Run Applescripts from within Pixelmator Pro

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2021-02-22 05:57:47

So I wrote a couple of scripts to automate some actions that I need to run every couple of minutes. Every time I need to run a script I have to switch to the script editor, and run it from there. Not too convenient!

It'd be awesome to have my scripts accessible from within Pixelmator itself. One option is, as in Photoshop, to have "Scripts" menu item, listing all scripts in a specified folder. This way, I could even use Mac OS system preferences to assign keyboard shortcuts to my scripts!
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2021-02-24 09:26:20

Hey there! Currently, there's no way you can run scripts from within Pixelmator Pro, but you can make your scripts accessible from the main menu bar at the top of the screen. In the Script Editor preferences, go to the General tab and select "Show Script menu in menu bar". Also, if you choose Open Scripts Folder > Open User Scripts Folder and copy your custom script there, it'll show up as a shortcut for easy access.
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2021-02-24 09:34:56

Aurelija,

ooh, that's handy, thank you for the tip! Turns out, I can configure Script Editor to create a folder for Pixelmator Pro scripts, put my scripts there, and run them from the "scripts" menubar icon, as long as Pixelmator Pro is the front-most application. Nice!
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2021-02-24 10:38:10

Yeah, if you have a bunch of Pixelmator Pro scripts, that's probably the way to go. :) Glad that helped!
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2021-02-26 21:00:50

+1

Most important feature !!!
And the » Repeat last command « feature .. (shortcut of course )

:-)
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2022-03-25 10:24:06

A whole year has gone by .. and nothing .. and it's really not a complicated thing. I'm a programmer, I know ... how much it would take to build a menu that lists and runs the scripts in the library. Not a complicated thing, but it would be very useful ...

But I'm afraid I'll have to wait forever for that ... like the keyboard shortcut settings within the program ... (ok, that is more complicated ... but still important )
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2022-03-25 10:42:20

by Varjubacsi 2022-03-25 10:35:52 A whole year has gone by .. and nothing .. and it's really not a complicated thing.
Varjubacsi - in the defence of Pixelmator team, managing the priorities of developer resources are a very complex task. Being easy to develop is only one of many factors. From outside, we do not see many other factors.

Having said that - yea, where is our menu :-)

P.S. I was thinking to write a real long post about why I think javascript would be much better choice for scripting Pixelmator than apple script. Life has other plans for now!
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2022-03-27 18:04:32

As a programmer and graphic designer, I have a little experience of how things work. But really, I don't know what's going on with the team, only that a relatively simple and logical thing ( every normal program starts its own scripts from its own menu ) hasn't been implemented for a year.

Javascript is very popular ... and I've had my problems with Applescript, but it would be a really big job to implement and support it. I wouldn't think of asking for such a thing...

The problem is .. .that there are many requests here on the forum that are relatively simple ... so much so that it takes more time to explain and talk about it than to implement it in the program. This kind of menu is exactly the category.....
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2022-03-29 09:35:34

Hey everyone, I had a word with the team to check on the status of this request and it looks like a custom script launcher is not something we'll be delving into any time soon. We feel like the application of this feature is a bit too niche right now and, as Vlad mentioned, we have many other things lined up on our roadmap as well.

For now, I'd suggest exploring other options for running scripts: adding the Script menu as a system menu item (steps explained above), running AppleScripts from the Shortcuts app, or using third-party script managers such as FastScripts 3, for instance.
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2022-03-29 10:36:06

Aurelija, thanks for your reply.

One other argument for carefully adding new features -- if the team agrees to add any feature that is easy to implement (and any feature is useful for someone!), after a year or two the interface will become unusable. See this famous example - https://codinghorror.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b0128776fd782970c-pi
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2022-04-05 12:27:24

by Vladstudio 2022-03-29 07:36:06 Aurelija, thanks for your reply.

One other argument for carefully adding new features -- if the team agrees to add any feature that is easy to implement (and any feature is useful for someone!), after a year or two the interface will become unusable. See this famous example - https://codinghorror.typepad.com/.a/6a0120a85dcdae970b0128776fd782970c-pi
Exactly! That's a great example. :)
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2022-06-30 09:25:03

To have to run the scripts from a separate program is a real pain... I really don't understand why such a simple thing can't be implemented. It would take me 20 minutes to code it ... including testing. ..
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2022-06-30 15:24:11

Let me know how it goes berating the developers, would it work for you?