Getting Started

A Cookbook of Energy Saving Recipes

Power Manager is capable of changing the way you use your Mac. On this page we have brought together recipes for creating energy and money saving events.

Each recipe offers clear step-by-step instructions with lots of screen shots. Each recipe shows you how to quickly and easily make your Mac more efficient and useful.

49 Power Manager Recipes

• How to Run a Shell Script When Logging Out

  Let's walk through how to schedule a shell script to run after a user logs out of Mac OS X. Our shell script is going to be very simple but you can make yours as complex as needs be.

• Connecting to Power Manager via the Internet

  Power Manager on your Mac can be safely managed via the Internet. Using Power Manager Remote, you can also connect via a mobile/cellular network. Getting the connection up and running requires following a few steps, and this is what we will walk through today.

• How to Perform an Event with AppleScript

  Power Manager lets you build events capable of performing complex sequences of actions. Power Manager also lets you schedule these events to occur on specific triggers, such as the time of day or after user inactivity. What if no trigger suits your needs? In this situation, you will want to perform the event yourself.

• How to Turn Off All Event Notifications

  Power Manager works hard to ensure users are notified of pending events. These notifications take the form of warning notifications, a count down timer in the menu bar, and full screen alerts as significant events perform. A few are required but most are optional. However, sometimes people want to turn off the optional built-in notifications.

• How to Turn Off an Event's Notifications

  Power Manager automatically notifies the user of pending triggers. These notifications provide an opportunity for users to respond to an event. However, there are situations where notifications are not required, or where notifications get in the way. This recipe shows how to turn off notifications for a single event.

• How to Extend Power Manager with Growl

  Power Manager supports the open source notification utility, Growl. Growl lets you customise how and when you see notifications from your favourite applications.

• How to Display a Message After a Long Task

  Power Manager is frequently used to start long running tasks. While any event is running, Power Manager's menu bar changes to show a small cog. Sometimes this small indicator is not enough.

• How to Enforce a Maximum Use Time on Mac OS X

  Use time restrictions are often essential for Mac computers in shared environments such as schools, labs, and public buildings. A computer's use time is the maximum amount of time a user can use the computer. After that period has elapsed, the user should log out to allow others an opportunity to use the computer.

• How to Trigger a Warning When Your UPS Switches to Battery

  You can script your Mac to perform actions, such as running a command or launching an application, when your uninterruptible power supply (UPS) switches over to the emergency battery.

• How to Launch an Application When Switching to Mains Power

  You can use Power Manager to automatically launch an application when switching from battery to mains power.

• How to Schedule Your Mac to Shut Down

  Using Power Manager you can schedule your Mac to shut down itself at night, or whenever you want. You can schedule your Mac to shut down at different times on different days, or even multiple times a day.

• How to Run a Command When Switching to Battery Power

  You can have your Mac automatically run a command line tool when switching to and from battery power. Let's make your Mac provide an audible warning when you disconnect the mains power supply from your laptop. To do this we are going to use Power Manager and the command line tool say.

• How to Run a Shell Script Every Day on a Mac

  Power Manager can be used to automatically run a shell script each day. Shell scripts can be used to perform tasks that are difficult, or impossible, to achieve using the graphical Mac OS X interface.

• How to Run an AppleScript After Inactivity

  Power Manager can run an AppleScript after a period of inactivity on Mac OS X. Unlike most other scheduling tools, Power Manager can run your AppleScript as the front most user. This means your AppleScript can interact with applications and the user; with Power Manager your AppleScript is not restricted as it is with other tools.

• How to Make Your Mac Idle Sleep After Different Times on Different Days

  Your Mac can automatically enter a special low power mode called sleep. While your Mac is asleep it uses far less energy than when it is awake. Having your Mac sleep when not in use is much better than leaving it powered on constantly; you use less energy and that saves money on your electricity bill.

• How to Make Your Mac Sleep After Inactivity

  Your Mac can automatically go into a low power mode called "sleep" after a period of idle time. This significantly reduces the running cost of your Mac. But for many, automatic sleep does not work correctly or as assertively as they want.

• How to Play a Song in iTunes at a Specific Time Every Day

  You can use Power Manager to automatically play a song at a specific time each day. You can also create multiple events to play different songs at different times or on different days.

