Drop Folders Straight Into 1FileTool

When a job starts with a folder full of files, the slow part should not be getting those files into the app. Before this update, a batch task often meant opening a folder, selecting the files inside, repeating that for the next folder, and double-checking that nothing unrelated slipped into the list.

That gets old quickly when you are compressing image sets, converting a client folder of PDFs, or preparing a group of files that live inside several nested project folders. You already know which folder contains the work. The app should be able to take it from there.

What changed

Now you can drop or select whole folders in 1FileTool without opening each folder and picking files one by one.

Folder Selection works across the file drop zones in the app. Drag one folder, several folders, or a parent folder into a tool, and 1FileTool expands the selection locally. The active tool decides which file types are allowed, so an image tool gathers supported images while ignoring PDFs, videos, documents, and anything else that does not belong in that job.

How it works in practice

Start from the tool you actually want to use

Open the tool for the job first. If you are compressing images, choose Compress under Image Tools. If you are preparing PDFs, choose the relevant PDF tool. The drop zone already knows the formats that tool can handle, and Folder Selection uses those same rules when scanning folders.

This keeps mixed folders from turning into noisy batches. A project folder can contain screenshots, source files, PDFs, notes, and exports. When you drop that folder into an image tool, 1FileTool only keeps the supported image files.

Drop folders instead of hunting for every file

You can drag folders directly into the drop zone. You can also click browse and pick folders from the system file picker, because the picker now accepts both files and directories. That matters when the files are already organized by client, campaign, date, or source folder.

Instead of opening each folder and selecting the visible files, you give 1FileTool the folder itself. The app recursively walks the contents and builds the batch for you.

Review a cleaner batch before processing

Large folder selections can overlap. A parent folder might contain a subfolder you also selected, or the same file might appear through a resolved path. 1FileTool now skips duplicates by real path and adds folder contents in a consistent order, so the review step is easier to trust.

You still stay in control. Folder Selection prepares the file list; you can review the batch before starting the conversion, compression, watermarking, or other operation.

Use the same flow across different file categories

The folder rules are not limited to images. PDF, video, audio, privacy, design, and workflow tools each apply their own file filters automatically. That means the same habit works everywhere: choose the tool, drop the folder, review the files that match.

Before vs After

Before	After
Open a folder in Finder	Drop the folder into 1FileTool
Manually select only the supported files	1FileTool filters by the active tool
Repeat for every subfolder	Parent folders can be scanned recursively
Watch for accidental duplicates	Duplicate real paths are skipped
Rebuild the list when Finder handoffs split files apart	macOS multi-file openings arrive together more reliably

Who benefits most

If you work with image exports, you can compress or convert a whole campaign folder without separating screenshots from documents first.

If you handle PDF packets, you can point 1FileTool at the folder where the packet lives and let the PDF tool collect the documents it can process.

If you use Folder Monitor or Workflow Recipes, this update also fits the way your files are already organized: folders represent real work, not just storage.

Try it

Update to 1FileTool v1.3.1, open any tool with a file drop zone, and drop a folder into it. You get the same local processing model as before, with less manual file picking before the work begins.