Photo-related Automator Actions
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For Mac-based digital photographers, Apple’s Automator (which is built-in to OS X 10.4 "Tiger") provides an exceptional workflow tool that allows you to automate every part of your workflow, from basic edits to file management. While Automator’s uses for programs like Photoshop are obvious, there are a number of other photography workflow problems that can be solved with Automator. |
Note: If you’re new to Automator and aren’t clear on what it’s for, or how it works, check out this article for more info.
To help with some of my other digital photo workflow tasks, I’ve build some Automator Actions that can be easily installed and incorporated into your workflow. To install any of these actions, simply download and unzip, then drop them into your Home > Library > Automator folder. (If no folder exists at that location, just make one.)
Obviously, these actions have applications beyond digital photography, but I noticed the need for them while tinkering with my photo workflow, so I’m writing about them here in that context.
Batch Manager If you want to use Automator to manage very large batches, or batches of extremely large files (like Photoshop documents), then you might have already discovered an Automator weakness: it insists on opening every document in your batch. If your documents are large or your memory is small (or both) then this can quickly grind your machine to a halt. Batch Manager is a combination Automator Action/AppleScript applet that will automatically break a large batch into smaller sizes and run each of those sub-batches through your Automator workflow. With it, you can process large batches much more efficiently. Documentation included.
Filter From Finder Label If you use Finder labels for organizing photos, or batches of images, then you can use this action to automatically filter a group of files to find only those documents with a particular label. Allows you to save the original unfiltered list before you apply the filter. You can use the included Unfilter action to later restore the original list, allowing you to build a single workflow that executes multiple, different filter operations.
Backup Folder This action backs up one folder into another. Only files that are different are copied, and an option is provided to delete any folders from the destination that aren���t in the source. If you have any kind of Automator workflows that manages your digital images, you can add this action to get intelligent, progressive backup. (Click here to download a version that works with the German-language OS.)
Change Extension This simple Action lets you change or strip the file extension of any file or group of files. That���s it really. No 3D support, no plug-in architecture, not optimized for dual 64-bit processors. But if you need to change or strip an extension from a file using Automator, this is the free download for you. Occasionally, clients give me images that lack extensions. This action makes it easy to put the files back to rights.
Store Original Name This set of two actions, Store Original Name and Restore Original Name, lets you store a file���s original name in the file���s own Spotlight Comments field. If you change the name you can later restore the saved name automatically. This is particularly useful for digital photographers who want to give their image files meaningful names, without losing track of the original camera-generated names.
Compare Folders Compares the contents of any two folders and outputs your choice of either all matching files, only matched files from either folder, or only different files from either folder. Also provides an option for ignoring extensions. When combined with standard move and copy actions, Compare Folders gives you a way to create version control systems, backup schemes, or simple mechanisms for sorting through multiple folders containing similar images. (Click here to download a version that works with German language versions of OS X.)
Change File Type and Creator Allows you to change the file type and creator of any file. Particularly useful if you get images (or any other type of file) created with an application that you don���t have and you want a way to quickly adjust them to default to working with your favorite image editor.
Sync Folders Synchronizes the content of any two folders. Ensures that both folders contain copies of all of the same files and sub-folders. If two folders contain files of the same name, then the newer file is duped over the older. Provides an option for logging all changes. I find this particularly useful for times when I’ve copied different versions of images in process to different machines. I can quickly consolidate them into one folder, keeping only the latest versions of each. (Click here to download a version that works with German language versions of OS X.)
All of these actions also include a simple button for checking for newer versions, and all are available for free.
AppleScript for Digital Photographers
Taking Action with Photoshop Actions
Adobe Illustrator Automator Action>
For more on Automator, check out automatorworld.com
Comments
21 Comments on Photo-related Automator Actions
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Doug Hutton on
Fri, 30th Sep 2005 3:10 pm
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Bakar on
Sun, 2nd Oct 2005 10:56 pm
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Ben Long on
Sun, 2nd Oct 2005 11:08 pm
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Philipp on
Tue, 4th Oct 2005 9:51 am
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Ben Long on
Wed, 5th Oct 2005 11:31 am
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Doug Hutton on
Wed, 5th Oct 2005 12:39 pm
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Miguel on
Tue, 18th Oct 2005 8:45 am
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Michael Rucker on
Sun, 6th Nov 2005 9:40 am
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Wade on
Tue, 6th Dec 2005 11:27 am
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Complete Digital Photography » Photoshop Camera Raw Version Control on
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Complete Digital Photography » Photo Renaming Automator Actions on
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Complete Digital Photography » Separate JPEGs Automator Action on
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Photoshop & Automator - Leica User Forum on
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Complete Digital Photography » Photo Renaming Automator Actions v2 on
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John on
Sat, 19th Jun 2010 9:22 am
Your articles and actions have been a great help as I developed a little aoutomator program to help catalog photogrpahy. Thanks!
