- The Looping Problem
- Dispense Items Incrementally Action
- Automator Multi-Item Processing Utility
- Conclusion
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Like this article? We recommend
Dispense Items Incrementally Action
After installing the freeware Dispense Items Incrementally action, you can use this action in conjunction with Automator's Loop action to create a looping workflow. A workflow of this nature begins by passing a series of files to the Dispense Items Incrementally action, which is followed by actions that process the files. The Loop action then follows the processing actions. When you run the workflow, the Dispense Items Incrementally action releases the input files, one per loop, for processing.
Figure 1 shows an example of a workflow that uses the Dispense Items Incrementally action to add security to Word documents. This workflow consists of the following actions:
- Get Specified Finder Items. This action gets a list of files to be processed, passing them down to the next action in the workflow.
- Dispense Items Incrementally. This action releases one file at a time for processing through the remainder of the workflow.
- Open Word Documents. This action opens the current file in Microsoft Word.
- Set Security Options for Word Documents. This action sets the current Word document to require an open password.
- Save Word Documents. This action saves the current Word document in its original location.
- Close Word Documents. This action closes the current Word document.
- Loop. This action initiates a loop until all input files have been processed.
)
Figure 1 Example of a workflow that uses the Dispense Items Incrementally action.
The Dispense Items Incrementally action provides a quick and elegant way to get around the looping problem.