TUAW Post > AppleScripting Notification Center > Scheduling Do Not Disturb

2013.02.04 By

nc_scriptMountain Lion's Notification Center is great for keeping you in the loop, but it can be a huge distraction when you need to get stuff done. Sometimes, a little peace and quiet is all you need to stay productive.

As you may know, iOS 6 includes a handy Do Not Disturb feature, which can be turned on to disable notifications. It can even be set to automatically enable/disable itself at scheduled intervals. Mountain Lion also lets you disable Notification Center. Just open Notification Center and drag down to access a Show Alerts and Banners toggle switch. Note that this is a temporary setting, and disabled notifications automatically re-enable at midnight.

Unlike iOS 6, though, Mountain Lion doesn't give you an option for enabling/disabling notifications on a schedule. At least, it doesn't provide a built-in option for this. With a little customized help from AppleScript, Automator, and the Calendar app, it is possible.

In this post, you'll create two Calendar Alarm Automator workflows, which can be configured to run at scheduled times to enable or disable Notification Center alerts and banners.

[Read more on TUAW...]

Filed Under: AppleScript, Articles, Automator, Development, Mac, Productivity, Tips, TUAW, Tutorials, Workflows Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

TUAW Post > AppleScripting Evernote > Embedded Image Scaler

2013.01.28 By

I'm a big fan of Evernote. I use it for archiving ideas, writing articles and blog posts, and lots more. I often insert screenshots and other large images into my notes. Screenshots can be pretty big, and I usually don't want giant images filling up my notes. I keep wishing Evernote offered a way to resize embedded images, so I could insert thumbnails. At the moment, it doesn't. So, I decided to write my own app to resize embedded images. Here's how you can do the same...

[Read more on TUAW...]

Filed Under: AppleScript, Articles, Development, Mac, Productivity, Tips, TUAW, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , , ,

My Productivity Session Schedule for Macworld/iWorld/MacIT 2013

2013.01.24 By

168796_10151283456801624_803934990_nAttending Macworld / iWorld / MacIT Conference in San Francisco next week?  I'm doing a number of presentations on productivity.  I hope you can make some of them.  Here is my schedule of sessions:

MacIT Conference

Friday, February 1st, 2013 - 3:50pm - 4:35pm - Automation and Security in Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion introduces a number of security measures designed to make your users more efficient. Some of these measures, however, can impact AppleScripts and other automation tools. In this session, we'll discuss the automation-related security changes in Mountain Lion. You'll learn how these changes will impact your existing scripts and workflows, and what you need to do to ensure compatibility and minimize support issues. Any user or Mac IT admin who utilizes automation in their daily routines won't want to miss this important session.

MacWorld / iWorld

Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 3:00 PM – 3:45 PM - Mac User Productivity Tips

It's an all-too-common scenario. You're working on an important document when you hear that familiar sound. A new email has arrived! It might be something important, so you switch to Mail, where you find the latest edition of the Star Wars newsletter. The next thing you know, it's two hours later and you're on Wookieepedia again, the Star Wars wiki, researching the metaphysical properties of lightsaber crystals. What were you supposed to be doing again? Let's face it, it's becoming harder and harder to remain focused on the task at hand. Your inbox is full. Your Desktop is cluttered. You can't find that PDF file you need. You're late for an appointment. How can you possibly manage to get everything done without going insane? In this session, we'll explore some general Mac productivity tips that can help you take control of your data. You'll learn how to organize your files, prioritize your todos, and deal with email overload, so you can get back to focusing on the task at hand. Any Mac user who's feeling overwhelmed and is interested in improving productivity will want to attend this informative session.

Thursday, January 31, 2013 - 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM - RapidFire - Killer Tips for Email Productivity

Let's face it, email is like like the Terminator. It's out there.  It can't be bargained or reasoned with. It doesn't feel pity, remorse, or fear, and it will never, ever stop, until you are dead. In this 5 minute RapidFire session, you'll learn some quick and dirty tips and techniques that can help you combat our shared enemy, the inbox.  Learn how to gain focus and clarity, while reducing stress, as you strive for true victory - an empty inbox.

See you there!

-Ben

Filed Under: Macworld, Presentations, Productivity Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

TUAW Post > Ten TextExpander Date Snippets

2013.01.21 By

TextExpanderTextExpander (Smile Software) is a utility I use each and every day on my Mac to save time and increase productivity. One of the things I use it for is formatting and inserting dates and times. Adding the date or time to a file or folder name, into an email, a document, and so on. In this post, I've shared some of my most used date and time snippets. I hope you find them as useful as I do.

