Automator support in Office?

[Robert Floyd]

Has anyone heard if/when Microsoft will add Automator support to Office?

TIA,
Robert Floyd
Durham, NC

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Has anyone heard if/when Microsoft will add Automator support to Office?

Since Automator is completely external to applications, and since Office
is almost entirely scriptable, MS doesn't have to add anything to Office
to support Automator.

I haven't any idea whether they'll develop a library of tasks, but I
believe that anyone can create Automator tasks by building them with
AppleScript (or Objective-C):

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/Aut
omatorConcepts/index.html

 

[Robert Floyd]

Since Automator is completely external to applications, and since Office
is almost entirely scriptable, MS doesn't have to add anything to Office
to support Automator.

I haven't any idea whether they'll develop a library of tasks, but I
believe that anyone can create Automator tasks by building them with
AppleScript (or Objective-C):

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/Aut
omatorConcepts/index.html

That leads to a question: is anyone planning on creating Automator tasks for
Office, either as freeware or shareware? I would be willing to pay for a
good set of Automator tasks, especially for Entourage.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

Since Automator is completely external to applications, and since Office
is almost entirely scriptable, MS doesn't have to add anything to Office
to support Automator.

I haven't any idea whether they'll develop a library of tasks, but I
believe that anyone can create Automator tasks by building them with
AppleScript (or Objective-C):

http://developer.apple.com/documentation/AppleApplications/Conceptual/Aut
omatorConcepts/index.html

Objective-C won't get you very far in Office...

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

That leads to a question: is anyone planning on creating Automator tasks for
Office, either as freeware or shareware? I would be willing to pay for a
good set of Automator tasks, especially for Entourage.

Maybe. I already asked you what sort of actions you'd want to see. Anyone
lese have any suggestions?

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Objective-C won't get you very far in Office...

More's the pity.

 

[Robert Floyd]

Since I didn't post these on the newsgroup, and for the sake of stimulating
discussion, here are some of the Office Automator actions I'd like to see:

Create an email
Create a task
Mark task(s) complete
Select task(s) based on various criteria
Assign selected items to project
Archive selected items
Create Office item from template
Enter text into document
Enter data into cell(s)
Add worksheet
Copy worksheet

In general, I'm looking for tasks that can help me automate my workflows,
which seems to be the main value of Automator as it exists today.

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Maybe. I already asked you what sort of actions you'd want to see. Anyone

else have any suggestions?

I'm not totally clear on how Automator works and whether this is an
appropriate suggestion, but something that makes it easy to save and repeat
a Find & Replace operation in Word I think would be very useful to many
people.

Daiya

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi,

If this is what you are referring to:
http://www.expand.com.au/Products_OA.htm

... it sounds like it has many of the features of the Project Gallery and
the Project Center of Office 2004.

-Jim