Automator documents are called
workflows, and are made up of
actions. Workflows are run sequentially, with each action being given the previous action's output, which it can then process or act upon. Variables can be specified, which can be modified or processed by subsequent actions. Workflows can also incorporate loops and variables. Automator comes with a library of actions (file renaming, finding linked images, creating a new mail message, etc.). Actions can also run custom scripts, including
AppleScript,
JavaScript, or
shell scripts. Workflow documents can be run directly in Automator or saved as applications that run the workflow when launched. Workflows can also be added to the
contextual menu, to process any selected text or file. , Microsoft has bundled Automator actions with
Microsoft Office, which can be used to automate
Outlook,
Word,
Excel, or
PowerPoint. • Run
AppleScript,
JavaScript,
Python,
Ruby scripts, or
shell scripts • Create Folder Actions, a Finder feature that applies certain workflows to all files in a folder • Create Services, which can be started in the Services menu • Batch resize photos • Extract annotations from PDFs • Process strings text, including adding quotations around text or outputting word count • Print files; and when combined with the "Get Folder Contents" action, it can print all files in a "drop box" folder == Interface ==