# Integrations

> Use Picmal from anywhere on macOS: drag and drop, Open With, the share menu, Quick Actions, Services, Shortcuts, Raycast and the menu bar app.

Source: https://picmal.app/docs/integrations

## Drag & drop

Drop files onto Picmal in three ways:

- **App window**. Drop files directly into the main window
- **Dock icon**. Drop files onto the Picmal icon in your Dock
- **Menu bar icon**. Drop files onto the menu bar icon (when **Keep in menu bar** is on)

You can drop individual files or entire folders.

## Open With

Right-click a file in Finder and pick **Open With → Picmal** to add it to the window. Picmal appears for every format it reads. It never takes over as the default app, except for a file type no other app on your Mac can open.

## Finder services (right-click menu)

Picmal adds five services to Finder's right-click menu:

1. **Picmal — Compress**. Compresses the selected files right away
2. **Picmal — Convert**. Converts the selected files right away
3. **Picmal — Add Files**. Adds the selected files to the Picmal window without processing them, so you can tweak settings first
4. **Picmal — Combine PDFs**. Merges the selected PDFs into one, in selection order. Only appears when every selected file is a PDF
5. **Picmal — Images to PDF**. Turns the selected images into a multi-page PDF. Only appears when every selected file is an image

To enable these services:

1. Open **System Settings** (or System Preferences)
2. Go to **Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services**
3. Scroll to the **Files and Folders** section
4. Check the Picmal entries you want

![Enabling Picmal services in Keyboard Shortcuts settings](/images/docs/finder_quick_actions.png)

Once enabled, select files in Finder, right-click, and find them under **Services** (or **Quick Actions**).

Picmal's services only appear for files it can handle, images, audio, video, and PDFs. Select a folder, an archive, or an application and they stay out of the menu.

![Picmal services in the Finder right-click menu](/images/docs/quick_actions.png)

### Services use your current settings

Compress and Convert from Finder use whatever you've already set up in the app. There's no separate dialog. Your quality preset, output format, resize and color-space options, metadata handling, the file-naming pattern, and where files get saved all apply.

So set things up the way you want them in Picmal before you lean on the services:

- **Where files go.** By default, outputs sit next to the originals. To send them to a subfolder instead, turn on **Settings → Output → Save outputs in a subfolder** and give it a name. The services respect this the same way the app does; with it off, files land beside the source. See [Output and naming](/docs/output-and-naming).
- **File names, the quality preset, and the output format** come from your current settings too, so adjust them under **Settings** first.
- **Combine PDFs** merges in Finder's selection order and saves `<first name> (combined).pdf` next to the originals. **Images to PDF** uses your saved page size and quality from the [PDF tools](/docs/pdf-tools) options (passwords never apply to service runs) and saves `<first name>.pdf`. Want to reorder pages first? Open the tool in the app instead.

Want to check or change settings for a specific batch first? Use **Picmal — Add Files** instead. It drops the files into the window so you can pick your options and hit Compress or Convert yourself.

### Running with the app closed

You don't need Picmal open. **Picmal — Compress**, **Picmal — Convert**, **Picmal — Combine PDFs**, and **Picmal — Images to PDF** run in the background without opening the window, post a notification when they're done, and quit on their own. If the app is already open, they run there and it stays open. **Picmal — Add Files** always opens the window so you can see what's queued.

## Shortcuts app

Picmal provides eleven actions for Apple's Shortcuts app, so you can build automated workflows. The actions need a license; the 7-day trial does not cover them.

![Picmal actions in the Shortcuts app](/images/docs/shortcuts.png)

### Convert files

| Parameter     | Description                 |
| ------------- | --------------------------- |
| Files         | The files to convert        |
| Output format | Target format               |
| Preset        | Compression preset to apply |

### Compress files

| Parameter       | Description                                    |
| --------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| Files           | The files to compress                          |
| Preset          | Compression preset                             |
| Custom quality  | Quality value (1–100) when using Custom preset |
| Remove metadata | Strip metadata from output                     |

### Crop Files

| Parameter          | Description                                                        |
| ------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| Files              | The images or PDFs to crop                                         |
| Auto-Trim Borders  | Images only: remove a solid-color border by reading the corner color |
| Auto-Trim Tolerance| How much the border color may vary, 0–50% (default 5)              |
| Top / Bottom / Left / Right | Margin to remove from each edge, pixels for images, millimeters for PDFs |

Returns the cropped files, ready for a "Save File" action or the next step. See [Crop](/docs/crop).

### Combine PDFs

| Parameter | Description                                  |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| PDFs      | The PDFs to merge, in page order (two or more) |

Returns the merged PDF, ready for a "Save File" action or the next step in your shortcut.

### Split PDF

| Parameter   | Description                                                       |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------- |
| PDF         | The PDF to split                                                  |
| Page ranges | Ranges like `1-3, 5, 8-`. Leave blank to split every page separately |

Returns the split PDFs as a list of files, ready for a "Save File" action or the next step.

### Images to PDF

| Parameter | Description                                                    |
| --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Images    | The images to place on pages, in order                          |
| Page size | Fit to Image, A4, or US Letter                                  |
| Quality   | JPEG quality for embedded images (40–100)                       |
| Password  | Optional password required to open the PDF                      |

Returns the finished PDF.

