Automator finish one task before moving on? I have automator running several applescript commands that I want to happen sequentially. For example, I have an empty trash command, then a shut down command. When I run the script, the computer shuts down before the trash empties more than a few files.

How do I make sure that automator completes one task before moving on?

I also have a terminal command for backing up using time machine. I would also like that one to finish before the shut down.
Unfortunately empty trash is a message sent to Finder, and, from Automator's point of view, the task finishes when the message is sent.

In this conversation there's a possible solution. You have to modify your Applescript task with a check on the size of the trash:

tell application "Finder"
    set first_size to ""
    set second_size to " "
    set trash_folder to (path to trash folder)

    empty trash

    repeat until first_size is equal to second_size
        set first_size to size of (info for trash_folder) as integer
        delay 2
        set second_size to size of (info for trash_folder) as integer
    end repeat
end tell


This way the task will not end until the size of the trash stops decreasing.

If you use tmutil for time machine backup terminal command, there is a -b option for startbackup command that tells the script to wait until the backup is finished before exiting.