Reader Greg's biggest timesaver of 2008 reduces his trips to the office printer with a simple Automator workflow on his Mac.
Greg writes:
I work in a research lab with a shared printer that takes me around two minutes to walk to and from after printing something (desk, hallway, door, hallway, door, hallway, photocopier, hallway, door, hallway, swipe badge for access to door, hallway... you get the idea). So instead of getting up every time I had to print something, I started queuing what I wanted to print into a file called 'To Be Printed' on my hard drive. Then I created a program (in Automator, since I really have no background regarding programing) to grab the documents, print them, then trash them automatically. I put a link right to the program on my dock. Less walking, but also less hassle!
Check out the workflow, pictured above, to make one for yourself. Nice job Greg! You just earned yourself a signed copy of our latest book, Upgrade Your Life.