I love finding new and clever ways to make my computers work better for me. Clipboard manager is a productivity tool I use every day. It saves each bit of text I copy to my clipboard so when I go to paste I’m not limited by only the most recent item saved.
What if I could take this concept further by storing things I may want to paste again, accessing them easily and putting them back on the clipboard?
While Claris (FileMaker) Pro clipboard doesn’t do this natively, Raycast offers a free and easy way for anyone with a Mac to benefit from a library of Claris-friendly snippets.
What is Raycast?
Think of Raycast as a spotlight-replacement app for your Mac, such as Alfred or LaunchBar. Raycast excels at being keyboard-focused and features a robust developer API so anyone can build their own custom extensions.
Raycast extensions are built with React and TypeScript, which Proof+Geist use when we build web applications.
Getting Started
Download Raycast (for FREE) from https://www.raycast.com, then follow all the setup instructions. Create a keyboard shortcut to search anything or launch commands.Once Raycast is ready to go, visit this page or click the button below and click Install Extension. That’s it! You’re ready to start using Snippets.
Using the Extension
Create a new snippet by copying something from FileMaker and using the Create Snippet command in Raycast. Then name the snippet, give it a description, and add searchable keywords. Press ⌘+return to save the snippet. You can edit later.
Open the View Snippets command from Raycast to search your snippets, then press return to copy it to your clipboard. You’re now ready to paste into Claris/FileMaker Pro.
By default, all the snippets you create will be stored on your computer in a support folder that Raycast maintains. You can define additional locations for your snippets in Manage Snippet Locations. Share your snippets between computers or with your team by putting them in a synced folder.
Tips and Tricks
In Raycast, extra actions are hidden behind a searchable menu opened with the ⌘+K shortcut.
Assign a global hotkey to launch any specific command, including commands from custom extensions, using ⌘⇧+, (command+shift+comma).
Search through your snippets using a hotkey that will launch the command directly. Create the hotkey in the Raycast preferences.
Share an individual snippet with someone else using the Reveal in Finder action. That locates the JSON file. Do not rename this file please. It could create duplicates if the snippet is later edited by the extension.
Personally, I’m loving how Raycast Snippets makes my work more efficient and brings some ease to my day, meaning I have more time to focus on development.
Special thanks to Dan Shockley, author of the FmClipTools AppleScript collection, leveraged by this extension.
Modern FileMaker at Proof+Geist
At Proof+Geist, we see the Claris platform as a key puzzle piece for any business ecosystem. With our world-class hosting platform, professional development tools, and expertise in both Claris FileMaker and web technologies, we are ready to innovate and help support your business now. For questions, comments, or more information, drop us a line at info@proofgeist.com.