For example, you can create a macro that renames an active document whenever you type. With some understanding of AppleScript or Shell script, you can manipulate the printed value in TextExpander.Īs for Keyboard Maestro, the only time you choose it is whenever you want to do something aside expanding the text. TextExpander supports rich text where you can customize the expanded text with a different type of typeface combination, colors, and images. The fill-ins let you create a template that you can populate with a different type of values to speed up the typing process. One of the most used TextExpander features is fill-ins where you can insert single-line field, multi-line field, popup section, and optional section. You can do the same with Keyboard Maestro, but I highly recommend TextExpander since its feature are made for specifically for, well, expanding the text. Whenever you think “I want a text in this format whenever I type this”, TextExpander should be the utility you use. ![]() There are also two utilities you can use under this category: TextExpander and Keyboard Maestro.įirst, let’s talk about TextExpander. Typed string based trigger runs a specific action when you type a specific string. This way you can save a lot of time from having to manually manage those files. To conclude this section, whenever the task you want to run is definite and dependent on the files or folders, you should automate it with Folder Action or Hazel. I use Hazel primarily to sort photos, organize screenshots, and run Keyboard Maestro macro remotely. You can also choose to run a shell script, AppleScript, or Automator Workflow for each matching files. There is a different type of default actions from renaming, moving, sorting the matching files into subfolders. With Hazel, you can setup rules to match the filename patterns, last modified date, or even the content of the incoming files. If you want to learn more about Automator, you can take a look how I use it to create a beautiful stack in Dock.Ī far more powerful utility in this category is Hazel. For example, if you own Pixelmator, you’ll be able to use Watermark Images action in your workflow. ![]() Applications that support Automator will have their actions listed in the library. You can rename Finder items, convert the images into a different format, or extract PDF text and save it into a separate document. But the one that fits into files and folders event based triggers is the Folder Action.įolder Action monitors and processes the incoming files and folders with series of actions you add in the workflow. It comes in a variety of forms: as a workflow, application, or system services. There are two utilities recommended for this job: Automator and Hazel.Īutomator is a built-in OS X application by Apple for creating workflows to automate repetitive tasks. Won’t it be better if these tasks are taken care automatically? Delete the files in the Trash after three days. Rename the files in Download folder into this format. Move the files containing specific word into Evernote. We often need to make a decision based on the files and folders condition. Simply type tb and I can choose any commands from the list. Take a look at this Alfred workflow I use to control system. Since there is no such a thing as shortcut conflicts, you can use the same query for the different type of tasks. When I want to shut down the computer, the natural query is shutdown. Query based trigger is flexible because there is no shortcut to remember. With Alfred workflows, you can also optimize and resize images. Utilities like Alfred and LaunchBar even let you rename, move, and process the documents directly from the search result. You can define the word, convert currency, and search for information. If I want to convert USD into JPY, I simply type 20 USD to JPY in the search engine.Īlfred, LaunchBar, and Spotlight belong to this category. A search engine is a perfect example of query based trigger. ![]() Query based is the most flexible trigger. There are a lot of triggers, but I’m going to talk about the triggers people often use when building a tool. Do you want to run the task when the files arrive in a folder? Do you want to run the task when you open Terminal? Do you want to run the task when you type a particular word? You must know the triggers before building the tool. You can have multiple utilities, but there can be just a few triggers. You can convert images into a different format with Automator you can also do the same with Hazel. You can expand text with TextExpander or Keyboard Maestro. Most of the utilities can carry out the same task. You know what you can do with each utility, but when you want to automate a task, paralyzed by the choices, you’re unable to choose which utility should do the job. You’re familiar with these utilities: Hazel, Alfred, TextExpander, LaunchBar, PopClip, and Dropzone.
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