MacOS – Automator Service with Google Translate

automatormacosscript

I set up an Automator Service that receives selected text and then runs a simple shell script to pass the text to open google translate:

open https://translate.google.com/#auto/en/"$@"

It opens google translate just fine, but doesn't pass the text along with it. How can I fix?

It worked for me as long as pass input was set to as arguments. You could try restarting or creating a new identical service like that.

You have to URL encode the input though:

open https://translate.google.com/#auto/auto/$(ruby -rcgi -e 'print CGI.escape(STDIN.read)')

Or if you don't want to use ruby:

xxd -p | tr -d '\n' | sed 's/\(..\)/%\1/g'

To get it to work in iTunes, you can try setting it up like this:

Service receives selected: text in: iTunes

Actions:

"Get Selected iTunes Tracks" - Get selected: tracks

"Open Finder items" - Open with: VLC

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This isn't too difficult to do, you just need to know the right magic. I'll walk you through it.

Open Automator, and when prompted to choose a type for your document, select Service. If you're not prompted, just hit ⌘N to make a new automator file.
At the top of the rightmost panel, make sure that Output replaces selected text is checked, and the first drop-down is set to text:
- You can change the any application part to a specific application if you only want it to work in that program.
In the Actions Library in the left panel, find Run Shell Script and double click it to add it to the workflow.
Change the Shell drop down to /usr/bin/python, and make sure that Pass input is set to stdin.
Delete the existing text in the script box, and replace it with the code below.
Save it with a descriptive name. Automator will save it in the ~/Library/Services/ folder.
Optional: Go to Keyboard Preferences, and find your service in the Services section of the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. You can assign a system-wide shortcut for it there.

import sys

for f in sys.stdin:
    print f.replace('-', ' ').replace('%', ' ').replace('&', ' and ').replace('#', ' ').title(),