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What’s new, and why.

I make Grabster on my own, so this is where you can see what’s changing. Every release gets an entry here. In between, I explain why things changed, post the odd video, and share a word I grabbed that week. No newsletter and nothing that tracks you — there’s a feed if you want to follow along.

  1. VIDEO

    A two-minute tour of Grabster, on camera.

    Me, a 1986 TV archive in French, and one word from its subtitles: how a grab works, where the word lands, and what the card looks like when I open Practice. I recorded it on 7 October, so you’ll see the old Save panel from before 0.2.12, but the gesture hasn’t changed.

    The Save panel over a French subtitle on YouTube, with the word crois recognised as French, and the author in a corner of the screen.
  2. RELEASE 0.2.13

    The translation now appears at the notch.

    The biggest change since the beta opened. When you release ⌥Space, the translation shows at the top of the screen, under the notch, instead of in a panel over the subtitle you were reading. The card is still one tap away; it just isn’t in your way. If you preferred the panel, open Settings in the Grabster window, go to Lookups and turn off “Show lookups at the notch”.

    • New Lookups at the notch, on by default. To go back to the panel, turn off Settings ▸ Lookups ▸ “Show lookups at the notch”. No relaunch needed.
    • New Settings walks you through Screen Recording and Accessibility in order and shows what’s still to grant.
    • New Words lists every word you looked up with its translation, including the ones you didn’t make a card for, each with an Add card button. Filter by language above the list.
    • New Practice: choose the mode and the deck on one screen, then Start.
    • New A Sync section in Settings. Off until you turn it on; it’s groundwork for an iPhone app that isn’t out yet.
  3. BEHIND THE BUILD

    Why the translation moved to the notch.

    The old panel appeared over the subtitle line you had just read, so every grab meant looking away from the show, reading the panel, and finding your place again. The notch is the one spot on a MacBook screen that nothing is ever drawn under, and your eye already goes there for the clock. With the answer up there, nothing covers the show.

    It also changes how grabbing feels. A lookup is cheap now, so the notch keeps today’s lookups in a row, and a card is a tap on any of them rather than a decision you have to make the moment you let go. The panel still does two things the notch can’t yet: grabbing several words as one expression, and telling you when a word is saved but waiting because your trial has run out. That’s why the switch back exists (Settings ▸ Lookups ▸ “Show lookups at the notch”), and why it will stay until the notch can do both.

  4. RELEASE 0.2.12

    Translation first; the card only when you ask.

    Most grabs are a question, not a commitment. So the panel now answers first: release, and the translation is there. Add card is a second tap, for the words you want to keep.

    • New The translation appears at release. A card is made only when you ask for one.
    • Fixed A grab that timed out could hold the text reader for a minute, so the next grab waited on it.
    • Fixed Changing the language on the panel brought the Grabster window to the front.
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macOS 14 or later · Apple Silicon and Intel