I have had a problem with “Change Extension” though. It adds a period between each character of the file name as it strips and adds the new extension. At first I thought it was because I added “.jpg” ratther than the extension with no period. But even eliminating the period didn’t solve the problem. Are you seeing the same thing? Is there a solution?
Okay, I’m trying to learn Automator and have even created a couple of applets myself. But for the life of me I can’t figure your Backup action. How do I get it to work? I thought I was supposed to drop into the workflow window and add the two folders that I wanted to perform the backup from and to. What am I doing wrong?
Bakar, you have to add what it is you want to edit BEFORE the Backup Folder action. So, for example. you could drag two folders into the workflow, which will create a Get Specified Finder action in the workflow. Or, you could add a “Get Selected Finder Items” action to the workflow, which will cause it to operate on whichever two folders you have selected in the Finder. Then, add the Backup folders action directly beneath whichever one of these actions you’ve chosen to use. That will cause Backup Folder to operate on the two folders that you passed to it from either of those actions.
I’m afraid, but I can’t find the “Restore original Name” Action. The .zip file only seems to contain the store action.
Whoops! I forgot to include it in the previous archive. Download the latest version, it’s there now. Sorry about that!
Any thoughts on the extra periods added with the “Change Extension” action?
Perfect it is exactly what i was looking for. I would love to built my own Automation Scripts but until now no sucess.
Keep on brother
Miguel
Portugal
I am trying to use the backup automator script. I select two folders and the backup begins. It returns an error that says that it cannot comot complete because finder returns an error saying that there is already an item with that name (-47). Any idea what this might be?
You are the freekin-est! thanks for the “Compare folders” action! I hope it works as I want/need it to. I am trying to find all the copies of a wedding that I shot, because I know I have a few copies of it and I want to slim down my computer – And back it all up to DVD. Searching and searching for a way to do this with out actually having to type and type – and You have saved me from my tedium. If it werks how I wish it to, I shall return and paypal you a couple!
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I love the CompareFolders action! I don’t know how to get a workflow to allow me to choose two different folders to feed as the input to this action. If they are both subfolders of the same parent, then I can do a multi-select, but what if they are in two different places.
I’m sure this is something very simple that I’m overlooking. :-/
Any advice much appreciated!
–JoatMon
Ben – which copy command is the “backup folder” action utilizing? Thanks for a nice set of automator actions!
Dear Ben
your automator workflows are great. thank you.
I downloaded BatchManager last week, and tested it, and it resolved my automator issues with folders that contained massive amounts of jpegs. (about 20,000). This week I am running into a problem where Batchmanager hangs when trying to process nested folders…
I want to use BatchManager with MetaDataMover, whereby I want to place jpeg files in folders based on the hour they were captured, and then into minute folder, and then finally into seconds folders.. However, even with the first step, for the Hours folder, it’s not working. I took a screenshot of my workflow, which is very simple (but don’t know how to attach it here).
basically:
1) Get specified Finder Items : top level folder
2) Get Folder Contents (with repeat for each subfolder found checked)
3) BatchManager : Groups of 10
4) MetadataMover: Action-Move, Path Pattern %H/ , Destination folder.
so I am baffled as to why it is not working??
I hope to hear from you soon..
thank you.
:L
Hi! Your ‘sync folders’ action is exactly what I’ve been looking for! It’s too bad it’s not recursive (can work with nested folders), but I think that can be worked out applescriptwise. Have you considered working further on the automator actions?
I’ll be in contact if I manage to work it out myself, or something like that. Again, thank you!
Wow! This is so generous. I love the sync folders action. Thanks again!
Hi…thanks for posting your Sync Folders action, I’m using it to keep my iTunes library and the master library on a Windows server up to date and it does a great job. I have found one small issue though – it chokes if folders or files have names containing odd characters (I’ve had problems with cyrillic and scandinavian at this point). Any chance of an update to address this? Cheers!
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