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BBedit's Find Scrap

Enable the System Wide Find Scrapbook

If you're a regular developer of macOS, you may have heard of NSPasteboardNameFind. This pasteboard holds information about the current state of the active application's find panel. While this may seem like technical jargon, understanding what NSPasteboardNameFind does can help you use macOS more effectively and efficiently.

What is NSPasteboardNameFind?

NSPasteboardNameFind is a system-level pasteboard that is used by macOS to store information about the active application's find panel. This includes the search string, search options, and other settings related to the search functionality.

NSPasteboard Name Find

How does NSPasteboardNameFind impact regular users?

For regular users, NSPasteboardNameFind has a few important implications. Firstly, it means that you can easily copy and paste search terms between different applications. For example, if you're searching for a particular term in Safari and want to use the same search term in another application like TextEdit, you can simply copy the search term from Safari and paste it into the find panel of TextEdit.

Finally, NSPasteboardNameFind allows developers to build more powerful search functionality into their applications. By leveraging the information stored in NSPasteboardNameFind, developers can provide users with a more seamless and integrated search experience.

BBEdit "Find Scrap"

There are several advanced features available in BBEdit. One of them is the option of turning on auto-filling for NSPasteboardNameFind when you open the Find dialog box. There is, however, a growing number of users who do not wish to see the same items that they searched for in Safari in the Find field of BBEdit that they searched for in Safari. That is why BBEdit defaults to not showing the feature.

BBEdit calls the NSPasteboardNameFind "Find Scrap" in the documentations.

The Find Scrap option prevents the cached information of Safari from automatically populating the Find field, enabling users to search for something new without having to manually delete the previous information that has been cached.

By default, NSPasteboardNameFind in BBEdit is off. If you wish to turn it on:

Open up Terminal, or BBEdit Shell Worksheet and type in:

defaults write com.barebones.bbedit FindDialog_UsesFindScrap -bool YES

Then restart BBEdit for the new setting to take place.

In conclusion, NSPasteboardNameFind is an important system-level pasteboard that enables a variety of search-related functionality in macOS. By understanding how NSPasteboardNameFind works, regular users can take advantage of features like copy and paste search terms and saving and recalling search settings. Whether you're a power user or just getting started with macOS, knowing about NSPasteboardNameFind can help you use your Mac more effectively.

 

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A Mac veteran since 1989, I'm here to share my experience with tips and tricks every Friday. Witnessing the evolution of Mac software and hardware firsthand, I've gained a deep understanding of how these machines work and can help you troubleshoot any issues that may come up.

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