# Summarize — Summarize documents on Mac with on-device AI

Get the short version of long documents from Apple Intelligence's on-device model. Part of OneMacTools, 151 private tools in one native Mac app (macOS 26 or later); category: On-device AI. Runs on your Mac; nothing is uploaded.

Summarise PDFs, Word documents and text as key points, a short paragraph or a detailed summary with headings. Long documents are summarised in sections and then combined.

Page: https://www.onemactools.com/tools/summarize-pdf-and-documents · Download: https://www.onemactools.com/download · Pricing: https://www.onemactools.com/pricing

## How to use it
1. **Drop your documents.** Add PDFs, Word documents, RTF, HTML, Markdown, text or subtitle files onto Summarize. Each gets its own summary.
2. **Choose a style.** In the right-hand panel, set Style to Key points, Short paragraph or Detailed.
3. **Click Summarize.** Apple Intelligence's on-device model reads the document. Long documents are summarised in sections, and those summaries are then combined.
4. **Read the summary.** It's saved as “<document> summary.txt” in a new dated folder in Downloads › OneMacTools. Open it with the Preview (eye) button or Show in Finder.

## Options
- **Style:** Key points, the default, gives 5–8 concise bullet points. Short paragraph gives a single short paragraph, good for an email or a briefing. Detailed gives a longer summary with headings and bullet points, for reports you need to follow section by section.

## Tips
- Scanned PDFs have no text to summarise. Run them through Make PDF Searchable or Extract Text first.
- Very long documents are summarised from summaries of each part, so small details can drop out. Choose Detailed to keep more of them, or use Ask a Document for one specific fact.
- Check figures, dates and names against the document before you quote or forward a summary. The model is told never to invent facts, but it can still get things wrong.
- To focus on one chapter, take those pages out with Extract Pages and summarise just them.
- Summaries are plain text, so they paste cleanly into an email or a document.

## Questions
**How do I summarise a PDF on a Mac?**
Drop the PDF onto Summarize, choose a style and click Summarize. The summary is written by Apple Intelligence's on-device model and saved as a text file.

**Can it summarise a scanned PDF?**
Not directly, because a scan has no text in it. Run it through Make PDF Searchable or Extract Text first, then summarise the result.

**How long a document can it summarise?**
There's no fixed limit. Long documents are split into sections of about 6,000 characters, each is summarised, and the summaries are combined, so a long report just takes longer.

**Which summary style should I choose?**
Key points for a quick scan, Short paragraph for an email or a briefing, and Detailed when you need the structure of a long report with headings.

**Will the summary be accurate?**
It sticks closely to the document, but AI can drop or blur a detail. Check any numbers, dates or names before you rely on them.

**Can I summarise several documents at once?**
Yes. Drop them all in. Each document gets its own summary file; they aren't merged into one.

**Can it summarise a Word document?**
Yes. Word (.docx), RTF, HTML, Markdown and plain-text files all work, as well as PDFs.