Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Automation Quick Start
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to automate your Mac. This topic explores many
of the most interesting options. Feel free to dip in wherever you like and jump around to
techniques that interest you; however, I suggest that you first read the
Introduction
and
Develop an Automator's Mindset
. And, if you're interested in ways of automating your Mac
that require no extra software, pay special attention to the second chapter,
Use Built-in
Automation 101:
•
Strategy:
Learn what you can automate and figure out where you can save time
and effort in
Develop an Automator's Mindset
.
•
Built-in features:
Discover the many ways you can make your Mac more
efficient using nothing more than what Apple supplies in OS X; see
Use Built-in
Tip:
At this point, you can explore any of the specific automation categories in the next
group of chapters, or skip ahead to
Learn about higher-level automation tools
such as
Automator, AppleScript, and Keyboard Maestro.
Discover what you can automate:
•
Input devices:
Get the most out of your mouse, trackball, trackpad, or other
input device; see
Automate Your Input Devices
.
•
Text expansion:
Insert commonly used words, phrases, variables, and even
elaborate fill-in-the-blanks reports just by typing a few characters; see
Automate
•
Finder:
Launch apps, open files and folders, play music, look up definitions,
perform calculations, and much more with just a few keystrokes; see
Automate
•
Clipboard:
Cut, copy, and paste like a pro using multiple clipboards, clipboard
histories, and tools to manipulate what's on your clipboard; see
Supercharge
