Finder Quick Actions on Mac: Rotate, Convert & More

Quick Actions are the small tools hiding in Finder's right-click menu: rotate a photo, bundle files into a PDF, convert an image format, or trim a video — all without opening an app. They run on the file where it sits and save the result right next to it. Here's what's built into Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia, and how to add actions of your own.

Where Quick Actions live

There are three places to trigger them, all fed by the same list:

• Right-click menu: select one or more files, right-click, and hover over Quick Actions. The submenu changes with the file type — image actions for images, Trim for movies and audio.
• Preview pane: press Shift+Cmd+P (or View → Show Preview) and action buttons appear under the file's details on the right side of the window.
• Quick Look: some actions, like Markup and Trim, are also buttons inside the space-bar preview window.

What the built-in actions do

• Rotate Left: rotates images or videos 90° per click, in place. Hold Option and it becomes Rotate Right. Rotation happens without a save dialog — press Cmd+Z in Finder if you overshoot.
• Markup: opens a lightweight editor to sign, annotate, or crop a PDF or image without launching Preview.
• Create PDF: select several images or PDFs and this merges them into one PDF, in the order you selected them.
• Convert Image: converts to JPEG, PNG, or HEIF, with a size option — the fastest HEIC-to-JPEG converter on your Mac. The original is kept.
• Trim: shortens audio or video with the same yellow trim handles QuickTime uses, then lets you replace the file or save a copy.
• Remove Background: lifts the subject out of an image and saves a new PNG with transparency. Look for it on image files on Ventura and later.

Choose which actions appear

1. Right-click a file and choose Quick Actions → Customize…
2. macOS opens the extensions list — on Ventura and Sonoma that's System Settings → Privacy & Security → Extensions → Finder; on Sequoia it lives under General → Login Items & Extensions.
3. Tick the actions you want in the menu and untick the noise. Changes apply immediately.

Make your own Quick Actions

The built-ins are just the start. Any Shortcuts workflow can become a right-click action:

1. Open Shortcuts and create a shortcut that accepts files as input — say, resize to 1200px, or upload to a server.
2. Click the info button in the shortcut's detail pane, enable Use as Quick Action, and tick Finder.
3. The shortcut now appears under Quick Actions whenever you right-click a matching file.

Prefer the older tool? Automator still works: choose File → New → Quick Action, build the workflow, and save it. Automator actions land in the same menu and can be assigned keyboard shortcuts under System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services.

Quick Actions on many files at once

This is where they beat opening an app hands down. Select a whole folder's worth of items first, then right-click any one of them:

• Convert Image on 40 HEIC photos produces 40 JPEGs in one pass — pick the format and size once.
• Create PDF on a selection of scans builds a single combined PDF. Selection order sets the page order, so Cmd-click them in sequence if it matters.
• Rotate Left fixes a batch of sideways photos in one click per 90°.

Results always land next to the originals in the same folder, named after the first file. Nothing is uploaded anywhere — every action runs locally, which also means they work offline and on files too sensitive for a web converter.

Pair it with Quick Look

Quick Actions edit files; Quick Look previews them instantly with the space bar — and its preview window carries the same Markup and Trim buttons. Together they cover most quick file jobs without opening a single app.