GitHub - sakeven/Selected: A Mac tool that allows various operations on selected text. · GitHub

Selected is a handy macOS menu bar application that lets users perform various operations—such as searching, translating, copying, and running custom actions—directly on selected text. This guide covers installation, browser setups, built-in features, AI configurations, clipboard history, and custom extensions for version 0.2.6.

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1. Installation and First Launch

To get started with Selected, you will need macOS 15.0 or later. First, download Selected.zip from the GitHub Releases page, unzip it, and drag Selected.app into your Applications folder.

When you launch the application for the first time, you must enable Accessibility permissions:

Open Selected. In System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility, enable Selected so it can read selected text and perform text actions.

Since Selected operates primarily as a menu bar app, it does not feature a standard Dock icon or a main window. Instead, you simply click the Selected icon in your menu bar and choose Settings to manage your preferences. While basic features like searching and copying work right out of the box without any keys, translation and AI functionalities require you to complete the necessary AI configurations. You can also customize general behaviors like login launch items and Spotlight hotkeys directly through the settings menu.

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2. Browser Setup

Selected relies on browser automation to seamlessly read selected text and source URLs from web pages. When macOS prompts you for permission, make sure to allow Selected to control your browser.

Depending on which browser you use, you may need to tweak a few developer settings:

• Safari: Enable Show features for web developers under Advanced settings, then turn on Allow JavaScript from Apple Events in the Developer pane.
• Google Chrome: Navigate to the menu bar and select View → Developer → Allow JavaScript from Apple Events.

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3. Features

Selected comes packed with a smart selection toolbar and a quick input panel designed to boost your daily productivity.

Selection toolbar

Whenever you highlight text, double-click a word, or use standard shortcuts in any app, Selected pops up a handy floating toolbar near your cursor.

The toolbar offers multiple contextual actions depending on what you select:

• Search: Executes searches based on templates like https://www.google.com/search?q={selected.text}.
• Translate: Translates content using your chosen AI provider, providing definitions and examples for individual words.
• Speak: Reads text aloud using system voices or advanced OpenAI text-to-speech models.
• Calculator: Automatically evaluates selected expressions like 1+2/3*4-5 and lets you copy the result with a single click.

Quick input

If you want to trigger text actions without highlighting anything on your screen, you can press ⌥X to open the spotlight-like input panel.

Press ⌥X to open Selected's Spotlight input panel. Type or paste text, then choose an action below the field. This provides the text actions without first selecting something in another app.

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4. AI Configuration and Chat

You can supercharge Selected by connecting your preferred AI service under Settings → General. Both OpenAI and Claude are fully supported, allowing you to configure custom API hosts, model identifiers, reasoning efforts, and dedicated translation preferences.

Once configured, you can engage in rich interactive conversations with AI prompts, inspect input contexts, attach files, and pin or collapse chat windows into floating buttons.

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5. Application-Specific Actions

Selected allows you to customize precisely which actions appear for specific applications. By visiting Settings → Applications, you can manage default actions, add rules for running apps, reorder items via drag-and-drop, or remove custom configurations to revert back to default settings.

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6. Clipboard History

Clipboard history is turned off by default, but you can easily activate it by navigating to Settings → Clipboard and setting your preferred retention period.

Once enabled, pressing ⌥Space brings up a searchable history panel where you can preview links, images, and text snippets.

You can pin important items so they never get automatically deleted, prettify valid JSON text, or directly invoke AI actions like summarizing and translating right from the clipboard manager.

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7. Custom Extensions

Selected lets you extend its functionality by importing, creating, and testing custom plugins. You can browse ready-made extensions in the official Selected Extensions repository.

Using the built-in visual plugin editor, you can configure diverse action types such as custom URL queries, macOS services, keyboard shortcuts, AI prompts, and local command line scripts.

Furthermore, you can thoroughly test your extensions using sample text input before deploying them to your active workflow.

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8. Troubleshooting

If you run into any hiccups while using Selected, here are a few quick solutions for common issues:

• No main window appears: Remember that Selected is a menu bar app; open the settings directly from the menu bar icon rather than looking for a Dock window.
• Toolbar doesn't appear: Verify that Accessibility permissions are granted, that the app isn't paused, and try using the quick input panel to check if actions respond.
• Browser text selection fails: Double-check your browser's Apple Events setting and ensure Selected has proper Automation permissions.

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Conclusion

Selected provides a clean, highly customizable experience for power users who want seamless text manipulation, smart AI integration, and robust clipboard management on macOS. With open-source code licensed under GPL-3.0 and rich support for community extensions, it serves as a powerful utility to supercharge your daily workflow!