Quick editors
Crop, Annotate, Redact, Remove background, Resize, Compress. Each opens a small window by the file and saves a copy, like Photo Cropped.jpg, so you can drag the result straight into another wheel.
NewSee what's new
Free & open source · for Mac
Drag. Tap. Done.
While you drag any file, tap a key and a wheel opens under the pointer: drop on a wedge to convert it, edit it or park it on a shelf.
Try it
Drag the file, then tap ⇧
Or open a wheel
A preview in your browser. In the app, it works on any file you drag in macOS.
How it works
One gesture. No windows to open.
It starts with a drag you were going to make anyway: from Finder, the Desktop or any app that lets you drag files.
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01
Drag any file
Photos, PDFs, documents, videos, folders. Several at once works too.
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02
Tap a key
⇧ Convert, ⇧⌥ Tools, ⌃ Actions. A quick tap is enough; the wheel stays open until you drop.
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03
Drop on a wedge
The result is saved next to the original, and nothing is ever overwritten.
The wheels
Three wheels, one for every job.
Each wheel only shows what makes sense for the file you're dragging.
⇧Convert
Turn a file into the format you need. The wheel never offers the format it's already in, and several files convert together.
- HEIC → JPG
- PDF → Word
- Video → GIFwith ffmpeg
- CSV → Excel
- Folder → ZIP
Results land next to the original: Photo.jpg → Photo.png.
⇧⌥Tools
Quick edits without opening a full app. Most tools open a small focused editor, work on several files at once and save a copy beside the original. Busy wheels show six at a time; rest on ⋯ for more.
- Compress a photo
- Crop or resize images
- Remove a background
- Trim a video
- Read the text in a scanOCR
- Combine images into one PDF
For PDFs: combine, reorder pages, split, compress, OCR. For video and audio: trim, split, merge, change speed.
⌃Actions
Everyday file chores, right where the file already is.
- Put files on a shelf
- AirDrop them
- Move them to a folder
- Copy the full path
- Open Terminal in its folder
With a shelf open, Add to Shelf drops files on the one you used last. Hold ⌘ in a keyboard-opened wheel to number the wedges, then press a number to run one.
Features
Small tools that stay out of the way.
Everything opens next to the pointer and closes when it's done.
Floating shelves
Drop files on the Shelf wedge and they wait in a small floating window. Gather from anywhere, then drag them out together.
Dock it to a screen edge, preview with Quick Look, keep several. Convert a file on a shelf and the result lands right beside it.
No drag needed
Select files in Finder and press ⌃⌥Space. Arrows choose, Tab switches wheels, Return runs it.
Progress by the pointer
Longer jobs show a small card where you dropped the file. Click × to cancel.
Results say what happened: “1 resized · 2 already smaller”.
Trim on a real timeline
A filmstrip for video, a waveform for audio. Then split, merge, change speed, rotate or mute.
Watched folders
Point OpenShelf at Downloads or any inbox, or click Watch Screenshots. New files pop onto a shelf of their own once they've finished arriving, ready to drag into a message.
DownloadsScreenshotsProject inbox
Each folder can also convert new files or open them in a tool, like every screenshot to JPG. Nothing is watched until you add a folder.
Pages, Numbers and Keynote
Turn .pages, .numbers and .key files into PDFs, pictures, or Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. And the other way: Word files, spreadsheets and slides get a wedge to save them in Apple's formats.
PAGES → DOCX · PDFNUMBERS → XLSX · CSVKEY → PPTX · PDF
Saving to Pages, Numbers or Keynote uses the app itself. Word, Excel and PowerPoint need LibreOffice; without it, PDFs and pictures come from the preview inside the file.
Text from any scan
Drop screenshots, scanned pages or PDFs on OCR. Get a text file or a searchable PDF, recognised on your Mac.
Output your way
Automatic by default. Or pick the video codec, quality and size, the audio bitrate, image quality and GIF width.
More formats in one click
Settings → Extra Formats installs ffmpeg, LibreOffice and Pandoc for you: official builds, signature-checked, no Homebrew or admin password.
Every everyday format, and then some
Drag several files at once; mixed selections only show the formats every file supports.
