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Need help creating a service using the Automator

I'm a language student, and it would be really useful if I could create a service where I highlight a text, and using services I have that text searched up on a specific website.

I saw this being done on a Microsoft/Intel laptop by someone in class, but have been having trouble recreating it.

Any tips?


I essentially want to know how to

  1. have services open a website
  2. Within that website search the text that I have highlighted and selected from for a example a word document or another website.


I tried searching on YouTube on how to do this, but no luck.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 12.3

Posted on May 4, 2022 3:33 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 4, 2022 10:08 AM

Shields_MCMXCIX ~ As Apple says in their WWDC video: "Shortcuts is the future of Mac automation", try this Search For Text shortcut which can be run from the Services menu. It would need to be modified to search a document. It was created (not by me) to run on iOS devices — hence the comment in the shortcut says to initiate it from the Share menu. But on a Mac, right-click on a word and choose Services > Search For Text.


Shortcuts User Guide for Mac


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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 4, 2022 10:08 AM in response to Shields_MCMXCIX

Shields_MCMXCIX ~ As Apple says in their WWDC video: "Shortcuts is the future of Mac automation", try this Search For Text shortcut which can be run from the Services menu. It would need to be modified to search a document. It was created (not by me) to run on iOS devices — hence the comment in the shortcut says to initiate it from the Share menu. But on a Mac, right-click on a word and choose Services > Search For Text.


Shortcuts User Guide for Mac


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May 4, 2022 7:44 AM in response to Shields_MCMXCIX

Try to create a Quick Action Workflow in Automator like this one:

Here's the Shell Script to use:


for query in "$@"
do
    open "https://www.google.com/?q=$query"
done


You'll find the saved service listed under the Service menu in every app. The search query in the example is for Google. You have to check and customize the search query for your websites.

Need help creating a service using the Automator

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