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Mac Automation Made Simple

By Ben Waldie
Published Jan 20, 2012 by Peachpit Press.

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Copyright 2011
Edition: 1st

Downloadable Video
ISBN-10: 0-13-285536-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-285536-5

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Automator is a powerful tool that will save you from those tedious, time-consuming tasks you always wished you could do with the click of a button. In these quick and to-the-point video downloads, author Ben Waldie will walk you through Automator workflows that you can build and customize for your own use. You'll learn all the basics you'll need to set up automations you'll use everyday, from building job folders to keep you organized, to building powerful batch processes for iPhoto and InDesign. Each lesson will show you a new way to make Automator work for you.

Total run time of all eight lessons: 1 hour 45 min.

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DRM-Free Video Downloads. Purchase and immediately download individual chapters from this video. Make your chapter selections below and click on the Buy button.

Videos can be viewed on: Windows 8, Windows XP, Vista, 7, and all versions of Macintosh OS X including the iPad, and other platforms that support the industry standard h.264 video codec.

	Chapter 1 Automate generating job folders If you use job folders for multiple projects to keep organized, Ben Waldie will teach you how to save time and reduce errors by building actions in Automator to create job folders consistently and quickly. You'll also learn the basics of actions and variables in Automator. Run time 19 min 29 sec. Duration: 00:19:25 File Size: 62MB	$5.00

	Chapter 2 Batch-create folders from an Excel list If your workflow ever requires you to create a large number of folders or sets of subfolders with specific naming conventions, Excel and Automator can work together to eliminate the manual creation of folders. By using the powerful features in Excel to build lists of file names in large numbers and use Automator to process those lists into hundreds of folders in minutes. Run time 16 min 08 sec. Duration: 00:16:08 File Size: 56MB	$5.00

	Chapter 3 Display Growl notifications for new content File sharing over a network is great for larger files that you wouldn't send via email, but how can you be sure that you're always notified when a new file lands in your folder? Learn how to team Automator with the popular notification software Growl to build a great workflow that eliminates the need for you to get an email or phone call notifying you of new files. Run time: 8 min 09 sec. Duration: 00:08:09 File Size: 38MB	$5.00

	Chapter 4 Schedule backups via a network Do you manually back up your Mac to a server? If so, you've probably had to set up calendar reminders and run through the process on a regular basis or risk losing your data. In this lesson Ben will show you how to make that process automatic and painless with Automator and iCal. Run time: 14 min 17 sec. Duration: 00:14:17 File Size: 46MB	$5.00

	Chapter 5 Share files via Dropbox Take the powerful PDF tools offered in OS X a step further by building your own Print Plugin with Automator. You'll learn how to set up a Print Plugin that automatically posts any document you print to PDF to the online file sharing tool Dropbox. You'll also learn the basics of setting up actions to rename files to be friendly for upload tools by removing offending characters. Run time: 13 min 33 sec. Duration: 00:13:33 File Size: 50MB	$5.00

	Chapter 6 Batch-convert image files to PDF If you've ever had the daunting task of scanning a book or a box of images with a flat bed scanner, you know that it isn't easy to combine all those files into a single PDF without some heavy-hitting applications like Photoshop and Acrobat Pro. But what if you don't have those applications or are just looking for an easier way? Ben will teach you how set up a quick and easy way to combine multiple images into a single PDF without the hassle. Run time: 8 min 51 sec. Duration: 00:08:51 File Size: 37MB	$5.00

	Chapter 7 Batch-process images for iPhoto If you're like most people with a smart phone, an armature photographer or have a large photo digitizing project on your plate, you'll import, manipulate and save hundreds to thousands of images a year. In this lesson, Ben will teach you how to unleash the power of Automator and free third-party tool to streamline your workflow and make importing images to your iPhoto library a snap. Run time: 12 min 17 sec. Duration: 00:12:17 File Size: 52MB	$5.00

	Chapter 8 Batch-process multiple InDesign files to PDF Exporting multiple InDesign files to PDF can be as quick and easy as dragging and dropping your files. You'll learn how to create a drag-and-drop application with AppleScript and Automator that opens, exports, names, and saves PDFs from InDesign. You'll be able to use the same custom application for both InDesign CS4 and CS5. Run time: 12 min 58 sec. Duration: 00:12:58 File Size: 52MB	View example $5.00

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Videos can be viewed on: Windows 8, Windows XP, Vista, 7, and all versions of Macintosh OS X including the iPad, and other platforms that support the industry standard h.264 video codec.

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