Datasheet

18
Product Guide
Mac OS X Tiger
Automator
Automator is an innovative Tiger application that helps you automate otherwise complex
and repetitive tasks without any programming. Whether you’re renaming a group of files,
adding color profiles to images for print use, or administering a group of computers,
Automator makes it easy to automate these complex or repetitive tasks.
In Automator, there’s no coding or scripting. You simply drag actions into a step-by-step
workflow. To select from the library of over 150 actions, you can browse by application
type or search using keywords. Once you’ve found the actions you need, you drag them
into your workflow and set a few options to tailor the action to your requirements. Each
action passes its results to the next action until you have all the steps you need. Every
action has built-in documentation, and Automator even checks your work as you go,
making sure that each action is compatible with the next and prompting you if changes
are needed.
Automator is easy enough for everyone, but powerful enough for the most demanding
pros. Once you’ve created a workflow, you can run it with the click of a button, but that’s
just the beginning. You can save workflows to run again and again, and even share them
with friends and colleagues. Automator puts the power of automation where you need
it throughout Tiger. You can run saved Automator workflows from the contextual menu
in the Finder, in Spotlight search results dialogs, in Image Capture, from print dialogs, as
Folder Actions, as Script Menu items, and even as iCal event alarms. Automator lets you
build on the power of applications in Mac OS X by combining their features to work
together. And Automator is extensible, so developers can tap into its power by creating
their own actions.