Alderete - Aldoblog

Load Images Script in Mail.app Updated for macOS 12 (“Monterey”)

It’s not ideal, but my Load Images AppleScript for Apple’s Mail.app for macOS is updated for macOS 12.x (“Monterey”).

Add a Keyboard Shortcut to Mail’s Load Images Button

UI scripting is inherently fragile. The many combinations of UI settings and privacy settings make this script really hard to fully generalize. (In US English alone I think there are at least four different combinations, and possibly as many as a dozen? It’s hard to know.) This is probably the last update I’ll bother to publish, unless I figure out something much more clever for making it work.

It would be really nice if Apple took the 60 seconds it requires to add a keyboard shortcut for this command. (Well, I suppose it would take them an hour to do it in such a way that it handled different UI preferences and user locales.)

Not Exactly Back, But…

First post in 6½ years. All new hosting provider, all new theme required by the major upgrade to WordPress. Lots of work to do to get everything back to “working”.

But, I’m here, and I am working on it. Slowly, with too many other distractions to list, but working on it.

Next step is fixing (that is, enabling) Markdown rendering for excerpts. Next is improving the visual design to not be generic Twenty Sixteen. After that, broken images and links and … well, there’s a long list.

Working on it. Lots to do. Miles to go, as they say…

Load Images Script Updated for Mac OS X 10.10 (“Yosemite”)

I’m a bit overdue for updating my Load Images AppleScript for loading images in Apple Mail messages for the latest version of Apple’s operating system for Mac OS X, 10.10 or “Yosemite”. I actually had a version ready during the betas of Yosemite, but somewhere along the way the button text changed from “Load Images” to “Load Remote Content”. So I had to repeat the investigative work to extract all of the translated versions of the button text. In other words, <whine>localization is hard.</whine> Also, I was lazy / busy.

At any rate, you can find the latest version on the Load Images in Apple Mail project page.

What To Listen To: The Prophecy Con by Patrick Weekes

Just published, [The Prophecy Con](/link/audible-loch-the-prophecy-con) is the sequel to my favorite book last year, [The Palace Job](/link/audible-loch-the-palace-job).

My favorite audiobook I listened to all last year was The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes. I wrote more about it in Recommended: The Palace Job, but the summary is it was fun, funny, and clever, with characters I just loved.

The sequel is out today. The Prophecy Con returns to the same world and characters, and makes it officially a series, “Rogues of the Republic”.

I haven’t listened to it yet, though I did buy and download it about 15 minutes after the audiobook was released. Instead, I started The Palace Job … for the third time. Did I mention I like this book? I’ll listen to The Prophecy Con this weekend, with the first book fresh in my head.

Choose the Best Printer Protocol for IP Printing in Mac OS X

Here’s how to choose the right print protocol for your networked printer, when you’re setting up IP printing in Mac OS X.

I recently got a new Mac laptop at work, and as part of setting it up, I wanted to add two of the printers on the office network. As I went through the process of setting them up, I tried to remember which printer protocol was the “right” one to use these days. And when I turned to Google, and then Bing, to try to find the answer, I discovered that this information just isn’t published anywhere online. (Is it just me, or are search results becoming more and more terrible?)

Apple’s own documentation isn’t helpful. It describes the three options, but makes no recommendations. So, here’s the answer, really simple:

1. If you have an HP printer, use HP Jetdirect – Socket.
2. For any other modern (less than 10 years old) networked printer, use Internet Printing Protocol – IPP.
3. If and only if that doesn’t work, try Line Printer Daemon – LPD.

Choose a network protocol for an IP printer

The explanation is simple, too. If you have an HP printer, you want to use the HP-specific protocol. Otherwise, IPP is the modern printer network protocol (and it works with HP printers, too). LPD is actually pretty ancient, technology-wise, but there are still some printers, or print spoolers, that only work with it.

Load Images Script Updated for International (Non-English) Use

I’ve updated the [Load Images AppleScript](/link/load-images-applescript) that I use with Apple Mail, to load images in email messages using a keyboard shortcut. This version provides minimal support for internationalization, by making it easy to change the text string on the button that the script looks for and activates.

A reader question made me aware that my Load Images AppleScript for loading images in Apple Mail messages is specific to, and hard-coded for, the English language versions of Mac OS X. This is because the script is looking for a button with the text “Load Images”. Switch to any other language, and that button won’t–can’t–be found by the script. This is a limitation of using GUI Scripting to activate the button.

I’m not an expert in internationalization, and I don’t know if there’s a way to detect the active language of Mac OS X or, even better, look up the string to search for, regardless of language. If anyone knows how to do that kind of thing in AppleScript, please let me know. I’d love to add it to the script.

In the meantime, I’ve revised the script to make the text of the Load Images button easy to change. It’s one line at the start of the script, after the initial comments:

-- The text of the [Load Images] button in your version of Apple Mail.
-- If you're using a non-English version of Mac OS X, uncomment ONLY the line with your language on it, and save.
set loadImagesButtonNameTextString to "Load Images" -- English
-- set loadImagesButtonNameTextString to "Carica immagini" -- Italiano
-- set loadImagesButtonNameTextString to "Cargar imágenes" -- Español

If you want to use the script with a non-English version of Mac OS X, simply uncomment the line that has the right button name for your language, and save the revised script.

These are just the languages for which I could type the button name on my keyboard. For other languages, I had no idea how to type them on my US English keyboard! If you can contribute additional strings for the Load Images button in other languages, I would be grateful to add them, and will credit you for the addition. Just send them to me using the email in the sidebar.

The project page has the download link, and the script contains the version history, and a lot of details in the comments.

