How do I apply an Automator workflow to a file?

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Level 1

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How do I apply an Automator workflow to a file?

In Leopard you could option-click on a file while in Finder and navigate the pop-up menus to ultimately choose an Automator workflow to apply to the selected file. I've been told by customer support that too many novices were selecting workflows that they had no idea what they did and consequently fouled up their computer, and then of course called support for help. So Apple removed Automator from the option-click menu in Snow Leopard.

So my question is this... How do I apply an Automator workflow to a file? Please don't tell me to create a drop folder, that won't work for me. I have nearly one hundred workflows and it would be counter productive to have that many drop folders.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on May 25, 2011 1:03 PM

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Answer 1

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twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

May 25, 2011 1:45 PM in response to David Haas

Apple didn't suspend this, they turned it into services. if you save an automator workflow as a service, you can access it from the services menu from the main menu bar or from the contextual menu popup.

a hundred separate workflows seems excessive though - do you really have 100 separate tasks to run, or are they all variations on a few basic tasks? you might be able to redesign them to be a bit more compact.

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Answer 2

David Haas Author

Level 1

50 points

May 25, 2011 2:02 PM in response to twtwtw

They are mostly mail workflows to different people with modified text for each.

Regarding saving workflows as a service, I can't see that it's possible. When I try to same one of my existing workflows there are only two options: application or workflow. Am I missing something?

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Answer 3

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

May 25, 2011 2:16 PM in response to David Haas

there is no direct way to convert a workflow into a service so far as I know. easiest is to open the workflow, create a new service, and then copy the workflow contents over.

I'd also suggest this might be a good opportunity to make your life easier. rather than dozens of mail workflows each with custom text, make one mail workflow with a Choose From List action that lets you choose between clients

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Answer 4

David Haas Author

Level 1

50 points

May 25, 2011 2:31 PM in response to twtwtw

That's what I've come up with too. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking something that would make the conversion easier.

Thanks for your suggestion regarding the reduction of workflows. My system actually works very nicely for me. Automator gives me the ability to fill in all the mail fields (To:, CC:, Subject, Message, etc) so basically all I have to do is update a few specific words in the message and send.

To bad I have to convert all those.

Thanks again.

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