Shortcuts and files on the Mac
The Shortcuts app is a good tool for files on the Mac. Here are the main building blocks and a few ideas.
The main actions
- Get Contents of Folder: all files in a folder.
- Filter Files: by name, extension, size, creation or modification date.
- Rename File and Move File: the filing itself.
- Get Text from PDF and Extract Text from Image: read the content.
- Match Text: find a date or an amount with a regular expression.
As a Finder Quick Action
In a shortcut's details, turn on “Use as Quick Action” and “Finder”. It then shows up under “Quick Actions” when you control-click a file. Handy for things you only need now and then.
Letterslot in Shortcuts
- Clean up folder now: applies your rules to a watched folder right away.
- Recognize file: returns kind, sender, date and amount of a file, recognized on your Mac.
- Export receipts for month: creates the ZIP with PDFs and a CSV list for a month.
Ideas
- A Quick Action that runs “Recognize file” and then “Rename File” with sender and date, for files outside your watched folders.
- At the start of each month, “Export receipts for month” for the previous month, saved to a folder of your choice.
- “Clean up folder now” as a menu bar button or keyboard shortcut.
The Shortcuts actions are part of Letterslot Pro. “Recognize file” needs a Mac with Apple silicon and Apple Intelligence turned on for kind, sender, date and amount.
Letterslot is a file autopilot for the Mac: it reads new files, understands them with Apple's on-device language model and files them by your rules, with a journal and Undo. 14 days of everything free, then free with 2 rules or Pro for €24 once.
See Letterslot