Mac: Automator's Text to Audio

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Finished workflow (click on image for larger view)



Automator is a Mac application. As the name implies, it ‘automates’ a given task via pre-set workflows. There are enough workflows in the Automator Library to piece a given task. Text To Audio is one.

It involves four individual workflows that starts with ‘Get Contents of Clipboard’ and ends with ‘Add Songs To (iTunes) Playlist’. A fifth action saves the program as a Script or Application.


A student asked me to piece a Text To Audio workflow to deal with her ‘dead time’ in traffic. Her objective was to ‘hear’ her assignments rather than ‘read’ them.


The screen-cast depicts the evolution of the workflow saved as a Script, which runs from the Finder bar. A workflow saved as an Application runs just as effectively from the dock.


The second part of the screen-cast is the Speech converted from this blog post. Alex, the Mac’s digital commentator, is the presenter.


Cheers, Tommy


Credits: Ben Waldie is the author of Automator, a lovely but often by-passed Mac-bundled program. Waldie is "President of Automated Workflows, LLC, a company offering AppleScript and workflow automation consulting services to Mac-based businesses. For years, Ben has developed professional automated solutions for companies such as Abercrombie and Fitch, Adobe Systems, Apple Computer, CNN, NASA, PC World, andTime Magazine. Ben is the author of Automator for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit Press) and AppleScripting the Finder (SpiderWorks, LLC). He has also written numerous Automator and AppleScript columns for Apple.com, Macworld Magazine, MacScripter.net, MacTech magazine, and X-ray Magazine, and is the author of an AppleScript training CD (Virtual Training Company). Ben is a frequent presenter at Macworld Conference & Expo and other events, and is president of The Philadelphia Area AppleScript Users Group - Editorial Review"


Screen-cast tools: Automator • IShowU HD • Viddler • iTunes

Audio: Suite Espagnole Prologo by Angel Romero

(This post is dedicated to Lili)

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