n00b question about making a workflow...

[turnstyle]

Hi all,

 

I made a simple workflow to use a hotkey to open selected files in Finder into a specific application.

 

I have a "Hotkey" set to "Pass through to workflow" with "Selection in OS X" -- and that's connected to an "Open File" with my intended application in it.

 

When I select a single file in Finder and call my Alfred-assigned hotkey, that file opens in the intended application.

 

However, when I select several files in Finder and call the hotkey, only one of them opens.

 

Additionally, if I select several files and use Finder's "Open With" -- in that case, multiple files DO open in the same application.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[RodgerWW]

Your settings are right, and testing here with TextEdit and multiple files, it all works.  So I am thinking it may be the app you are opening into, and how Alfred sends the files ... although I have to admit I don't know much about the inner workings of Alfred.  Which app are you opening into?

[turnstyle]

Thanks, I'm sending them to Lightroom.

 

Reason being: Lightroom doesn't show up as one of the default apps in the Finder's Open With menu -- and I have to select "Other" and then navigate to find Lightroom -- so it's a silly chore whenever I want to do it.

 

My workflow does open a single file into Lightroom -- and if I do Open With in Finder I can send multiple files to Lightroom -- but if I select multiple files and call my Alfred hotkey, it seems to have only sent one.

[RodgerWW]

I am not familiar with Lightroom, but it MAY have to do with the underlying scripting in Creative Cloud's apps. LUA or whatever.  I've tried this with BetterTouchTool, Alfred and an Automator workflow and whenever trying to load multiples into Lightroom, it only selects the first image of the multiples I send.  Also, whenever I try to open with in Finder, it STILL only selects the first image of multiples on my machine.  However, when simply dragging multiples into Lightroom, it all works fine.

 

So unless someone here is familiar with Lightroom's inner workings, I would suggest trying to find a plugin/script online, specific to selection of files and importing into Lightroom ... I found one after a bit of searching on my own that worked with Windows/Mac, but it was OLD ... 2004.

 

Or more specifically, perhaps get on the Adobe forums and ask there.

[turnstyle]

When selecting multiple files in Finder, choosing Open With, and then selecting Lightroom (presumably after navigating through Other) -- you only see one file selected in Lightroom? That definitely shows me multiple when I do it here.

 

So Alfred is using a different mechanism to send the files as compared to Finder's Open With? I suppose that alone could explain the problem.

[RodgerWW]

Yes, that is exactly how I tried to open multiples in Lightroom here.  And again, on MY machine, it only selected the first of the 3 I tried to import.

[turnstyle]

Weird, it does seem to work here -- I'm running El Cap & the current CC version of Lightroom -- same for you?

[RodgerWW]

OS X 10.11.1 (15B42)

Lightroom Build 1046594

[turnstyle]

Just curious, when you try sending multiple files to LR via Finder's Open With, what file type are the files?

[RodgerWW]

I tried with CR2 files initially, then JPG ... same results

[turnstyle]

I guess that means we have different gremlins...  

[joonas]

I've had similar issues in the past. I don't know if there's a better solution, but I've gotten around it in the past with a workflow like this:

 

Trigger: Hotkey with no arguments

Action: Run NSAppleScript

 

Paste this into the Run NSAppleScript:

on alfred_script(q)

    tell application "Finder"

        open (get selection) using path to application "/Applications/Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.app"

    end tell

end alfred_script

Note that you can get application path pretty easily by searching for an application in Alfred and by dragging it to the script editor in Alfred workflows.