Accurately google for Applescripts

25 January 2013, 13:46

Applescript is one of OS X’s most powerful and amazing features. It’s a shame few people who use OS X have heard of it. Google it now if it’s new to you.

Recently I was searching to see if there are any Applescripts for Pages, part of the iWork office suite. However, finding the right search term was difficult. It was hampered by the fact “pages” is a generic word, making the ratio of junk vs. good results very high.

I stumbled upon a solution while reading one of Apple’s help forums. All Applescripts for Pages will either start with or include this line somewhere:

tell application Pages

It’s part of the code needed to activate Pages. Therefore, all I need do is google this phrase within quotation marks. Hey presto — I see nothing but Applescripts for Pages. Of course, I could also add to the search phrase to steer results toward a particular type of Applescript — if I’m looking for an Applescript to create RTF files, for example, I could use the following search term:

"tell application Pages" rtf

Googling this way will work for any app. Want to find Applescripts for the Mail app? Just enter “tell application Mail” in Google.

Neat!

Know better? Tell me what you think...

Hey, that’s a great tip, especially since Apple has been changing the names of some apps to generic names. Thanks for posting.

— sojourner · Jan 27, 10:13 AM · #

 
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