Create contact information from copied text

I’ve been looking for a smooth way to add contact information from text I’ve copied from a web site. The key is to use Apple’s Data Detectors feature in TextEdit.

First, you want to set TextEdit to be always ready for this action:

1. Open TextEdit.
2. Go to TextEdit menu > Preferences…
3. Turn on Data Detectors, at the very bottom of the New Document tab.
4. (I also like to change my default document format to Plain Text, but that’s not necessary to this procedure.)
5. Close the Preferences window.

OK, now you’re ready to do this anytime:

1. Create a new TextEdit document.
2. Paste in any kind of contact information, e.g. name, address, email, phone number.
3. Hover over what you just pasted. See that little drop-down arrow? Click it.
4. You’ll see what to do from there!

Here’s a quick screencast. Enjoy!

https://v.usetapes.com/dTnSsAcB2g

Author: jjmarcus

Apple Specialist, Mac Whisperer, Cloud Wrangler - Your Remote CTO View all posts by jjmarcus