Get the latest news and alerts!

Tech Support How To

How to Make Thumbnails

on a Mac Later Notify

By Sophie Southern

Techwalla may earn compensation through affiliate links in this

story.

How to Make Thumbnails on a Mac

Image Credit: GaudiLab/iStock/Getty Images

Thumbnail images are generally taken for

granted -- until you have to make them for
large quantities of photos. Resizing photos into
tiny squares and saving a separate copy is far
more time consuming than you would think. If
you're on a Mac, you can use the default image
viewer, Preview, to make thumbnails by using
the "resize" function. However, if you're
interested in a far less time-consuming method,
Mac OS X also comes with Automator, which
lets you create actions to automatically make
thumbnails from your images.

ADVERTISEMENT

Step 1
Open your "Applications" folder on your Mac
and double-click the "Automator" icon to open
the application. Click "Action" from the startup
screen.

Step 2
Click the "Photos" link in the far left column of
the application window. In the second column,
click "Create Thumbnail Images," drag it into
the workflow window on the right and drop it
when you see the green "+" symbol.

ADVERTISEMENT

Step 3
Click the tab next to "Size" and choose a
maximum pixel size for your thumbnails.
Automator lets you create thumbnails with a
longest edge of 72, 96 or 128 pixels.

Step 4
Click the tab next to "Suffix" to apply a custom
suffix to your thumbnails. Automator
automatically applies the suffix "tn" for
"thumbnail" to your photos, but you can change
it to anything you like. Adding a suffix to your
photos protects your original images by making
a copy with a different name.

ADVERTISEMENT

Step 5
Select "File" from the top menu bar and then
select "Save" to save your action application.
Click a destination to save on your Mac, such
as your Desktop, and type a name for your
action, such as "Thumbnails" into the field. Click
the "Save" button to save your application.

ADVERTISEMENT

Step 6
Locate and select the image or images from
which you want to make thumbnails. Click the
"Finder" icon in your Dock to create a new
Finder window and locate your saved
thumbnail Automator action.

Step 7
Drag your images and drop them into the
action icon to create your thumbnails. You can
drop one or multiple images into the action, but
if you choose multiple images it is important to
allow the application to completely finish the
thumbnail action before attempting to open or
use both the original and the thumbnail images.

ADVERTISEMENT

Report an Issue
Contact*: screenshot of the current page
Your Email or Slack Screenshot loading...

Severity*:
Normal

Description*:
Please describe the issue

Cancel Submit