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Updated
How to Make a File Executable on Mac
With Supercharge
- Open the settings of Supercharge, click “Tweaks”, and click “Configure…” next to “Context menu items”.
- In the “Main Menu” tab, turn on “Make Executable”.
- Right-click the file in Finder, and choose “Make Executable”.
The item only shows for files that are not executable yet, and not for images, audio, video, PDF files, archives, or fonts. It is useful for shell scripts, like a .command file that you then open with a double-click.
The right-click items cannot show in synced folders, like iCloud Drive and Dropbox. There, right-click the file, and choose “Services › Make File Executable”.
Get Supercharge
Elevate your Mac experience
$20, one-time purchase, plus tax where applicable
- Platform
- macOS
- Requires
- macOS 26.4 or later
- Released
- September 2024
- Privacy
- No personal data collected
- Updated
- September 2026
- Version
- 1.30.1
- Size
- 16 MB
- Gumroad rating
- 5.0/5 (284 ratings)
Without an app
macOS does it with a command in Terminal. Replace the path with your file, or drag the file into the window:
chmod +x ~/Desktop/script.sh
Then run the script with its path, like ~/Desktop/script.sh. The Terminal way is fine when you already work in Terminal. Supercharge is faster when you start in Finder.