• How to Schedule an iPhoto Slideshow to Play Automatically

  Power Manager can be used to start an iPhoto slideshow playing automatically. You can create an event that will wake up your Mac, launch iPhoto, and start your slideshow at a specific time or on certain days of the week. Let's walk through how to create an event to launch iPhoto and to start playing a slideshow.

• How to Run an Automator Workflow to a Schedule

  Automator does not include a means of running workflows to a schedule. You must manually open and run the workflow, or use other tools to arrange for the workflow to be run. In this recipe we will look at how to use Power Manager to automatically run an Automator workflow.

• Fast User Switch to the Login Window After Inactivity

  After a period of user inactivity, Power Manager can Fast User Switch your Mac back to the Login Window. This is a great feature for getting the most out of shared Macs in labs. In an ideal world, you and I would always remember to log out when we have finished using our computer. This frees up the Mac for others to log in and get on with their tasks.

• How to Energy Schedule Your Museum Macs

  Power Manager is ideal for use in museums, installations, and exhibits. Power Manager can fully automate and energy manage Mac computers dispersed around your exhibits and, once set up, no further interaction with the Mac is required from staff. For curators and exhibitors looking to reduce your running costs, Power Manager includes a Schedule Assistant built for you.

• Make Your Mac Sleep For an Hour

  Your Mac can be scheduled to put itself to sleep and to wake up. Traditionally these related tasks are considered and scheduled separately. Power Manager does away with this distinction and lets you schedule your Mac to sleep for specific durations, such as over your lunch break.

• How to Schedule Your Mac to Sleep

  It is a good idea to power down or put your Mac to sleep when it is not in use. This saves energy and in turn saves you money. Using Power Manager you can schedule your Mac to go sleep at a specific time each day. You can even schedule your Mac to go to sleep at specific times on weekends, and at a different time on weekends.

• How to Run an AppleScript When Switching to Mains Power

  You can use Power Manager to trigger an event whenever your Mac laptop is connected to mains power.

• How to Run an AppleScript On Wake Up

  You can use Power Manager to run an AppleScript when you wake up your Mac. Running an AppleScript when your Mac wakes up can be used to automate repetitive configuration tasks, such as mounting disks, or establishing a connection to a particular wireless network.

• How to Run an AppleScript When Switching to Battery Power

  You can use Power Manager to run an AppleScript when you disconnect your Mac from mains power and start using battery power. Running an AppleScript when your Mac laptop's power source changes is surprisingly useful. With this ability, you can turn on and off power hungry services and settings, launch applications, or just warn the user that the power cord has come out.

• How to Schedule Your Mac to Wake Up with AppleScript

  Modern Macs are able to wake up from sleep, and start up from a powered off state. One quick and easy use for this ability is to avoid waiting for your Mac to start up in the morning. We are going to create an event using Power Manager and AppleScript.

• Using the Notification Trigger in Power Manager

  Power Manager has the ability to trigger events on receiving a system wide notification, and to post system wide notifications as part of an event's actions. For developers, and for those integrating Power Manager into their workflow, these two abilities are a great way of loosely chaining tools together.

• Using an External Script as an Event Condition

  You can augment Power Manager's built-in energy saving functionality with shell scripts and other external tools. This article shows you how to create an event that uses an external script as a condition.

• How to Power On Your Mac at a Specific Date and Time

  Mac computers have the ability to power themselves on. This ability is available on all Macs running Mac OS X. You can schedule your Mac to power itself on in the morning No more waiting for your Mac to start up. One less reason to leave your Mac on over night; remember, a powered off Mac uses less energy than a sleeping Mac.

• How to Log Out Users With AppleScript

  Being able to log out a user on Mac OS X with AppleScript is useful. A common reason for needing to log out a user is to ensure a shared Mac is freed up for other users. The simplest way of logging out an active user is shown in the AppleScript snippet below. The script asks the System Events process to begin the log out process.

• How to Automatically Log Out Your Mac After Inactivity

  When a Mac is available publicly, or in a shared environment like a classroom, it can be useful to automatically log out after a period of inactivity. An automatic log out helps ensure the Mac is returned to a good state after a user has left, and helps avoid a Mac being left logged in unnecessarily.

