On Mac, can one easily automatize repetitive work?

Let's say I have some repetitive work on Mac which requires click menu A, then give some input, click button on and on.

Can anyone easily automatize these kind of tasks with Mac? What kinds of options do I have for it?

Solution 1:

Automator on Mac is certainly one of the most underused apps. Using it doesn't require a long time of learning. All you have to do is to understand the way it works. You'll find the answers to your questions in this tutorial.

By the way, in case you'd like to get the most out of your Mac, check this out also: http://automator.us/leopard/index.html

Let me know if you managed to create your first Automator workflow ;)

Solution 2:

Automator has a Watch Me Do mode that can be used to record mouse and keyboard inputs. Eggplant might also be useful.

Solution 3:

Text file manipulation, image and audio file munging, can happen easily using shell, Ruby, Python or Perl scripts. You can use Ruby to control browsers, write scripts that imitate browsers and log into sites, copy the content and parse it, looking for specific phrases...

If you need to automate a word-processor or an app with an interface, you can do it sometimes - depending on whether the app supports AppleScript/Automator events.

So, it really depends on what you want to do but a good starting point is to read about Automator, which comes with Mac OS. There are also sites with pre-canned scripts you can download such as Apple Download's "Automator Actions" site.