I was just about to conclude the the shortcuts series and getting to the point, when I realised I may have approached the flow of this project ass-backwards, as there are a lot of other moving parts that make this whole endeavour more relevant if understood first. So, if you have never done this stuff before I should probably ALSO write about these other things.

So, to frame this properly and hopefully make this a more, rounded and useful experience, there are two other topics to dig into. Each of these is now its own post, and you can find the links below:

How to install and use scripts with Capture One

How to make an applet

The ultimate point (of the Capture One shortcuts series) was this: part of what I make for my clients ends up as “script bundles”. That is, I create a number of scripts, each designed for different actions.

If you don’t know, “scripts” in Capture One is as to Actions in Photoshop – they are designed to cut time from repetitive tasks.

Stuff I have written for Capture One includes:

• Barcode scanning extensions
• Renaming macros
• Case dependent processing
• Metrics and reports
• Notifications
• Excel integrations
• Workspace and session templating
• Specialised workflow design
• Metadata manipulation

Most of these interact with Capture One in some way or another, and usually will need to be executed on demand.

In nearly all cases, the best way to do this is with a shortcut to run the specific workflow – and you sometimes need many of these. As per the shortcuts post, Capture One itself does not (and why not is a mystery) offer the user the ability to shortcut scripts, styles, or indeed any other user generated menus. The work around does work for scripts (and this is the method I use to help my clients) but it’s not scalable to install multiple machines without automation – or when I have to build new applications for new clients and all the menus change.

This requires a solution to package the scripts in an “installer” and somehow add the shortcuts to said scripts when they are installed to the users workstation…

Have I arrived at the fucking point? I hear you ask. Well, sort of.

The last piece of the puzzle is the “installer applet” and the point of all this effort, will conclude with a “How to” post on how to make it (when I’ve finished it).

Watch this space.