How to Combine or Merge Photos Side by Side or Grid on Mac

When editing photos, tasks such as combining and merging the images are generally done through photoshop or some software. But, if you want to go the same on Mac, using whatever you have on your system by default has been a tedious task. While we can use the Preview app but a too lengthy process to set Pictures side by side Horizontally or Vertically.

Generally, people would have to go through the whole process manually with Preview app by selecting the photos and opening the same in the Preview app. Manually resizing the images to fit the grid and then adjusting them to fit the screen. It is not easy to combine photos side by side on Mac, but this has been the way to do it for quite some time now.

Although there is an alternative way to do the same, you can combine or merge photos on Mac via a shortcut with the Preview app. Let us go through the process step by step:

• Go to Appstore and find the shortcuts app.
• Click ‘Get shortcut‘ and install the same on your system.
• Alternatively, you can directly Download combine image shortcuts in safari and get it installed from there.
• Therein, install the ‘combine images‘ shortcut.

Now, we have the application and the particular shortcut that we need to be installed on your system. We can use this shortcut to combine photos vertically on Mac. We can also combine photos in Grid on Mac using this particular shortcut. So, let us go through the process.

Settings necessary to combine photos side by side on Mac

1. Open the shortcuts app on your Mac.
2. Open the ‘Combine images‘ shortcut.
3. Go through the functions but do not make any changes just yet.
4. Go to the side menu and open advanced settings. 
5. Allow the shortcut to get the photos from the finder directly. Click the checkboxes for Use as quick action and finder for a more straightforward process.
6. Now, close the shortcuts app, and you can start editing the images directly. From a saved location in Finder Mac. 

How to Combine Pictures Side by Side Horizontally or Vertically

1. Once the settings are all set to combine or merge photos on Mac, you can select the images you want to incorporate from the finder. 
2. Right-click the selected images and go to the quick actions button on the menu. Therein, select the ‘combine images‘ shortcut.
3. A dialogue box opens on the screen for you where you need to select whether to combine the chosen images in chronological order or reverse chronological order.
4. Once you select either of the options, the shortcut will ask for spacing sizes. 
5. Then there are three options in the menu to choose from:

• Combine images vertically
• Combine images horizontally
• Combine images in a grid

6. Select one of the three options. For instance, if you have selected two images, then you can choose to combine photos vertically on Mac. This will automatically merge and adjust your images to fit side by side with each other.
7. On the other hand, you can choose the grid option if you have selected more than two images or Make a Photo like Collage Photo. 
8. As a result, you will have your combined image on the screen. 
9. Click on Done to apply the changes and see your Picture in the Preview app.

How to Make Collage Photo on Mac

Without any third-party app or software, use Apple’s shortcut app and convert multiple photos into a grid using this shortcut app. Follow the below steps,

1. Open the Safari browser and go to this link to download the shortcut and install in shortcut app.
2. Next, set up this shortcut to convert any pictures to Grid using Combine Shortcut. Open the Shortcut app on your Mac, and Enable it for access in finder.
3. Now, Select the 3 to 4 Photos from the finder and Right-click on them. Then, go with the Options Open and Choose the combined image shortcut.
4. Choose the Grid option and Convert those photos into Grid.
5. That’s it. if need to edit then click on “Open With Preview“.

Video Tutorial:-

Moreover, after combining the images, you can select the open with Preview option and start editing the same right away if you wish to edit the photo further. This simple shortcut helps save time while editing images on Mac. Like, such as adding Objects, Typing a Text, and more. Hopefully, this helps!

HowToiSolve Staff

Jaysukh Patel is the founder of howtoisolve. Also self Professional Developer, Techno lover mainly for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and iOS, Jaysukh is one of responsible person in his family. Contact On: jaysukh.pharma@gmail.com [OR] admin@howtoisolve.com