Automator is one of my favorite secret weapons on the Mac. It is a program that lets you create workflows, services and mini apps for your Mac that help you with repetitive tasks. Entrepreneur Magazine online recently published a piece on 3 workflows to help you with your work. I think that all three of these are very pertinent to the real estate professional:
- Auto-resizing images – Take a folder full of images and have them resize to a specific width while keeping the originals entact.
- Creating a series of custom file names – Set parameters for naming for files, like adding dates, names and other pieces of information.
- Extract text from a PDF. – Have an old document you saved to PDF but can’t find the original? Use this to get the text and quickly recreate that document.
The programs created in Automator are really pretty simple to create. You can create services, that work in specific programs, workflows that can be used right from the desktop or dock. There are a number of pre-created tasks and apps you can take advantage of. Also, it allows for AppleScript, Apple’s quick scripting language for the Mac. There are a ton of features in Automator and one site in particular, Mac OS X Automation covers them really well.
To get started with Automator, review what Entrepreneur provides you above. Also, Mac OS X Automation has a great tutorial to help you get started. Do you use Automator? Let us know below
Bonus – Some other Automator Tutorials from Around the Web:
- NetTuts – 10 Awesome Uses for Automator Explained
- Macworld – 5 Automator workflows everyone should have
- MakeUseOf – 10 Automator Apps You Can Create in Under 5 Minutes