Apple Shortcuts and Siri: automate file tools on Mac with OneMacTools

The OneMacTools actions in Shortcuts

Open the Shortcuts app, start a new shortcut, and search the actions library for OneMacTools. You'll find four actions:

Every action needs an activated licence; until then it stops with a message saying OneMacTools isn't activated yet.

Run OneMacTools Tool: every parameter explained

In the editor the action reads Run Tool on Files, with Text and Preset under Show More.

• Tool — any OneMacTools tool except the recorders (Screen Recorder, Record Audio and the like), which need a person at the controls. Type part of a tool's name or its category, such as “compress” or “PDF”, to find it. Each appears with its category underneath.
• Files — the files to work on. Pass the output of a previous action (Get Selected Files in Finder, a folder's contents, files from a Mail attachment) or choose them when you set up the shortcut. Leave it empty for tools that don't take files.
• Text — for tools that take a link or text instead of files, such as Download Video or Make QR Code.
• Preset — the exact name of a preset saved in that tool's Presets section in the app. Leave it empty to use your last-used options. If the name doesn't exist, the shortcut stops with No preset called “…” for ….

If a tool needs more files than you gave it — Merge PDFs needs at least two — the action stops with a message such as Merge PDFs needs at least 2 files.

What happens to your files

OneMacTools copies the input files before working on them, so your originals are never changed. Results are saved to your OneMacTools folder like any other job (by default Downloads › OneMacTools, in a folder named after the tool and the time) and returned to the shortcut, so the next action can rename, move, attach or upload them. Tools whose result is text — Clean Up Text, Rewrite, Password Generator — return a .txt file named after the tool. The action also shows a short summary, such as 3 files saved.

Each run is listed in History with a Shortcuts badge.

Example: compress selected videos to 25 MB from Finder

1. In OneMacTools, open Compress to Size, choose the 25 MB — Email target and save a preset called Email.
2. In Shortcuts, create a new shortcut called “Email-size video”.
3. Open the shortcut's details (the ⓘ panel) and turn on Use as Quick Action, with Finder ticked, so it appears in Finder's right-click menu.
4. Set it to receive Files as input.
5. Add Run OneMacTools Tool. Set Tool to Compress to Size, Files to Shortcut Input, and Preset to Email.
6. Optionally add Reveal Files in Finder with the action's result.

Now right-click any video in Finder and choose the shortcut. OneMacTools already has its own OMT: Compress Video to 25 MB Finder Quick Action; a shortcut is worth building when you want extra steps around it, such as a fixed preset or attaching the result to a new Mail message.

Example: turn a folder of scans into one searchable PDF

1. Add Get Contents of Folder and choose your scans folder.
2. Add Run OneMacTools Tool with Tool set to Images to PDF and Files set to the folder's contents.
3. Add a second Run OneMacTools Tool with Tool set to Make PDF Searchable and Files set to the result of the first.
4. Add Save File or Move File to put the finished PDF where you keep paperwork.

Because each step returns its files, tools chain naturally: convert, then compress, then rename with Smart Rename, all in one shortcut.

Using OneMacTools with Siri and Spotlight

OneMacTools offers three ready-made App Shortcuts, which appear in the Shortcuts app's App Shortcuts and can be started by voice or from Spotlight without building anything:

Any shortcut you build yourself can also be run by saying its name to Siri, so name them clearly: “Email-size video”, “Shrink screenshots”.

Keyboard shortcuts for Grab Text and others

In the Shortcuts app, open a shortcut's details and click Add Keyboard Shortcut to run it from anywhere. This is the way to give Grab Text from Screen or Colour Picker a key combination of your own, as OneMacTools' Settings suggests. The app's own global shortcuts are listed in keyboard shortcuts.

Running OneMacTools from Shortcuts automations

The Shortcuts app on Mac can run a shortcut automatically — at a time of day, when a file is added to a folder, when a drive is connected, when you open an app, and more. Create one under Automation in the Shortcuts sidebar and use the OneMacTools actions inside it.

• Keep Awake while presenting: when Keynote opens, run Keep Mac Awake for 120 minutes with Keep the display on too on. Keep Awake turns itself off if the battery drops below 20% or the Mac runs hot. Learn more on the Keep Mac Awake page.
• Nightly tidy: at 23:00, run Tidy a Folder on Downloads using a preset.
• Camera card import: when an SD card connects, get its photos and run Convert Images to JPEG.

For the common case — “do something to every new file in this folder” — Watch Folders does it without building a shortcut, and adds conditions such as where a file was downloaded from, plus Put Back in History.

Tips and troubleshooting

• OneMacTools actions are missing in Shortcuts. Open OneMacTools once after installing or updating so macOS registers its actions, then reopen Shortcuts.
• The shortcut uses the wrong settings. Without a preset, it uses whatever you last chose in the tool. Save a preset and name it in Preset.
• Video tools fail. Video and audio tools need FFmpeg; see FFmpeg on Mac setup.
• A tool doesn't appear in the Tool list. Recorders aren't available in Shortcuts. Everything else is — search by name or category.
• Nothing seems to happen. Check History; a failed run is listed there with the reason. If an error mentions a permission, see privacy and permissions.

Shortcuts runs the tools on your Mac, the same way the app does. AI assistants can run OneMacTools tools too, through its MCP server — see the MCP server.

Tools mentioned on this page

Questions

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