Ages ago, I used an app that allowed me to edit text from one app in another app. My memory is vague, but I think I remember writing in Writeroom for notes that were otherwise created and managed in Notational Velocity.
I’d like to be able to do this today… be in DT or TBX or Mail and with a keystroke, be instantly transported to a better* interface for composing, then with another keystroke, be back in the original app ready to hit send or save.
Anyone know of anything that does this?
* plain-text, full screen, nice font, typewriter mode
I do something similar with keyboard maestro and TextMate. I highlight text, press a shortcut and TextMate opens, the text is pasted into an empty file. I can use TextMate for things like regex replacements, etc. Cmd+a, Cmd+c, alt+tab, and Cmd+v to paste and replace the original text that is still highlighted in the program.
I could probably automate the last part, but it’s all easy once you get the rhythm.
Some apps have “Edit in…” functionality built-in, but if you’re thinking of a generic app to do it for “any” app, then I think the app that you’re thinking of was QuickCursor.
Unfortunately it “died” several years ago at the hands of sandboxing.
I wrote about how to use Keyboard Maestro to replace its functionality here:
And I still use basically the same setup today.
What app would you want to do your editing in?
BBEdit makes this particularly easy, as it has a built-in feature that allows you to wait until a text editing window is closed before continuing a script, but the same thing should work in most apps, with a little effort setting it up.
I loved using QuickCursor back in the day. I used it in conjunction with BBEdit for everything, including posting to old online forums whose text format/quote tools were rudimentary at best. I used BBEdit to massage quote formatting and quote-levels, and break up text into chunks for those forums that had text limits per post.
Never replaced it with anything, but I should look into that Keyboard Maestro hack some time…
