Hi, My name is Andy Leverenz. I design, code, and am an author of things. Check out my agency called Couple of Creatives (https://coupleofcreatives.com) and my blog Web-Crunch (https://web-crunch.com)🤘🏻

Since starting my own freelance business I've battled with a process I like for establishing new projects. After an overdue amount of time, I've discovered a way to automate folder and file creation on a mac.

Why automate?

That's a simple question to answer. Time. While generally, it isn't that obtrusive to my workflow to create new files and folders as I go but for the sake of collaboration and consistency it's an absolute must.

I sought out a way to create what I like to call a project scaffold. I was inspired by a tool called Yeoman which does essentially the same thing for web development projects. This handy tool helps rid of the setup time most projects take. I was also inspired by the way you generate files when working with Ruby on Rails. Rails has generators built in for nearly anything and it's incredibly useful.

How We Use It

For this screencast, I utilized Automator to create a project scaffold for my agency. My agency is a two person team. With just two people I have noticed the amount of inconsistency in where files, folders, and other various assets were being kept. On a team larger than that I can only imagine how inconsistent things could get.

At Couple of Creatives, we utilize a Dropbox Team Folder. Inside the team folder we have a Clients folder and inside that, we run the project scaffold when onboarding a new client.

To fix the inconsistencies, I defined our own project framework using the Automator app. Having created the project scaffold application our client's project files and folders now remain consistent. This helps us save time by not having to ask each other where certain things are.

Download the app: http://bit.ly/projectscaffold

On your own feel free to tweak the app to include any files and folders you wish to generate by modifying the bash script included.

💻 Previously published at: https://web-crunch.com/automate-folder-file-creation-mac/

💻 Check out the blog: https://web-crunch.com

💡 👫 Check out my agency: https://coupleofcreatives.com

🚀 Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/webcrunchblog Twitter(Personal Account): https://twitter.com/justalever Facebook: https://facebook.com/webcrunchblog Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/justalever Github: https://github.com/justalever Medium: https://medium.com/the-web-crunch-publication

📘Check out my book on UX Design: "LUXD: Learn User Experience Design" https://web-crunch.com/books/luxd

📙 Check out my book on Tumblr Theming: "Pro Tumblr Theming" https://web-crunch.com/books/ptt

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