I need a way to have a Mac send a print job at 8:30 every morning. Our copier takes FOREVER to wake up, and we'd like to have it warm and ready to go when we walk in. Automator is ideal, but any solution that's feasible for a non-developer is welcome. Thanks!
Yes this can easily be done with Automator.
Create an empty document and save it (somewhere you won't move it)
Open Automator and create a new Calendar Alarm workflow
Drag in the Get Specified Finder Items into the workflow
Add the empty document you just created
Drag in the Print Finder Items
Select the printer you want
Save the workflow. Calendar will open
Edit the new Calendar entry
Select the time you want the workflow to start
Put repeat on every day or a custom repeat (only office days)
Note: Your Mac needs to be on and you need to be logged in.
Related
I need to open an application every time I print something to confirm my ID and I would like to automate that.
Is it possible to run a script when a new print job is created that opens a specific application?
I am probably asking this question in the wrong place (Maybe I should go to an OS forum) - but I still want to know this.
I am using a windows- 7 machine for my work. I log in everyday, do some work and then log off. I take a few short breaks in between when I Lock (Windows+L) my laptop.
I have to account for the number of hours worked by the end of the week which means the time for which I was logged in to this machine.
The problem is that I do complete all the work that is assigned to me, but I forget to keep track of the exact hours I was logged into this machine. I may have logged in at 5 am in the morning and then logged off at 3 in the afternoon- and I dont have any manual logs of my time.
Is there someplace where windows keep a weekly track of
Say per day:
"The Latest log-off time - The Earliest Log in time" into that system for a particular day. I only need these logs for a week.
any heads up would be appreciated. Thanks
I have tried to solve this problem for years, but only recently found a solution that:
May be implemented without administrative privileges
Does not require extra software
Kudos to Guiding Tech for providing the solution shown below. Change the suggested folder and filenames as you desire, but adjust the batch file code and Task Scheduler commands accordingly.
Part One: Create the script
Create the folder where you would like the script and text log file of login and lock/logoff to reside. For this example, I will presume the desired folder is "C:!Scripts\Login\"
Create a new text file in the folder and name it login.bat. A quick way to do this is to right-click a blank space in the folder view, and select New > Text Document, then name it login.bat.
Open the text file and copy and paste in the following code:
echo off
set datecode=%date:~-4%-%date:~7,2%-%date:~4,2% %time:~0,2%:%time:~3,2%:%time:~6,2%
if "%1"=="i" echo %datecode% - Logged in >> C:\!Scripts\Login\login.txt
if "%1"=="o" echo %datecode% - Locked computer >> C:\!Scripts\Login\login.txt
Save the new batch file
Part Two: Create the login task
Open Task Scheduler. Press the Windows key, and then type "Task Scheduler" and click on the application that appears with that name. Alternatively, use Start > Run (Win + R), type taskschd.msc and press Enter.
Select Create Task... from the actions on the right hand side
Enter a task name like "Log the login date and time"
Click on the Triggers tab and add a new trigger. Select:
Begin the task: At log on
Specific user: This should be your Windows account name.
Click OK to add the trigger.
Add another trigger, except this time select Begin the task: On workstation unlock. Click OK to add the trigger.
Click on the Actions tab. Add a new action and point it to your login script with the argument i.
Click OK to add the action.
7. (Optional – Only required if you are using a laptop) Click on the Conditions tab and uncheck the box that says Start the task only if the computer is on AC power. Click on OK to create the task.
Part Three: Create the lock task
In Task Scheduler, select Create Task… from the actions on the right hand side.
Enter a task name like Log the lock date and time.
Click on the Triggers tab and add a new trigger. Select:
Begin the task: On workstation lock
Specific user: This should be your Windows account
Click OK to add the trigger.
Click on the Actions tab. Add a new action and point it to your login script with the argument o.
Click OK to add the action.
(Optional – Only required if you are using a laptop) Click on the Conditions tab and uncheck the box that says Start the task only if the computer is on AC power. Click on OK to create the task.
