TextBuddy For Mac

There are plenty of ways you might need to manipulate text, and rarely do you find a simple, lightweight app that can handle them all.

TextBuddy tries to include as many text processing tools as possible in a clear, accessible interface. It relies on a straightforward command window, similar to Spotlight, which lets you find the appropriate command and apply it to your text instantly.

Once you open TextBuddy, just paste some text to get started. The app provides some useful information in the sidebar, such as a character, word, and line count, along with estimated reading time.

To get to work, press ⌘T to bring up the command window. You can either scroll through the entire command list or start typing to filter for the specific one you need. There’s a lot the app can do: conversion, adding or removing content, formatting, sorting, encoding, decoding, numbering, extracting data, and even translation via ChatGPT.

You can speed things up even more by setting up a hotkey for running clipboard actions. Once you’ve selected some text in any other app, use the shortcut and pick a command. After processing, the text is sent back to the clipboard.

If you need to get text from an image or PDF file, the app even allows you to grab a screenshot and extract text using OCR. This works with existing images too. It’s possible to extract text from audio and video files.

With over 130 commands available in the current version, it’s impossible to list everything the app can do. Aside from basic tasks, it also allows you to use ChatGPT (you’ll need your own API key), run shell commands, work with URLs, and create your own scripts.

TextBuddy is great for anything from simple text manipulation to advanced scripts. It’s all a matter of how far you want to take things, and there’s extensive documentation to help you figure things out.