I'd like to create a service that puts any text I select in TextEdit or web page text editors into quotation marks. I understand Automator is the tool to use, but how do I create this action using AppleScript or another scripting language in OS X (Lion)?
macOS Automator – Create a Service to Put Selected Text into Quotation Marks
automatormacosscriptservicestext;
Related Solutions
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.
Script Code
import sys
for f in sys.stdin:
print f.replace('-', ' ').replace('%', ' ').replace('&', ' and ').replace('#', ' ').title(),
Automator services can be run with the automator command line utility:
do shell script "automator ~/Library/Services/test.workflow -i input -d variable=value"
I couldn't get it to work with the service used by Circus Ponies NoteBook though.
Best Answer
One way is to create a service that runs a shell command.
For this, open Automator, create a new Service, check "Output replaces selected text", then add the action "Run Shell Script". In the box where you enter the Shell script write:
This takes the text you entered as input, and adds a quotation mark at the beginning and end.
Now, once you save your service, you can, for example, go to TextEdit, select the text you want to quote, then go to Services -> "name of your service", and your text should now be quoted!
Edit: I included the removal of trailing double quotation marks