### Merge Audio

| Parameter   | Description                                          |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Audio Files | The audio files to join, in order (two or more)      |

Returns the merged track, ready for a "Save File" action or the next step. Same-format files are joined losslessly; mixed formats are re-encoded to match the first file. See [Audio tools](/docs/audio-tools).

### Combine Videos

| Parameter | Description                                       |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------------- |
| Videos    | The videos to join, in order (two or more)        |

Returns the combined video, ready for a "Save File" action or the next step. Matching clips are joined losslessly; mismatched ones are scaled and re-encoded to match the first. See [Video tools](/docs/video-tools).

### App Icons

| Parameter | Description                                          |
| --------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| Image     | The source image to generate icons from              |

Returns the app icon files, a macOS `.icns`, a Windows `.ico`, and an iOS icon set. See [App Icons](/docs/app-icons).

### Remove Background

| Parameter | Description                                     |
| --------- | ----------------------------------------------- |
| Images    | The image(s) to cut the background out of       |

Returns transparent PNGs with the background removed, ready for a "Save File" action or the next step. It runs on-device, so nothing is uploaded. See [Remove Background](/docs/remove-background).

### Upscale Images

| Parameter | Description                                 |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Images    | The images to upscale                       |
| Scale     | 2x or 4x (default 4x)                       |

Returns the upscaled images, named after the originals. It runs on-device, so nothing is uploaded. Find it in the Shortcuts action library under Picmal. See [Upscale](/docs/upscale).

Use these to build automations like "compress every screenshot I take," "convert HEIC photos to JPEG when added to a folder," or "merge this month's invoices into one PDF."

### Ready-made shortcuts

Ready-made shortcuts to get you started. Click any link to add it to your Shortcuts app:

- [Convert file (with Picmal)](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/00bf8518dd414c20b0ce31d9da8415e3)
- [Compress file (with Picmal)](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/16566c74e2554dd7aacd2078b4c864c6)
- [Combine PDFs (with Picmal)](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/c43669db2eb446619afb33e47efda649)
- [Images to PDF (with Picmal)](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/ec32a8c7305c44c89f37a39785c46b23)

## Raycast

Picmal has a [Raycast extension](https://www.raycast.com/albertogalca/picmal). Install it from the Raycast Store, or search for "Picmal" in Raycast's Store command. It drives the app you already have installed, so there's nothing to configure: no API key, no separate download. You need Picmal installed and licensed; the 7-day trial does not cover Raycast.

It adds eight commands:

- **Convert Files**. Change format across images, audio, and video, with optional compression and metadata removal
- **Compress Files**. Shrink files while keeping the format, using a built-in or custom preset
- **Combine PDFs**. Merge PDFs into one, in the order you pick
- **Split PDF**. Split a PDF into one document per page range, or one PDF per page. See [PDF tools](/docs/pdf-tools)
- **Images to PDF**. Build a multi-page PDF from images, with page size, quality, and an optional password
- **Merge Audio**. Join audio files into a single track, losslessly when they share a format. See [Audio tools](/docs/audio-tools)
- **Combine Videos**. Join clips into one video, losslessly when they match. See [Video tools](/docs/video-tools)
- **Generate App Icons**. Turn one image into a macOS `.icns`, a Windows `.ico`, and an iOS icon set. See [App Icons](/docs/app-icons)

Point them at the files you've selected in Finder, or pick files from Raycast itself.

### Raycast AI

The extension also ships AI tools for converting, compressing, combining PDFs, splitting PDFs, building PDFs from images, combining videos, and generating app icons, so you can just ask:

- `@picmal convert these to webp`
- `@picmal compress the selected videos`
- `@picmal split this PDF into pages 1-3 and 4-8`

Everything still runs locally on your Mac, the same as the app.

## Menu bar

Turn on **Keep in menu bar** in **Settings → General** to add a Picmal icon to your menu bar. The app stays running in the background even when the main window is closed.

Click the icon to open the menu, or drop files directly onto it to process them.

### Quick actions

| Item                | Shortcut | Action                                                        |
| ------------------- | -------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Add Files…          | ⇧⌘O      | Pick a file with the system file picker and run it through the clipboard pipeline |
| Optimize Clipboard  |,        | Toggle [clipboard optimization](/docs/clipboard-optimization) on or off |
| On Copy             |,        | Choose what happens when you copy: Compress, Convert, or both. Grayed out when monitoring is off |
| Target Format       |,        | When the action involves conversion, pick the output format. Hidden in Compress-only mode |
| Auto-Copy Result    |,        | Toggle [auto-copy](/docs/clipboard-optimization#auto-copy) without opening Settings |
| Open Picmal         | O        | Open the main window                                          |
| Settings…           | ,        | Open Settings                                                 |
| Quit Picmal         | Q        | Quit Picmal                                                   |

The clipboard quick controls bind to the same values as **Settings → General**, so the menu and Preferences always stay in sync.

## Start at login

Turn on **Start at login** in **Settings → General** so Picmal launches when you log in. Together with **Keep in menu bar** and watched folders, that means processing keeps running after a reboot without you having to open the app.