# How to use OneMacTools tools: add files, set options, run and find your results

Using OneMacTools is the same for every tool: add your files (drag and drop, Choose Files… or Scan with iPhone…), check the options on the right, read the estimate if there is one, then press the main button or ⌘↩. Results are saved to a new dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools only when the whole batch succeeds, and your originals are never changed.

## The same four steps for every tool

Whether you're compressing a video, merging PDFs or transcribing a meeting, a tool works in the same order:

1. **Add your input**: files, a folder, a link or text, depending on the tool.
2. **Check the options** in the panel on the right. They start as you last left them.
3. **Run it** with the button in the footer or ⌘↩.
4. **Use the results**: Preview, Show in Finder or Share, from the footer.

This page explains each step in detail, with the rules OneMacTools follows for saving and naming files. Individual tool pages, such as [Compress Video to Size](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/compress-video-to-size) or [Merge PDFs](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/merge-pdf), explain each tool's own options.

## How to add files to a tool

A tool that works on files shows a dashed drop zone: “Drop your files here” (or videos, images, PDFs, as the tool calls them), with “Originals stay untouched.” underneath. There are several ways to fill it.

- **Drag and drop** files from Finder, the desktop or another app onto the drop zone. The zone lights up in the tool's colour while you're over it.
- **Choose Files…** opens the standard Mac open panel. Hold ⌘ or ⇧ to pick several files.
- **Scan with iPhone…** appears on tools that take paper documents (Scan Documents, Tables to Spreadsheet and Business Card to Contact). It opens macOS's Continuity Camera menu for nearby iPhones and iPads: choose **Scan Documents** and capture each page, or **Take Photo**. The scan arrives in the tool as a PDF or JPEG named “Scan” with the date and time.
- **From elsewhere in the app**: Ask (⌘K), Quick Search, Today's file cards, Finder's Quick Actions and the menu bar icon can all open a tool with files already loaded.

Once files are added, the drop zone becomes a list showing each file's icon, name, size and, if macOS recorded it, where it was downloaded from (for example a Gmail badge). You can keep dropping files onto the list, or use **Add Files…** under it. Remove one file with its ⊗ button, or all of them with **Clear**. The count is shown at the bottom left (“4 files”).

### Which files a tool accepts

Each tool accepts only the kinds of file it can work on. If you drop something it can't use, such as a PDF on Convert Images, that file is left out and the list gives a small shake; the files it can use are still added. Adding the same file twice is ignored. A few tools work on a **folder** rather than files (Tidy a Folder and Large Files Finder): drop the folder itself, or choose it in the open panel.

### Order matters for some tools

Drag files up and down in the list to reorder them. Tools that combine files, such as [Merge PDFs](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/merge-pdf), [Merge Videos](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/merge-videos) or [Images to PDF](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/images-to-pdf), use the order shown.

### Tools that take a link, text or nothing at all

Not every tool takes files. **Download Video** shows a link field: copy a link, then click **Paste & Download**, which pastes and starts in one click. Tools that take a line of text (such as QR Code) have a **Paste** button and start with Return. Tools for longer text (Clean Up Text, Rewrite, JSON Formatter) have a text box with **Paste** and **Clear**, a live word count, and a **Result** box with **Copy** and **Use as Input** to run the tool again on its own output. Action tools, such as Grab Text from Screen or Password Generator, have one big button and usually copy their result to the clipboard.

## Setting options, and how presets work

The **Options** panel on the right holds everything you can change. Options appear only when they apply: choosing “Where I drag it” for a watermark's position, for example, adds a position control, and some image tools then let you drag the text, watermark or signature directly on a preview of your first image (arrow keys nudge it; hold ⇧ for bigger steps).

OneMacTools **remembers the last options you used for each tool**, as soon as you change them. Those same options are used when you run the tool from Finder Quick Actions, the menu bar or Shortcuts, so set them once in the app the way you like.

### Presets

1. Set the options the way you want them, for example 1080p and Balanced for Instagram.
2. Under **Presets**, click **Save…**, type a name (such as “Instagram”) and click **Save**.
3. Next time, choose the preset from the menu to switch all the options in one click.

The same menu has **Delete Preset** and **Reset to Defaults**. Passwords typed into options (for Password Protect PDF, for example) are never saved in presets. Presets can also be used by the Shortcuts action; see [Shortcuts and Siri](https://www.onemactools.com/docs/apple-shortcuts-siri-automation-mac).

## Estimates and previews before you run

Some tools tell you what you'll get before you commit.

- **Size targets.** Tools that compress to a limit, such as Compress to Size, show the estimate in the footer: the current size struck through, an arrow, the target (“under 25 MB”) and the saving (“−98%”). If every file is already under the target, it says **Already under the target** and those files are kept as they are.
- **Live before and after.** [Compress Images](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/compress-images) and [Compress PNG](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/compress-png) show a zoomed-in crop from the centre of your first image, before and after, with both sizes and the percentage saved. It re-runs the real encoder as you move the quality slider, so the artefacts you see are the ones you'll get.

![Compress to Size with a 1.4 GB video loaded, showing it will end up under 25 MB, 98% smaller, before starting](https://www.onemactools.com/screens/compress-estimate.png)
*See how small it'll be before you start.*

If a tool needs a helper that isn't installed, an orange banner says so (“This tool needs FFmpeg”) with an **Install** button, and the main button stays disabled until it's installed. See [FFmpeg on Mac](https://www.onemactools.com/docs/ffmpeg-on-mac-setup).

