HT2488: Mac Basics: Automator

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RichardBucknum
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Automator email action

Is there a way to send an email in an automator workflow without sendingthe previous actions content?  I'd like to notify some people in my group that I've added a file to a folder, but not send them the file, I don't want to fill up their inbox with atachements.

 

Rich

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Feb 17, 2012 7:53 AM

by red_menace,Solvedanswer
red_menace red_menace
Level 6 (15,551 points)
Desktops
A:

That is the way the action works - if you don't want an action to use the previous input, set its Ignore Input option.

Posted on Feb 17, 2012 8:11 AM

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RichardBucknum

Q: Automator email action

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  • by red_menace,Solvedanswer

    red_menace red_menace Feb 17, 2012 8:11 AM in response to RichardBucknum
    Level 6 (15,551 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 17, 2012 8:11 AM in response to RichardBucknum

    That is the way the action works - if you don't want an action to use the previous input, set its Ignore Input option.

  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Feb 18, 2012 7:33 AM in response to RichardBucknum
    Level 6 (15,637 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 18, 2012 7:33 AM in response to RichardBucknum

    This isn't the sweet spot for email.

     

    Consider switching tactics, and serve the file-change information via RSS (that's a little more work) or (depending on the need for longevity of the notifications) maybe via (networked) Growl.  

     

    A content-management system can generate these XML-based notifications, as can the (retiring) iWeb stuff. 

     

    Basically, this is something that detects and runs when the containing directory is modified (probably via a Folder Action), and that then either dynamically generates the RSS when the change is made, or that serves up the current data when the RSS query arrives. 

     

    This looks fairly close to what you'd want for creating an RSS feed. 

     

    And there are ways to generate XML in AppleScript.

  • by MrHoffman,

    MrHoffman MrHoffman Feb 18, 2012 10:14 AM in response to MrHoffman
    Level 6 (15,637 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 18, 2012 10:14 AM in response to MrHoffman

    Here's another potential starting point for RSS- or otherwise automating this file-serving (and notification) task is scrup; that tool gets you uploads to an ftp server under your control.

  • by RichardBucknum,

    RichardBucknum RichardBucknum Feb 21, 2012 6:03 AM in response to RichardBucknum
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 21, 2012 6:03 AM in response to RichardBucknum

    Red,

     

    Thanks very much, although the RSS is a good idea it may be too much for what I was looking for.  Just a simple notice will work fine, and this tip on ignore input still sends the email, just without the attachement.

     

    Thanks