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File Transformations with shellA

Convert, clean, and transform files with just a few commands

In This Tutorial

Introduction

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use shellA to transform your files quickly and consistently. Whether you're redacting sensitive info, converting file types, or organizing outputs, shellA lets you do it all with plain language.

What You'll Learn

  • How to redact and export DOCX files
  • How to convert file types like TIFF to JPG
  • How to automatically organize outputs by type

Prerequisites

  • shellA installed on your system
  • Access to DOCX files and TIFF images for testing

Redact and Export DOCX to PDF

Automatically redact sensitive text such as names or emails in your .docx documents, then export clean versions as PDFs.

"Redact \"Company Name\" from all .docx files in Legal folder and export to PDF"

Convert TIFFs to JPGs

Use shellA to convert bulky .tif files to .jpg for easier previewing and faster sharing.

"Create a JPG copy for every .tif file in Scans folder using the same filename"

Organize Output Files

Route transformed files into dedicated folders to keep your workspace clean and retrievable.

"Move all redacted PDFs to the folder Legal/Redacted"
"Put all JPG versions of TIFFs in Scans/Previews folder"

Examples

Redact and Rename

  1. "Redact \"Company Name\" from all .docx files in HR folder"
  2. "Export them to PDF and add '-redacted' to the filename"

TIFF to JPG + Organization

  1. "Convert all .tif images in Scans/Incoming to JPG format"
  2. "Move the JPG versions to Scans/Previews"

Practice Exercises

Exercise 1: Redact and Export
  1. Find all .docx files in the HR folder
  2. Redact a specific name
  3. Export redacted versions as PDFs
Exercise 2: Convert and Sort
  1. Convert all .tif files to .jpg in Scans folder
  2. Create a folder named Previews
  3. Move all JPGs to Previews
Exercise 3: Chain Actions
  1. Redact .docx files
  2. Export to PDF with new names
  3. Move all PDFs into Redacted folder

Tips & When to Upgrade

Depending on your subscription tier, certain transformations may require AI-driven features. Below are some examples of what you can do with Standard/Light vs. Pro.

Standard & Light

  • Perform rule-based redaction if documents follow consistent formatting.
  • Convert images (e.g., .tif to .jpg) and basic file renaming.
  • Organize files into folders based on keywords or file properties.
  • No external LLM processing; limited to straightforward transformations.

Pro

  • Use AI to parse unstructured content, automatically detect sensitive info for redaction.
  • Generate summaries or translations of files using advanced language models.
  • Perform deeper automation tasks that rely on reading or interpreting file content in detail.
  • Ideal if you deal with many file types, varied layouts, or need more flexible transformations.

If you frequently handle complex documents or need the freedom to parse content dynamically, consider upgrading to Pro for full AI-assisted transformations.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned how to:

  • Redact DOCX files and export them as PDFs
  • Convert TIFF images to JPG format
  • Organize files into structured output folders

These workflows make file transformation faster, safer, and smarter with shellA.