---
title: What agents can accomplish with FileHop
description: Discover practical FileHop workflows beyond tool names, from speech captions and media repair to editable charts, image masks and reviewable deliverables.
order: 11
---

# What agents can accomplish with FileHop

Start with the user's outcome, then discover the matching installed schema. A single tool can contain dozens of operations, so an exact-name catalog alone understates the toolkit. This map connects less obvious capabilities to usable workflows and the details that change the result.

This is a source-reviewed workflow reference, not a claim that every desktop menu action has an MCP equivalent. Features may be accessible through direct MCP tools, nested edit operations, portable project content or the desktop editor. Do not invent a direct tool name for a desktop-only feature.

## Speech, sound and video

| User outcome | FileHop route | Nuance agents need |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Automatically caption a recording with the agent's model | `captions_audio` → agent transcription → `captions_write` | Small 16 kHz mono speech file; temporary-audio lifecycle; validate timing and save a collision-safe sidecar |
| Reuse subtitles already inside a video | `media_probe` → `subtitles_extract` | Choose the real stream index; image-based subtitles require recognition elsewhere |
| Fix captions that get progressively later | `subtitles_retime` | Scale handles drift; shift handles a fixed offset; this is not speech alignment |
| Make subtitles permanently visible | `burn_subtitles` | Text is baked into pixels rather than retained as a switchable track |
| Find quiet sections before making cuts | `audio_analyze` | Silence ranges use a dB threshold and minimum duration; not an automatic semantic edit |
| Normalize podcast/interview loudness | `audio_analyze` → `media_edit` normalize → analyze output | Two-pass EBU R128, separate integrated LUFS and true-peak target; volume gain alone is different |
| Replace a video's sound or mix in music | `media_edit` replace_audio | Source offset, repeat/loop and mix versus replace; replacement is padded/cut to length |
| Fade sound independently of the picture | `media_edit` fade | Select audio/video and durations explicitly; operations use the transformed timeline |
| Combine clips from different cameras | `media_join` | Common size/fps, padding, missing-audio silence and optional crossfades/normalization |
| Prepare interlaced or noisy legacy video | `convert` deinterlace/denoise | Algorithm/strength, codec, fps, crop and track choices are separate options |
| Inspect a long video cheaply | `video_contact_sheet`, `extract_frames` | One labelled overview versus individual frames; neither checks sound |
| Obscure a face, plate or screen | `video_blur` | Percent-based timed masks; effect/shape/softness/inversion; no automatic tracking; audio survives |
| Preserve fast cuts without re-encoding | `video_trim` with `precise: false` | Keyframe boundaries can move the visible edges; choose precise re-encoding when exact timing matters |
| Deliver an editable video, not just an MP4 | `project_create` / `project_video_edit` | Source offsets, timeline duration, track locks and non-ripple-linked overlay/audio/caption times |

Read [captions and speech handoff](/docs/captions/) and [audio/video options](/docs/media/).

## Editable graphics and composition

| User outcome | FileHop route | Nuance agents need |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Build a poster with editable text, shapes and pictures | `imageEditor` project + `project_image_edit` | Stable object paths, grouping, align/distribute, layer order, lock state and canvas sizing |
| Swap a picture without rebuilding the composition | `project_image_edit` replaceImage | Contain/cover/natural placement have different framing; keep unrelated native properties |
| Hide/reveal part of a layer | `setMask`, `paintMask`, `removeMask` inside `project_image_edit` | Mask white reveals/black hides; feathered brush/region edits use canvas coordinates; source pixels remain available in editable work |
| Clip a photo to a designed shape | `clipToShape`, `releaseClip` | Shape clipping is distinct from destructive pixel cropping |
| Retouch a photo | `heal`, `cloneStamp`, `fixRedEye` | Source-photo pixels, bounded regions/strokes, editable patches and warnings about color/depth/opacity differences |
| Apply a tiled watermark across a batch image | `image_edit` watermark operations | Tiled/positioned text and image watermarks are separate nested edits; text font coverage matters |
| Deliver both a high-resolution graphic and a review crop | `project_render` region/annotation, `project_export` size/fit | Review annotations are not exported; renderer diagnostics can limit parity |
| Reuse a graphic inside a video | Project assets; supported `session_refresh` image-to-video relationship | Keep editable graphic source and dependency revisions, rather than treating a stale flattened image as live content |
| Remove a green or blue screen from an editable video overlay | `project_video_edit` chromaKey | Explicit color, similarity, smoothness and spill; the key is editable and can be cleared |
| Make editable title cards or picture-in-picture clips | `project_video_edit` canvasClip/canvasOverlay/videoOverlay | Supported editable canvas model and bounded animations; unsupported features refuse export |

Headless image project rendering also understands supported native editor content beyond the typed shortcuts. This does not make every native property an agent-facing operation. Discover the current schema and project capability view before editing raw model content. Read [images and portable projects](/docs/images-projects-archives/).

