Tapline help

Getting started

Tapline lives in the notification area (the tray) at the right of the taskbar. The first time it starts, it shows a sample paragraph to try the bar on, then asks for your top actions, your search engine, the language to translate into, and when the bar should appear.

• Left-click the tray icon to open the flyout: the Action bar on/off switch, pause options, your most-used actions, and Turn off in this app for the app you were just using.
• Right-click it for Pause, Settings, Check for updates, About / License and Quit.

If the icon is hidden under the ^ arrow, drag it onto the taskbar so it is always visible.

Using the bar

Select text by dragging, double-clicking a word or triple-clicking a line. After a short pause the bar appears just above the selection, or below it when there is no room. It never covers the selected text.

• Up to seven actions show at once. The rest are under More.
• Actions appear only when they fit: Open link for a link, Email for an address, Cut and Paste where you can type, Define for a word or short phrase.
• Typing, or clicking somewhere else, closes the bar. It also hides on its own when the mouse doesn't come near it.

To open the bar from the keyboard, select text and press Ctrl+Alt+X. Use the arrow keys or Tab to move, Enter to run an action and Esc to close it. If you'd rather the bar never appears by itself, choose Only with the hotkey in Settings › General.

Changing text in place

Case (UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, Sentence case) and Clean up replace the selection right in the app, the same way a paste would. Press Ctrl+Z in that app to undo it. Your clipboard is put back once the app has taken the new text.

Where the text can't be edited, such as a web page, the result is copied instead so you can paste it where you like.

Paste plain pastes the clipboard over the selection without its formatting. For very long selections, Tapline asks before changing the text.

Choosing actions

In Settings › Actions you can turn actions on or off and drag them into the order you like, with a live preview of the bar. The same page sets your search engine, translation site and language, and dictionary.

To add your own action, choose Add action:

• Open a web address: type the address with {text} where the selection should go, for example https://example.com/search?q={text}.
• Run a program: pick the program and put "{text}" in its arguments. The selection reaches the program as one argument.

You can also give any action its own shortcut in Settings › Hotkeys. Tapline warns you if a shortcut is already taken.

When the bar doesn't appear

• Password fields are never read, in any app.
• Excluded apps don't get the bar. Password managers, terminals and game launchers are excluded at first. Add or remove apps in Settings › Exclusions, or use Turn off in this app in the flyout.
• Full-screen apps, such as games, videos and slideshows, don't get the automatic bar. The hotkey still works there.
• Dragging files, moving windows and dragging across spreadsheet cells don't count as selecting text.
• Off or paused: while Tapline is off or paused, only the pause shortcut works.
• Apps running as administrator can't share their selection with Tapline. It tells you once when this happens.
• Shortcut already used: if another app already uses Ctrl+Alt+X, Tapline says so once. Pick another shortcut in Settings › Hotkeys.

Keyboard shortcuts

These work from anywhere in Windows while Tapline is running.

Trial and license

Tapline is free to try for 14 days, with everything turned on. After that: The bar keeps Copy and Search. The other actions, and their shortcuts, need a license.

Entering your license key

1. Buy a license. Your key appears on screen as soon as the payment goes through, and arrives by email.
2. In Tapline, open the License page in Settings.
3. Paste the key and choose Activate. The PC needs to be online for this step.

Using it on more than one PC

One key works on up to 3 PCs. To move it to a new PC, deactivate it on the old one from the License page first. If the old PC is gone, free up its place at Manage devices, using the email address you bought with or the key itself.

Once activated, Tapline works offline. When it's online it checks the license about once a week, so a refunded or revoked key stops working on its next check.

Bought Tapline in the Microsoft Store? The Store edition is licensed through your Microsoft account instead, and doesn't use a key.

Updates

To get the latest version, choose Check for updates in Tapline. It asks before installing anything.

Each update is checked against a fingerprint (SHA-256) before it runs, and installs over the current version without touching your data. Updates for the Microsoft Store edition come through the Store.

See what’s new in each version.

Your data and uninstalling

Tapline keeps its settings and data on your PC, in this folder (paste it into File Explorer’s address bar to open it):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Hedgerow\Tapline

To back it up, quit Tapline and copy that folder.

To uninstall, open Windows Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find Tapline and choose Uninstall. The uninstaller asks whether to remove your data too.

Still stuck?

Email support@hedgerowapps.com and we’ll get back to you. Mention your Tapline version (shown in Settings › About) and your Windows version. More answers are on the support page.