• How to Avoid Passwords in Power Manager Scripts

  Last time we talked about managing Macs with Power Manager's pmctl command line tool. I am going to explain how pmctl supports Mac OS X's Keychain and how you can avoid needing to enter your name and password each time you connect to a remote Mac.

• How to Connect To Power Manager Over the Network

  Power Manager can be connected to and managed remotely over a network. The simplest way to manage deployments of Power Manager is with Power Manager Professional. But this is not the only way. Let's walk through how to use the standard command line tools to remotely connect to a Mac running Power Manager.

• How to Run a Script Within Every User Session

  Ever wanted to run a script within every user session on Mac OS X? The chances are you have not. The need tends to be rare, but when needed it is essential. Until Power Manager Professional 4, being able to run a script within every user session was beyond the reach of most administrators.

• How to Shut Down Your Mac Using AppleScript

  To be nice to anyone using our Mac, we want to provide a little notification before shutting down. Let's create an event that will shut down your Mac in ten minutes time. To do this, we can use AppleScript to create a scheduled shut down event.

• How to Allow Non-Administrators to Run On-Demand Events

  You may want to provide non-administrator colleagues with the ability to trigger on-demand events. This can be particularly useful where an event is used to perform back ups or run a script requiring elevated privileges. Let's look at how to ease this security requirement.

• How to Automatically Stop a PowerPoint Presentation

  Today, we will walk through how to stop a PowerPoint presentation. As with starting a presentation, stopping the presentation will require a little AppleScript.

• How to Automatically Start a PowerPoint Presentation

  I would like to cover how to automatically start a PowerPoint presentation on Mac OS X. Unlike Keynote, starting a PowerPoint presentation requires a little bit of AppleScript. If you are not familiar with AppleScript, do not worry. We will walk through each step needed.

• How to Change On-Demand Behaviour With AppleScript

  On-demand events are useful. On-demand events appear in Power Manager's status menu bar and can be triggered with a single mouse click from within any application.

• How to Schedule Your Mac to Restart Once a Week

  It can be useful to ensure your Mac is restarted at least once a week. In managed environments, such as classrooms and labs, Macs can go many weeks without being shut down or restarted. Being able to automate a restart once a week is possible with Power Manager.

• How to Improve Your Back Ups on Mac OS X

  Backing up your personal files is an essential, if mundane, task. One day you will experience problems with your Mac that risks loosing important files, documents, or photos. There are three steps you should take to secure your irreplaceable information:

• How to Automatically Stop a Keynote Presentation

  Yesterday, we looked at how Power Manager can be used to automatically open and start a Keynote presentation. Today, we will create an event to stop the presentation at a specific time each day.

• How to Automatically Start a Keynote Presentation

  Ever wondered how conference venues, theatres, and businesses control there large screen televisions and projectors? Most organisations use a surprisingly simple combination of a Mac and some presentation software.

• How to Automatically Log Out After Inactivity on Mac OS X

  Power Manager can automatically log out inactive users. Being able to log out inactive users is designed for use in school computer labs and in situations where computers are shared. By automatically logging out an inactive user, the Mac becomes available for the next person to use.

• How to Launch a Program After Inactivity on Mac OS X

  Power Manager can launch applications, documents, and scripts after inactivity. The Schedule Assistant includes a task to help create events that will launch an application after inactivity.

• How to Schedule Your Mac to Power On

  Mac computers have the ability to automatically power themselves on. A switched off, shut down, Mac can be scheduled to start up at a specific date and time. This ability is present in all modern Mac computers.

• How to Schedule an Application to Launch on Mac OS X

  Power Manager can schedule applications to launch regularly. The Schedule Assistant includes tasks to help create events that will launch an application daily, on specific dates, or after a period of inactivity.

• How to Schedule an AppleScript on Mac OS X

  Power Manager can schedule AppleScripts to run regularly, as part of a schedule. The Schedule Assistant includes tasks to help create events that will run your AppleScript daily, on specific dates, or after a period of inactivity.

More Recipes

The latest recipes and insights into getting the most from Power Manager are published first on Energy Aware.

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