Automator.. and mugging

You know those irritating '%20' stuff you get when you download files online? Well, I get it all the time at my university's eLearning portal, and when I wanted to study them before my test last week, files with names such as 'Module%206%20Middleware%20Technology%20Part%203' just wasn't going to make things any easier.

So I came up with a simple workflow in Apple's Automator and just felt like sharing. Consider this a super simple introduction to Automator=)

(For those who don't want to bother about doing it yourself, download the workflow at http://www.easy-share.com/1903953677/MagiClean%20.zip, and install in Library/Workflows/Applications/Finder)

Fire up Automator and you should see something like this:
From the Actions library on the top left, go to Library > Files & Folders, then drag out 'Get specified Finder items' to the right-hand pane.
Then scroll down and drag out 'Rename Finder items' below the previous action and fill in the options as shown below: Note: Under 'Replace', I typed in a space so you can't really see it here. You can also replace it with anything you prefer i.e. underscore, dash, etc

Finally, and most importantly, go to 'File > Save As Plug-in...' and save it as a plugin for Finder:
Quit Automator and you're done!

So any time you want to magically transform your filename, select all your files that you want to clean up, Right-click > More > Automator > MagiClean%20

And your filenames are now loads more readable!=)

Do experiment further with Automator and you'll see how useful it can be!