Action Menu
Select text in any app and a menu of actions shows up next to it. Copy it, search it, translate it, change its case, rewrite it with AI, or send it to Calendar, Reminders and Contacts.
The app you're working in keeps focus the whole time.
When it shows
Set this in Actions ▸ Menu Behavior:
- Show actions when text is selected: Turn the menu on or off.
- Show:
- After every selection
- When holding ⌥ while selecting
- Only with the keyboard shortcut
- Also show after selecting with the keyboard: After ⇧-arrow keys or ⌘A.
- Minimum selection: How many characters you need to select before it shows.
To hide it in some apps or websites, add them in Settings ▸ Ignored Apps.
Use it with the keyboard
Set the Show action menu shortcut in Settings ▸ Shortcuts, then press it with text selected.
- ← → to move between actions.
- ↓ or Return to open a group, More or a list.
- ← or Esc to go back.
You can also give any single action its own shortcut in Menu Layout.
Built-in actions
Some actions only show when they make sense. Open Link only shows for a link, and Add to Contacts only for an email address or phone number.
Clipboard
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy | Copies the selection. |
| Cut | Cuts the selection. |
| Paste | Pastes the clipboard, keeping its formatting. |
| Paste as Plain Text | Pastes the clipboard without formatting. |
| Paste and Return | Pastes the clipboard as plain text, then presses Return. |
Look up
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Quick Result | Shows the answer to a calculation (12 * 7), a unit conversion (10 km) or a time in another zone (3pm PST). Click to copy it. |
| Spelling | Suggests corrections for a misspelled word. |
| Search | Searches the web. Set your own search URL, where {query} is the selection. Duplicate it in the layout to add more search engines. |
| Open Link | Opens the link in the selection. |
| Reveal in Finder | Shows a file or folder path in Finder. |
| Look Up | Looks the word up in Dictionary. |
| Word Count | Shows how many words and characters are selected. Click to copy the count. |
| Speak | Reads the selection aloud. Choose it again to stop. |
| Translate | Translates on device, or with your default AI provider. Choose the language to translate into. |
| Share | Shares with AirDrop, Messages, Mail and more. |
Send to apps
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Add to Calendar | Adds an event when the selection mentions a date or time. Reads it with date detection or your AI provider. |
| Add to Reminders | Adds the selection to Reminders, with a due date when one is mentioned. |
| Add to Contacts | Adds an email address or phone number to Contacts. |
| New Note | Creates a note in Notes with the selection. |
Typefu
| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| Save as Snippet | Saves the selection as a snippet and opens it. |
| Add to List | Adds each line to one of your lists. |
AI
Every AI preset that works on selected text shows in the menu. Proofread and Rewrite: Professional sit in the bar by default. The rest are in the AI group.
Transform
The Transform group changes the selection in place:
- UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, Sentence case
- camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, CONSTANT_CASE
- Trim Whitespace, Sort Lines, Remove Duplicate Lines
- Format JSON
- URL Encode, URL Decode
- Base64 Encode, Base64 Decode
- Remove Accents
Your own actions
Every action you make in Actions shows in the menu too. See Your Own Actions.
Arrange the menu
Open Actions ▸ Menu Layout to make the menu yours. A live preview shows the result as you go.
- Reorder: Drag items. The first ones show in the menu, clockwise from the top. The rest go in More.
- Visible: Choose how many items show before More.
- Show in the bar: Turn an action on or off. Some, like Cut, Speak and Share, start off.
- Show as: Icon, Text, or Both.
- Rename any item.
- Add ▸ New Group to group actions, like the AI and Transform groups. Add ▸ Separator adds a divider.
- Duplicate an action to use it with different options, for example a second Search with another search engine.
- Shortcut: Runs the action on the current selection without showing the menu.
- Reset Layout puts everything back the way it was.