Not automatically installing Dashboard Widgets

Call me paranoid but I set my Safari to not automatically open a downloaded item when downloading is completed. However, this play havoc with installing Dashboard widgets. To install them properly you need to unzip the file (if it is in zipped form, which normal it is), copy the file to /Library/Widgets/ and then either trash the zip file or archive it.

This is fine for trying out one or two widgets but after the third one, I decided to play with the new Automator in Tiger and see if I can automate this process. The result is this “Install Dashboard Widgets” Automator actions.

This actions will search for any files with file name ending with wdgt.zip and unzip it, copy the .wdgt file to /Library/Widgets/, and then move the original zip file to my archive folder. Obviously you may have a different archive folder or not even want to archive the zip file. In that case, you just need to change the last action to either move the file to the folder that you want, or swap the last action to the “Move To Trash” action.

To get this actions to show up in the Finder’s contextual menu, you will need to open the actions in Automator and then select File->Save As Plug-in… and then choose Finder for the “Plug-in for” list.

Anyway, have fun with this Automator actions!