Part Four: Testing that everything is working as expected
Your work is now complete. You just need to test that everything is working as expected. Just lock your computer by hitting WIN+L and log back in. If you followed the instructions properly, you should now have a file called login.txt in the same folder as your script. This file should contain a log of each time you log in and out of your computer.
You can use the event log to check when you logged in and logged put (or locked the PC for that matter) but you would have to do that by hand.. You could write a program to do that but that would be hard.
BTW: You will need to enable a group policy or something to enable login events. Have a look here
I have a list of tasks in a plan text file and I would like to create some very simple mac application where I can assign each task to an iCal event with an associated date, and the possibility to change later that date or delete associated event. Everything will be in my computer.
I do not know where can I start from or even if AppleScript would be useful here, any help?
I have opened the AppleScript Editor and pressed Record button.
Then I run TextEdit, create a file and put some text there.
When I click the Stop button in AppleScript Editor, nothing was recorded, the window is blank.
What is the problem?
You can use the Record feature of the Automator to record the UI interaction steps needed to do the relevant workflow. Then you can then literally select and copy the recorded steps in automator and paste them into a new Applescript Editor window. This will give you applescript which may or may not work. You'll probably want/need to edit the resulting script, but at least it should help give an idea what is needed to achieve your workflow programatically. This method is usable regardless of whether or not the target application has an applescript dictionary or supports the AppleScript Editor Record button, as it is the interaction with the underlying UI elements which is recorded.
Steps:
Open Automator
Start a new "Workflow"
Start recording
Perform whatever steps you require with your app (in this case typing into textedit)
Stop recording
This will create a list of actions in Automator like:
Select all these and copy (CMD+c)
Open the Applescript Editor app
Paste (CMD+v). The result will be valid applescript to perform the actions you just recorded:
Note that as is generally the case with UI automation, the automator records steps exactly and the script plays them back exactly. This my not be exactly what you want - e.g. if a different application were active, the text could get typed in there instead. The generated applescript should be used as a guide to the final applescript.
The problem is that applications need to explicitly support AppleScript recording in order for it to work, but almost no applications actually do. Finder still supports it a bit, and maybe a couple other apps (BBEdit comes to mind), but for the most part, AppleScript recording has been pretty useless for quite some time.
Not all apps are recordable (in fact, only a small handful are). Recordablity is something each app needs to implement, and I guess TextEdit isn't recordable.
Can I make an apple script that auto runs when I put in my flash drive? I want to be able to do this so that when I put my flash drive in the computer at school I can make my presentation automatically play to save time and so i don't have to go through all my files in front of the class. We use macs at school and I have a mac.
There's no way using plain AppleScript to receive events when a drive is plugged in.
What you could do is create a poll timer that checks for the drive at a specified interval:
repeat
set driveName to "YOURDRIVENAME"
set driveExists to (do shell script "ls /Volumes | grep " & driveName)
if driveExists contains driveName then
-- do whatever
end if
delay 5
end repeat
I wrote that off the top of my head, and I haven't tested it, but something along those lines should work. delay 5 tells the script to wait 5 seconds before polling again, change this to suit your needs. I haven't tried anything like this with AppleScript before so it may be taxing on resources.
You can activate a Folder Action applescript to watch for newly attached volumes.
Duplicate the script /Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/add - new item alert.scpt and modify the copy to open your presentation or what-have-you.
Activate the script via /Library/Scripts/Folder Actions/Configure Folder Actions (a link to /System/Library/CoreServices/Folder Actions Setup.app):
Launch Configure Folder Actions and enable it with the top check box.
Click the left plus sign to add a folder to watch.
Hit ⇧g (command-shift-g) to navigate to an invisible folder. Type: /Volumes and hit enter
Hit Enter or click the Open button without selecting anything to attach to the /Volumes directory itself.
Choose your modified add - new item alert.scpt from the Attach pane.