Moving from Word: How do I make a macro?

Well, I was not satisfied with the "solution" I brought, so I wrote another applescript that could match your needs ! You still should, however, place it in your script menu and assign a shortcut to it via a third party app. The script :

tell application "Pages" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Pages"
tell menu bar 1
-- In the following 2 lines I'm not sure of the name of the menu and of the menu item, as I don't use the app in english
tell menu 1 of menu bar item "Insertion"
click menu item "date & time…"
end tell
end tell
-- In the following line, replace the french text with the exact text you read beside the check box in the date and time panel (it's name, in fact), it should be something like "Update automatically the date and time when the document is open". I'm not sure : I'm not using the app in english. If it's 2 line long, just write in the script the exacts words of the FIRST line only (you can see that the french sentence is not complete : the words of the second line have to be omitted, don't know why)
click checkbox "Mettre automatiquement à jour la date et l’heure quand le" of sheet 1 of window 1
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Pages"
-- The following line emulate the down arrow key : repeat this line as much time as you would hit the dow arrow key to highlight the right item in the window
key code 123
keystroke return
end tell

Franck

Powerbook G4 12" 1 Ghz ; iMac G3 400 Mhz Mac OS X (10.4.5)

Well, I was not satisfied with the "solution" I brought, so I wrote another applescript that could match your needs ! You still should, however, place it in your script menu and assign a shortcut to it via a third party app. The script :

tell application "Pages" to activate
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Pages"
tell menu bar 1
-- In the following 2 lines I'm not sure of the name of the menu and of the menu item, as I don't use the app in english
tell menu 1 of menu bar item "Insertion"
click menu item "date & time…"
end tell
end tell
-- In the following line, replace the french text with the exact text you read beside the check box in the date and time panel (it's name, in fact), it should be something like "Update automatically the date and time when the document is open". I'm not sure : I'm not using the app in english. If it's 2 line long, just write in the script the exacts words of the FIRST line only (you can see that the french sentence is not complete : the words of the second line have to be omitted, don't know why)
click checkbox "Mettre automatiquement à jour la date et l’heure quand le" of sheet 1 of window 1
end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Pages"
-- The following line emulate the down arrow key : repeat this line as much time as you would hit the dow arrow key to highlight the right item in the window
key code 123
keystroke return
end tell

Franck

Thank you for the tip. I'm still actively learning as I'm new to Applescript : I just opened Script Editor for the very first time last month…

Franck

I am not using Tiger yet, so please forgive my ignorance:

Automator actions... can they work for apps like Pages or are they restricted to the Finder?

I miss Applework's (OS 9 only) macros. You can record many tedious sequences and turn them into a one-click button on the toolbar. Not every action is recordable but I have turned several pain-in-the-neck sequences into one click buttons. If Automator cannot do this it should. Applescript, with its high level geekery, is not an option for most users. In the world of advanced GUI there should be less code learning.

Kurt

Automator cannot do that.

Talking about that, how many applications are truly recordable with AppleScript under MacOS X? I can come to think of only one: Marco Piovanelli's Style, http://www.merzwaren.com/style/index.html , but I have perhaps not looked far enough.

how many applications are truly recordable with AppleScript under MacOS X

My point exactly. System wide macros would be very cool. QuicKeys has some of this capability. From what I have read, recording doesn't always work– even in this "King of Macros" app.

Kurt