Customize Your ActionClip Widget

ActionClip builds the compact widget in this order:

Quick-result or Suggested action: One optional Leading suggestion.
Standard actions + Groups: The number of chips chosen in Widget length, from 3 through 15.
Group: One or more menus of related actions. Each visible Group uses one Widget length position.
Count: Optional word and character counts.
More: Opens the remaining actions.

A Leading suggestion is extra. It does not replace any position in your saved Widget length.

Widget length controls only Standard actions and visible Groups. Selection counts and More are also outside that budget.

The default Widget length is six. You can choose any value from 3 through 15.

With every optional control visible and Widget length set to 15, the compact widget can contain up to eighteen controls.

Leading suggestion

ActionClip may show one Leading suggestion when the selected text matches something useful.

It can appear in two forms.

Quick-result chip

A Quick-result chip immediately shows a useful value or correction:

A spelling correction for a misspelled word
A currency conversion for $100
A unit conversion for 10 km
A time-zone conversion for 10:30 AM PDT

Suggested action chip

A Suggested action chip promotes a relevant action:

Open Link for a web address
Maps for a location
Translate for another language
A custom action matching its Recommendation Criteria

Only one Leading suggestion appears at a time.

If it promotes an action already in your order, ActionClip removes the duplicate and brings the next action forward. Every saved Standard/Group position remains available.

Standard action chips

ActionClip fills the saved Widget length with Standard action chips and visible Group chips after the optional Leading suggestion.

Their order comes from your Actions list. Actions near the top appear first.

Disabled actions are skipped, and the next enabled action moves forward.

Disabling an action does not remove its saved position. If you enable it again, it returns to the same place.

Group chips

A Group chip appears after the Standard action chips when at least one action inside that Group is enabled.

Select a Group chip to open its menu directly beneath it. Near the bottom of the screen, the menu opens above the chip.

Groups are useful for related actions such as:

Fix Grammar
Summarize
Write Formally
Make Shorter

You can create up to seven Groups. Their widget order follows the saved Group order, and each visible Group uses one Widget length position.

An action can belong to only one Group. Members of visible Groups follow your main Actions order and are not repeated as Standard actions or in More. If the selected Widget length cannot show a Group, its enabled members remain available under More.

Selection count chip

The optional Selection count chip can show:

Word count
Character count
Both counts together

It appears after the Groups, or after the Standard actions when no Group exists.

The Selection count chip is extra and does not replace a Standard action.

More button

The More button is the trailing chevron that opens the More menu.

With an empty search, the More menu contains the remaining enabled actions. Type in its search field to find any enabled action, including main-widget actions and folder members. Use Up/Down and Return to choose a result. Escape clears the search before closing the menu.

The ordinary, unfiltered list does not repeat:

Visible Standard actions
The current Leading suggestion
Actions inside any Group
Selection counts

More menu rows follow your saved Actions order. If there are no remaining actions, the More button is hidden.

How to customize the widget

Open ActionClip → Actions. To review everything included with the app, see the complete built-in actions list.

Show or hide actions

Use the checkbox beside an action to enable or disable it.

Disabled actions remain in your Actions list but do not appear in the widget.

Change the action order

Drag actions up or down in the Actions list. The widget and its preview follow the saved order.

Visible Groups use part of the saved Widget length; enabled ungrouped actions fill the remaining positions. Everything else appears under More.

Remove or restore an action

Choose Remove Action from the action's settings gear or menu. Built-in, Marketplace, and custom actions can be removed. Restore built-ins from the in-app Marketplace, where installed actions show Added even if disabled. Word Count and Character Count have matching Remove-only gear menus.

Use icons in the main widget

Enable Settings → Widget → Icon-only mode for a compact main widget. Hover over an icon-only action to see its name. Folder and More dropdowns keep labels visible. Turn off the global preference to restore individual action and folder styles.

Open Settings → Paste widget for the live demo, paste-option configuration, and inline Snippets management. The Actions page no longer has a Paste widget preview. Set up snippets.

Close and reopen results

Settings → Widget lets you choose whether clicking outside closes a result. Set a shortcut to reopen the latest completed result in this session, or choose Disable. A reopened result does not reuse an old editable selection.

Use the Widget length dropdown beside the Widget Preview on the Actions page.

Choose from 3 actions through 15 actions. The default is 6 actions. The setting is saved, and updating ActionClip preserves an existing saved value. Macs upgrading from a version without this setting keep the previous six-position behavior.

Change how an action looks

Choose a display style for each action:

Icon with Label
Icon only
Label only

Shorter styles make the widget more compact, but they do not change the saved Widget length.

Change a built-in or custom action icon

From ActionClip → Actions, open the icon control for any built-in or custom action.

Choose SF Symbols or emoji, import an image, or enter an Iconify name such as solar:airbuds-case-charge-broken. Online Actions is required for Iconify and HTTPS image imports. Imported images are stored locally. The Fluent tab is removed, but previously saved Fluent icons still render. Explicit icon choices are preserved across relaunches.

Custom icons and their action order can participate in optional iCloud Sync on eligible multi-Mac plans when Actions & Groups is selected.

Configure Auto Suggestions

In Auto Suggestions, you can configure:

Spelling Suggestions
Currency Conversion
Unit Conversion
Time Zone Conversion
Word Count
Character Count

Spelling and conversions use the Leading suggestion position. Word and Character Count use the Selection count chip.

Currency Conversion lets you choose primary and secondary currencies. Unit Conversion lets you enable unit types and customize the CSS em base and pixel density. Other options include spelling language and target time zone.

Create and reorder Groups

Select Create group to place related actions under one chip.

Choose its name, icon, and at least two member actions. An action already used by another Group cannot be selected until you remove it from that Group.

Use the checkboxes inside a saved Group to enable or disable its actions. Drag the Group handle to change the order of Group chips in the widget.

Deleting a Group does not delete its actions.

Change the theme and font size

Open ActionClip → Settings → Widget.

Choose ActionClip, iOS Edit Menu, or Native Menu. The refined Native Menu uses macOS system typography, adaptive colors, stronger contrast, and a clearer result chip.

Choose an action font size:

XS — 10 pt
S — 11.5 pt
M — 13.5 pt
L — 16 pt

Open ActionClip → Settings → Widget → Widget placement.

Auto: follows the selection direction and available screen space.
Above: prefers the space above the selected text.
Below: prefers the space below the selected text.

Above and Below are preferences. ActionClip can use the other side when the chosen side does not have enough room.

Under Settings → Widget, record a shortcut to reopen ActionClip while text is still selected.

The default shortcut is pressing Option twice.

The Widget Preview shows how your setup will appear and provides the same Widget length dropdown used in Settings.

Use the sample-text options to preview:

No suggestion
Spelling
Currency
Units
Time

A matching sample adds a Leading suggestion without reducing the saved Widget length.

You can also open Groups and More in the preview. Preview actions never run.

Term	Meaning
Compact widget	The complete floating action strip
Leading suggestion	The optional extra first control
Quick-result chip	A correction or converted value
Suggested action chip	A contextually promoted action
Standard action chip	An enabled ungrouped action filling one Widget length position
Group chip	Opens grouped actions and uses one Widget length position
Group menu row	An action displayed inside a Group
Selection count chip	Shows word and character counts
More button	Opens the remaining actions
More menu row	An action displayed inside More

Use chip for the type of control. Use pill only to describe its rounded shape.

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