Super-Fast Keyboard Shortcut for Printing to PDF Files

How to add a keyboard shortcut to the Save as PDF option in the Mac OS X print dialog, for quickly “printing” a document to PDF.

Courtesy of “Tripp”, here’s a great tip for making it super fast to Print to PDF in any application. Once you’ve set this up, you just press Command-P twice to go directly to the Save as PDF dialog. Continue reading “Super-Fast Keyboard Shortcut for Printing to PDF Files”

Load Images AppleScript Updated for Mavericks Mail.app

I’ve again updated the [Load Images AppleScript](/link/load-images-applescript) that I use with Apple Mail, to load images in email messages using a keyboard shortcut. The script is now compatible with Mail.app in Mavericks (Mac OS X 10.9). This post also explains some changes in Mavericks that affect enabling GUI Scripting, required for the script to work.

I’ve updated the Load Images AppleScript that lets you load images in a Mail.app message via a keystroke, to be compatible with Mac OS X 10.9 “Mavericks”. The original post has the download link, and the script contains the version history, and a lot of details in the comments.

There are some important changes to the script’s behavior in Mavericks. If you’re using the script with Mac OS X 10.9, you need to give the script permission to control your Mac, and the process isn’t as intuitive or as clear as it could be. Continue reading “Load Images AppleScript Updated for Mavericks Mail.app”

Recommended: The Palace Job

[The Palace Job](/link/audible-loch-the-palace-job) is, by far, the best audiobook I’ve listened to in at least a year. Think [Leverage](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103987/) meets [Firefly](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/) meets [The Wizard of Oz](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz). The book is fun, funny, and thrilling from start to finish.

The Palace Job is, by far, the best audiobook I’ve listened to in at least a year. Think Leverage meets Firefly meets The Wizard of Oz. (If you know Steven Brust’s Dragaera, it’s a better fit than Oz.) The book is fun, funny, and thrilling from start to finish.

First, the novel itself is terrific, with a great cast of characters, very-good-occasionally-awesome dialog, and lots of clever ideas. There are many laugh-out-loud moments, and it’s one of those books you power through, and then re-read sections, just to re-live the fun. I re-listened to the second half of the book (~5 hours) the day after finishing it, and found lots of neat, tight-fitting details that I had missed the first time.

Second, the narrator, Justine Eyre, is awesome. I pretty much never give a narrator the “golden voice” badge after just one book, but this performance was so strong, I was awarding it before the novel was half finished. Indeed, it was her voice on the 5 minute sample that convinced me I wanted to purchase and listen to the book sooner rather than later. She easily handles the two dozen or so distinct characters, with clear differences in tone and accent that make it easy to tell who’s speaking at any given time. And her performance really takes the humor to the next level, particularly with the dialog.

Who This Book is For

The book feels, in the best possible way, more like Firefly than anything I’ve come across. The characters, their relationships with each other, and a captain who never set out to be the good guy, but kind of ends up being one anyway. If you loved Firefly, as I did, you will love this novel.

My wife is a fan of Leverage, which I absorb by osmosis, and it has a bit of that feel, too. Action, capers, revenge, and humor. If you like Leverage, you’ll like this book.

Someone, maybe Greg Rucka, described the book as Ocean’s Eleven with a unicorn. That works, too, and if you like Ocean’s Eleven, or (forgive me) horny unicorns, you might like this book, too.

At any rate, the author is already working on a second book, in what I hope will be a long series. This first book stands alone, but I’m very excited to know there will be more.

Highly recommended.

Update: Here’s another review of The Palace Job, from Sigrid Ellis. He notes the same qualities I did, even down to the Leverage comparison. And writes “If you are the audience for this book, you will ab-so-freakin-lute-ly love it to pieces” — which I absolutely am, and did. :-)

Free Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Here’s a free audiobook you shouldn’t miss out on: Riders of the Purple Sage is a classic, by Zane Grey. Free at Downpour.com!

So you remember how I recommended Downpour.com in a prior post? Here’s why you should go there right now and sign up:

When I was younger, a lot younger, my first real job was working in a book store. I took care of a number of different sections, and one of them was Westerns. And, for some reason, this novel was the one I latched onto, as the Western. No idea why, and to this day I still hear “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors when I think of this title. Again, no good reason.

Don’t miss out, this is good only until the 19th. Go now!

Recommended: AppleTV (3rd generation)

I currently own four AppleTVs. I bought a 1st generation AppleTV used, years ago. I hooked it up and played with it for an hour. Disconnected it, and put it in my pile of tech to get rid of. Not useful.

I bought a 2nd generation AppleTV shortly after they were released, and liked it well enough. It’s a great Netflix client, and we used it regularly. AppleTV is still the best way to watch Netflix that I’ve used.¹ If you have a streaming Netflix subscription, that alone makes AppleTV worth getting.

When the 3rd generation AppleTV came out, I got one of those for full HD (1080p) on the large TV, and moved the older AppleTV to the small television we have above our treadmill. And there, it found its calling. Continue reading “Recommended: AppleTV (3rd generation)”

Updated Version of Load Images AppleScript for Apple Mail

Based on some feedback from a couple of people who tried it, I’ve updated the [Load Images AppleScript](/link/load-images-applescript) that I use with Apple Mail, to load images in email messages using a keyboard shortcut.

Based on some feedback from people who tried it, I’ve updated the Load Images AppleScript that I use with Apple Mail to load images in email messages using a keyboard shortcut.

The new version deals better with older versions of Mail, and adapts to several different configurations of Mail for Mac OS X 10.7 and 10.8. It should work reliably for a lot more people.

The original post has the download link, and the script contains the version history, and a lot of details in the comments.