, select “File -> Save…” and then assign this service a name, which will represent this service in the macOS context menu.

You can now use this service to convert any piece of text into an audio file:

• Drag to highlight the text in question.
• Control-click the highlighted text and select “Services…” followed by the name of the service that you just created.

Automator will now generate an audio file from this text.

To play this file, give it a click and macOS will start playing the audio in your default media player.

Curiously, not many apps have a built-in word count, which is odd as with a lot of situations you have a limited amount of words, or worse still characters, that you can use for your text. You would think more apps would have this feature, but since they don’t, let’s add it with Automator.

Open Automator and choose to create a Service workflow.

Add a “Run Applescript” action, leave the “Output replaces selected text” box unchecked, and type or cut and paste the following script into the action:

Save as “Word Counter MTE,” and the next time you want to count words in any app, select the words and go to the “Application -> Services” menu, and one of the selections will be “Word Counter MTE” (in supported apps).

Some apps don’t recognize the text is selected for various reasons, but many apps will. If they do, you will get something like the following output:

This is a great one if you get easily bored with your desktop image. Using RSS feeds and Automator, you can make an application to seek out the RSS feed for NASA picture of the day and set the top one as your desktop image.

The desktop image settings you have will remain, so set the image to cycle through all the images in your new directory every thirty minutes for a background slideshow.

Do as you did just now and open Automator, but this time choose to create an Application workflow.

Add a “Get Specified URLs” action and give it the URL: https://www.nasa.gov/rss/dyn/image_of_the_day.rss

Next drag in a “Get Image URLs From Articles” action and select “linked from the articles” from the drop-down.

Choose a “Download URLs” action and drag that to the workflow. Choose a new directory, like for example Pictures -> NasaPictures.

Add a “Set Desktop Picture” action.

Save it to the desktop and run it. The folder will fill with fresh NASA pictures and begin cycling through them as you work.

This is a really neat one. This creates an icon you can drop files onto and convert them to jpeg, even resize them.

1. Create an Application workflow.

2. Drag in a “New Folder” action and type in the name CONVERTED FILES (type a space after the words) and a location for the folder to be created when the app is run from the drop-down.

Now click the variables button on the left-hand side next to actions, and you get some variables to drag in. Select “Date & Time” and drag “Current Time” to the space after CONVERTED FILES. Type another space after it, then drag “Today’s Date” after it.

3. Use the drop-down on Today’s Date and select anything without / characters in it. This will not be tolerated by the file system.

4. Add a “Get Folder Contents” action and drag this under the last action. This prepares the file for processing.

5. Add a “Change Type of Images” action and select JPEG from the dropdown. You can at this point add conversion options, but for now we’ll skip that and save.

6. Save the Application to your Applications folder, then locate it in the finder and drag it to the Dock.

Now when you run it by dragging any kind of file to it, a folder will be created on the desktop, and a JPEG version of the file will be saved to it.

1. Launch Automator. Click on Workflow and then on Choose.

2. Using the search field on the left of the window, add the following actions: “New Audio Capture”, “Start Capture”, and “Stop Capture”. You can simply search for the names of the actions you want and then click on them to add them to your workflow.

In the start and stop actions, you will see check boxes. Click them. They should read, “Wait For Capture To Complete” and “Close Movie After Stopping”. Configure the top of the window to read Service Receives No Input in Any Application and then save your application with a name that you will remember, such as Voice Reminders or Remotely Nagging Kenny. It is your choice depending on your needs.

3. Close and re-open Automator. Choose “Open existing workflow”, then navigate to and open your file. You should see the same elements in your workflow as before.

4. Click on “Workflow” and then on “Run”.

5. When a recording window appears, begin speaking. When you are done, tap on the space bar to end and save the recording of the file. The file will be saved with the name Audio Recording.mov .

Now that you can record whenever you want.

Other than Automator, you can also add custom options to the Services menu . You may also want to find out how to make application window “always on top” in macOS .

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Jessica Thornsby is a technical writer based in Derbyshire, UK. When she isn’t obsessing over all things tech, she enjoys researching her family tree, and spending far too much time with her house rabbits.

