Since Apple developed its “digital hub”, with iLife and now iWork, I have wanted to have a system-wide panel that would let me choose pictures from my iPhoto library without having to open the application.

For example, if I want to add a picture to a TextEdit RTFD document, I had to launch iPhoto, chose the picture, and drag it to the document. Waiting for iPhoto to launch can be long if you have a lot of photos.

But there is a way to get around this, using an Automator action.

1. Open Automator, and click iPhoto.
2. From the list of actions, select Ask for Photos, and drag it to the right-hand pane.
3. Save this as a plug-in, and select Script Menu (the script menu that displays in the menu bar) so it is accessible anywhere. (If this menu is not visible, launch the AppleScript Utility in /Applications/Applescript, and check ‘Show Script Menu in menu bar.’)

Next time you need a picture from your iPhoto library, select this action from the AppleScript menu, and you’ll have a media browser that lets you do so without opening iPhoto.

You can do something similar if you need to select songs from iTunes. Select iTunes in Automator, then Ask for Songs. This lets you select songs from your library, from a specific playlist, or by searching in a Spotlight-type search field. You can also play songs from this window; you might not find this ideal to replace iTunes, but in a pinch, if you need to hear a single song, it will do the trick.

Installing the action also installs a connection to the built in FTP server in OS X. That, in turn, makes it easy to attach FTP upload to a folder or as part of a workflow. Yes, the better FTP clients like Transmit and Yummy FTP allow you to create folder and dock drop boxes. But this is free. And it allows you to include file upload into any Applescriptable application, including the Finder.

Included with the Automator workflows are a couple of workflows that provide the action with immediate functionality. One is a simple upload of selected files and folders.

To take advantage of the workflow, I saved it as a Script Menu Plugin. Then I assigned a keyboard command for it in System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts.

Now all I have to do to upload files to my server is select the file, type Command + Option + Control + U and zap, the files are uploaded.

The capability to upload files in Windows Explorer has been available in Windows for years. It’s nice to finally see it for the Finder on the Mac.

The other included workflow will resize and upload images.

Think of selecting images in iPhoto, running the action and having your images, auto-sized, compressed and uploaded to a folder of your choice on your web server. Now that’s useful!.

I’m sure that as time goes on I’ll think of other ways to take advantage of this useful Automator action.