Automation tools like IFTTT and Siri Shortcuts are popular options to streamline day-to-day tasks, but MacOS has long had a tool for this. Automator is not well known to anyone except power users, but when implemented correctly it can take care of minutia and help remove tedium from everyday tasks.

Automator doesn’t require programmingskills to set up. It’s a quick matter of dragging and dropping the relevantskills into the workflow. Here are a few of the best scripts you should checkout and install.

1. Clean Your Downloads Folder

The Download folder can grow cluttered inno time at all, especially if you frequently download photographs or files. Thenumber of zip files and installation packages alone can build up fast.Thankfully, there’s an easy solution: an Automator setup that moves files olderthan a certain date range to the trash.

Automator App Mac Download Latest

Automator can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but it’s actually significantly easier than it might seem. Start by opening the program and selecting New Document, then choose Folder Actions. From there, choose Find Finder Items and drag it into the empty screen on the right.

Click the Options tab and choose Ignore this item’s input. If you don’t, it will move any files into the trash immediately. Select Move Finder Items to Trash and drag it below Find Finder Items.

Use OS X's Automator.app to find, extract, and save the images from your current web page. The combination of Actions needed are: Get Current Webpage from Safari; Get Contents of Webpages; Save Images From Web Content; To learn more about using Automator, see Apple's Mac Basics: Automator. Automator: Automate your Mac with a sophisticated built-in app. Speaking of automation, I wanted to include Automator in this month’s list of the best macOS apps. Like Shortcuts on iOS, Automator is a built-in app on your Mac that you can use to automate virtually anything on your device. In my experience, it’s more powerful than Shortcuts.

Once you have this action set up, it willautomatically move any files older than 90 days into the trash.

2. Rename Multiple Files at Once

macOS has a tendency to name certain typesof files a certain way, and it can be difficult to sort through themall—especially if you have 98 screenshots all named “screen shotxxx-xxx-xxx.” Thankfully, Automator can smooth out this process too.

First, you’ll make a new document in Automator. Select Workflow, and then select Files and Folders in the far-left window. Drag Get Selected Finder Items from the middle window into the right window, and then do the same for Rename Finder Items.

Automator App Mac Download Gratis

When you do, a popup will appear asking if you want to go through with the action and offer the ability to make a copy of the files before renaming them. While you can do this, it defeats the purpose of changing the files all at once.

Just type the text you want to search forinto Find and then the text you wantto replace it with in Replace. Thereare additional options you can use, such as searching for full name, basename,and extension. Once you’ve done this, you can just open Finder and then run theAutomator script.

3. Open Up Your Preferred Websites on Browser Start Up

Let’s face it: most of us have a routinewhen it comes to web browsing. Maybe it’s a collection of websites you like toread to stay up to date on your favorite subjects. Maybe it’s work related.Either way, you can save yourself some trouble by having Automator open yourmost commonly visited websites the moment you boot up the browser. Here’s how.

When you open Automator, choose Application. Choose Internet rom the left-hand window andselect Get Specified URLs from themiddle window. Drag it to the right-hand side. Once you’ve done this, enter theURLs you want to visit when you start your browser. (Tip: if you have the pageopen in Safari when you click “Add,” it automatically enters theURL.)

Next, select Display Webpages and drag it below Get Specified URLs. Save the Automator script. The next time youopen Safari, it will bring up the pages you’ve designated.

Other Automator Uses

Automator is a powerful tool with nearlyunlimited uses. While the scope of it can be confusing, a bit of trial anderror will teach you everything you need to know. You can do everything fromsend automatic birthday greetings with Outlook to combining text filestogether.

Automator can take the tedium out of the most repetitive tasks if you set it up correctly. The drag and drop interface makes it easy to arrange functions with no programming skills, and the “Run” button in the upper right corner of the application lets you test the Automator script before you save it.

If it doesn’t work exactly as you want it to, tweak a few settings and try again. And if it still doesn’t work, Apple has an active Automator community you can ask for assistance.