[Read more on TUAW...]

Filed Under: AppleScript, Articles, Development, Geekery, Mac, Productivity, Tips, TUAW Tagged With: , , , , ,

TUAW Post > AppleScripting OmniFocus > Send Due Tasks to iTunes

2013.01.14 By

ofocus_scriptOmniFocus is a great tool for keeping us organized. But, let's face it. We're busy people. That's why we need a task management app in the first place. How can you take your productivity to the next level? How about having your daily OmniFocus tasks read to you as you drive to work? With a little help from AppleScript and Automator, you can make that happen.

[Read more on TUAW...]

Filed Under: AppleScript, Articles, Automator, Development, Productivity, Tips, TUAW, Tutorials, Workflows Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

TUAW Post > AppleScripting OmniFocus > Swap Task Names and Notes

2013.01.07 By

ofocus_scriptI use OmniFocus on a daily basis to keep track of important tasks. On a few occasions, I've entered tasks and assigned notes to them, only to decide later that I'd rather use the note as the task name, and the task name as the note. Rather than manually cycling through my tasks and swapping the notes, I wrote an AppleScript to do it. Now, anytime I want to perform this task, I can simply run the script. Here's how I did it...

[Read more on TUAW...]

Filed Under: AppleScript, Articles, Development, Productivity, Tips, TUAW, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , , ,

FileMaker Pro Automator Actions Released in the Mac App Store

2012.12.03 By

I'm pleased to announce that my FMP Automator Action Pack, which includes 18 actions for interacting with FileMaker Pro in OS X Lion and Mountain Lion, has been released in the Mac App Store. It can be found here.

Information about my other Lion and Mountain Lion action packs can be found here.

-Ben

Filed Under: Actions, App Store, Automator, Automator Actions, Products Tagged With: , , , ,

MacTech Conference 2012 > Deploying an AppleScript Server

2012.09.27 By

I'll be speaking about AppleScript servers at the upcoming 2012 MacTech Conference.  Hope to see you there.

-Ben Waldie

 

Deploying an AppleScript Server

AppleScript automation capabilities have existed on the Mac for years, and are widely used throughout the Mac enterprise market. Like many businesses, you may be using scripts to streamline your user workflows and improve productivity and efficiency.

In this session, you'll learn how to take scripting to the next level by deploying a dedicated AppleScript server. Find out how your users can hand off files and other data to the server for processing, allowing them to focus their attention on other important tasks. Explore ways of implementing schedule-based scripts, which can run at night or during other downtime. Get tips for migrating existing scripts to function in an unattended environment.

Any Mac professional who wants to increase efficiency, improve quality, and take workflow automation to the limit will not want to miss this session.

Attendees will learn:

  • What an AppleScript server is, and what it can do
  • Tips for implementing your own AppleScript server
  • Tips for implementing folder watching scripts
  • Tips for implementing scheduled scripts
  • Tips for migrating existing scripts for use on an unattended machine

The MacTech Conference runs from October 17-19, 2012 in Los Angeles.  It's a 3-day, immersive, technical conference specifically designed for Apple developers, IT Pros, and Enterprise.

[Learn more or register on the MacTech Conference website...]

Filed Under: AppleScript, AppleScriptObjC, Mac, MacTech Conference, Presentations, Productivity, Tips Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Mac Productivity: Mountain Lion GateKeeper Workaround

2012.08.29 By

If you're a Mountain Lion user, then you've probably encountered GateKeeper.  This is Apple's latest security mechanism, which restricts the apps that can be launched on your Mac.  By default, GateKeeper only allows apps to run that are from the Mac App Store, or digitally signed by official developers who have registered with Apple.  Try and launch an app from an unknown developer, and GateKeeper shuts it right down. What if you need to use the app, though?  Can you launch it without disabling GateKeeper entirely?  Sure you can. [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]

Filed Under: Articles, Mac, Peachpit, Peachpit Articles, Tips, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mac and iOS Productivity Tip: Keeping Up with the News

2012.08.14 By

Staying up to date with your favorite websites and blogs can be a real chore, and a major productivity drain.  If only there was a way to quickly get the latest unread headlines from top sites in one place, at any time, on any devices.  There is.  Available for iPad, iPhone, and Mac is Reeder, the popular Google Reader client. [Read more on the Peachpit blog...]

Filed Under: Articles, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Peachpit Articles, Productivity, Reviews, Tips, Tutorials Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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