13 Mac Automation Ideas That Save Clicks Every Day

By the Profiles Switcher team. Published September 22, 2026.

The best Mac automations remove a click you make every day: switching the sound, picking a printer, mounting a drive, opening work apps, changing the keyboard layout. Here are 13 that work on any Mac with macOS 13 or later, grouped by the moment of the day, each linked to step-by-step setup.

Set this up with Profiles Switcher on the Mac App Store, or start from a ready-made recipe.

Arriving at work

Open your work apps when you arrive. Office Wi-Fi on a weekday opens Slack, Mail and your dashboard, and hides personal apps. Recipe
Print to the printer in the room. The office profile sets the office printer as the default. Recipe
Mount the team drive. Joining the office network connects the file server. Recipe

At your desk

Stay awake while docked. An external display plus the charger keeps the Mac and screen awake; undock and it sleeps normally. Recipe
Match the keyboard layout to the keyboard. Plugging in the external keyboard switches the input source. Recipe
Use your best microphone. Plugging in the USB mic makes it the input and unmutes it. Recipe

Sound

Sound follows your headphones. Output, microphone and volume switch together, and back again. Recipe
Silent everywhere but home. Any network that is not home mutes the Mac. Recipe

At home

Run a shortcut when you get home. Arriving home runs a HomeKit scene or any shortcut you have built. Recipe
A wallpaper for every place. Home gets a holiday photo, the office a calm one. Recipe
Wallpaper that follows Dark mode. Your own photos switch with the appearance. Recipe

On the move

A low battery warning you notice. Below 20% on battery, the Mac says so out loud and can run a power-saving shortcut. Recipe
Travel mode on landing. A new time zone opens your itinerary and switches the keyboard. Recipe

How do you build your own?

Every idea above is the same pattern: when something is true, then change a few things. Profiles Switcher has 19 triggers and 18 actions, and Run a Shortcut brings in anything the Shortcuts app can do. Two rules of thumb make the setups dependable:

Use priorities so a specific profile (Office meeting room) wins over a general one (Office).
Add an Everyday profile at the lowest priority to restore your defaults whenever nothing specific matches.

The help guide lists every trigger and action, and the automation recipes have the step-by-step versions.

Frequently asked questions

What should I automate on my Mac first?

Start with the setting you change most often by hand. For most people that is the sound output with headphones, the default printer between home and office, or the apps they open when they start work.

Do these automations need scripting?

No. Each one is a profile built from menus in Profiles Switcher: a few rules and a few actions. Shortcuts can be added as an extra action when you want one.

Can several automations run at the same time?

One profile is active at a time, and a profile can contain as many actions as you like. Priorities decide which profile wins when several match, so you can layer a specific setup over a general one.

Ready-made automations for this

ideas home-and-office shortcuts

Let your Mac switch its own setup

Profiles Switcher is a menu bar app for Mac (macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel) that switches your Mac's setup automatically. You build profiles from 19 triggers, such as the Wi-Fi network you join, a place, headphones or a display, and 18 actions, including running any of your Shortcuts. Everything runs on your Mac; it is available on the Mac App Store.

Download on the Mac App Store