macgrunt : advertising and publishing industry production grunt with a passion for workflow automation and optimisation : particularly applescript for adobe indesign
available for freelance grunt work in the brisbane area : expert mac operator with nearly 30 years industry experience — layout, finished art, prepress : super efficient and awesome attention to detail : do yourself a favour
brisbane : queensland : australia
you can contact me directly at macgrunt.au@gmail.com
macgrunt 
Hi, I just came here by accident and instantly bookmarked your site, so great stuff in human language.
Often I find and use Indesign scripts written in JavaScript, but for me, JavaScript is unreadable, AppleScript however is very readable and makes sense to me, you know, if this then that…
Keep updating your great site, I love it…
Love the site – Tons of useful information – as well as thinking about all of the possiblities.
I am wanting to create a workflow – Not sure if I understand if applescript elements go into automator? Was recently dissappointed by zevrix batch output, but now there is hope that I can still accomplish my vision. Thank You
G’day skinny dude.
Glad you’re finding this stuff useful.
How you deploy an applescript depends on what you’re trying to achieve. I’ve not investigated all the possibilities.
Automator helps you create a service which becomes integrated as standard functionality within a program. Like the email files from finder script : http://wp.me/p1Foaz-Dr
Others you can save as an application and launch it like you would any other app. Like the image processing script : http://wp.me/p1Foaz-jF
You can also create an app to act as a droplet — so you drag-and-drop files or folders onto it for processing. Like the ZipStuff app : http://wp.me/p1Foaz-8L
Most InDesign scripts are saved into the InDesign Scripts Panel folder and run from within InDesign. The first scripting lesson shows how to find this folder : http://wp.me/p1Foaz-3o
So, it really just depends…
I’m happy to try and answer any questions you have (but I’m still just a novice myself)
Best of luck to you.
m.
I am working towards a compilation of scripts to take customer supplied Indd documents – Drop them on applet or automator – Print 1 laser / create 3 PDF files (different settings) / email the low res proof to CSR.
I have the email PDF working awesome on my MBP, but at work we run MS Enterouge – Which I looked a the Library, and so far I cannot figure it out.
Anyways – My question about Automator – What I picture in my head is getting the email PDF proof script running the way I want – Put it into automator as part of a larger workflow. Then get the other elements as scripts – put those into the same workflow – ?? (script one – receive cust Indd – print Laser) (Script Two – Export to PDF – High Res) (Script Three – Export to PDF High Res Digital Press)(Script 4 – Export PDF Proof – Email to CSR) Then Drop new customer files onto automator workflow – and magic!!
Thank You for your great blog and helping the masses to better understand mac automation and the value it has to pre press workflows!
G’day again,
I’m going to get back to you about this other stuff when I get a chance, but straight off you might want to check out what Ben Waldie has to say about Entourage. The guy’s a genius and one of the key go-to dudes for applescript. The post is a few years old but I’d be surprised if it’s dramatically different for the latest Entourage.
Only other comment immediately is that you don’t need separate scripts for the workflow you describe — you can do it all from one script.
m.
G’day Tom
I’ve had a stab at answering your question in a new post : http://wp.me/p1Foaz-Ha
It’s obviously not going to be a complete solution straight out of the bag, but it shows one way to approach the workflow you describe.
Good on you for getting into this automation stuff.
It’s a steep learning curve, but once you get up and running you’ll find all sorts of ways to minimise the monkey-work.
Have a good one
m.
Stumbled on this website, this is SUPERB! Love the Calendar script vid!
Supremely useful tips/scripts for a fellow Production Muchacho who can only kludge together AS/JS scripts to make his day more streamlined.
All the best to you Bro!
thanks mate — appreciate the feedback
kludging stuff together is how I started learning. now I’m just kludging more complex stuff together. :-)+)
kudos to you if you can do it in two languages. I’ve not met the JS challenge yet.
have a good one
m.