Help with Dancing Files

Installing

Download the DMG, open it, and drag Dancing Files onto the Applications folder in the same window. That is the whole install.

You need a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later) running macOS 12 Monterey or newer. There is nothing else to install: the converters the app uses — ffmpeg, ImageMagick, pandoc and the poppler tools — are inside the app bundle.

If you would rather have the zip, the download page offers that too. It holds the same app; unzip it and move it to Applications yourself.

The first launch

The first time you open it, macOS shows a warning along the lines of “Apple could not verify Dancing Files is free of malware that may harm your Mac or compromise your privacy.”

Read that carefully: Apple has not found anything in this app. The wording is what macOS says about anything that has not been through Apple's paid notarisation, whether it was written this morning or downloaded a thousand times. There is no button in that first dialog to continue — which is where most people stop.

The way through

1. Make sure the app is in Applications, not still inside the DMG or in Downloads.
2. Double-click it once and close the warning with Done. That click is what puts the app on the list in the next step.
3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security and scroll to the bottom. There is a line saying Dancing Files was blocked, with a button: Open Anyway.
4. Click it, and confirm with your password or Touch ID.

The app opens, and macOS never asks again for that copy.

The shortcut

Right-click the app and choose Open — or Control-click it — instead of double-clicking. The same dialog appears, but this time with an Open button in it, so you never have to visit System Settings at all. It has to be a right-click; double-clicking the same app gives you the version without the button.

Why any of this

Apple charges 99 dollars a year for the developer programme that makes the warning go away. Dancing Files is free and not part of it, so the warning stays. Nothing about the app changes when you click through it — you are telling macOS that you know where the app came from.

Using it

Converting

Drop files onto the window, or press ⌘O. Each file is read as it arrives, and the format grid then offers only what those files can actually become. Pick one and press Enter. Finished files appear in the panel on the right with the size change in percent; drag one into Finder, or double-click it to open it.

Mixed files

Drop images, video and audio at once and they split into category tabs along the top. ⌘1 to ⌘9 jump between them. Each tab converts on its own, so nothing has to be done in one go.

Hearing an audio file first

Audio cards have a play button in place of the format symbol. Click it, or press Space while the pointer is over the card. The thumb becomes an equalizer while it plays, and playback stops by itself if the file is removed or about to be converted.

Where files land, and what they are called

By default a converted file is written next to the original. Settings (⌘,) can point everything at one folder instead, or ask you every time. The same place decides whether the format is added to the name, and what happens when the name is taken — number it, replace it, or skip it. The app never writes over the file it is reading.

History

⌘Y opens the log of what you have converted, newest first, grouped by day. A row reveals that file in Finder. It is stored only on your Mac, and clears from the view or from Settings.

The menu bar and Finder

The icon in the menu bar takes files dropped on it and converts them with the format the app would have recommended — no window needed. In Settings you can also switch on the Finder Quick Action, which puts Convert with Dancing Files in the right-click menu for as many files as you have selected.

Updates

The app asks this site a few times a day whether a newer version exists. If one does, a banner appears in the navigation bar with the option to download it or to be left alone. Nothing installs itself — the button opens the download page in your browser, and you install the new version the same way you installed this one.

You can check whenever you like from Dancing Files › Check for Updates…, and turn the automatic check off entirely under Settings › Updates.

Updating

The app tells you when a new version exists: a banner appears in the navigation bar offering it, and Dancing Files → Check for Updates… asks straight away. Nothing installs itself — the button opens the download page in your browser.

Installing an update is the same as installing the app:

1. Quit Dancing Files first — ⌘Q, and check that the menu bar icon is gone too, since it keeps the app running with no window open.
2. Open the new DMG and drag the app onto Applications. Finder asks whether to replace the one already there — say Replace. There is no need to delete the old version first.
3. Open it the same careful way as the first time: right-click → Open. Each download is a new file as far as macOS is concerned, so the warning comes back on every update.
4. Eject the DMG and throw it away.

Your settings and history survive. They live in ~/Library/Application Support/Dancing Files, outside the app itself, so the output folder, naming rules, theme, accent colour and the whole conversion log are exactly as you left them. The Finder Quick Action stays switched on too.

If you would rather not be asked at all, turn the check off under Settings → Updates.

When something goes wrong

Uninstalling

Drag Dancing Files from Applications to the Trash. Two things are left behind, both harmless and both yours to delete:

• ~/Library/Application Support/Dancing Files — your settings and the conversion history.
• ~/Library/Services/Convert with Dancing Files.workflow — the Finder Quick Action, if you switched it on.

Converted files are ordinary files wherever you put them, and are not touched.