Automator - The Best Way to Automatically Organize Your Mac

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Hey people, in this video we're going over how you can organize your mac with Automator. Using folder actions in automator, we can automatically organize files into specific folders based on the rules we set.
This can be super helpful because once you set the rules, your mac will automatically organize files without you touching a thing.
And Automator is a native Mac program that is free to use!
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Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:13 - Automator Overview
2:33 - Folder Actions
2:50 - Designate Folder
4:05 - Add an Action
5:00 - Using Rules
8:20 - Automator in Action
9:55 - Outro
#automator #organize #mac
Music:
Reaching Out by Sappheiros / sappheirosmusic
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported - CC BY 3.0
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Music provided by Music for Creators • Reaching Out - Sappheiros

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Unfortunately, no matter how hard you try...you can't Kamehameha the files off your desktop.

[@Francisco_Otero]

Automator is one of those programs you dont know anything about but should. Thanks for shedding a light!

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Definitely! Glad you enjoyed the video.

[@taisalcantara2]

Hi, great video! Thanks for sharing your knowledge! How can delete a quick action automator created? Could you help, please :)

[@DannyPluto.]

Excellent presentation here bro

[@alexandersanchez9104]

Great explanation! keep it up :)

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Thanks Alexander!

[@SherKhan0122]

Thank you.

[@msvelasquez9738]

"it is going be.. I just started " lmao thanks for this video!

[@PaLammy]

I have a lot of photos from the past 10 years on an external HDD. Not catalogued... I want to catalogue them in folders by year and therein by month.... Can't manage to move the photos with their original name in an automator sorting command into a new folder that moves the photos by year/month into that new directory/folder. Is that actually possible with automator or is that asking too much?

[@charlesmagno28]

is there any way to use Google chrome instead of Safari in AUtomator? chrome is my preferrred and bookmarks are there already

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Hey Centaur, unfortunately it doesn't look like this is possible. What would you like to do with Chrome and Automator? Depending on your needs, we could probably use an applescript or better touch tool to automate your task.

[@rcwilli1991]

whopapapapapa :D :D :D on a serious note: What would be the difference to the Hazel tool? Thanks!

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Haha. The biggest difference is that Automator is free and comes on every Mac! Hazel is probably a little bit more intuitive, but costs money.

[@whoismattkohn]

“Ur ish isn’t even effffin organized !” 😂😂😂😂😂

[@growtlab5260]

Can we sell the app or workflow that we created?

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Sure, I don’t see why not! However, once someone obtains a copy, there’s nothing restricting them from duplicating it or distributing it to others.

[@izumimiyamura5021]

Heyy, Jake I was trying to use the automator like you did but it keeps failing. :{ am I supposed to press the run button at the top? it keeps saying "2 warnings" at the bottom in the "Log" but doesn't do anything outside the automator... is there a way to fix this?😅😭

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Hi Izumi, sorry for the delayed response! If you followed my procedures and selected a Folder Action to make with Automator, all you have to do is save the file in Automator and it will work automatically without Automator needing to be open. If you try to "test" the automation from within Automator using a folder action it will fail because you need to use a different set of commands to run the test. So after saving the file in automator, it will then effect any new file added to the folder you designated. I set my designated folder for the automation to look at as the desktop, so any time a new file is added to the desktop, automator will run the short little automation and check if the files fit the rules set in the program and will move it if it fits the criteria. A tip for you, is that if you have a ton of files on your desktop to move around, you can move them into another folder like your Documents folder, then move them back to your desktop and the automator program will run on all of your files you just added to your desktop. Let me know if that helps or if you have any other questions! Happy to help

[@izumimiyamura5021]

@@JakeFishmanTech ohh i see. Thanks ^-^ I had all these files and i was just sitting there waiting for them to disappear. hahah. So it affects everything added to the files afterwards! This really is a life saver. Thanks 🥰🙆‍♂️🙆‍♂️

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Yes, exactly :)! You're welcome and enjoy the automatic organization!

[@frankiecao442]

How to make it run automatically?

[@mercurynfo]

How do you delete an automator file in Apple silicon with BigSur?

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Hey - you would just have to locate where you saved the file, and then right click it and select delete.

[@mercurynfo]

@@JakeFishmanTech ...only problem with that is that you can only save...not save and choose a location and save. I found one source that claims that it's user/library/... but I can't even make my library visible with the folder settings. I think in BigSur the automator folder is somewhere else.

[@JakeFishmanTech]

Hey PA - when I create a new Automator workflow and click save, it allows me to choose the location. It looks like you can also use the “move to” in the menu to change the files location. Hope that helps you find the file.

[@mercurynfo]

@@JakeFishmanTech you on the latest BigSur update and on an M1?

[@JakeFishmanTech]

I am on the latest Big Sur, but not on M1. Automator should be exactly the same for M1 and Intel based macs. Do you not have those options in the menu?

[@lexjohnson501]

I keep getting the error message: "The action 'Move Finder Items' was not supplied with the required data."

[@aminag9200]

Same here...

[@ravipopat6931]

Did you manage to solve this? I'm getting the same error too.

[@JakeFishmanTech]

It sounds like you guys may be testing with the run button inside Automator. This will fail with our setup, as we are not providing Automator with any specific file. I would recommend saving the Automator file, then testing it in a real example by dragging a file that fits the criteria you set in to the folder you chose to have the Automator actions effect. If this is not the case, let me know and I’ll dig into your issues further!

[@dummyemail-mz9fp]

I was also confused cause I thought it was supposed to automatically move the files on the folder I chose. Turns out it's not an error but only applies to new files added to the folder you want to organize.

[@JordanDavid204]

"Automator is the best, and here's why! Uh.. I don't know how to use it but it looks high tech."

[@andreirachko]

Pro tip: watch this video at 1.25% speed

[@Renegade_rm56]

2.0x speed for me.

[@skippydippy6167]

I view ALL videos at at least 1.5, usually 2.0

[@andreirachko]

@@skippydippy6167 that’s insane. My brain would keep up. Does your brain run at 5GHz or something xD