Here is one thing that has been driving me crazy for some time. I constantly find myself saving from Safari to PDF. Whether it is a utility bill or legal research, I have a fetish for saving PDF copies. The problem is that in order to do so you must click print, then the PDF button, then the “Save as PDF” button. Each step requires me to get the mouse in the right place and read the menu. Granted this is probably less than 10 seconds but I do it a lot and it makes me just a little bit nuts.
So I’ve been thinking about this and wondering if there is an Automator action or perhaps an Applescript that can simplify this. Well tonight I stumbled upon an excellent hint at MacOSXHints that address this very problem very easily through with a keyboard shorcut.
Here is the walkthrough.
Open your Keyboard Shortcuts tab in the Keyboard & Mouse system preference pane.
Click the “+” sign to add a new shortcut for all applications.
Then a box pops up asking for the command.
Type in the Command exactly as it appears: “Save as PDF…” For the ellipses, use the combination: option + semicolon. Don’t ask me why because I have no clue. Just do it.
For the keyboard shortcut use: command + P (I know this sounds like a conflict with the print shortcut, but trust me)
Now you are done.
Now go to your favorite webpage and hold down the command key and press “P” twice.
Bingo. “Save as PDF…” lickity split.
this is the most useful thing i have read in the last few months. customizing those keyboard shortcuts is way overlooked!
great tip
Great tip. Another good one that I think I picked up at MacOSXHints (I think in a comment to a tip) is a way to add a button to the browser bookmark bar that, when clicked, automatically opens an email with a link to the page you are viewing so you can send it to someone. You do it by creating a bookmark with the following address
javascript:location.href=’mailto:?SUBJECT=’+document.title+’&BODY=’+escape(location.href)
and then naming it something like “sendlink” and then putting the bookmark in the bookmark bar.
Excellent!
Regarding Anthony’s comment: Omniweb has that feature built in to it.
OmniWeb is one of those applications I’ve been meaning to kick the tires on, but never quite got around to it.
I managed to get it down to one keystroke (⌘⌥P) with an AppleScript but ⌘P twice sounds easy enough
Finally added this one, David. Nice!
Thanks, David. This is just so useful!
Yahoo!!
I’ve have been looking for something like this forever!!
Thanks!
Great tip, thanks. Can this be modified to save as PDF to a specific folder? I see a workflow in the pull-down menu that says “Save PDF to iPhoto” It would be nice to be able to add the pull-down menu or simply have the PDF directed to a folder.