How to Copy Files in Shortcuts.app (with an Example)

If you've been looking for how to copy files in the Shortcuts app, then you may be surprised it's actually the Save File action. Here's the basics of how to use it and a real world example.

00:00 - Intro
00:06 - The Basics of Save File
01:44 - A Real World Example
04:20 - Copying Multiple Files at Once
05:00 - Outro

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#shortcuts #apple #mac #iphone #ipad

[djr]

Thank you for this clear and concise tutorial. This is the best tutorial for saving files to specific folder using shortcuts app in macOS.
Your latest subscriber 🙏

[botabob]

@EasyOSX - I am looking for some help with "shortcuts" I am relatively new to MacOS and some things are not clicking in my mind. I want to automate copying video files (mp4) from an SD card to an external SSD. I want to plug my SD card into my Mac Mini via dock and copy them to my SSD plugged into my thunderbolt usb c port.
I am following you video, but am not having any success selecting the external storage devices to use in shortcuts. Is it even possible to do this or am I just wasting my time? Thanks for posting this video. Enjoy the journey - cheers

[AndreasBodin]

Great walkthrough! Thanks a lot!

I do convert images using shortcuts from RAW to JPEG, but I'd like to have a folder created called JPEG where the files are stored that I want to convert. How would I accomplish this to take place once I select a bunch for files that are to be converted to JPEG?

[timmark]

Another thing I noticed was say you have two folders and one folder contains one item and the other has more than one item. When you do a copy via the loop, the folder with more than 1 items gets copied over, however when you copy the folder with one item, the item gets copied with the folder name. Thats odd too. Looks like a bug

[daecarman]

Hey Easy. Excellent video by the way. I followed your step by step instructions for the 2nd part copying to a folder. I have a file that I regularly update and save it to another folder for backup. So I created the shortcut. However, when I run it, it doesn't copy and paste/save the file into the folder. However, when I "right click" on the file and choose" the "Quick Action" choice and then choose the short cut it works. I was hoping just to run the short cut itself and it would perform the copy and save/paste into the folder, overwriting anything that was already there. Thoughts?

[timmark]

When you use an external HDD to save, it fails when the overwrite option is checked

[jsun]

Great video! Can I use Siri for copying files?

[chrisnielsen]

Oh dear. It’s meant to be pronounced ‘OS 10’ not ‘OS X’ because the previous one was OS 9