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FAQ: Installing & running an OF applescript Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I cannot help but point people to my favorite little Applescript utility: FastScripts (www.red-sweater.com) and it's free sibling, FastScripts Lite. Both exceed the AppleScript Utility's script menu in a variety of ways, and both let you assign keyboard shortcuts to scripts.
 
I have the script icon in my menubar...but when I drill down through it, it doesn't show an Applications folder. When I go to my scripts folder in finder, it shows: Applications, DEVONthink, Personal, myscript.scpt

In the menubar drop down...it shows DEVONthink, Personal, and myscript

How do I get Applications to show up? I ran the AppleScript Utility and played with all the preferences with no success.
 
I have the same question as bpwhistler.

I'm a recent Mac/iPhone convert who just bought OmniFocus a few days ago. I got all the MobileMe stuff working. I've done a massive brain dump into the OF Inbox, assigned everything to Projects and Contexts, and got everything syncing just like it ought to. So far, so good.

But there's more and more and more to dump (I've been waiting 25 years for this, after all). So I got reQall, which is an ideal capture tool for me. I love it. Now all I want to do is (A) get the OF email rule working, and (B) understand the AppleScript process.

As a PC user, I knew how to write a script and what to do with it. As a Mac user, I'm a complete scripting noob all over again and having a hard time figuring out where to start. When I read a thread like this, it all makes perfect theoretical sense, but then (like the previous poster) I go looking for the Applications folder and... it's not there.

Any recommendations for a straightforward, easy to wrap your head around, nuts and bolts, AppleScript tutorial geared toward to new OF users?

'Cuz I'm not, um... getting things done. ;-)

Thanks!
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lbergren View Post
(like the previous poster) I go looking for the Applications folder
In order to ... ?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobTrew View Post
In order to ... ?
... get to the OmniForum Scripts folder (presumably). Of course, that may or may not make any sense, so here's the backstory.

I'm in this specific thread because I want to understand how and where to install OmniFocus scripts. As a new Mac user, I'm also new to AppleScript (scripting itself is not new to me, but all my experience is in Windows environments). I am also a new OmniFocus user (LOVE it!). Since I use reQall's voice to text service for keeping track of all the stuff I think of when it's better to talk than type, I thought an ideal way to start getting my arms around AppleScript generally would be to figure out how to get my reQall voice transcripts to forward themselves to OmniFocus, and automatically put themselves in the right Projects and Contexts.

I was delighted to find your very clear instructions for installing OmniFocus scripts at the top of this thread. So far, so good. Here's what I did:

1. Following the directions in your OP, I checked to see whether the scripts icon was visible in my menu bar (it was). But when I selected "Open Scripts Folder," the list of options included only these three folders: Safari Scripts, User Scripts, and Computer Scripts. There was no OmniFocus Scripts option to select. So I read on...

2. The first reply to your OP, as well as some of the other replies, led me to think that the Omnifocus Scripts folder is actually in an "Applications" folder somewhere under the script icon. I assume this is the folder that the poster in the reply prior to mine was looking for without success. Like him/her, I didn't have one, either.

3. Since I couldn't figure it out, I left my own reply.
One problem for new Mac users who come from the PC universe as geeky, successful do-it-yourself, script writing, power users is that we don't have a feel for what the Mac scripting landscape is "supposed to" look like. As a result, troubleshooting is inefficient, because we don't know how to tell whether something is missing, installed in the wrong place, or just invisible. To use the current issue as an example, I have no way of knowing whether there should or should not be an "Applications" folder somewhere under my script icon... all I know is that (A) there ISN'T one, and that (B) this may (or may not) be a problem.

The corollary problem is that when something DOES work, it's hard for us to be certain WHY and HOW it works so that we can apply the principles to other situations going forward.

Again, using my current issue as an example, I found a test reQall voice message from early yesterday in my Omnifocus Inbox this morning, which indicates that at least the forwarding portion of my "Send to Omnifocus" Rule is/was working, even though I have no idea what (if anything) the Rule is doing with regard to the "Run AppleScript" instruction. Meanwhile, a subsequent test message from last night has NOT appeared in Omnifocus... yet... although it showed up in the Mail inbox on my Mac and iPhone about 12 hours ago. Between the first and second tests, I changed the Omnifocus Mail Preferences by selecting the Archiving option. So....

Besides determining how and where to install the Omnifocus AppleScript since I can't find an OmniFocus folder under my scripts icon (I'm assuming that it did not install itself when I activated the Mail rule), I also need to figure out whether (A) the Rule is not working at all anymore, (B) the Rule needs the AppleScript installed (even for forwarding reQall email to the OmniFocus Inbox without Project/Context assignments); (C) there's a syncing issue with Omnifocus, (D) there's a syncing issue with my Mac/iPhone/MobileMe, (E) I'd have better results with Jott, (F) there's some other issue, or (G) all or some of the above.

Obviously only the AppleScript installation part of that set of questions is on topic in this thread - so if someone can shed some light on why I don't have an OmniFocus Scripts folder (and how to get one) I'd appreciate it. Once I get that figured out, I'll see if it resolves the other questions and ask them elsewhere if it doesn't.

Meanwhile, as stated in my previous post, it would be so helpful if anyone could recommend any good, general AppleScript learning resources for former PC geeks who want to get up to speed fairly quickly on the basics, in order to develop reasonably efficient troubleshooting methodologies.

Which would, in turn, enable people like me to ask better questions when we get here... :D

Thanks,
Laurie

System Info: MacBookPro (OS X version 10.5.8), iPhone 3Gs, MobileMe, OmniFocus 1.7.5

Last edited by lbergren; 2009-11-20 at 10:05 AM.. Reason: Add system info
 
The Applications folder in question lives in ~/Library/Scripts (~ being Unix shorthand for the name of your home directory). If in the Finder, you use the Go->Go To Folder... command and enter ~/Library/Scripts/Applications, you'll end up in the right place, if the Applications folder exists. To create the Applications folder, the easiest way is to use the Applescript Utility program found in /Applications/Applescript. Click the option to show the Script menu in the menu bar. Now, start up the application for which you want to install a script, and select Open Scripts Folder -> Open <app> Folder from the menu bar Scripts menu. That will create the folder if it doesn't already exist. Put your script in that folder and you're all set. I think the problem was that you didn't have OmniFocus as the frontmost application when you went to the Scripts menu.

So, to sum up, there is an Applications folder in the ~/Library/Scripts folder, and it has folders for however many applications you have scripts for. It doesn't appear as "Applications" in the scripts menu, but its contents are (selectively) shown in the menu. If you follow Rob's instructions exactly, it works, but seemingly insignificant deviations can lead to frustration, as you've found.
 
[DUH] Ohhhhh, it's context sensitive! [/DUH] :rolleyes:

My scripts icon was already in the menu bar, so all I had to do was make OmniFocus active before I clicked the scripts icon. Voila! OF Scripts Folder, right where it was supposed to be.

It all makes perfect sense... now. :o

Thanks so much - you did a great job figuring out what I was missing!

Laurie
 
It was a learning experience for both of us! I've always just made the various directories by hand, and only after I wrote up the procedure and went to test it did I happen to notice that Rob's directions would do it automatically. At that point, it was easy to realize what must have gone wrong for you, because I'd been doing it all along :)
 
This should be stickied!

Thanks.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobTrew View Post
([*]Choose Open Scripts Folder/Open Omnifocus Scripts Folder
I was following along until this... There is no Omnifocus Scripts Folder when I do an Open Scripts Folder on my system.

Do I need to create the folder first? If so, where? In user scripts or computer scripts?
 
 


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