Translate Clipboard

Automatically translate text copied to your Mac clipboard

This Rule suits a reading session in which you repeatedly copy unfamiliar text. Its input comes from the clipboard event, so you do not need a separate Get Selected Text Action or a hotkey for each passage.

When: The clipboard changes. Do: Translate the event’s text to English, then show the translated output as text. There is no If Condition to restrict the source app or skip particular content.

Configure and try it

1. Import using Open this Rule in Rulr and choose the target language in Translate Text.
2. Complete the Translation Shortcut setup requested by Rulr before enabling the Rule.
3. Copy a short passage in another language and check the displayed translation. Copy a different passage to verify a second run.
4. Disable the Rule when you finish the reading session if you do not want ordinary copying to trigger it.

Requirements and limits

Clipboard Changed requires Rulr Pro. Translate Text requires the Translation Shortcut dependency; supported languages and translation availability depend on that setup.

The sample handles text. It does not perform image OCR, save clipboard history, or replace the clipboard with the translation. Non-text clipboard changes may provide no useful text to translate. For translation only when you request it, use Translate Selected Text; for text inside images, use Translate Screen Text.

Can I paste the translated text immediately?

The sample shows the translation in a result panel but leaves the clipboard unchanged. A normal paste still uses the original copied text. Choose this Rule for reading translations while copying passages; automatic translated-text insertion would require a different flow, including a guard against triggering another run when the clipboard changes.