I know this procedure is vastly overused, but try the Repair Permissions route to see if there is any improvement.
your suggestion about installing it from the OS X installation disk is a reasonable one. If you can find the package for Automator, go ahead and install it. If it goes to the applications folder, as it should, then it will overwrite the one that is already there.
It's worth a try
P
Has anyone else experienced this problem? My Automator program quits every time I open it. I just recently got my Mac so there are several programs I've installed since the last time I used Automator, making it hard to say if one of them is fooling with it.
Can anyone shed some light on what might be the cause of this?
I've tried uninstalling the last 3 programs I installed (an web server, google earth, and a screen capture app) but it still crashes.
I've also tried getting my Mac OS X install disc and installing the packages from the disc, but I wasn't sure if it would overwrite the current Automator so I didn't install it first. Should I have?
My technical specs (as the error report says) are:
Model: Macmini, 2 processors, Intel Core Duo, 1.66 GHz, 1 GB
Not sure if you will need any more info, but if you do let me know.

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