From HEIF to JPEG with a single right click

In recent years, Apple has used a new design to record photos taken on the iPhone and iPod: HEIF, to High efficiency image design. This format was not invented by Apple, but by a team of experts Team of Moving Image Experts, Famous creators of MPEG video design. Apple is simply the first brand to turn this into a default design, which will not go unnoticed here and there.

To avoid these minor compatibility issues, you can continue to force the iPhone to use the JPEG format by checking the “Most compatible” box in the camera’s “Shapes” settings. But it is a shame that we are missing out on a very modern and efficient design as a few sites or a few applications have not yet made the effort to modify it.

We therefore recommend that for these review recipients, in a few simple steps, create a function that allows you to convert one or more HEIF files to JPEG with a simple right click from the finder. For those who have not yet tasted it, this will be an opportunity to try out the popular automation software that is a gold mine for repetitive tasks.

We are going to start precisely on the automator. This application is located in the “Applications” folder, of course. Launch it and create a new document. Among the choices the application offers, there is a “quick action” category: this is what we are going to choose.

At the top of the window, specify “Process receives current item: Image Files: In any application”. This will prevent your action from being used for anything other than images. Then, select the photos in the list of programs in the library (left to right) and drag the action “Change image type” from the second column to the area to the right.

Automator will no doubt suggest adding a copy function automatically to keep the original: it is up to you to decide what you want! For my part, I only know that using this action to edit photos recovered by Air Drop from iPhone is safe on the original phone, so I did not include a copy process.

We need to export now to make this little process available in Inventor. It happens in the “File> Export” menu. Give it a simple little name like “HEIF – JPEG” and save it on the desktop. You can leave the automator (if you do not want to change your program later, you do not need to save it).

All you have to do is double click on the action you just registered on your Mac desktop. The system will install it for you: Accept by clicking “Install”. When Apple does things right, your workflow file disappears from the desktop at once.

Now, facing an HEIF file (or any other image readable on the Mac), you can right-click your “HEIF – JPEG” function to convert the file to a more compatible format. It is even possible to select multiple images at once.

We hope you find this tip helpful, and – why not? – This will allow us to learn more about all the automation functions that allow us to get the most out of our devices: shortcuts on Mac Automator and iOS, For that Nicola Furno offers a creamy sexy in our store.