## Running the tool

When the tool has what it needs, the footer reads “Ready — ⌘↩ to compress” (or merge, convert…). Click the main button or press **⌘↩** (⌘Return). Text and link tools start with plain Return.

If the job takes longer than a moment, the input area fades into the processing screen: a progress ring around the tool's icon, what it's doing now, time elapsed and left, thumbnails of your files, and a tip. The footer shows a progress bar, a percentage and **Cancel**. [Batch processing and progress](https://www.onemactools.com/docs/batch-processing-progress-mac) explains everything on that screen, including cancelling and what happens when something fails.

Most tools process every file you added in one batch: drop 40 HEIC photos on [Convert Images](https://www.onemactools.com/tools/convert-images) and you get 40 JPEGs in one folder.

## Where OneMacTools saves results, and how they're named

Every job creates a **new folder** for its results, so nothing is ever overwritten:

| Rule | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Location | `~/Downloads/OneMacTools` by default. Change it in Settings › Output › **Save results to** › **Choose…**; **Reset** goes back to the default. The Options panel's **Saves to** line shows the current folder. |
| Folder name | The tool's name and the time, such as “Compress to Size – 2026-10-12 at 09.41.20”. If two jobs finish in the same second, the second folder gets “ 2” on the end. |
| All or nothing | Results are written to a temporary folder first and moved into place only when the whole batch succeeds. If anything fails or you cancel, no half-finished folder appears. |
| Originals | Never modified or moved. Tools read your files and write new ones. The only exceptions are options that say so clearly, such as “Tidy the folder itself (moves files)” or renaming originals in Smart Rename. |

Some tools don't make files at all: Password Generator, Grab Text from Screen or Clean Up Text, for example, put their result on the clipboard or in the window, and the footer says what happened instead of showing a folder.

## Preview, Show in Finder, Share, and doing something next

When a job finishes, the footer shows a green check, “Done — 4 files saved” (or the tool's own summary, such as “Done — 24.6 MB, under 25 MB”), and the folder's location. Then:

- **Preview** opens the results in Quick Look without leaving the app. Use the arrow keys to step through them, and Live Text to select words in images.
- **Show in Finder** opens the results folder.
- **Share** sends the files with AirDrop, Mail, Messages, Notes and anything else in the Mac's share menu. For text results, Share sends the text itself.

To open the folder automatically every time, turn on Settings › Output › **Open the folder when a job finishes**.

### Chaining tools

To run another tool on the results, such as converting a video and then compressing it to 25 MB, drag the files from the results folder (or from Quick Look) onto the next tool's drop zone. You can also drop them on the OneMacTools icon in the Dock: OneMacTools shows **Open With**, “What would you like to do?”, with every tool that accepts those files grouped by category. Dropping them on the menu bar icon shows the same choice as a menu. Everything you've run is listed in [History](https://www.onemactools.com/docs/history-of-processed-files) with a button to reopen each folder.

To skip the window entirely next time, run the same tool from Finder's right-click menu with [Quick Actions](https://www.onemactools.com/docs/finder-quick-actions-mac), or automatically on new files with [Watch Folders](https://www.onemactools.com/docs/watch-folders-automation-mac).

## Questions

**Can I paste files into a OneMacTools tool?**
Not with ⌘V. Drag the files in, use Choose Files… or Add Files…, or drop them on the Dock or menu bar icon. Text and link tools do have Paste buttons, and Download Video's Paste & Download pastes a copied link and starts in one click.

**Does OneMacTools overwrite my original files?**
No. Every job writes new files into a new dated folder and leaves originals where they are. The only tools that change originals are those with an option that clearly says so, such as Tidy a Folder's “Tidy the folder itself” or Smart Rename's option to rename the originals.

**Where do OneMacTools results go?**
Into Downloads › OneMacTools, in a folder named after the tool and the time, for example “Merge PDFs – 2026-10-12 at 09.41.20”. You can pick another folder in Settings › Output. Click Show in Finder when a job finishes, or open it later from History.

**Why was a file I dropped not added?**
The tool can't work with that kind of file, so it was skipped and the list gave a little shake. For example, Convert Images doesn't accept PDFs. Ask (⌘K) or dropping the file on the Dock icon shows which tools do accept it.

**How do I scan a document with my iPhone into OneMacTools?**
Open Scan Documents (or Tables to Spreadsheet, or Business Card to Contact) and click Scan with iPhone…. Choose Scan Documents under your iPhone or iPad, capture each page and tap Save; the scan appears in the tool as a PDF. Both devices need Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on and the same Apple Account.

**Can I save my favourite settings for a tool?**
Yes. Your last-used options are remembered automatically, and you can save named presets in the Options panel with Presets › Save…. Quick Actions, the menu bar and Shortcuts use your last-used options too.

**How do I run a second tool on the results of the first?**
Drag the result files from Finder or Quick Look onto the next tool, or drop them on the OneMacTools Dock icon to see every tool that can use them. Each job still saves its own dated folder, so you keep both steps.

Source: https://www.onemactools.com/docs/how-to-use-onemactools-tools (updated 2026-10-24)