Why PopClip? #popclip

Software
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Hi MPUers, I have been hearing a lot about PopClip since I started listening to MPU and joined the forum. The apps MPU and this forum have recommended (Hazel/Alfred) have been more than amazing for my workflows which is why I am asking this.

Why PopClip? I’m sure you guys definitely have great reasons to use and love it and I want to hear from you.

I already use Alfred and its Universal Actions feature a lot, which helps to capture selected text and perform any action on it, like upper case, searching it somewhere, adding to it a specific app/note. Basically, it provides hooks to other apps from the selected text. I trigger it using Double Shift, which is pretty fast (and can search what to do with this text). Curious how PopClip will be different or how y’all use it!

PS: I know I can of course try it (and I’m doing that), but in the past, MPUers/redditors have recommended apps and how they use it, and that has been very useful for me to see the app in a different way.

EDIT: I bought PopClip and happy with how it works. I think it’s a great app built by a good developer. One-time model is also great, always up to support such devs!! Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Keep posting your usage/tricks for PopClips

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Because no keyboard is required and thus no memory of shortcut keystrokes is required

Popclip automatically appears when appropriate - right at your cursor location

For workflows that are related to text you highlight with a cursor, there can be no interface more efficient than PopClip - your hand never has to leave the mouse

Plus there are numerous available/customizable Actions for Popclip; and it is extremely easy to use their Extension Snippets feature to add your own Actions without having to learn coding or scripting.

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I use both Alfred’s Universal Actions and PopClip. Sometimes it is easier to just click to act on the selection via PopClip. But strictly speaking, it is not a must as long as you are using LaunchBar’s Instant Send or Alfred’s Universal Actions.

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I understand. I’m only concerned about the popup crowding the screen. Plus it can only show so many results. In Alfred, I don’t see anything until I trigger and search for it.

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Thank you. Can you please share what do you use it for along with Alfred?

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When PopUp “crowds” the screen, the easiest thing to do is press ESC and it disappears.

For me, Alfred and PopUp don’t compete with one another. Different things.

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I use it mainly for searching the selected text in Google, YouTube, Twitter, Dash, sending to Alfred, converting to Title Case, slugify.

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Google search is my #1 use followed by copying the selected text with quotations (usually to share somewhere else).

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Ditto, I use Alfred a lot for other things, but PopCLip is just so convenient.

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I love PopClip (very much) for text manipulation. It’s very often I need to “paste and match formatting.” Nothing does it easier/faster. I also use the sentence, title, and all caps case options. Very helpful.

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I used popclip for many years and thought it was great. When Alfred added universal actions I moved over to that 100%. I built some additional Alfred workflows to emulate some of the things that I was doing in popclip.

Popclip was great but I was already an Alfred user and just didn’t feel like I needed both. No regrets.

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how do you trigger it for pasting? Keyboard shortcut? I thought I thought the popup only showed up on selecting text, but how does it work in pasting stuff?

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If you double-click in a text entry area, PopClip appears with a ‘Select All’ and a ‘Paste’ button.

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I have two use cases for Popclip that I use daily:

  1. I frequently look at an Excel file where one column contains reference numbers. Before Popclip, I would copy the reference number, go to an internal website, and paste it. Then the website would retrieve the information and display it for me.

To automate this process, I tried using Alfred. I set it up so that when I type “b 123456,” Alfred would open the website and automatically query the document. However, I still had to type the “b” and the number.

With Popclip, I can simply highlight the reference number in Excel and click one button to achieve the same result.

  1. Being a non-native English speaker, I often need help with grammar checks. By highlighting the text in my email or in the text on this forum and clicking one button, ChatGPT helps me correct the grammar and automatically replaces the text.
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I use Alfred and Popclip in tandem, no reason why not. Popclip does less, but what it does, it does with fewer clicks.

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this is intriguing. Would you mind sharing the extension, or how to make it if the website has private info?

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I use the “Google my selection” feature multiple times a day. Today I double-clicked on some FedEx numbers in an email, clicked the “G” icon in my PopClip tool, and then clicked on Google’s suggestion to see our FedEx delivery time for some laptops. Instant access to search is awesome.

I also like the combination of the “Make Bulleted List” and "Sort tools. Often, someone will send me a random list of users, which can be hard to parse. Select it, click the Sort tool and it’s easier to search; click “Make Bulleted List” and it looks more professional when I send it on to someone else.

I like the “Selection as task in OmniFocus” tool, and there’s an equivalent for many other task managers.

I’m glad you asked this. I’ve only been using a few extensions but I see there’s several more I would use every day. It’s been too long since I looked at the extensions directory.

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No need for that with Universal Actions in Alfred.

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Your website have to support a query base on the URL. My extension is:

# popclip
name: CompanyWebsite
title: View in CompanyWebsite
icon: circle B
url: https://intranet.com/?opptyID=***
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Without PopClip context menus become cumbersome to set up and use.

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