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Why does Automator still exist, when Shortcuts could have replaced it entirely? (self.apple_enthusiast)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by DJDarren to c/[email protected]

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

First up, I realise that Automator does so much more than Shortcuts. But my question is: why?

I have a couple of spreadsheets that I want to be reminded of once a week so I can keep an eye on the dates they contain. My stupid ADHD brain is likely to forget to check them, and a reminder is only as useful as whether I'm able to act on it at that moment in time. So I've set up an automation to open them up at a specific time. Given that Shortcuts on macOS doesn't support automations (as far as I can tell), the only way to do this is;

Create a shortcut that will open the documents I need to open.
Create an automator application that uses a bash script to open the shortcut.
Create a calendar entry where the alert is set to open the automator app.

So I guess I want to know why Shortcuts (for macOS) can't run automations, why Calendar can't open Shortcuts, and why Shortcuts didn't subsume everything that Automator can do? Who at Apple thought it was perfectly right and proper to have to distinct and powerful apps essentially offering the same functions, but that neither of them fully encompass the abilities of the other?

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 8 months ago (2 children)

It’s likely many users still use Automator (which is from 2005). Removing it could break workflows for many people if removed. There’s a bunch of older apps in macOS like this. The latest version of macOS still has AirPort Utility, for example.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Airport utility has a hidden wifi strength measuring tool, which is super useful!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I use it often at work e.g. for developing a embedded Linux device that has a wifi dongle in the case.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I just wish these features could be updated and integrated into the OS or new app instead all these vestigial apps hanging around.

Like bringing the airport utility’s functionality into the OS proper should be part of the OS updates.

But instead, the network section in system prefs somehow gets MORE obtuse over time while good functionality languishes in a forgotten app and major OS updates are now primarily new emojis for messages.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well, Shortcuts comes from the iOS world and is a relatively recent addition to macOS. Automator originated in macOS and I don't think it has made it over to iOS at this point?

That's not even the full extent of it though. Before Automator, there was Script Editor, which could also create script applications, but that doesn't seem to work so well anymore. Automator has become the preferred approach for that. But Script Editor is still around and is useful for looking up AppleScript dictionaries. These tell you if a given application offers special scripting support, and there are also a few general dictionaries like StandardAdditions that are worth a gander. I wish AppleScript existed for iOS.

And then there's the command line approach of using crontab to open your files with the open command. And osascript lets you run any AppleScript from the command line.

[–] DJDarren 4 points 8 months ago

Shortcuts comes from the iOS world

I think this might well be the answer to my question. Shortcuts for Mac feels almost like an afterthought, as if they've just adapted the iPad version to run on macOS, but they've stripped out automations ability presumably because it wasn't compatible with the OS. As a result, we've got two apps that do more or less the same thing, but one is better suited to the complexity of macOS while the other is content carrying out basic tasks.