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Scheduling Automated Tasks

Overview

The ability to schedule tasks that run automatically in the background can be very useful for speeding up a workflow. Both Mac OS X and Windows XP offers this ability to users.

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Mac OS X

OS X has several ways to schedule tasks on your computer:

  1. Folder Actions

    Folder Actions are scripts which can be "attached" to specific folders. When files are dropped or saved into a folder, their attached actions will run. For instance, you can set a folder to automatically upload any file placed into it to a certain location. This lets you schedule a task based not on a specific time, but rather on when files are ready for the task.


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  2. iCal Alarms

    iCal's alarm feature can be used to schedule tasks on your Mac, though OS X seems to make no mention of it (even iCal's "Setting an alarm" help topic fails to mention this feature). You can specify to open a file (or launch an application) as your alarm. Using this method, you can schedule any task on your computer, and you have all of the versatility built into iCal for scheduling it.

    3. MacDevCenter.com shows how to schedule tasks using iCal and/or cron.

  3. Cron

    For command line junkies, OS X has Unix's venerable cron scheduling utility built in. If you're not familiar with cron, you can download a third-party product like Cronnix for a more user friendly interface.

Windows XP

Windows XP provides a Scheduled Task Wizard that helps you set up automated tasks, located in the Scheduled Tasks folder (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools). This folder stores all of your tasks, which are denoted by program icons overlaid with a clock:

Click Add Scheduled Task to start the Scheduled Task Wizard. The wizard begins by asking what program you want Windows to automatically run:

Next, name the task and specify how often you want it to run:

From there, you can fine-tune your settings further:

Finally, XP asks for a username and password to save the task:

Once saved, the task appears in the Scheduled Tasks folder. Right-clicking the task and choosing Properties lets you configure advanced settings, such as to auto-delete the task once it is complete, stop it after a certain amount of time, wake the computer if it is in sleep mode when the task is scheduled to run, etc.:

To delete a task, simply delete it from the Scheduled Tasks folder, just like any other file.

Conclusion

Apple's complete absence of documentation for using iCal's alarm feature to schedule tasks (man cron doesn't count) diminishes what is otherwise a useful feature. Those who don't use iCal will probably never discover the feature. XP's Scheduled Tasks Console is quite good, though a calendar-style view of scheduled tasks would be a nice additional feature. XP sports more options regarding when to start or stop tasks (i.e., during idle time, not during battery mode, etc.).

Mac OS X

  • View tasks either as list or as calendar
  • Tasks can be initiated when a folder's contents change
  • iCal integration means tasks can be grouped, color-coded, and viewed in tandem with other calendar items
  • No documentation of iCal's ability to schedule tasks
  • Setting the "stop time" of a task (outside of iCal) involves writing an AppleScript like tell application "iTunes" to quit — not terribly elegant

Windows XP

  • Option to set when to stop a task
  • Option to set task to run during idle time or not to run if in battery mode
  • Option to wake the computer from sleep if it is during the time the task is scheduled to run
  • No calendar view of tasks (list view only)
  • "Time-based" tasks only (no support for "event-based" tasks like Folder Actions)

Mac OS X: 8
Windows XP: 8

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