How to Easily Record Voice Memos on Mac

By | June 25, 2011 | 2 Comments

recorder-mainWe all have ideas that come to us in the spur of the moment and then they are gone. If you want to keep them, you could write it down, but then, you either have to go through the annoyance of getting out a pen and paper to write it down, or you will have to open a new program, stop what you are doing and create a file for this one simple idea. Neither one of those options is exactly an elegant solution. As a matter of fact, they are both pretty clumsy when you compare them to the zen simplicity of being able to record an audio note whenever you want to. No fuss, no muss, just your voice and your mac.

But wait, you’re saying. I don’t want to have to open a recording program every time I have an idea either. That is just as clumsy as writing a new email for the idea. Well, have no fear. You won’t be opening a program to get what you want. You will be using the ease of a keyboard shortcut. How is this possible? With the help of a little known program called Automator. For those of you not familiar with it, this tool is designed to make customized tasks on your Mac easy by automating them. Let’s get started.
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Automate Repetitive Tasks with Action(s)

By | August 15, 2010 |

actions-logoHow many of the Mac users out there need to use a Windows machine for work?

One of the applications I really like on my Mac, is Automator. Action(s) is a similar Java based application offering this same functionality on bot Mac and Windows machines. If you are unfamiliar with the possibilities of an automation app, think of it this way; any tedious task like resizing pictures or changing file names can be automated with Action(s).

If you look through some of the preloaded scripts, you will get an idea of how powerful Action(s) can be.

Let’s take a better look at how you might be able to use Action(s) to, well, control some repetitive actions.
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[Mac] Resize Images Automatically Using Automator

By | March 5, 2010 |

automator iconWe’ve written about Automator multiple times here at Make Tech Easier not only because we think it is an easy and fun tool to work with, but also because we believe that it helps in saving a lot of time for the average computer user.

Apple has spent a lot of time in making this tool extremely easy to use for the beginner and at the same time incorporating enough bells and whistles for keeping the power users happy. For a blogger and a mac user, Automator can be quite handy if used correctly.

Now, resizing images is something that almost everyone with a digital camera has to do these days. Whether you’re an average computer user looking to share your photos on Facebook or a blogger looking to upload screenshots of an application to your website, resizing images is a necessity. Considering how important this small function is, it’s actually surprising that modern operating systems don’t come with a built-in feature to automation this task.
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Improve Your Efficiency With Mac 10.6 Services

By | December 27, 2009 |

Before Snow Leopard, OS X 10.6, was released, how many of you actually remember using the services menu for anything ?

I don’t.

Services is a little used but extremely useful feature of Mac OS X that has been around since a long time but only recently with the release of 10.6 became useful enough to be used by regular users like you and I.

What has changed with the release of OS X 10.6 is that Apple has now made the services menu context aware. So, for example, if you have a line of text selected in TextEdit, only the services for working with that selected piece of text will be visible. Similarly, if you have a file selected in the Finder, only the services useful at that point will be visible.
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Mac: How to Create a Basic Script With Automator

By | September 3, 2009 |

automator-iconIf you are one of the growing number of Apple users, you have likely come across a strange looking robot guy in your Applications folder. For a long time I ignored this application. It looks pretty confusing when you open it up. All that is on the screen 3 columns; one with application names, one with actions and the last is a big blank window to drag the scripts to.

This can be very intimidating if you have absolutely no idea what yo do next. Sure you can randomly drag actions into the window then hit run to see what happens. Odds are you will get an error or nothing will happen. After a few times of trying without success, most people give up and tell people on Twitter it sucks.

The first step in the process is to decide what you want automated. The example below is very simple. Batch Image Scale is something I use all the time. I have a couple different image scale scripts for different sizes. Setting multiple versions up may take you a few extra minutes initially, but it saves a lot of time in the future.
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2 Ways to Batch Rename Files in OS X

By | May 16, 2009 |

automator-iconWhether it’s changing file names of pictures from “IMG_XXXX.jpg” to organizing your MP3s, batch file renaming can both save you time and reduce frustration.  Here are two free and easy ways to rename large groups of files in OS X.

Automator

Batch renaming in Automator is quite simple, even if you’ve never used it before.

1. Open Automator, choose “Custom” when the screen prompts you to select a starting point.
2. Drag the Automator action “Get Specified Finder Items” to the right-hand window pane.
3. Drag the Automator action “Rename Finder Items” to the right-hand window pane.

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20+ Useful Automator Scripts for Mac OS X

By | December 8, 2008 |

automatorThe Automator in Mac OSX is a great tool for you that allows you to automate your daily mundane task with little effort. You don’t need to have any programming background or expertise to create your own automation workflow/application. All you need to do is simply drag and drop the necessary actions and export the results as a workflow, application or as an item in the contextual menu. Well, in case you are lazy to learn or just wanted to look for some ready-made stuff to get things going, here are 24 useful automator scripts that you can used instantly. Some of them are actions script that you can import into your automator while others are workflow or application that you can use immediately.

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