Automator, screenshot problem

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Level 1

4 points

Automator, screenshot problem

I have a simple Quick action made in Automator. I activate it from the touchbar.

If I run this inside Automator it does what you'd expect; it takes a screenshot and saves it as 1.png on the desktop. However, when I activate it anywhere outside Automator it doesn't take a screenshot of what's on my screen, it takes a screenshot of my desktop background.....

It feels like I've tried everything.

I use the very latest version of Catalina. Please help. Thanks.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Aug 18, 2020 3:40 PM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,470 points

Aug 20, 2020 6:45 AM in response to JohnPaulie

I don't think a Quick Action is the way to go here. If I make this into an Application and save it to the Desktop, it works fine, after obeying the access challenges shown below:

Curious why you would want to do this when the operating system gives you ⇧⌘3 to save a picture of the screen to a file anyway.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,470 points

Aug 20, 2020 11:44 AM in response to JohnPaulie

Run this script in the Terminal as a zsh script, and see if the resultant reduced image in /tmp/win1 is what you seek:

#!/bin/zsh

RESAMPLE=.70
# write out the first screens full screen image to a file
/usr/sbin/screencapture -D1 -t jpg /tmp/win1

# get the pixel width of this image
pw=$(/usr/bin/sips -g pixelWidth /tmp/win1 | egrep -ow '(\d+)')
reduced_pw=$(printf '%d' $(( $pw * $RESAMPLE )) )
echo $reduced_pw

# resample height (and width) of the reduced dimension jpeg at 100%
/usr/bin/sips -Z $reduced_pw -s formatOptions 100  /tmp/win1
exit 0

and once saved, make the script executable and run it:

chmod +x ./winscale.zsh
./winscale.zsh
open /tmp/win1

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,470 points

Aug 18, 2020 4:16 PM in response to JohnPaulie

Instead of [any application], change that to Finder, and see if the results are different.

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Answer 4

JohnPaulie Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 20, 2020 10:40 AM in response to VikingOSX

First, thank you for trying to help!

When creating an Application in Automator rather than a Quick action, the dialogue window leads me to believe me it requires a file or folder "input". Since I want to begin with taking a screenshot I feel this is not what I want (I might be wrong)?

To minimize the margin of error I stripped my Quick action of everything except the first step; take a screenshot. It still doesn't work.

I have additional steps in my ideal Quick action: convert the image from png to jpg and then crop it 70% in width and height. These steps work flawlessly, but the first step of taking a screenshot doesn't work. Again, it takes a shot of my desktop background and not of what is actually on my screen.

This useless image is converted to jpg and then cropped just like I want.

Thanks in advance.

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,470 points

Aug 20, 2020 10:46 AM in response to JohnPaulie

An Automator workflow with just a Take Screen Shot action, is a double-click application to immediately take a full screen snapshot. It is not interactive beyond that double-click to invoke it. Without more back story, why you would want this over the available full screen capture shortcut is unknown.

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Answer 6

JohnPaulie Author

Level 1

4 points

Aug 20, 2020 10:58 AM in response to VikingOSX

Again: I have additional steps in my ideal Quick action: convert the image from png to jpg and then crop it 70% in width and height. These steps work flawlessly, but the first step of taking a screenshot doesn't work. Again, it takes a shot of my desktop background and not of what is actually on my screen.

Edit: to clarify even more, this would take me from a 6-step to a 1-step. Would save me a ton of time in my work (bookkeeping).

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