Video

Want to streamline your macOS workflow and save time? In this video, I’ll show you how to automate saving your clipboard content directly into a new text file that is saved in the frontmost Finder window/folder – all with a simple bash script!

Say goodbye to manual copy-pasting! Whether you’re a developer, content creator, or productivity enthusiast, this automation hack will make your life easier. I’ll guide you step-by-step on how to set up a service that instantly saves whatever is on your clipboard into a text file in your active Finder window – with just one shortcut.

The Script

#!/bin/bash

# Get clipboard content using pbpaste
clipboard_content=$(pbpaste)

# Get the path of the frontmost Finder window
folder_path=$(osascript -e '
tell application "Finder"
    if (count of windows) > 0 then
        set thePath to (POSIX path of (target of front window as alias))
    else
        set thePath to ""
    end if
end tell
return thePath')

# Check if we have a valid folder path
if [[ -n "$folder_path" ]]; then
    # Define the file name and path
    file_path="${folder_path}Orig_FileName.txt"

    # Save the clipboard content to the file
    echo "$clipboard_content" > "$file_path"

    echo "Clipboard content saved to $file_path"
else
    echo "No Finder window detected."
fi

Conclusion

The Automation is useful when preserving original file names for files that have had file name changes to be more human readable.