Change file path of embedded pictures

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Change file path of embedded pictures

I'm sort of a beginner with Applescript, but I created an application in it that takes screenshots of different web pages and saves them in my Pictures folder. I have a proposal template in a Word document that has these pictures linked and embedded into it. Whenever I want to create a new proposal, I run the application and get the specified images I need, and update the links in the Word doc so that the new images display. I then break the links and save the doc as something else.

Anyway, I have a colleague who would like to use this application. The files in the Word doc are linked to Macintosh HD/users/Me/Pictures. How can my colleague easily set all the images in the Word doc to their own file path, ie Macintosh HD/users/MyColleague/Pictures?

Something like

tell application "Microsoft Word"

set the path of active picture to "Macintosh HD:Users:MyColleague:04-ReportMenu.jpg"

end tell

Multiple salespeople will eventually be using this script. If I could add a function into my Applescript app so that whenever the proposal template is opened, the path to the images is changed to that users's picture folder, that would be amazing. Other solutions are welcomed.

Posted on Jan 29, 2014 2:18 PM

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Answer 1

Arkouda

Level 4

3,365 points

Jan 29, 2014 3:41 PM in response to rjvmurphy

If your example - and sorry I don't have Word to try it - shows how you set the link in the first place, you can use:

set the path of active picture to (path to home folder as string) & "04-ReportMenu.jpg"

However, you say further down that the reference should be to the user's picture folder. Just substitute "path to pictures folder" in the above line.

If I've misunderstood your question, please post back!

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Answer 2

Arkouda

Level 4

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Jan 29, 2014 3:42 PM in response to Arkouda

&amp should be the ampersand symbol!

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Answer 3

rjvmurphy Author

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Jan 29, 2014 3:47 PM in response to Arkouda

Thanks! I apprecaite the response, but unfortunately, the way I added the pictures originally was just by embedding them in Word, not via Applescript. I don't really want the app to make any changes to the document (ie, picture placement). The command I provided was what I thought the ideal solution would be, but it doesn't actually work. In fact there is no "active picture" identifier. Sorry I wasn't more clear about that part!

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Answer 4

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Jan 29, 2014 4:13 PM in response to rjvmurphy

Can you give a better description of what you're trying to do? I can't figure out why you are using Word (which does not seem to be the best choice of app for this kind of thing) and I can't tell whether you're moving files or doing something else to them.

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Answer 5

rjvmurphy Author

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Jan 29, 2014 4:50 PM in response to twtwtw

Sure, thanks for the reply. My organization created a sales proposal generator in Word. It creates a sales proposal based on some user inputs. Embedded in the proposals are demonstrations of our product in the form of screenshots of our product from our website. One of our designers updates the standard images with customized branded images for the client we are pitching. It's very time consuming to get these new branded images from the web, crop them and swap them out in the Word proposal, so I created an app that will do it. The app visits a list of pages, takes a screenshot of the Safari window and pastes a named image in my Pictures folder. I embedded the images in the Word doc so that they link to my Pictures folder. All I have to do is update the links and I have a new branded proposal. It works great on my own machine, but if I share it, the path obviously breaks and the Word image update doesn't work.

Here's a snippet of my code. The following takes a screenshot of our site and saves it in Pictures:

-- Report Screenshot

delay 1

tell application "Safari" to set the bounds of the front window to {0, 20, 915, 935}

delay 0.1

tell application "Safari"

tell window 1 to set URL of current tab to "https://website.com/demox?rm=report"

delay 4

end tell

do shell script "screencapture -o -l$(osascript -e 'tell app \"Safari\" to id of window 1') ~/Pictures/05-Report.jpg"

end tell

The links in Word update to the brand-specific images I just grabbed once I select Edit -> Links -> Update Now

I need a quick way, in Applescript, to update /Users/me/Pictures/photo.jpg to Users/MyColleague/Pictures.jpg in Word. Does this help at all??

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Answer 6

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Jan 29, 2014 7:17 PM in response to rjvmurphy

The trick to this is using the path to command of the standard additions osax. If you need POSIX paths, something like the following will work generically across different machines:

set picPath to POSIX path of (path to pictures folder from user domain) & "05-Report.jpg"

If you have trouble adjusting it to your needs let me know.

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Answer 7

rjvmurphy Author

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Jan 30, 2014 8:54 AM in response to rjvmurphy

This did not solve my question! Obvious noob fail, sorry.

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Answer 8

rjvmurphy Author

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Jan 30, 2014 9:09 AM in response to twtwtw

Thanks twtwtw. I amended it to:

-- Report Screenshot

set picPath to POSIX path of (path to pictures folder from user domain) & "05-Report.jpg"

delay 1

tell application "Safari" to set the bounds of the front window to {0, 20, 915, 935}

delay 0.1

tell application "Safari"

tell window 1 to set URL of current tab to "https://website.com/demox?rm=report"

delay 4

end tell

do shell script "screencapture -o -l$(osascript -e 'tell app \"Safari\" to id of window 1') " & picPath

The underlined parts are what I changed. This saves the file directly into my users folder, though, and sets the file name to "Pictures05-Report.jpg"

Also, do you have any ideas on how I would tell Word to set the picPath to all of the embedded pictures in a document?

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Answer 9

rjvmurphy Author

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Jan 30, 2014 9:22 AM in response to twtwtw

Actually, this worked great to save the screenshot in the Pictures folder, thanks a lot. I had an "end tell" command in the wrong place from another block which was messing things up. My follow-up question is still how to implement this in a Word document, if you have any ideas!

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Answer 10

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Jan 30, 2014 2:22 PM in response to rjvmurphy

You haven't given enough information for me to give you a complete answer, or in fact even for me to be sure I'm aswering the right question. But in principle, if we assume that the link in question is the first link on the first Word document, this code will change the file it points to:

set picPath to POSIX path of (path to pictures folder from user domain) & "05-Report.jpg"

tell application id "com.microsoft.Word"

tell document 1

set hyperlink address of first hyperlink object to picPath

end tell

There are a host of nuances that could make life easier (for instance, you could locate the proper hyperlink easily by its name or displayed text, if you know what those are), but it's too vague to work with as given.

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