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Workflow Automation with Shortcuts and Automator on macOS Tahoe

macOS Tahoe provides two powerful, user-friendly visual tools for automation: Shortcuts and Automator. These apps allow you to create complex workflows without writing any code.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts is the modern automation app for macOS, shared with iOS and iPadOS. It allows you to chain together actions from various apps to create custom workflows.

Creating a Basic Shortcut

  1. Open the Shortcuts app.
  2. Click the + button in the toolbar to create a new shortcut.
  3. Search for Actions: In the right sidebar, search for actions like "Resize Image" or "Send Message".
  4. Drag and Drop: Drag actions into the main editor area and arrange them in logical order.
    • Example Workflow:
      1. Get Files from Folder
      2. Resize Image to 1280px wide
      3. Save File to a different folder
  5. Click the Play button to test it.

Running Shortcuts

You can run shortcuts from many places:

  • The Shortcuts app itself.
  • The Menu Bar (if you pin the shortcut).
  • Spotlight Search (just type the shortcut's name).
  • Siri ("Hey Siri, run [Shortcut Name]").
  • The Services menu (Right-click on a file > Quick Actions).

Automator

Automator is the legacy automation tool. While Shortcuts is replacing it for most user-facing tasks, Automator remains superior for certain system-level triggers, especially Folder Actions.

Creating a Folder Action

A Folder Action runs a workflow automatically whenever a file is added to a specific folder. This is perfect for tasks like automatically converting images or organizing downloads.

  1. Open Automator (in the Applications folder).
  2. Choose Folder Action as the document type.
  3. At the top, select the folder you want to watch (e.g., your Downloads folder).
  4. Add Actions: Drag actions from the library on the left.
    • Example: "Scale Images" to 50% size.
  5. Save the workflow. It becomes active immediately.

Application Workflows (Droplets)

You can also create standalone "Applications" that act as droplets.

  1. Choose Application as the document type in Automator.
  2. Add actions (e.g., "New PDF from Images").
  3. Save it to your Desktop. Now you can drag a group of image files directly onto this new app icon, and it will instantly process them.
Created: March 17, 2026 • Last Modified: February 24, 2026