Send files from iPhone/iPod Touch to home Mac for processing

From your noodle to other noodles. Talk about ways to get the most from Hazel. Even exchange recipes for the cool rules you've thought up. DO NOT POST YOUR QUESTIONS HERE.

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Here's a fairly involved (to set up) process if you want to be able to process files remotely via Apple Mail & Hazel using your iPhone or iPod Touch.

First, set up a folder where you will be adding files to be processed. This is the folder that Hazel will be watching. For this example, let's assume you want to open torrent files with Transmission. I know Transmission has an "auto-add folder" feature, but the downside here is that if Transmission isn't running, then this folder doesn't do you any good. better to have Hazel open the file using Transmission—that way Transmission gets launched if it isn't running. Let's call this folder "Torrent auto-add".

Next, you'll need to get this AppleScript. Follow the directions on that blog post for setting up the AppleScript and for setting up the Apple Mail rules for the script. In short, the rule/script combo allows you to set a rule in Apple Mail to watch for incoming attachments, and if they have a certain extension, save to a specified folder. You'll want to specify the folder we created above ("Torrent auto-add"). The great thing about the script is that you can modify it to handle any file type.

The Hazel rule is simple: just have any new files added to the "Torrent auto-add" folder get opened by Transmission. I also set my rules up to only process file with Color Label=None and then after Hazel process the file, to set the Color Label to Green. I also added a growl notice so I could be informed of success on my iPhone via Prowl.

OK, this is all intermediate Hazel stuff, but how to get these files from your iPhone to the home Mac? You guessed it: email them to yourself. Of course, Safari on iPhone doesn't allow you to download files from the web. You'll need to spend a couple of bucks and pick up a copy of iDownload (App Store link). iDownload is just a very simple browser with one main function: it saves files from websites and lets you download them to the iPhone and also email them. iDownload also has a bookmarklet that let's you search in Safari for iPhone, then send the URL over to iDownload to just download the actual file when you're ready.

You've probably figured out where this is headed…

Find your file online, download it with iDownload, then email the file to yourself. Apple Mail (needs to be running and your Mac can't be sleeping) will process the rule, see the attachment, save to the specified folder, and then Hazel does it's magic. Voila!

Other uses could be to save specific files to your iDisk by modifying the Apple Mail rule to look for an identifier text in the subject of the mail nessage ("#idisk" for example) and to save any attachments whose messages have that text in the subject line to your Public folder. Works great with Dropbox as well.

Bonus tip: check out Shortwave for a cool way to search specific sites easily via iPhone, and be sure to check out the custom search list functionality as well as the method to create a 'virtual app' button ("web clip") on your iPhone for Shortwave.
gcoghill
 
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