Which languages are supported?

Translation uses the AI model behind your configured provider, so it supports whatever languages that model handles — which for major providers is a very wide range. ClipHistory passes your text and the target language to that model.

Is a browser or internet connection required?

No browser. An internet connection is needed only for the API call to your provider; the rest of the app, including your clip history, works locally.

Does ClipHistory store my translations?

No. There is no cloud and no account. The translated text returns to your clipboard and stays on your Mac unless you choose to send it somewhere.

Can I keep a translation for reuse?

Yes. Pin it. ClipHistory keeps unlimited pinned clips, so reused translations survive beyond the 150-clip unpinned history.

Translate Copied Text Without a Browser on Mac

Opening a browser tab to translate two sentences is a habit worth breaking. You copy text, switch to the browser, find the translator, paste, wait, copy the result, switch back, and paste again. For something you do many times a day, that's a lot of context switching for a small payoff.

A clipboard-based translation removes every step in the middle. You copy the text, trigger a transform, and paste the translation. Here's how it works on macOS and where it fits.

The workflow in three shortcuts

With ClipHistory installed, translating copied text looks like this:

Select and copy text with Cmd+C.
Open the clipboard with Cmd+Shift+V.
Run the translate transform on the clip and paste the result.

The original and the translation both live in your clip history, so you can compare them or reuse either one later.

How translation happens — your key, your model

ClipHistory's AI transforms run against a provider you choose: Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepSeek, Google, or a custom endpoint. You add your own API key once, and translation runs through that model.

Using a general language model for translation has a practical upside: it handles tone and context, not just word-for-word substitution. You can ask for a formal register, keep technical terms intact, or preserve formatting like bullet points. Because you pick the model, you can favor accuracy for important text or speed for quick notes.

Nothing routes through a ClipHistory server

There is no cloud component and no account. Your clipboard history stays on your Mac. When you translate, the selected text goes directly to your configured provider — the same call you'd make from a script with your key — and the result comes back to your clipboard. ClipHistory never sees or stores it, because there's no server in between.

That's the meaningful difference from a free web translator: you're not pasting confidential text into an anonymous box. It goes only to the provider you already have a key with.

Setting it up

Install ClipHistory — universal binary, macOS 12 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Add your API key for one provider in settings.
Keep the default global shortcut Cmd+Shift+V.
Copy a sentence in another language and run the translate transform.

After the one-time key setup, every translation is keyboard-only.

Where clipboard translation fits

It's ideal for the small, frequent translations that interrupt your day:

Reading a snippet from documentation or a forum post.
Replying to a customer message in their language.
Translating a UI string or error message you copied from a log.
Quickly understanding a copied paragraph before deciding what to do with it.

For translating an entire document with layout, a dedicated tool may serve better. But for the constant trickle of short texts, the clipboard route is faster because it eliminates the browser entirely.

Pin the phrases you reuse

Some translations recur: a standard greeting, a support reply, a product description in a second language. Pin them. ClipHistory keeps 150 unpinned clips plus unlimited pinned ones, so a translated phrase you rely on won't disappear as newer clips push older ones out.

Chaining translate with clean and rewrite

Copied text is often messy — line breaks from a PDF, stray formatting from a web page. Run clean first to normalize it, then translate. If the source itself needs polishing, run rewrite before translating so the model works from a clear original. Each transform acts on the current clip, so you compose the steps without leaving the app.

A practical example: you copy a paragraph out of a PDF that arrives with a hard line break after every line. Translating it raw would feed the model broken sentences and produce broken output. Instead, run clean to reflow the paragraph, then translate, then optionally rewrite the result to match the tone you need. Three keystroke-driven steps, no document round trip, and every intermediate version stays in your history in case you want to back up.

Picking the right model for the job

Because you bring your own key, you decide which model handles a translation. For a one-line UI string or a quick chat reply, a smaller, faster model keeps the loop snappy and costs almost nothing. For a customer-facing message where register and nuance matter, point the same transform at a stronger model. You're not locked into a single quality tier the way you are with a bundled translator — you choose per provider, and you can switch the configured model whenever the task changes.

This also means translation quality tracks the state of the art. As the providers you already pay for improve their models, your clipboard translations improve with them, with no change to your workflow.

Why it's safe to use on real work

ClipHistory is signed and notarized by Apple, so it launches cleanly through Gatekeeper. And because there's no account or telemetry, there's no hidden place where your translated text could accumulate. You control the provider, the key, and which clips ever leave the machine.

Wrap-up

Translation belongs at the clipboard, not behind a browser tab. Copy, press Cmd+Shift+V, run translate, paste — that's the whole loop, in any app, with the model you already pay for and your text staying on your Mac.

Ready to put AI inside your clipboard? Get ClipHistory for macOS ($19.99) — a one-time payment, 12-month license, no auto-renewal. Signed and notarized by Apple, universal binary, everything stays on your Mac.