I recently replied to an email about the MATLAB app crashing when used with PopClip. I thought I’d post it here; maybe it will help in future if people search the web for the issue.
The question was: “I’m wondering if you’ve encountered users of MatLab (scientific programming app) complaining that running PopClip at the same time makes MatLab freeze up.”
My response:
While I haven’t heard of this specific problem with MATLAB, PopClip does indeed sometimes expose instability in some other third-party apps.
PopClip uses the macOS Accessibility API to monitor interactions you make with apps, like clicks and drags, which helps it detect text selection. Although this is a standard API, certain apps may have hidden bugs that are only triggered when used alongside PopClip and might have been overlooked by the developer during regular testing.
Fortunately, there’s a simple workaround: add MATLAB to the “Excluded Apps” list in PopClip preferences. By doing this, PopClip won’t interact with MATLAB, preventing the crash from happening. If you need to use PopClip within MATLAB, you can still activate it manually using PopClip’s keyboard shortcut. I hope this solution works for you.
