Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Software, Developer
Clips updated to 1.1
Clips is a relatively new application (designed by our friend Nicholas Penree and his cohorts at Conceited Software, who also sell Linkinus) designed to kick your clipboard into overdrive -- it'll let you keep track of any and all clips even across applications, Spaces, and even different Macs. The screencast gives a pretty good idea of just how capable it is, and while it seems just a tad bit too complicated for a user like me (I mostly just stick to the browser, and Quicksilver's shelf gives me pretty good access to all the reusable bits I need), it definitely seems like the kind of program that finds its way into your workflow: the more you use it, the more uses you'll find for it.
Plus, they've just released Clips 1.1, with a bevy of new features -- Abbreviations are now live (they'll expand as you type them, like Text Expander), you can use hot corners to invoke the program, video URLs are now supported (along with Amazon and IMDb URLs), and you can rename clips through a contextual menu (that last one might sound boring, but have you tried it yet?). The application is $34.99 (though hurry to get that price -- it may go up on October 1st), and there's a 15-day free trial.
And hey, if you don't want to buy it quite yet, just wait a bit -- Conceited has given TUAW a few giveaway copies to pass on to you readers, so stay tuned for your chance to pick it up right here.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Ebel3003 said 6:10PM on 9-29-2008
Wow, this application is seriously cool. You have no idea how much time I spend saving snippets of code to files to store them away temporarily until I need them. I love that this application can act like a dashboard and that you can throw your snippets around to your liking. The filtering doesn't work very well when searching for code within snippets, but something I can overlook because of the sheer intuitiveness of the program. Lastly, I didn't like that it tried to impose its default shortcut, which was the same as the default shortcut used with Quicksilver (which I use religiously), but that was easily changed.
Thanks for the post, I may just have to pick this one up now.
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Maleks said 6:30PM on 9-29-2008
An awesome app, I bought it when it was first released and now I can't live without it!
BTW. Clips 1.1 added text expansion as well. (I noticed that you'd missed this off).
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Ian Beck said 7:19PM on 9-29-2008
If the program weren't completely mouse-driven (aside from the shortcuts to invoke the various interfaces), I'd consider it. As it is, I'm sticking to PTHPasteboard combined with TextExpander for my shared clipboard and text expansion needs.
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Nicholas Penree said 8:28PM on 9-29-2008
Ian,
You can use the keyboard to select and paste Clips from the Board.
Open the Board with your shortcut key, use the Left and Right arrows to select a Clip (you can use Up/Down to switch between Clipboards, Apps, Spaces) and then hit Enter. Your clip will be automatically inserted at your current position. If you have any more suggestions, please add them here:
http://conceitedsoftware.com/submit-ticket
Thank you for your feedback and we look forward to talking to you soon.
KA said 11:36AM on 9-30-2008
Why do you want to use the keyboard?
http://www.asktog.com/TOI/toi06KeyboardVMouse1.html
Todd Sieling said 9:44PM on 9-29-2008
I'm rarely so divided about an application. The pros are some really neat ways of working with clipped items and other solid UI work, and especially local network sharing. The cons are the hair-pulling frustration of not being able to navigate through the board by keyboard and not being able to flag items without looking it up in the help.
But what really killed the deal for me was the 15-minute or whatever time limit on trying the app out before having to quit and re-launch. For a workflow support application, it's critical to be able to test how the app fits into the flow of work. 15 minutes isn't enough, not nearly enough, for that test to happen. A full day of uninterrupted testing would be more than enough to decide, and I'm dismayed that the developers thought that pain equals incentive to buy. It only drove me away.
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Ebel3003 said 1:04AM on 9-30-2008
That's strange because I've had the application launched since this morning and I haven't received any messages asking me to register.
Though after having used this for a whole day, I'm finding a lot of little things I don't like. For one, I wish I could see the entire contents of a clip.
Mark Spurrier said 9:56PM on 9-29-2008
This app is perfect! It works just like Dashboard. Clip viewing, clip saving, sharing clips with another Mac is as simple as moving your mouse to a hot corner OR pressing a key and they pop up like a graphics layer! I highly recommend this app to anyone who wants to save time and effort. Apple should buy it and add it to the OS.
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Iain Whyte said 10:05PM on 9-29-2008
Extremely polished and 'pretty' interface, but I had to turn it off after about 45 minutes (after three trial expiries... WTF?) Its too mouse centric.
