Trigger an Automator workflow by plugging in a digital camera
While cruising around Automatorworld this afternoon, I discovered this great tip for triggering an Automator workflow just by plugging a digital camera into your Mac. Once you've created your workflow, save it as an application. Next, launch the Image Capture application, and navigate to its preferences. Select the workflow application you just created under “When a camera is connected, open:” and you're all set. The next time you plug in your camera, your workflow will run.
A simple trick, but you could do some cool stuff with it. Like renaming images or moving copies to a burn folder or archive disk before transferring to iPhoto. I have a Powerbook and an iMac at home - keeping the two libraries in sync is a pain, and sharing those massive libraries over Airport I've found to be just short of agonizing. Now I'm thinking of creating a workflow that will logon to the iMac from the Powerbook, transfer the new photos to a designated folder and then upload to iPhoto on the Powerbook. Then all I need to do is drag the destination folder into iPhoto when I'm sitting at the iMac. Easy! After all, isn't that what computers are for? To make our lives easier?
