OS X Services

Many applications (such as Apple Mail, BBEdit, TextEdit, and more) support OS X Services as a means of integration. OS X Services provide another way to access features from one app (like TextSoap) within another app (like TextEdit).

There are advantages and disadvantages to using OS X Services.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Our Recommendation

While we still support Services, we strongly recommend using TextSoap Menu as an alternative approach to system-wide integration. TextSoap Menu uses the user’s clipboard and supports most apps that handle copy/paste of text. See the “TextSoap Menu” topic for more details.


The Services menu can be found in the application menu, such as “TextEdit”. You can use TextSoap in other applications through Services:

  1. Select text in application that supports Services (text must be editable).
  2. Select Application > Services > Clean Selection with TextSoap.
  3. Select the cleaner you wish to apply from the popup window.

Services only works when text is selected and the text is editable. For example, in Apple Mail, Service items are only available when editing outgoing messages.

OS X Services are handled through the TextSoap Agent.

Debugging OS X Services Definitions

OS X Services Inspector

OS X Services inspector is a tool to help investigate issues related to TextSoap and OS X Services. There are a quick rundown of the options:

Action Menu

Once you have some results in the edit window, you can use the standard Find (cmd-F) to find text within your definition posts.