Set Scaled OS X Desktop Wallpaper via Automator

I regularly enjoy the pictures Romain Guy posts on his blog. Often they make for great desktop backgrounds, but at a whopping 20 megapixels they are just a little too big for my iMac's 1920x1200 screen.
When today I came across his most recent picture called False Kiva I went through my usual list of steps:
  1. Go to the "original size" version of the picture on Flickr
  2. Drag it to the desktop
  3. Open the file with a double click
  4. Scale it to 1920x1200 in Preview.app
  5. Save it to the Pictures folder
  6. Set it as the wallpaper
It occurred to me, that apart from liking and downloading a picture, all the remaining steps could be automated with a little Automator service. So I recorded this sequence of steps and saved it as a service.


These are the steps in textual form:
  1. Service receives selected image files in Finder.app
  2. Copy Finder Items To Pictures
  3. Add Text to Finder Item Names; Add Text_1920x1200 after name
  4. Scale Images To Size (pixels) 1920
  5. Set the Desktop Picture
After that I can choose to trash or keep the original file, a copy that does not take up more space than necessary for my screen now lives in the pictures folder.

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