Automators

Putting files in the right places is a pain in the neck. It's tedious and way too easy to make a mistake. Our intrepid automators are here to save the day on the Mac and iOS.

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What do you do with all of the files on your devices? David and Rose try to solve the problem of document filing. Since it’s something you can easily automate, Rose and David share their tips and tricks. Keeping them all on the desktop would be madness (or marital strife if you’re David).

File location and file saving is busywork and inaccurate. It’s dumb work and none of us want to do it, says David. You could spend your time organizing your documents but wouldn’t you rather spend your precious time doing something else? Yeah! So let automation do the work for you. It’s easy. David teaches one of his favorite moves (pun intended): Command + C and then Option + Command + V. Rose reminds us to take a look at what we’ve got and to ask ourselves where we’re going with this. We need a good foundation so everything doesn’t fall down around us and save us from angst down the line. Rose and David agree that nested folders and a good naming system are key.

When automating files on the Mac, Smart Folders, Hazel, and Keyboard Maestro will become your best friends. How? You gotta listen to find out.

David screencasts his Siri Shortcut/Hazel automation to save and file PDFs from iPhone and iPad.

David's File Automation Siri Shortcut

The holy grail of file automation tools

David's Field Guide on the holy grail of file automation. There is a discount at the end of this episode.