Welcome to the PopClip Forum

#1

I’ve created this forum for people to talk about PopClip. Congratulations on being one of the first people to visit! Please do sign up, post, reply, click “likes” and help make it feel populated.

I have now set up several categories for topics, but don’t worry too much about picking the right one. Please feel free to start a new topic on anything PopClip-related and use the default General category if you aren’t sure where it should go.

You can always contact me directly any time via support@pilotmoon.com.

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#4

Just registered after seeing your tweet and wanted to say thanks for an awesome app. Hope you know your work is hugely appreciated.

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#5

Thank you! There are times when I forget that it is appreciated, but thankfully I am blessed with many users who show their enthusiasm and appreciation and remind me when I forget :blush:

Welcome to the forum … I’m intrigued to see how it shapes up. I was putting off to launch the forum “properly” but I decided just to tweet the link out tonight since it is all set up and what really more can I do. I’m hoping it will be a bit more engaging and useful than Twitter and less “formal” than my blog.

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#6

Ditto, the last update has made the app look better and the positioning has resolved a minor issue I had with Spark Email. I am not a programmer but I hope I can feed off some ideas to better use this amazing app.

I do have a question though, you intimated in a post about Popclip going forward and Apple’s direction to kill off scripting in favour of shortcuts I assume (well that is how I read it). Can you elaborate on that, this utility is essential Mac !!

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#7

I’d also like to thank you for a great app; it’s the first thing I install on a new Mac.

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#8

Great that there’s now a PopClip forum. I purchased PopClip almost nine years ago and have been using it ever since!

Best wishes from Vancouver, Canada.

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#9

Hi

I’d echo all those sentiments.
Indeed I’d like popclip on my iPad too?
Best wishes from England

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#10

Hi. Great app! I can’t believe Apple hasn’t sherlocked it yet. :sweat_smile:

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#11

Invaluable app. Would really love it on my iPad. Many thanks.

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#12

I’ve been using PopClip since 2014 and it is invaluable in my work and a great timesaver. I have custom URL extensions that I use a lot throughout the day.
I found I had to find an alternative for Windows and use Patherbar for that. It’s described as “Pantherbar (PopClip for Windows 10) – Quick actions for selected text. Like Popclip on macOS”

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#13

Welcome and thanks for the post, Mario!

Certainly… it’s a good question. I actually don’t think the removal of PHP and the introduction of Shortcuts are related, at least not in the sense of Apple having a strategy to push things in a certain direction.

The term “scripting”, in the Mac context, has probably 3 meanings:

  • Classic scripting languages. That would include things like Perl, Python, Ruby and PHP. Apple has removed the PHP runtime and deprecated the others. However we can still install these ourselves. Indeed, many developers in these languages install the latest versions with tools like homebrew, and never even use the system-installed version. Classic scripting would also include shells scripts in bash, zsh etc. which are not going anywhere either. (PopClip extensions can use all these scripting languages, as long as they are installed on the Mac.)

  • Automation scripting. That would include AppleScript[1], Automator and now Shortcuts. There has long been speculation that Apple is trying to kill off this kind of scripting, but I’m not convinced about that. For one thing Shortcuts itself can run AppleScripts and even shell scripts — it’s surprisingly powerful. (PopClip extensions can already run AppleScripts, and the next version of PopClip will be able to run Shortcuts too.)

  • JavaScript. I’ve included this in its own category because JavaScript is a singular beast. It is not really a classic scripting language (thought it can be used like one using node) but its importance to the web means that Apple has paid it a lot of attention. As well as being built into Safari, Apple also provides developers a really efficient way to bridge between JavaScript and native code. This is what I a currently building into PopClip, and it will be the main platform for PopClip extensions in future. (And it is awesome by the way!)

Overall, I’m currently quite confident that PopClip will be able to continue all its capabilities in future.

  1. Plus its less popular cousin, JavaScript for Automation (just to complicate things :upside_down_face: ) ↩︎

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#14

Welcome all!

@timstringer: Yes it’s been a lot of years! I actually get quite nostalgic about the “early years”. PopClip was the first app I made that really caught on (thought actually Scroll Reverser actually has a lot more users, but that’s free…) The time around 2011-2013 was when it all happened.

@JohnG, @shryn: I don’t expect to be able to make an iPad (or iPhone) version. It’s just not possible with the way iOS apps work. They dont have the same access to the sysem like Mac apps do.

@Chemmy: Yes that app is quite similar isn’t it! I can’t say a lot about it because it is not my app and I haven’t actually tried it (I don’t have a Windows machine…)

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#15

Imagine how I feel every time WWDC rolls around!

#16

Dude, PopClip is the first thing I install on every Mac I move to. It’s been like that for years. I feel disabled if it’s not installed. Get very unproductive. Let’s hope it’s never Sherlocked.

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#17

Hi @nick, this is very good news for the future use of PopClip.

I myself have been using PopClip on my Mac’s for years as well. What I’ve always regretted is that as someone who doesn’t have a lot of script experience, you can’t customize PopClip.

The thought of always executing shortcuts, scripts ext. at the cursor and maybe running a submenu behind the action stuck with me.

With Keyboard Maestro and BetterTouchTool I finally managed to implement this for a lot of my apps.

Here is an example, how I can call and execute different screenshot apps PopClip like:

Video

Since you can only use a limited number of PopClip Extension, surely something like bran context menus behind an action would be something for the future?

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#18

Welcome and thanks for posting :wave: That’s some serious scripting you have set up there!
Some kind of submenus in PopClip, is something I have thought about for a long time, I can’t promise anything, but it pops into my head sometimes too. It would only happen if I can really do it right, in a simple way.

I do have what may be some good news for you, the next verson of PopClip also will make it much easier to input your own extensions. You will be able to make Shortcut, Service, Search, and Key Press actions very easily. I’m looking forward to sharing all the details when it is ready.

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#19

Great news, have you thought of a way to warn about new versions of actions ? I follow on tweeter for updates but it would be good to have at least a ‘red dot’ on an action that has been updated.

#20

I’d love to have an auto-update system for the extensions. That’s been on my wish list for years. (It would make both mine and everyone else’s life easier…)

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#21

Would it make sense to have a forum topic (category?) called ‘extension updates’ or the like where news about updates could be posted? So we could follow that topic (assuming that’s possible) and learn about updates that way.
Maybe another topic or category about extension wish lists and feedback?

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#22

Welcome @cfryal and yes it would make lot of sense! I didn’t want to add a load of categories while there was still not even a screen full of posts, but absolutely. And you can indeed follow (and mute) categories. (Of course, until I set up the automated updates system, it all depends on me remembering to actually post about an updated extension :innocent:)
Edit: Have added the Extensions News category as a starter.

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