automator: not supplied with the required data

I have a very simple Automator app that I use to save and label files so that I know which ones I have finished working on.

It's just three steps; Save Word Document, Close Word Document, Label Finder Item. It has always worked perfectly, until I switched to a new desktop with Mojave and a new installation of Microsoft Office. (Don't know if that's relevant or not).

Now when I run the app the log shows that Save Word Document and Close Word Document have happened as they're supposed to, but the label has not changed and the log says 'The action 'Label Finder Items' was not supplied with the required data'.

I've tried changing the order of the actions, showing the action so that I can choose the label manually, all to no effect.

How do I give Automator the data it now requires, that it didn't require/was able to get on its own before?

iMac 27", macOS 10.14

Posted on Jul 20, 2019 2:45 AM

Top-ranking reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

123,038 points

Posted on Jul 20, 2019 6:00 AM

The new versions of Microsoft Office do not include the Automator Actions that you were probably using. Do they exist in Automator, now?

The error really means that the "Label Finder Items" action is not being passed a "Finder Item" (file, folder). It is possible the "Close Word Document" action used to pass the correct file out of the Action, but it is not now. Select the Close Word Document action in the Library and look at the bottom for what it returns.

Also make sure the Close Word Document is still connected to the Label Finder Items action. If there is a gap between the actions all the way across, then you aren't passing anything into the Label action. If there is a gap, ctrl-click on the Label action and enable input to reconnect them.

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automator: not supplied with the required data

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