How to convert files on your Mac without uploading them
Use a converter that runs on your Mac. Online converters have to receive the file on their server before they can convert it, then send the result back for you to download. FileMate converts locally, from Finder: right-click the file, choose FileMate, and pick the conversion, such as HEIC to JPEG or Word to PDF. The converted copy appears next to the original.
With FileMate, your files never leave your computer.
Convert a file locally with FileMate
- Right-click the file in Finder.
- Choose FileMate, then the conversion: Convert Image, Convert to PDF, Merge into PDF…, Extract Audio.
- The result is saved next to the original. Nothing was sent anywhere.
Online versus local, in one line each
- Online converter: upload the file, wait, download the result, find the download.
- FileMate: right-click the file, choose the conversion, done.
The difference isn’t only privacy. The upload and the download are two transfers that simply don’t exist when the conversion happens where the file is. For a 300 MB video or a folder of 200 photos, those transfers can take longer than the conversion itself.
Which files shouldn’t be uploaded to a converter?
If the file contains private information, there’s no reason to upload it just to change its format. That includes:
- Contracts, invoices, payslips and bank statements
- Passports, ID cards, visas and medical documents
- Client files and anything under an NDA
- Photos of your family, your home, or with location data
- Unreleased work: manuscripts, pitch decks, designs
What “local” means in FileMate
FileMate processes files with the frameworks built into macOS, such as ImageIO, PDFKit and AVFoundation, plus its own Office converter, which is blocked from the network. Files, and anything about them, are never sent anywhere. After the licence is activated, once per Mac, every action works offline.
Local options already on your Mac
macOS converts some things on its own: Preview exports images and PDFs, Finder’s Quick Actions convert images and create PDFs, and Pages, Numbers and Keynote export Office documents as PDF. They’re all local too. FileMate brings these conversions together in one right-click menu, adds the ones macOS doesn’t have in Finder, and works on many files at once.
Get FileMate
Online converters require an upload. FileMate converts the file where it already is, on your Mac, from the right-click menu.
Normal price €9.99, now €4.99 incl. VAT
One payment, no subscription. macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple silicon or Intel.