About
The idea for Compass & Clipboard came about long before it had a name.
In games, I kept noticing how practical radial menus are. You are in the middle of a task, you press a key, and the menu opens right where the pointer is, which is usually where your attention is too. No searching, no switching to some toolbar. The most important actions are right there, where you need them.
At some point I wanted that same principle outside of games.
Back then I looked for tools that worked the way I had in mind, but found nothing that really fit. So eventually I started building something myself. Quite small at first, and only for my own everyday work. Over time, more and more things came in that I had missed in existing tools.
The project was called “Middle Click Tools” then. Over the years, more and more things were added that I wanted for my own daily workflow: taking screenshots, marking regions, annotating things, calling up tools quickly, and capturing information in a way that can be shared with others right away.
That became especially clear when working with colleagues. And by now, AI counts as one of those colleagues for me.
When you take a lot of screenshots, explain workflows while sharing your screen, or want to quickly show someone, human or AI, what this is about, you notice how much friction bad tools can create. How many detours you have to take. At the same time, I have seen again and again that powerful software is often hard to convey once the users are not deep into technology and software themselves.
That is why, from the start, it mattered to me that a powerful tool does not have to look complicated.
The radial menu is actually perfect for that: it is visual, direct and intuitive. At the same time, a great deal of functionality can sit behind it. That is why the settings follow a visual language too, as far as possible. You should be able to understand what is happening without reading a manual first.
Many small ideas and wishes that had piled up over the years came together, bit by bit, in a single tool.
“Middle Click Tools” finally became the Apple-compatible Mouse Tools for enthusiasts like me, haha.
Today, MouseTools brings two apps together: Mates and Compass & Clipboard. We’re starting on the Mac App Store, with more systems planned. The original tools app is now called Compass & Clipboard.
I am quite proud that this has become a product I want to use myself every day, and can now offer to others as well.
Compass & Clipboard is €9.99 once on the Mac App Store — one product, no subscription. A later Pro plugin from this website is €4.99; it is not a Store purchase.