## Native documents and presentations

| User outcome | FileHop route | Nuance agents need |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Create a populated workbook or slide deck | `sheet_create` or `deck_create` | Native grids, tables, charts and pictures; use returned revisions and addresses for follow-up edits |
| Build a PowerPoint chart from a workbook table | `deck_create` with a chart `source` | Revision-bound editable embedded snapshot; use an explicit session refresh workflow for subsequent source changes |
| Fill an existing branded report or deck | `doc_create` / `deck_create` from template, then native edits | Copy template bytes first; use existing styles/placeholders; retain masters, letterhead and other untouched parts |
| Add numbered figures and references to a Word report | `doc_edit` caption/cross_ref/fields/toc | Use fields rather than typed numbers; inspect references and results left for Word to update |
| Review a collaborator's document | `doc_read` review includes; `doc_edit` tracked edits/comments/revisions | Tracked operations have restrictions; do not silently accept changes or resolve comments |
| Add equations, floating text or a watermark | Nested `doc_edit` equation/object/watermark edits | Anchor/position/wrap and supported equation notation matter; these are not plain Markdown text replacement |
| Make charts genuinely editable in PowerPoint | `deck_edit` chart edits | Keep chart series/categories and embedded workbook formulas/data synchronized |
| Change a deck's visual system consistently | `deck_edit` theme/master/layout | Theme colors, placeholders and master/layout styles affect dependent slides; individual shape edits are a different scope |
| Check likely document/deck issues before handoff | `doc_check`, `deck_check`, native renders | Advisory findings and explicit coverage; not certification of Microsoft Office visual parity |
| Build a document or diagram without a local toolchain | `document_create`, `typst_compile`, `diagram_render` | Separate authoring routes with local-resource restrictions; Typst packages/network and remote D2 icons are unavailable |

Read [native Office creation](/docs/office-creation/), [Office/data editing](/docs/office-data/) and [PDF/document workflows](/docs/pdf-documents/).

## PDFs, privacy and file preparation

| User outcome | FileHop route | Nuance agents need |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Remove selected sensitive PDF text | Find/review redactions → revision-checked `pdf_redact` | Includes associated tagged replacement text; scans and sensitive images need another suitable workflow |
| Clean active content and attachments before sharing | `pdf_sanitize` | Cleanup differs from redacting page text, cropping or compressing |
| Remove GPS/EXIF or document metadata | `strip_metadata`, PDF cleanup options | Does not remove visible private data or spoken information; inspect retained/dropped streams |
| Populate an actual interactive PDF form | `pdf_form_fields` → `pdf_fill_form` | Use real field IDs/options; optional flattening removes field interactivity |
| Compare scans or PDFs with inserted pages | `pdf_compare` | Visible-page comparison aligns identical pages across additions/removals; not a semantic legal redline |
| Recover a damaged PDF | `pdf_repair` | Recovery can be partial; an already readable file may need no output |
| Extract original embedded artwork | `pdf_extract_images` | Embedded-image resolution differs from rendering an entire page at selected DPI |
| Create a PDF from ordered scans/photos | `images_to_pdf` | Explicit page order, paper size, orientation and margins; not automatic OCR |
| Meet a portal's file constraints | Resize/convert/compress with format-specific options | Check actual bytes, pixels and warnings; quality tiers are not a strict size guarantee |

Read [PDF privacy and options](/docs/pdf-documents/) and [conversion constraints](/docs/conversion/).

## Data, file organization and continued work

| User outcome | FileHop route | Nuance agents need |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Understand unfamiliar data before transforming it | `data_schema` | Sheets, types, nulls, sample/statistical values; displayed spreadsheet text is different from typed cells |
| Combine data across file types | `data_query` named tables / `data_transform` join | Match keys and types; choose inner/left/right/full; SQL is restricted to declared inputs |
| Deduplicate by a business key | `data_transform` dedupe with columns | First occurrence retained; differs from whole-row dedupe and file duplicate detection |
| Filter, pivot, aggregate or split data | Nested `data_transform` operations | Structured conditions with all/any; grouping functions; at most 500 split outputs |
| Keep a workbook's formatting while changing formulas | `sheet_read` → `sheet_edit` | Recalculated errors/spills and revisions; use data rewriting for large flat data, not for native presentation preservation |
| Reuse an analysis as a project view | `data_view_save` | Views can read earlier saved views; revision-checked persistence differs from exporting a result |
| Find identical files versus similar photos | `find_duplicates` | Separate exact and visually similar groups; review before trashing near matches |
| Review a folder before bulk work | `folder_summary`, `list_files`, `file_search`, `search_files` | Counts, skipped entries, search modes and pagination affect completeness |
| Continue work after a different agent/person | `context_read`, project journal/history, `desktop_sessions` | Read decisions/todos and the current file revisions rather than relying on a chat summary |
| Let a person watch and continue editing | Show an editable project in a session/window | Clean saved-state refresh; dirty human drafts preserved; log and scoped preview evidence are not human approval |
| Refresh a document/chart from changed source data | Session dependency link + `session_refresh` | Supported typed recipes, explicit source/target revisions; refuse changed target baseline |

Read [file management and cleanup](/docs/files-cleanup/), [Office/data](/docs/office-data/) and [live human review](/docs/human-review-sessions/).

## Selecting the right access path

If a task appears supported but no matching top-level tool exists, search `tools_find` using everyday task words, then inspect the relevant editor tool's nested operations or project guide. Check whether it is a desktop feature, headless render capability or an agent-editable operation. Only fall back to custom processing when the installed tools cannot satisfy the needed behavior, and preserve the user's editable source and review path where possible.