Can I assign a Touch Bar button to this exact function?

[dapork]

I work as a translator, and to save time I use google translate for large texts before combing for errors. I spend a lot of time copying text, opening up Safari, going to google translate, pasting the text and then selecting the correct languages.

Is there a way I can have a command set up on the TB, so that when I select a text, I can tap the command and immediately have it open Safari, input the selection to google translate and with pre-assigned languages?

I think "scripts" did something like this but I never learned how to use them, and now that I'm getting a tMBP, I'm really hoping I can optimise it for this invaluable function. This would save me a hell of a lot of time.

Thanks to anybody who can help with this.

 

[poorcody]

The app BetterTouchTool can do that entirely. You can create TouchBar buttons with preprogrammed macros per application or globally. The macro system is very powerful -- you can easily do what you want. In fact I set up something similar for my writing.

(The app is not free but "pay what you think it's worth" -- as little as $4 I think. There is a 45-day fully-functional trial. I have no affiliation -- just love the app. It makes the Touchbar so much more useful.)

 

[dapork]

The app BetterTouchTool can do that entirely. You can create TouchBar buttons with preprogrammed macros per application or globally. The macro system is very powerful -- you can easily do what you want. In fact I set up something similar for my writing.

Cool I will definitely try that. Do you know if there's any way to map a complex function to a tb command without using an app? Like hit record and then proceed to complete a bunch of tasks.

 

[dapork]

Can anyone else weigh in on this? Is there a way to do this without an app, or using this app is must, is it complicated? I downloaded it and every time I tried to close it it would force a pop-up on me so I deleted it.

 

[redr]

Can anyone else weigh in on this? Is there a way to do this without an app, or using this app is must, is it complicated? I downloaded it and every time I tried to close it it would force a pop-up on me so I deleted it.

The app is fantastic and the developer's really fair regarding licensing and responsive re fixing any bugs and adding new features all the time. It's one of the best apps I own and I use it non-stop every day. It's actually very easy to set up shortcuts including for the touchbar, so I would just go ahead and try it. I hate popups too but I'm sure you can live with it for long enough to choose to buy it or uninstall.

As for whether you can customise the touchbar as easily / extensively without the app, I'm not aware of any way to do it - it's definitely not built in to the standard OSX UI. Actually there's a surprising shortage of tb-related apps. Rocket http://julianthayn.com/release-notes is another nice one, although it's "just" a task switcher/app launcher/folder switcher, so wouldn't help the OP.

I'm not in any way affiliated with the guy btw, just appreciate good developers / apps when I see them