Hynek Hampl Do you also like the function of the iOS operating system, which, after marking text, brings up a menu for copying, reading, or other options? Have you ever wanted something similar for Mac? In that case, you will fall in love Pop Clip.
It is a very simple application that hides more than meets the eye. After installation, it will be placed in the menu bar as a black and white icon. If you want to activate PopClip, you simply mark any text in any application in OS X with the mouse. At that moment, just like on iOS, a pop-up "bubble" with options will appear.
Simply click on each option with the mouse and the desired action will be performed. In the basic menu after installing PopClip, there are only basic actions like Take out, Insert, Copy, Open the link, Search and more. So you don't have to reach for the keyboard at all. You can do everything conveniently with a mouse.
PopClip's real strength, however, is in its extensions. The few options mentioned are certainly nice, but they don't make the app a "must have". However, the situation changes completely when using extensions. Thanks to them, you can adapt PopClip to your image and give it completely new possibilities. They are, for example:
- Append – association of text with the contents of the clipboard.
- Google Translate - translation of the selected text.
- Search - the selected term will start to be searched on Wikipedia, Google, Google Maps, Amazon, YouTube, IMDb and many others (there is one plugin for each search).
- Create a note in Evernote, Notes, and other apps.
- Adding highlighted text to Reminders, OmniFocus, Things, 2Do and TaskPaper.
- Adding text to Twitter applications (Twitter, Twitterrific, Tweetbot).
- Work with URLs - save to Pocket, Instapaper, Readability, Pinboard, open in Chrome, Safari and Firefox.
- Working with characters - number of characters and number of words.
- Run Command – running the marked text as a command in the Terminal.
- …and many more.
All extensions are completely free and available at Site PopClip developers. Once downloaded, installing them is really simple. Just open the extension, it will install itself, open in the menu bar and the file will be deleted. If you're programming savvy, you can even write your own extension, documentation it's also on the web. And the app developer also accepts ideas, so you can write to him. The only limitation of extensions is their maximum number in the application – 22.
As for the application itself in the menubar, it is not just a bare icon. You can change various settings. You can add the app to the startup apps and even remove the app from the menu bar, but I don't recommend it. You would then not have easy access to the settings in the extensions. You can disable individual extensions individually. After clicking on the pencil next to the extensions, you can move the order in which they are displayed and, if necessary, delete them. Another interesting option is setting the size of the displayed "bubble" after marking the text. You can have a total of 4 sizes. The last option is to select applications that will not respond to PopClip.
Overall, PopClip is a very handy helper that can make a lot of work easier. I use it along with the app Alfred and I can't praise this combination enough. PopClip is available in the Mac App Store for €4,49 (now on sale for half off for a week!) and takes up only 3,5 MB on disk. During the entire period of work, I noticed occasional problems only in the Dashboard, when the application does not activate every time. It is a great utility that works on OS X 10.6.6 and above. And if you're still not sure whether to buy PopClip, you can try it first trial version.
We have also prepared a sample video of PopClip in practice for you. At one point you can see a window with a translator - this is the GTranslate Popup add-on from other pages - I can only recommend.
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I confess without torture that I can no longer imagine working with OS X without PopClip. Especially the various extensions make this a killer feature of the operating system… (My favorite is the tab to quickly change lowercase to uppercase and vice versa.)
Small-to-large conversion, Google search and other things can be done by Mac OS X (ML) itself
even without this gadget
Yes, it can, but with this program it is much easier. Every time I go to the Edit menu, select the font size option, and only then choose what I need, it is enough for the left-hander. The only thing that does not suit us is that when I mark the text using the keyboard, PopClip does not start. And that's a shame, otherwise it's quite addictive and the option to choose an extension is a big plus.
Specifically, Small - large - I select a block, the right mouse (Ctrl mouse) and I select an action in the scroll changer. That's not to say that the gadget isn't useful :-)
Brilliant app! I have been using it for a long time and I am extremely satisfied.
only the icon with copy and search engine pops up for me…. Does anyone know where the problem is? Thank you for answer.
That's what's nice about this app. Only those choices that are relevant in the given context are shown. That is, if you use it in Safari, for example, the Paste or Cut options will not be shown, but only Copy, Finder, etc.
Thanks for the tip! The expansion option is great. I got used to some keyboard shortcuts very quickly. Notification during the discount period is a nice extra bonus :-)
I added creating a new note "Notes" but it's dead… the note won't be created. Otherwise great app.