Slates Scratchpad

Slates is a quiet Mac scratchpad for the bits of text you do not want to lose to a browser tab, a meeting chat, or the bottom of a notes app.

You get eight color-coded slates in one window. Keep a draft in one color, a door code in another, a list in a third. Drag a card by its header and the color travels with it, so your mental map stays put.

WHAT IT’S FOR

Door codes, tracking numbers, meeting links, packing lists, a paragraph you are still chewing on, a snippet you will paste three times and then clear.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Write in Rich, Plain, or Code — headings and emphasis that actually render, syntax highlighting, and smart bullets that click through a cycle • Copy any slate with one click, or Copy & Clear when a one-time code has done its job • Drag slates by their headers to reorder; hide the ones you are not using • Focus one slate, or see the whole set as a vertical list or a horizontal strip • Open from the Dock, the menu bar, or both • From another app, Share → Slates appends, prepends, or replaces a slate • Get, set, or show a slate from Shortcuts • Wrap long lines, fit a slate to its content, or collapse the window to its toolbar • Keep automatic local backups, or save a backup file when you want one

PRIVACY

Stored locally on your Mac by default. Optional iCloud sync stays off until you turn it on in Settings. Slates does not include analytics, tracking, or advertising. There is no account to create.

Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later.

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