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How to Batch Convert Images to WebP on Mac

Feb 8, 2024 - 1 Comment

As WebP grows in popularity as a compressed image format for the web, many web workers need to convert batches of images to WebP format from their Mac. Bulk converting images like JPG and PNG to WebP is not currently a native feature, but with a little tinkering on the Mac, you can gain functionality … Read More

How to Create a Text File in a Folder on Mac

Jan 10, 2022 - 10 Comments
Create a new text file at current folder on Mac

If you’re coming to the Mac from the Windows world, you may be wondering how you can quickly create a text file in a folder in MacOS. In Windows, you can simply right-click and choose to create a new text file in whatever directory you’re located in, so how can you do something similar on … Read More

How to Schedule Sending Emails on Mac with Automator

Sep 29, 2021 - 9 Comments
How to Schedule Sending Emails on Mac with Automator

Do you want to schedule emails to send at a later date from your Mac? This could come in handy if you often use reminders to send emails on time, whether it’s a birthday wish, a holiday greeting, anniversary, an email to a colleague, or whatever else you can imagine. Thanks to Automator on the … Read More

How to Add & Remove Quick Actions on Mac

Aug 17, 2021 - Leave a Comment
How to Add & Remove Quick Actions on Mac

Do you use Quick Actions to perform certain tasks on your Mac with just a simple click? If so, do you want to add more Quick Actions? Or, perhaps you want to delete a custom quick action that you created? Adding and removing Quick Actions is pretty easy to do on a Mac.

How to Create Custom Quick Actions on Mac

Aug 5, 2021 - 2 Comments
How to Create Custom Quick Actions in MacOS

Quick Actions are a handy feature that allows users to perform tasks such as markup, image rotation, create PDF, etc by simply right-clicking on a file. However, you’re not just limited to the default set of Quick Actions and you can create a custom Quick Action that does a lot more, from scratch.

How to Create a New Email Compose Shortcut for the Mac Dock

Jun 11, 2019 - 5 Comments
Custom New Mail Compose icon for Automator action built from Emoji and a system icon in MacOS

Heavy email users may find it useful to have a handy Dock shortcut for creating new email messages on the Mac. In this tutorial, we’ll walk through setting up a simple Automator application that will compose a new email message with a set template whenever the app is clicked in the Mac Dock, from anywhere … Read More

Toggle Dark Mode & Light Mode on Mac Quickly from Spotlight

Jan 29, 2019 - 8 Comments

Do you wish you could enable Dark mode or Light mode interface themes faster in Mac OS? Maybe you wish there was a keystroke to switch from Dark or Light mode on the Mac? If you’re tired of heading over to System Preferences to make the change, you can use a nifty trick to quickly … Read More

How to Enable Dark Mode in MacOS Automatically on Schedule with Automator

Nov 15, 2018 - 20 Comments
How to enable Dark Mode theme on a schedule in MacOS

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could schedule the Dark Mode theme to enable itself automatically on your Mac, perhaps in the evening hours, and on a recurring schedule? That’s exactly what this tutorial is going to show you how to do, without needing to download or use any third party apps.

How to Create an AutoResponder in Mail for Mac

Feb 21, 2018 - 21 Comments
Mail app icon

Have you ever wanted to setup an auto-responder eMail message in the Mac Mail app? Autoresponders allow you to set an “out of office” auto-reply that gets sent automatically as a reply to any inbound email to the Mac Mail app. This is great solution for situations where you’re out of the office, away from … Read More

How to Start the Mac Screen Saver with a Keyboard Shortcut

Jul 10, 2014 - 25 Comments
Keystroke to start a screen saver on the Mac

Have you ever wanted to initiate the screen saver of your Mac by hitting a keystroke combination? You’re not alone, and that’s what we’re going to show you how to do here. While Mac OS X does not include this feature by default, we’ll demonstrate how to create an Automator system service that will accomplish … Read More

Batch Renaming Groups of Files in Mac OS X with a DIY File Renamer Tool

Feb 10, 2014 - 9 Comments
Drag and drop batch renamer tool in Mac OS X

If you need to rename a group of files on a Mac by appending some text to each files name, a great free option is to use a simple Automator action and save it as an application. This is similar to the other Automator utilities we have built and covered here before, but this time … Read More

Make a Word & Character Counting Service for All Apps in Mac OS X

Jan 27, 2014 - 25 Comments
Word and character counting service for all apps in Mac OS X

While some writing and text apps have native word and character counters as part of their built-in feature set, not every app does. That can be changed easily though by creating a Mac OS X Service that will provide word counts and character counts from just about anywhere on a Mac that text is selectable. … Read More

Quickly Copy a File or Folder Path to the Clipboard in Mac OS X

Jun 19, 2013 - 63 Comments
Create a "Copy Path" Service in Mac OS X

There are a few ways to retrieve a file or folders full path from Mac OS X, and we’ll cover the two easiest methods here, and also a third option that utilizes a Service to instantly copy any path to the clipboard. First, we’ll use the Get Info panel to pull any items complete path, … Read More

Quit All Open Applications Instantly from Mac OS X Dock with a Simple Mac App

Jun 2, 2013 - 16 Comments
Quit all apps icon

If you’ve ever needed to quickly quit out of all open applications in Mac OS X, you’ve probably just resorted to flipping through every open application in the Dock, then hitting Command+Q, then repeating until everything is closed. But there’s a better way, and with an extraordinarily simple Automator app you can create a function … Read More

How to Remove Services from the Contextual Menu in Mac OS X

May 14, 2013 - 6 Comments
Services menu shown in the contextual menus of Mac OS X

Services and the service menu appears at the bottom of the contextual menu actions when you right-click (or control+click) any item in the Mac OS X Finder. These typically perform various actions, ranging from launching the selected file or folder in a specific app, to conversions that you’ve created yourself through Automator actions. Here is … Read More

Create a Contact Sheet of Thumbnails with Automator in Mac OS X

Apr 6, 2013 - 42 Comments
Generated Contact Sheet made through Services

Contact Sheets, often called Proof Sheets, are essentially columns and rows of image thumbnails, making a bunch of photos very easy to quickly review. Though they’re commonly used by photographers, they have a wide range of uses outside of the pro-photography world, from artists to designers to UI/UX engineers. Rather than creating a contact sheet … Read More

Batch Resize Pictures in Mac OS X Using Automator

Dec 20, 2011 - 32 Comments
Batch Resize Images in Mac OS X

Need to resize a ton of pictures on a Mac? Instead of downloading a third party application or using Preview, you can use Automator to handle the entire operation, even renaming the images to indicate they have been resized to a new resolution. Automator is included in every Mac OS X installation’s /Applications/ folder and … Read More

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