Quick tools
Small tools that each do one job: a notepad, a place to park files, clean links, app installs from disk images, wallpaper and a keyboard lock for cleaning.
Each one is a command: type its name in the bar and press ↵. Each can also have a hotkey, set on its Settings page or in Settings → Hotkeys, which lists every command (none are set until you choose one; see Hotkeys and aliases). Other quick tools have their own pages: screenshots, recording, Copy Text from Screen and Camera Preview, Paste as Plain Text, and Keep Awake.
Scratchpad
A notepad in the bar for short-lived text: meeting notes, numbers, a paragraph on its way somewhere else. Run Scratchpad (or its hotkey) and start typing. There's no Save: every edit is saved on its own, and the text is there next time you open it. esc closes it.
Tabs
Keep up to 12 named tabs, shown in the bar's field row.
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌘T | New tab (or click +). |
| ⌘W | Close the tab (or click its ×). A tab with text asks first; ⌘↵ confirms. |
| ⌃⇥ / ⌃⇧⇥ | Next or previous tab. |
| Double-click a tab | Rename it in place. Rename Tab… in ⌘K does the same. |
Writing
| Key | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌥↑ / ⌥↓ | Move the current line, or every selected line, up or down. |
| ⌘F | Find. ⌘G and ⇧⌘G go to the next and previous match. |
| ⇧⌘M | Show or hide the formatting row. |
| ⇧⌘C | Copy All. |
| ⌘S | Save as File…, to keep a copy somewhere else. |
| ⌘↵ | Show Formatting, and back to Edit Text. |
The pad is plain text. The formatting row (bold, italic, strikethrough, heading, bulleted list, numbered list, quote, code and link) types the Markdown for you, and a second click takes it off. ⌘K → Clear empties the tab; ⌘Z brings it back.
⌘↵ shows the text formatted: headings, lists, quotes, code and task lists. Click a task's box (- [ ] task) to check it off; that changes the text too. Web and email links open when clicked. Any other link asks first, and a link to an app or a script is only shown in Finder, never run.
Settings
Settings → Scratchpad: the switch at the top, the Scratchpad hotkey, Clear on its own (Never, or after a day, a week or a month without edits; checked when the pad opens) and Text size (10 to 22 pt, default 14).
Shelf
A small floating shelf to park files, pictures, links and text while you move them between apps.
- Open it by shaking a drag. Start dragging files, a picture or some text, and shake the pointer left and right: the Shelf opens under the pointer. Drop onto it.
- Or run Shelf (or its hotkey) to open it at the pointer, and again to close it.
Drag a tile out into any app to drop it there; by default it then leaves the Shelf, and the Shelf closes once it's empty. Each tile has a × to remove it, and Clear at the top empties the Shelf. The Shelf never takes the keyboard from the app you're in.
It holds up to 64 items and keeps them when Saiki restarts. A file you move or rename is found again; one that's gone leaves the Shelf.
Settings → Shelf:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Opening → Shelf | A hotkey that opens or closes it. |
| Opening → Shake a drag to open the Shelf | On by default. |
| Dropping Out → Remove an item once it's dropped | On by default. |
| Dropping Out → Close after dropping an item | Off: the Shelf closes only once it's empty. |
| Dropping Out → Empty the Shelf when it closes | Off by default. |
URL Cleaner
Takes tracking parameters (utm_source, fbclid and the like) out of links, on your Mac.
- Clean Copied Link cleans the link on your clipboard and says what it removed.
- In Clipboard History, ⇧⌘L (Copy Clean Link) copies a cleaned version of the selected link.
- Clean links as you copy them (Settings → URL Cleaner → As You Copy) cleans every link the moment you copy it. It's off by default and needs Clipboard History on. The Last cleaned row under it shows what it last took out.
Choosing what's removed
Settings → URL Cleaner → Parameters Removed lists the parameters taken out of Every site's links, then those for particular sites (like si on YouTube). Press ↵ on a row to edit its list: remove a name to keep that parameter, or add one. utm_* stands for every name starting with utm_. A site's list also covers its subdomains.
Add Site… adds a list for another site. ⌘⌫ on a site removes a site you added, or resets a built-in one. The Clean Copied Link hotkey is at the bottom of the page.
Disk Image Installer
Open a downloaded disk image (.dmg) that holds one app, and the bar comes up offering Install with a card that says what will happen. Nothing happens until you press ⌘↵; esc leaves everything as it was.
- The app is copied into Applications.
- Its signature is checked, and Gatekeeper must accept it. If the Mac can't verify it, nothing is installed.
- The disk image is ejected, and the download goes to the Trash.
An app that's already in Applications is never replaced. To install from a disk image you haven't opened, find the .dmg in the bar and choose ⌘K → Install App from Disk Image.
Changed your mind about the download? Run Put Back Disk Image: it returns the last disk image the installer moved to the Trash. The command shows up only while there's one to put back.
Settings → Quick Tools → Disk Image Installer:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Offer to install apps from disk images | The offer when you open a disk image. On by default. |
| Move the download to the Trash | On by default. Off: the disk image is ejected and kept. |
| Show the installed app in Finder | Off by default. |
| Install in your own Applications folder | Uses ~/Applications instead of /Applications. Off by default. |
Wallpaper
Run Wallpaper to see a grid of Apple's desktop pictures and your own. Type to filter by name. Chips above the grid show All, Yours or Apple; ⇥ and ⇧⇥ step through them, and the arrow keys move around the grid.
Press ↵ to set the selected picture on every display, filling the screen. A picture in iCloud Drive is downloaded first.
To add your own pictures, press ⌘K and choose Add Images… or Add Folder… from the list. ⌘K on a picture also has Show in Finder (⇧⌘O) and Open Wallpaper Settings.
Settings → Quick Tools → Wallpaper: a hotkey, and Set on every display (on by default; off sets only the display under the pointer).
Cleaning Mode
Run Cleaning Mode to lock the keyboard while you wipe it. Every key is ignored, including brightness, volume and media keys. The screen shows "Keyboard locked for cleaning"; your mouse and trackpad keep working.
To unlock, press esc five times in a row, or click Unlock. Any other key, or a long pause, starts the count again.
Cleaning Mode needs Accessibility; without it, the bar asks you to grant it first, so the keyboard is never locked with no way back. Settings → Quick Tools → Cleaning Mode has its hotkey and Keep screen visible, which shows a small card in the corner instead of covering the screen.
Turning them off
Scratchpad, Shelf and URL Cleaner each have a switch at the top of their own Settings page. The switch at the top of Settings → Quick Tools covers the Disk Image Installer, Wallpaper and Cleaning Mode, as well as Paste as Plain Text, Copy Text from Screen, Copy Text from Clipboard Image and Camera Preview. A tool that's off leaves search, and its hotkey does nothing.