| Developer(s) | Apple Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | April 29, 2005 |
| Stable release | 2.2.1 (330) / October 12, 2011 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X |
| Type | Automation |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | Apple: Automator |
Automator is an application developed by Apple for Mac OS X that implements point-and-click (or drag-and-drop) creation of workflows for automating repetitive tasks into batches for quicker alteration, thus saving time and effort over human intervention to manually change each file separately. Automator enables the repetition of tasks across a wide variety of programs, including the Finder, the Safari web browser, iCal, Address Book and others. It can also work with third-party applications such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop or Pixelmator. Automator was first released with Mac OS X Tiger (10.4).
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Automator provides a graphical user interface for automating tasks without knowledge of programming or scripting languages. Tasks can be recorded as they are performed by the user or can be selected from a list. The output of the last action can become the input to the next.
Automator comes with a library of Actions (file renaming, finding linked images, creating a new mail message, etc.) that act as individual steps in a Workflow document. A Workflow document is used to carry out repetitive tasks. Workflows can be saved and reused. Unix command line scripts and AppleScripts can also be invoked as Actions. The actions are linked together in a Workflow. The Workflow can be saved as an application, Workflow file or a contextual menu item. Options can be set when the Workflow is created or when the Workflow is run.