Tag Archives: appleScript

Creating a Custom Keyboard to Speed Boilerplate Data Entry


This could be useful for designing a custom set of text boilerplates to quickly add to an email or in a data entry situation. These panels allow you to create a set of custom buttons that can perform a variety of tasks, from typing pre-defined text to executing scripts or even launching applications. I realize […]

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Getting past Paywalls on a Mac with Safari


A Simple Solution to avoiding a paywall: Turn off Javascript in Safari (Safari Menu, Preferences, Security Panel, toggle ‘Enable Javascript’) and then the reload (Command R) the web page. Remember to toggle Javascript back on, because so much of the display of the modern web relies on it, that it really isn’t very functional without Javascript turned on. This works for casual use, but if you find yourself avoidi paywalls often, you may want to go the next step. 

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Adding .ics files to Calendar on iOS


Try this, email an .ics file to yourself and then attempt to add it to the Calendar app on your iPhone or iPad. Does it work? It didn’t for me as of 2021-07-31. Seems like it used to work. A web search suggests that other people are having the same problem. Possibly for security reasons Apple turned this feature off?

Anyway, this has an impact on a FileMaker Go demo database I made a while back that exports .ics files. Recently a reader, Nellie, wrote to say:

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Using AppleScript to send FileMaker data to Apple Notes App


Recently, a friend asked me about automating the export of data from FileMaker to Evernote. A web search found that someone had already figured this out. I thought this might be useful to send data to Notes, the app that I use.

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How to Automate Saving the First Page of a Batch of PDFs as JPGs


Not specifically a FileMaker challenge today, this is an Apple Macintosh Automator/Shell Script routine. I recently had the requirement of generating a set of images for a large set of PDFs—I just needed the first page of a batch of PDFs converted into JPG files.

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Smart Phone Caller ID Triggers Customer Search in FileMaker Pro Database


A while back, I did a blog entry on capturing Caller ID to look up FileMaker database contacts using a VOIP system. I thought it might be interesting to see if the same thing could be done with just a mobile phone, such as an iPhone or Android device.

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Flipping in FileMaker


Rotating Images or PDFs in Containers with Applescript (Mac) In my previous blog post I talked about automating scanner documents into FileMaker container fields using AppleScript. This was based on a customer request. Logging in to that system recently, I noticed that it was fairly common for staff members to scan documents in upside down. […]

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Automating Webcam Photo Capture within FileMaker (Windows)


OK folks, here is a hack for you. The Challenge: Capturing images from a web cam into FileMaker on Windows. I was able to achieve this previously on a Mac using AppleScript, but there is no similar easy inter-application scripting language on Windows. FileMaker Go on mobile has the ability to grab photos right from […]

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Speedy Document Scanning Directly into FileMaker Pro 13


A Macintosh computer, FileMaker Pro 13, a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i, Automator, Applescript, a Folder Action and FileMaker’s URL Scheme make a paperless solution for legal waivers a reality.

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Applescript Notification from FileMaker


FileMaker developers (and other app developers) are always looking for better ways to communicate information to their users. System level notifications have proven to be an effective way of sending short ‘dissolving’ messages to users. These Notification messages show up in the top right corner of the users screen, make a little chime, hang around for […]

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Dialing Phone Numbers using SkypeOut from FileMaker Pro


A while back, I found a technique to launch Skype and using the SkypeOut URI scheme, dial a number in Skype. I tested the ability recently and was surprised to see that the technique seems to be broken. Back in 2006 Skype announced on their blog that a FileMaker plug-in had been created by Premium […]

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Move Selected Files into a New Folder using AppleScript and Automator


Mac users, do you find yourself doing this more often than you like? You select a batch of files or folders, then realize you want to put these items into a folder to facilitate moving them about. You have to back out of your selection, create the folder, then move the files into the newly […]

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