How to save time resizing images on Mac with this ‘hidden’ feature

Apple MacBook

If you find yourself constantly resizing images on your Mac—whether for uploading to a website, sending over email, or just freeing up space — there’s a faster way than opening Preview or Photoshop every time. Or using any resizing tool on the web.

macOS has a built-in tool called Quick Actions that lets you resize images with just a couple of clicks, and once you set it up, it’s available right from the right-click menu in Finder.

Here’s how to create a custom Quick Action for image resizing:

• Open the Automator app (just search for it via Spotlight).
• Choose Quick Action as the document type.
• In the workflow panel at the top, set “Workflow receives current” to image files in Finder.
• From the left sidebar, search for “Scale Images” and drag it to the workflow area.
• When prompted to add a step to copy the image first, choose Don’t Add if you want to overwrite the original (or Add if you want to keep the original intact).
• Set your desired pixel size—like 800 or 1200 pixels wide.
• Save the Quick Action with a name like Resize to 1200px.

Now, when you right-click an image in Finder, scroll to Quick Actions, and you’ll see your custom resize option ready to go. It’s a huge timesaver—especially when you’ve got a folder full of images and no time to waste.