Apple Remote Desktop Help
Index

# Using Automator with Remote Desktop

Accomplish all of your time-consuming, repetitive manual tasks quickly, efficiently, and effortlessly with Automator workflows. It's simple to create custom workflows just by dragging items, pointing, and clicking. You can easily automate Remote Desktop tasks such as Lock Screen or Install Packages, then repeat those tasks again and again. Simple and easy-to-understand application actions are the building blocks, so you don't have to write any code. Each actions has all of the options and settings available to you.

Using Automator actions, you can even create your own interfaces to Apple Remote Desktop functions without having to give users access to Remote Desktop. For instance, say you wanted to give all your teachers a tool to lock and unlock screens in their classrooms. You still need to configure Remote Desktop and set up computer lists, but instead of giving the teachers all access to Remote Desktop, you can create an Automator plug-in or application. This plug-in lets them select only the computers in their classroom, and the plug-in does the rest of the work for them.

You can create an Automator workflow, application, Finder plug-in, or iCal alarm similar to the AppleScript mentioned above. By stringing together Remote Desktop actions in Automator, you accomplish the same work as an AppleScript, but without having to write code.