Copy Paste Pro is still my favourite. It doesn't show as many or as nicely formatted clips, but I rarely see it. Two things Clips needs to bring me back:
1. Access previous copy's with repeated 'paste' commands. In CopyPaste Pro, you hold Command, and hit V once for current clipboard, twice for previous one, 3 times for one before that, etc. I don't 'see' anything, but I tend to know what I copied up to three times ago.
2. Paste RAW text. Ever copy something in Excel into an Email? What a pain in the ass. Hold Command, hit V and wait for the widget panel to come up. Select Paste Raw Text from the clip's context menu. No more bullshit font, size, and garbage, just the data.
-Iain
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Nicholas Penree said 11:27PM on 9-29-2008
Iain,
First off, I would like to tell you that your trial is not supposed to expire every 15 minutes, it should be a 15 day trial and only when the trial is expired will it quit every 15 minutes. Trial activation does require a network connection, please email me for more support.
Now onto your feedback:
1) Have you checked out the Shortcuts under Preferences? Here is a shot of it for you: http://conceitedsoftware.com/imgupload/pasteshortcuts.png
This allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to up to quickly paste up to 5 of the most recent clips.
2) Noted and added to our project tracker. Look for it in an upcoming release.
Iain Whyte said 12:31AM on 9-30-2008
Hi Nick,
Yep, I saw those options, played with them a bit. However, its just not as elegant as how CPP overloads the standard command V, for a few reasons.
- My memory isn't perfect, so while I think if want clip 3, I might be wrong. If I linger for the merest moment on the command key, I can quickly verify the right clip. Upto 3 or four clips, I just want verification, not the whole board. If I copied it this morning, and I paste it this afternoon, yes, I will hunt it out with the mouse. If I just cut three bits of information to paste into a program, I want quicker access - but I might forget the order. Apps can be all over the place. Did I copy the persons name first, or their client ID first? Damn.
- I have used command c and command v for nearly 20 years. I just can't change this now. command V still works with your app, but if I want to unlock its full power, I'm back to the mouse, some 'new' keyboard shortcut, or arrow keys. Yuk. CPP lets me have both - command V, and without moving my hands, or my train of though, paste a different clip. But its ugly.
- I love the visual style of your app. If I could graft the board layout view onto CPP's keyboard delays and mechanism, I'd be in heaven.
The trial period keeps expiring after about 5 minutes, actually. Just tried it again. Must be a bug.
-Iain
Todd Sieling said 12:16AM on 9-30-2008
Nicholas I had the same problem of a 15 minute limit, though today was the first time I tried the app. It sounds like a bug if it's not by design.
I took a second shot at trying to figure out how to flag an item without having to open the Organizer, but gave up. There doesn't really seem to be much in the way of documentation, and while much of the app is very easy to figure out, this is one part that's not terribly obvious.
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Nicholas Penree said 8:27AM on 9-30-2008
Todd,
I am sorry to hear about your issue with the 15 minute trial error. We are working to resolve the issue.
You can flag a Clip in the Organizer or the Board. If you are in the Board, hover over a Clip, in the lower left corner is a flag that you can toggle on or off.
Also, regarding documentation, our support team is currently working on a series of video tutorials for all Clips functions. Look for those in the near future.
Todd Sieling said 2:52PM on 9-30-2008
Thanks for the quick and helpful responses, Nick. I'm making a note to take a second look at Clips in a few weeks, based purely on the responsiveness for my questions and others here too. I think you're on your way to a really solid app.
Jash Sayani said 2:43AM on 9-30-2008
Lovely app. Useful and great interface. But the price is hefty for what it does.....
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Jono said 9:11AM on 9-30-2008
Yea, it looks pretty good but there are quite a few rough edges. Very expensive too for a clipboard manager.
I currently use Butler's pasteboard & can use it with the keyboard without touching the mouse. Can also paste as plain text, not sure if this is possible with Clips?
Some things aren't obvious & there's no help documentation. Some features ought to be universal (e.g. you can flag, get info, delete, rearrange clips etc. from the Clips Board but not from the Clips Panel.
With some more work though I think this could be a killer app.
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Wysiwyg said 11:06AM on 9-30-2008
Why should i need to ACTIVATE a trial? Even Photoshop allows me to try it without activation!
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Seb said 6:00PM on 10-02-2008
Jumpcut is all you need
http://jumpcut.sourceforge.net/
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BrianM said 1:43PM on 10-21-2008
looks cool
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Dan Manning said 1:45PM on 10-21-2008
I love you.
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