Resizing and converting photographs is quick and simple with the help of powerful tools that come with your Mac. In addition to Apple’s basic picture viewer Preview, they include productivity tools like Automator and Shortcuts.
The Preview program from Apple, which is include with macOS. May be use to resize a single image if implementing Automator or Shortcuts procedures seems too much trouble.
You may resize any picture file that will open in Preview. Double-clicking an image file should open it in Preview if you haven’t altered the default file associations on your Mac (you can also right-click and select Open With > Preview).
Open your file, then at the top of the screen select Tools > Adjust Size. You can select custom dimensions, pick from predetermined sizes for your image to fit inside or alter the file resolution. Alternatively, you may use the “lock” symbol to individually scale the vertical and horizontal axes, but keep in mind that doing so will distort the image.
When finished, press Command+S to save your work.
Let’s imagine that you operate a blog and constantly resize photographs to a certain width or height. You might save time by using Automator to build a Quick Task that you can use from your right-click menu rather than opening an image editor every time you wish to carry out this action.
Launch Automator and select “Quick Action” when prompted to accomplish this.
Change “Workflow Receives Current” to “image files” at the top of the workflow section, then choose “Finder” as the application. To choose an icon to link to the action, use the “Image” drop-down menu; you can even change the image’s color if you like.
Select “Get Specified Finder Items” from the “Finder” group on the left, then click and drag it into the workflow menu.
In order to add the “Scale Images” action to your workflow, the first step is to choose the “Photos” group. When asked whether you want to add an action that copies your image before scaling it, you can if you so want. (We decided to exclude it from our workflow.)
Now, provide the desired size either in pixels or as a percentage. If you choose pixels, bear in mind that it works on both axes. A landscape image will be scaled to 1200 pixels wide if you choose 1200 pixels, while a portrait image will be scaled to 1200 pixels high.
To store your Quick Action, press Command+S at this time. Make sure you like the name you chose because it will be the label you see in Finder.
You may now execute your action by selecting “Quick Actions” from the menu when you right-click (or two-finger click) an image file in Finder, then choose the process you just defined.
The old workflow’s brilliance rests in its one-click design. It takes almost any time to quickly resize a large number of photos to a specified size. However, you may alternatively make a straightforward Automator workflow that asks you for a custom size, which takes an additional step to complete.
Follow the procedures in the previous part to construct the same process, then go to the “Scale Images” section. Make sure the box next to “Show this action when the workflow executes” is ticked after clicking on “Options.” This will instruct macOS to prompt you for feedback at this point in the procedure.
In the “Scale Image” box, you may optionally choose a “default” size that will already be filled up when the process is executed. Now press Command+S and choose a name for your process that suits you.
Right-click a picture (or collection of photos) in Finder and pick the process you just built in the “Quick Actions” section. When the procedure is finished, you’ll be asked to enter a size, and your photographs will then be resized.
Shortcuts may automate a wide range of repetitive tasks, just as Automator. It seems a little slower than Automator subjectively, but it’s a good alternative if you don’t get along with Automator. Additionally, you may download a pre-made action and edit it.
Open Shortcuts and create a new, empty workflow to start building an image resizing procedure. Make sure “Use as Quick Action” and “Finder” are checked, then click the “Shortcut Details” icon (which resembles a collection of sliders) to the right of the workflow. If “Services” is checked, the action will also be visible in other programs like Safari.
Look at the primary workspace area right now. To ensure that the Shortcut only appears when image files are chosen, change “Receive Any” to “Receive Images.”
In the panel to the right of the workflow, now choose “Action Library” (it looks like a box with stars in it). Drag the “Resize Image” action into the workflow window after doing a “resize” search.
Now, you have the option of using a predetermined width or height (that you have set) or having the process ask you for specific parameters each time. Right-click on the width box, which by default reads 640, and select Insert Variable > Ask Each Time if you wish to be prompted each time. If you want, repeat the process for height.
If you use this option, “Auto Width” and “Auto Height” will be applie if no variable is supplied. As a result, you may leave the “Width” prompt empty and just type “500” when asked for the image’s height if you wish to resize it to 500 pixels tall. The other axis will be scale appropriately by the Shortcut.
To finish, perform a save action search and drag the “Save File” action into the workflow window. To turn off “Ask Where to Save,” click the “Options” button and choose a different place each time (like your Desktop folder).
Give your process a name by clicking twice on the “New Shortcut” placeholder at the top of the window. If you’d like, you may also alter the accompanying icon’s color.
Now, when an image file is select, your process may be found in the “Quick Actions” menu. By selecting the Share option, you can copy the URL to your workflow and send it to friends. The procedure mentioned above may be download here.
The “Convert Picture” Quick Action in macOS already asks for the image type and general size when converting an image, and it may be enable in System Preferences (System Settings) > Extensions > Finder.
However, you may design an Automator workflow to achieve that if you’d want a quicker method of converting a picture to a certain kind (like JPEG). This method is excellent for quickly converting iPhone-shot HEIC photographs to full-sized JPEG files.
Open Automator, and when prompted, choose Quick Action. Make sure “image files” and “Finder” are chose in the corresponding drop-down boxes at the start of the workflow. The symbol and color can be change if you like.
Drag “Copy Finder Items” from the actions library’s “Finder” group to the workspace area. If you’d want to be prompte each time. You can either provide a location or utilize the “Show this action while the workflow runs” toggle under “Options.”
Navigate to the actions library’s “Photos” group and drag “Change Type of Images” to the workflow section. Choose the sort of image you want to use; in this case, JPEG is appropriate.
Press Command+S to save your Quick Action now and give it an appropriate description. The “Quick Actions” menu will now appear when you right-click an image file in Finder. Your original image won’t be impact because we’re transferring the file.
With Quick Action, you may instantly turn all of the pages of a PDF into pictures. Launch Automator first, then check that “Workflow receives current” points to “PDF Files” and “Finder” is chose in the applications drop-down. If you like, give your process a relevant icon and color.
Drag “Render PDF Pages as Images” from the action library’s “PDFs” group onto the workflow’s main pane. Type, resolution, and compression level must all be specified.
Go to the actions library’s “Finder” group and drag “Move Finder Items” into the workflow window. If you choose to be prompte each time, activate “Show This Action When Workflow Runs” under “Options,” and the resulting photographs will be save in the place you designate.
When you right-click (or two-finger click) a PDF file in Finder, your workflow will show up under the “Quick Actions” menu with a title like “Convert PDF to Images” once you press Command+S to save it.
Under System Preferences (System Settings) > Extensions > Finder, you may add and delete Quick Actions. Uncheck everything you don’t think is useful to get rid of it. By clicking and dragging your Quick Actions, you can also change the order in which they display.
The /Library/Services folder, which you can enter by running Finder and selecting Go > Go to Folder at the top of the screen, will house any Quick Actions you’ve made. An action may be modifie by double-clicking it to open it in Automator for editing.
You might need to copy and paste the actions into a new Quick Action before deleting the old one if you wish to alter the name of a Quick Action in this folder since renaming it doesn’t always result in the label changing under the Quick Actions menu.
Although Automator first may appear overwhelming, it’s a strong tool that’s definitely worth investigating. The processes above should assist you in developing your own time-saving automation.
ManilaShaker is a tech media producing insightful and helpful content for our local and growing international audience. Our goal is to create a premier Philippine digital consumer electronics resource that provides the most objective reviews and comparisons globally.