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Automator to open only private browsing Safari

Safari opens private browsing window from a public browsing window. This means clutter of 2 open windows to open one private browsing window.

There is another condition. If other public or private windows are open, I do not want Automator to close them, when Automator opens the Safari private browsing window.

Can I use automator to open only one window and make that window private browsing in Safari?

Mac Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.1), MacBook Pro - iPhone6+ - Power PC

Posted on Dec 29, 2016 12:53 AM

Posted on Feb 24, 2017 1:41 AM

Osiyo wrote: Safari opens private browsing window from a public browsing window. This means may mean clutter of 2 open windows to open one private browsing window , as if no window is open then before opening a private window, Safari will first open a not-private window . There is another condition. If other public or private windows are open, I do not want Automator to close them, when Automator opens the Safari private browsing window. Can I use automator to open only one window and make that window private browsing in Safari?

AppleScript conditional 'if' and 'else if' conditional parsing is required. The following script answers the request.

on run {input, parameters}

if application "Safari" is not running then

tell application "Safari"

tell application "System Events"

tell process "Safari"

keystroke "W" using { option down, shift down, command down }

keystroke "N" using { shift down, command down }

else if application "Safari" is running then

return input

(* It is the default built-in behavior of Safari that 'if' Safari is not running, a not-private window will open first, before a private window opens. Is there a way to open only a new private Safari window, regardless of other Safari windows? Yes. Use conditional 'if' and 'else if' statements. *)

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Feb 24, 2017 1:41 AM in response to Osiyo

Jan 23, 2017 5:11 PM in response to Osiyo

I have my own answer for this, derived from Apple Communities 7 years ago . This satisfies 'condition' mentioned above, but does open the default 'public' Safari window for a split second before opening the 'private' window. Still looking for the private-only answer, though the following works fine.

Except that the last-open Safari window gets focus behind new private window. Which could make app switching tedious, say in a web design use of this AppleScript.

on run {input, parameters} if application "Safari" is not running then tell application "Safari" activate tell application "System Events" tell process "Safari" keystroke "W" using {shift down, command down} end tell end tell end tell end if tell application "Safari" activate tell application "System Events" tell process "Safari" keystroke "N" using {shift down, command down} end tell end tell end tell return input (* It is the defualt built-in behavior of Safari that 'if' Safari is not running, a not-private window will open first, before a private window opens. That not-private window should close before the private window opens. Any running windows are ignored, except last focused Safari window will be given focus just before new private window opens. *) end run

Apple Configurator User Guide

• Intro to Apple Configurator
• Requirements
• View log messages and activity
• Connect devices to your Mac
• Update devices
• Edit device info
• Back up and restore devices
• Manage tokens and passcodes
• Start Single App Mode
• Revive an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV
• Erase a device
• Enable encrypted backups
• Restart or shut down devices
• Unsupervise an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV
• Organize devices
• Export device info
• Intro to preparing devices
• Use the device window
• View device info
• Supervise devices
• Prepare an iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV manually
• Add devices to Apple School Manager, Apple Business Manager, or Apple Business Essentials
• Prepare Apple TV
• Create and edit configuration profiles
• Add or remove configuration profiles
• Intro to content distribution
• Add content to devices
• Assign apps to devices
• Add apps to a device
• View app assignments
• Revoke app assignments
• Add documents
• Add items to Books
• Export documents
• Automated device configuration
• Use Blueprints
• Shortcuts automations
• Automator actions
• Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon
• Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac
• MDM settings

Use Automator actions in Apple Configurator

You can create automated workflows for others to use when configuring devices. This approach is useful when you want to configure a large number of devices physically separated by a significant distance. You create a workflow using Automator, test it locally, and when you have it functioning the way you want, you can attach it to an email and send it to others. In this way, you ensure that devices configured outside your review are done according to the workflow you created.

Choose File > New and choose Workflow as the document type.

Select Utilities in the library of actions on the left.

Drag any of the Apple Configurator actions to the workflow area to view what they do.

Create your workflow, test it, then save it as either a workflow or an app.

The Apple Configurator Automator actions and their descriptions are listed below.