ImagesPNG · JPG · HEIC · AVIF · WEBP* · TIFF · BMP, or into a PDF or Word file
PDFto Word, PowerPoint, Excel, EPUB, Markdown, JPG, PNG, TXT
DocumentsWord, RTF, ODT, HTML, TXT to PDF, Word, EPUB, HTML, Markdown
Markdownrendered properly to PDF, Word, HTML, EPUB, RTF; Pandoc* if you have it
SpreadsheetsCSV ⇄ TSV ⇄ XLSX, XLS* and ODS*, tables to PDF
SlidesPowerPoint and ODP* to PDF, or one JPG or PNG per slide
Pages · Numbers · Keynoteto PDF, JPG, PNG, DOCX*, XLSX*, PPTX*, and back
AudioM4A · WAV · AIFF · FLAC · MP3* · OGG* · Opus* · WMA*
VideoMP4 · MOV · GIF · M4A · MKV* · WebM* · AVI* · WMV*
SubtitlesSRT ⇄ VTT, or plain TXT
Archivesunzip ZIP, TAR, GZ, 7Z, RAR into a folder
Folders & anythingZIP · TAR · TAR.GZ, several files in one archive
* Optional and free: ffmpeg adds the starred audio and video formats and WEBP, LibreOffice adds slides, XLS, ODS and whole-document Pages, Numbers and Keynote conversion, and Pandoc is used for Markdown when it's there. Install any of them in one click from Settings → Extra Formats, or use your Homebrew copies. Those wedges appear once the tool is installed.
Yours
Private, open and up to date.
Private and offline
Every conversion and tool runs on your Mac. Files never leave it. The only network access is checking GitHub for updates, which you can turn off, and downloading an extra tool when you click Install.
Open source
MIT licensed. Read the code, file issues and send pull requests on GitHub.
Signed automatic updates
New versions install from inside the app. Each update is signed, so only genuine OpenShelf releases are accepted.
No account No telemetry No Accessibility permission needed
Install
Ready in a minute.
- Download the DMGThe latest release, straight from GitHub.
- Drag OpenShelf to ApplicationsThen open it. It lives in your menu bar, and a hands-on tour appears the first time.
- Try itDrag any file, tap ⇧, and drop it on a wedge.
First launch: macOS asks onceOne time only
OpenShelf isn't notarized by Apple yet, so the first time you open it macOS says it can't verify the app. That's expected, and it only happens once.
- macOS 15 Sequoia and later: click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down to the message about OpenShelf and click Open Anyway, then confirm.
- macOS 14 Sonoma: right-click OpenShelf in Applications, choose Open, then Open again.
- Or in Terminal:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/OpenShelf.app
OpenShelf for Mac
- macOS 14 Sonoma or later, ready for macOS 27
- Apple silicon, or Intel up to macOS 26
Is it free?
Yes. OpenShelf is free and open source under the MIT license. No account, no subscription.
Does it upload my files?
No. Every conversion and tool runs on your Mac, offline. There's no telemetry; the only network access is checking GitHub for updates, which you can turn off in Settings, and downloading ffmpeg, LibreOffice or Pandoc if you click Install in Settings → Extra Formats.
Which macOS versions does it support?
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, and it's tested on macOS 27. It runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs; Intel Macs are supported up to macOS 26, since macOS 27 runs on Apple silicon only.
Which formats need extra tools?
Most formats work out of the box. Three free, optional tools add more:
ffmpeg adds MP3, OGG, Opus, WMA, MKV, WebM, AVI, WMV and WEBP, and makes slightly cleaner GIFs.
LibreOffice adds slides (PowerPoint and ODP), XLS and ODS spreadsheets, Word to PDF with the original layout, and whole-document conversion of Pages, Numbers and Keynote files.
Pandoc converts Markdown and Word documents its own way, when you prefer it.
Install any of them in one click from Settings → Extra Formats: OpenShelf downloads the official build and checks its signature, no Homebrew or administrator password needed. Copies you already have from Homebrew work too. Their wedges stay hidden until the tool is installed.
How do updates work?
OpenShelf checks GitHub once a day (it asks the first time). When a new version is out you'll see its release notes and an Install Update button, and the app restarts on the new version. Updates are signed, so only genuine releases install. You can also choose Check for Updates… from the menu bar, or turn automatic checks off in Settings.
Can I change the keys?
Yes. Click the OpenShelf wheel in the menu bar, choose Settings…, and pick the key for each wheel. The ⌃⌥Space shortcut can be changed or turned off there too.
I can't see the menu bar icon. How do I get to Settings?
On a crowded menu bar the icon can hide behind the notch or in macOS 27's menu bar overflow. Open OpenShelf again from Finder or Spotlight and Settings opens. Pressing ⌃⌥Space twice with no files selected does the same.
Where do converted files go?
Next to the original, with a new name, so nothing is ever overwritten: Photo.jpg becomes Photo.png, then Photo 2.png. Files converted from a shelf are also added back to that shelf.
Make every drag count.
Free forever. No account, no subscription, no uploads.