macOS menu-bar utility

Drop files.
Grab paths.

Slashgrab lives quietly in your menu bar. Drag any file or folder onto its icon and the path lands on your clipboard — instantly. No Finder detour, no extra window.

Download for macOS
macOS 13 or newer Native menu-bar app Drop · copy · paste
Interactive demo — a re-creation of how the app works, not the real app
Drag a file up to the  icon
Drop it and watch the path get grabbed.

Why I built it

Getting a path was always more work than it should be.

When I needed to paste a path into an AI agent, a chat, a terminal command, a bug report or a config file, there was always a detour. Slashgrab removes it.

Before — the detour
  • 1Hunt for the file in Finder
  • 2Drag it into Terminal, or dig through a copy-path menu
  • 3Copy the result
  • 4Switch back to where you actually needed it

Four steps, two context switches, every single time.

After — with Slashgrab
  • 1Drag a file or folder
  • 2Drop it on the Slashgrab menu-bar icon
  • 3Paste the copied path

No command palette. No Finder service. No temporary shelf.

How it works

Drop file → copy path → paste path.

The workflow is intentionally small — and everything around it stays out of your way.

01

Drag

Grab any file or folder from Finder, the Desktop, or another app. Multiple items work too.

02

Drop

Let go over the Slashgrab icon in the menu bar. It arms on hover and confirms with a quick pulse.

03

Paste

The formatted path is already on your clipboard. Paste it wherever you need — ⌘V and you’re done.

Screen recording of Slashgrab copying a file path after a file is dropped on the menu bar icon.
Screen recording — the real app on macOS
Everything it does

Menu-bar drop target

Drop files or folders directly onto the Slashgrab icon — no window to open first.

Instant clipboard copy

The formatted path is copied the moment the drop succeeds. Nothing else to click.

Multiple path formats

Shell-escaped, plain, quoted, file URL or home-relative. Pick your default once.

Multi-item support

Drop several items at once and Slashgrab formats the whole set in your chosen style.

Recent paths

Reopen the menu to copy a recently grabbed path again — no need to re-drag.

Drop feedback

A quick, restrained visual confirmation every time a path is copied.

Launch at login

Keep Slashgrab ready in the background without starting it by hand.

Automatic updates

Slashgrab checks for new versions and keeps itself up to date — nothing to download by hand.

Path formats

One drop, your format.

Choose how Slashgrab writes the path once — it formats every drop that way until you change it.

Dropped: Q3 Report.pdf
Copied to clipboard
/Users/marco/Design/Q3\ Report.pdf

Shell Escaped. Spaces and special characters are backslash-escaped, so it pastes straight into a shell command.

Get Slashgrab

A tiny utility that earns its place in your menu bar. macOS 13 or newer.

Download for macOS Star on GitHub