Is There a Better Workflow Solution?

Starting with (complex) repeats, working all the way up to AppleScript - with examples. We take you through approximately 10 ways to automate calendar events!

This episode of Automators is sponsored by:

• TextExpander, from Smile: Multiply your team’s productivity.

Links and Show Notes

After lots of planning, Rose and David get to roll up their sleeves and start automating. Their first subject is those elusive calendar events that take so long to create. (So many presses and clicks!)

First, they agree that repeating events can actually be a form of automation, especially when you take it to the next level. David is obsessive about hyper-scheduling and, as a result, needs to make a lot of calendar events. He does it all using automation. Rose doesn’t like to remember directions to her dentist and, as a result, made a wicked Workflow workflow. Around this point, David opines that he could solve his travel-time problem with a Workflow (and after recording, actually created the nerdy solution and added it to show notes).

Rose figured out a way to use a combination of Numbers, Fantastical, and Keyboard Maestro on Mac to bulk create a LOT of calendar events and this marks the first instance of AppleScript, albeit a short one, for the first time to the podcast.

Around this time, our hosts wander into cloud services and pay homage to IFTTT and Zapier.

Then they wrap up, having given you, dear listener, a pile of ways to avoid ever manually creating a calendar event again.

Detailed Post

This blog post contains all of the links, downloads, and screencasts for the various automations discussed in this episode.

Automators Talk

Discuss the episode and examples on our forum.

YouTube Channel

Here you can find all of our screencasts (including the Memoji video from episode 0).

Workflow: Event Templates

This workflow can pair with one of the next two to create an event in your calendar and also a slightly longer event in your work calendar.

Workflow: Add Event To Work Calendar (Menu)

This Workflow asks if the previous event you created (triggered by the last workflow) is in working time and if so adds a longer event to your work calendar.

Workflow: Add Event To Work Calendar (Auto)

This one does the same as the above Workflow, except it's 100% automated - no questions needed!

MacSparky: The Hyper-Scheduling Experiment

Workflow: Block Scheduling Events [Screencast]

How MacSparky schedules some of his events from the above hyper-scheduling.

Workflow: Block Schedule

The workflow covered in the above screencast.

Workflow: Copy an Event [Screencast]

Rose shows you how you can use Workflow to copy a calendar event.

Workflow: Copy a Calendar Event

The workflow from the above screencast.

Mac Power Users 418: Workflows with Rose Orchard

Numbers and Fantastical for Batch Event Creation [Screencast]

How to use that crazy number sheet and Keyboard Maestro to create potentially hundreds of events with Fantastical.

Workflow: Clipboard Events to Fantastical

A workflow to replace the above Keyboard Maestro macro - should you be working on iOS.

Drafts Action: Events in Fantastical

Fantastical Video Guides

Adding Travel Time before and after events [Screencast]

David breaks down his Workflow which adds travel time to and from events for you.

Workflow: Event Review