You can create an Automator workflow to do this for you.
Once you've done this, you can automatically resize and
attach selected images in the Finder using a single command
in Entourage. It takes a few minutes to set up, but once you've
got it working, you can use it again and again with no pain
whatsoever.
I used the following steps to set a workflow up. I'm using
Mac OS X Leopard with Office 2008.
1. Type "Automator" in Spotlight and hit RETURN.
Automator should open automatically.
2. In the Automator dialog, "Select a starting point to open
a new workflow", select "Photos and Images",
change the dropdown menu "Get content from" to "my Mac",
and change the dropdown menu below to read, "Use image
files selected in the Finder when workflow runs".
Click "Choose".
3. In the Automator application window, you should see a workflow
item, "Get Selected Finder Items" at right already added.
In the Library pane, click Finder, and in the item pane next to
it, double-click "Duplicate Finder Items".
You should see that step added to your workflow.
(You can drag and drop Automator items from the Library to
your workflow as well.)
4. Next, select the Preview item in the library, and then add the
Scale Images item to your workflow.
If it asks you to add a Copy Finder Items action to your workflow,
click Don't Add, since you've already added a Duplicate Finder Items
step to your workflow in step 3 above.
5. In the To Size (pixels) box within the workflow, type in the size
that you want the images reduced to. (Apparently, this will reduce
the largest side to this size, so if you have a 1024 by 768 pixel image,
it will reduce the width of 1024 to 800 and scale the 768 pixel size
to 600.)
6. Select the Microsoft Entourage library item, and add the
"Add Attachments to Entourage Messages" item to the workflow.
7. From the File menu, do a Save As... to save your workflow to
your Documents - Microsoft User Data - Entourage Script Menu Items -
Sample Automator Workflows folder. Make sure that you save it as
a Workflow, not as an Application. Click OK.
8. Quit and then restart Entourage.
9. Open a blank e-mail.
10. In Finder, select the file(s) you want to attach to your Entourage
message, but don't open them.
10. In Entourage, click on the Script icon in the menu bar,
and look in the Sample Automator Workflows.
You should see your workflow in there.
If you do, you're ready to run it. Click on your workflow item.
In the Mac OS X menu bar, you should see a brief message and icon
showing what the Automator is doing. Within a matter of seconds,
your files should be nicely reduced to meet your specifications,
and attached your mail!
The great thing about Automator workflows is that they're customizable,
and they don't require programming experience. If you know what you
want to do, and the library items to do it are in there, the rest is a
piece of cake.
Hope this helps!
Jeff Chapman
