How to Build Your First Mac Shortcut

Step by step

1. 20 sec

   Open Shortcuts and start a new one

   Open the Shortcuts app from your Applications folder. Click the plus button in the toolbar, or press Command + N, and an empty editor window opens. The flow you are building runs down the left side. The Actions library is the panel on the right.

   Note: Automator is still installed and still runs old workflows. Everything new goes into Shortcuts. Build here and save yourself the migration later.
2. 40 sec

   Add the action that reads your selection

   Type Get Selected Files into the search field at the top of the Actions library. Drag the result into the empty flow, or double-click it to drop it in. This action hands the shortcut whatever is highlighted in the frontmost Finder window at the moment it runs.

   Note: The first run asks permission for the shortcut to control the Finder. Grant it once and the dialog does not come back.
3. 60 sec

   Resize the images to a fixed width

   Search for Resize Image and drag it in below the first action. It picks up the files from the step above as its input automatically. Set the Width field to 1200 and leave the height set to Auto so each image keeps its proportions.

   Note: Auto height is doing real arithmetic per file. Feed it a batch of mixed portrait and landscape shots and every one keeps its own ratio.
4. 40 sec

   Save the copies into a folder

   Search for Save File and drag it in last. Turn off Ask Where to Save, then click the folder field and choose a destination, such as a folder named Resized inside Pictures. Your originals are untouched. The action writes new files.

   Note: Leave Ask Where to Save switched on if you want a dialog every run. Switch it off if you want the thing to be silent.
5. 30 sec

   Name it, then run it once

   Click the shortcut name at the top of the editor and type something plain, such as Resize to 1200. Select a few images in a Finder window, come back to Shortcuts, and click the run button in the toolbar. Then check the destination folder.

   Note: Test it on copies the first time. Every automation deserves one run where nothing you care about is sitting in the folder.
6. 40 sec

   Put it in the right-click menu

   Open the Details pane using the info button at the top right of the editor window. Tick Use as Quick Action, then tick the Finder and Services Menu boxes beneath it. The shortcut now appears under Quick Actions when you right-click files in the Finder.

   Note: Shortcuts sync through iCloud to your iPhone and iPad on their own. Mac-only actions such as Get Selected Files will not run over there.