How to quickly resize images on your mac with automator

The need to modify the size of the images is common, either for class work or for those who write on blogs like this one. And although doing it in macOS is easy if we use the Preview app, some people need to scale images to a specific size daily. For these users, Automator is the ideal solution because it allows it to be done much faster.

Modify the dimensions of your photos with Automator

Automator is one of the most unknown macOS services, however, the guys at MacRumors have taught us to use this application to create a simple service that will allow us to resize images with just a couple of clicks, and without using no image editing app. Let's see how to do it.

1. First, we must launch the Automator app from the applications folder, from the launchpad, or by pressing command + space and typing the name of the app in Spotlight.

2. Click on “New document”.

3. Now choose Service as the type of document you want to create and click "Select"

4. Click the drop-down menu for "Service receives selection from" and select "image files. "

5. Select "Files and Folders" in the sidebar and with "Actions" selected, choose the "Get Finder Items Selected" option and drag this option to the workflow area. Look at the next picture.

6. Now select “Photos” in the sidebar and drag “Adjust image size” to the work area, just like before.

7. Automator will ask you to "add the action" Copy Finder Items "so that the copies are modified and the originals are kept as is" in a new dialog box. The objective is to save the original files in a separate folder, modifying only their copies, which they will make previously. Since what we are creating is a simple workflow to modify the size of specific images that we will select at the time, we will click on "Do not add".

8. Now, in the “Adjust image size” action panel, type the width to which you want to resize your images. You can choose between the options "pixels" or a specific percentage with respect to the current size of the image. In this case, we are going to use 830 pixels.

9. Next, in the Automator menu bar , select the options File → Save…, Apply a name to your new workflow or service, for example, “Resize image” and click Save.

From this moment on, every time you need to resize one or several images, you will no longer have to open it in Preview, go to the menu bar, Tools, Adjust size, and enter the desired image size to resize it.. Now all you have to do is right-click (or Ctrl-click) the file you want to modify in the Finder and select Services → Change image size from the drop-down menu that will appear on the screen. And of course, you can also select multiple images with the help of the mouse to change their size at once with the service.

But it can further streamline your workflow by assigning a keyboard shortcut to the image resizing service.

To do so, simply go to System Preferences, select the Keyboard panel and click the Quick Features tab. Select Services in the sidebar, and there you should find your new service, "Adjust image size" in the Images section. Just click on it, select "Add Quick Function" and finally enter a custom key combination.

From now on, it will be enough to select one or more images and press this keyboard shortcut so that their size is modified.