Automator Plugins – How to Create an Option in the Print Menu with Automator

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been trawling the forums and online articles trying to figure this out but haven't managed. I'll be very grateful if someone can point me in the right direction!

Objective:
To create an option in the print menu that will output a PDF and open it immediately in a specified application. That's it.

I believe Automator should be able to do this by:

  1. New Automator flow created – 'Print Plug-in' – This enable the option to come up in the Print menu (success!). And the description – Print Plugin receives PDF files from the print system sounds perfect – i.e. – It will input a PDF into the plug-in flow.

  2. …? This is where I must be doing something wrong. Tried so far:

    a. 'Set application for files – 'This action selects the application used to open the specified files.' – However, when I run the plug-in, nothing happens.

    b. 'Launch application' – When I use this, the application I want to output the PDF to launches, but the actual PDF output doesn't open in it.

    c. A combination of a and b – ie – Launch application then set it for files – This has a similar result to b.

I'm at a loss of what to do here. I suspect it must be something very simple! Would appreciate any help.

Thanks in advance!

Update with the how-to

Added as answer..

Best Answer

Solution

Kept playing around after asking and found the right set of actions to add to the workflow to get the result I want. In case anyone has a similar question/requirement in the future, the way to do this is:

  1. Create new Automator flow and select 'print plug-in' - This will add the option to the bottom left button when in the print dialog.
  2. (In Automator) - 'Open finder items' - There is a dropdown there to specify the application you wish to open the newly created PDF to. E.g. Evernote (which I used to test to make sure this flow is working) will create a new note with the output PDF within it.
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