PopClip not working in Anki

PopClip
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PopClip does not work in Anki, a popular cross-plattform application for spaced-repetition learning. Anki uses Qt, is this the reason for PopClip not working here? If yes, should the switch from Qt5 to Qt6 in the latest Anki beta change anything regarding this limitation?

Thanks!

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Thanks for the report. I’m not sure about the Qt exactly, though PopClip does tend to struggle the most with cross platform apps and does best with Mac native apps. I’ll download Anki and see if there is an easy fix or not.

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Thanks for the effort!

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I’ve investigated and it looks like Anki does not properly support the Accessibility API in its text fields, which PopClip relies upon to detect the selected text in the app. So unfortunately I can’t do anything for Anki :frowning:

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Thanks for looking into it! Are there any more specific requirements for PopClip? (I want to communicate it to the Anki developer)

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The text controls need to report themselves to the accessibility API as being text controls. And, ideally the text controls would report the selected text content too. Basically the app should behave using native accessibility features. (As an aside these improvements would also make the app accessible to people who use screen readers to use a computer.)

I wouldn’t hold too much breath as it would be very complex for the developer to do this. It’s a common problem with cross-platform apps. However, it’s worth reporting!

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Just chiming in for whatever it is worth. If you’re looking to add Anki cards, there is an action the the drafts forum. You can add cards using an action there. So, maybe, just maybe and I may be totally wrong about this, the right forum might be Drafts. Link below, see if this is what you’re looking for

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I actually create a lot of Anki cards from Drafts. On macOS however, I just wanted to use PopClip for manipulating text and doing researches from existing Anki cards like it is possible from other applications.

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Thanks for this! The original question was about simply using PopClip in Anki, so this was the right place.

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Some good news. I seem to have wrangled PopClip into working in Anki. Available to test in beta Build 4491. If you get a chance to try it, please let me know if it’s working for you.

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Hi Nick, that’s great news! I only tried it briefly, but it worked flawlessly! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Addendum: During my evening routines, I kept thinking how great it is that you followed up and solved a two-year-old issue. It’s just awesome.

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