---
title: Your first file conversion on a Mac, in a single drag
source: https://arazioformac.com/docs/first-conversion
---

# Your first conversion

This takes about thirty seconds, and you need a file you do not mind a copy of.
A photo is ideal.

**The one-gesture way**

1. Pick the file up in Finder, as if you were moving it.
2. Hold `⇧`. A ring of formats appears around the cursor.
3. Let go toward **JPG**. The new file lands beside the original.

HEIC converts to eight formats — hold ⇧ and they appear around the cursor:
AVIF, BMP, GIF, JPG, PDF, PNG, TIFF, WebP.

Six actions work on any file at all — hold ⌃, including on files Arazio cannot
convert: AirDrop, Shelf, Copy, Move, Copy Path, Terminal.

That is the whole thing. It works on one file or four hundred, and
nothing is uploaded — the conversion happens on your Mac.

## Do it now

**Find a photo in Finder.** Any HEIC from your phone, or a PNG, or a JPG.

**Press and hold on it, and start to drag** — the same movement as dragging it
into another folder. Keep the button down.

**Now hold ⇧.** A ring appears around your cursor with a format in each slice.
The file's own name sits in the middle.

**Move toward one of them.** The slice under the cursor lights up. You are not
committed to anything yet: move back to the middle and nothing happens.

**Let go.** The converted file appears beside the original, in the same folder,
with the same name and a new extension.

That is the whole app. Everything else is a variation on it.

## What just happened

Arazio watched the drag, noticed the modifier, and offered the formats that
this particular file can become — a photo offers image formats and PDF, a
video offers video formats and audio ones. The list is not fixed; it is
computed from what the file is.

The conversion ran on your Mac. Nothing was uploaded, and nothing needed a
network: the conversion engines have no networking code in them at all, and a
test fails the build if a networking symbol appears in one.

## If the ring did not appear

The usual cause is permission. Arazio watches for a modifier during a drag,
and macOS requires Accessibility permission for that.

Open **System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility** and make sure
Arazio is listed and switched on. If it is listed and on and the ring still
does not appear, switch it off and on again — macOS occasionally keeps a stale
permission after an update.

[More on this](/docs/troubleshooting) if it is still not behaving.

## The original is never touched

Every conversion writes a new file. The one you dragged is exactly as it was,
in the same place. Nothing is overwritten, and nothing is deleted — if you want
the original gone, you delete it yourself.

## Next

The ring you just used is one of three. [The three rings](/docs/the-three-rings)
is the next minute of your life.