Thoughts for Mac

Thoughts for Mac is a native macOS menubar application for capturing notes, images, and voice recordings without leaving what you are doing. It sits in the Mac menubar, and a single click opens it so you can quickly save whatever is on your mind. The app captures structured text notes, checklists, code blocks, standalone links with previews, voice recordings, images, and text-like files such as TXT and CSV. It is presented as a small multi-tool for the menubar, and it is free to download and use, with all future updates included and no subscription. Because it lives alongside your other menu bar icons, it stays within reach while you work in other applications. The thinking behind Thoughts for Mac is speed of capture. Rather than opening a full note-taking application, creating a document, and finding a place to file it, the app puts a capture surface in the menubar where it is always one click away. The website frames this simply: Thoughts sits in your menubar, you click it anytime and anywhere, and you quickly save what is on your mind. That makes the app useful for the moment a thought, link, image, or spoken idea appears in the middle of other work. It also supports captures that arrive from outside the app itself: desktop builds can receive shared text, images, and audio through URL schemes, open-with actions, macOS Services, and native imports, so content can be sent to Thoughts from elsewhere on the system. The core capture experience covers the three input types the website presents as Write it, Drag in an image, and Talk to it. Writing produces structured text notes, and the app also handles checklists, code blocks, and standalone links that carry previews. Dragging an image in saves the image itself as a note, and screenshot capturing is listed among the app's capabilities. Talking records voice, which becomes a voice note that can later be transcribed with your own AI provider key. Beyond those interactive paths, Thoughts also accepts text-like files such as TXT and CSV, and on desktop it can take in shared text, images, and audio from URL schemes, open-with, macOS Services, and native imports. Voice recordings can be exported as MP3 in the desktop app whenever you want them. AI is optional and brought by you. In Settings you can connect OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini with your own API key. Once connected, the app can transcribe voice notes, context images to text, and perform simple text transforms such as capitalization, translations, spelling fixes, shortening, lengthening, summarizing, and converting case. The website also lists extracting text from images among the available actions. Claude is available for text actions, while transcription support depends on the provider you connect. Only AI-powered actions require a key: capturing notes, images, and audio does not need one. The app is free, and you use your own OpenAI, Gemini, or Claude API key for features like transcription, OCR, summaries, translations, and rewrites. Organizing what you capture is handled by search and pinning. Search works across notes, links, screenshots, and image names instantly, so a note can be found even when you only remember part of an image's name. Pinned Thoughts let you keep important notes at the top of your list so they are not buried under newer captures. The app also supports light and dark mode and adapts to whichever you prefer. Instant access is provided by a custom shortcut of your own choosing, meaning you can open Thoughts from anywhere on your Mac with a keystroke rather than reaching for the mouse. Thoughts works as a local-first menubar utility. In the desktop app, notes and settings are saved locally on your Mac, and media files are stored in the app's user data folder, with no account required. That means there is no sign-up step and no server-side account to manage for the core experience; AI actions are the exception, since they rely on the API key of the provider you connect. A browser preview mode also exists, but it is session-only, so notes created there are temporary. The free model and the bring-your-own-key approach combine to keep the tool light: you pay nothing to download or use it, including future updates, and you decide separately which AI provider, if any, powers the optional text and audio actions. Export and sharing are built in, so what you capture is not locked in. You can share notes as text, and you can export audio recordings whenever you want them. If you ever decide to leave, you can export all notes from Settings as JSON, or export individual notes in the best available format: text notes as TXT, image notes as image files, PDF attachments as PDF, and voice notes as MP3 in the desktop app. Benefits stated on the site include instant capture from the menubar, quick access through a custom shortcut, search that reaches into images and image names, pinning for important items, and both light and dark appearance modes. Concrete workflows follow from the capture types. During a call or a meeting you can talk to Thoughts and keep the recording as a voice note, then transcribe it later with your connected provider. While browsing, you can save a standalone link with its preview, or capture a screenshot of something you want to keep. When you drag in an image, the app can extract text from it through OCR once an API key is connected, turning a picture of text into usable content. You can bring in text-like files such as TXT and CSV, jot checklists, or store a code block you want to find again. Text actions handle small chores — summarizing a note, fixing spelling, converting case, shortening or lengthening text, or translating it. On the Mac, other apps and system services can send text, images, or audio into Thoughts through URL schemes, open-with, macOS Services, and native imports. Thoughts for Mac is built for macOS users who want a fast place to put thoughts, notes, links, images, and voice memos without opening a larger note-taking app. The site lists its topics as Productivity, Writing, and Menu Bar Apps. Integrations are limited to the AI providers you connect — OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini — using your own API key, and to macOS system entry points such as URL schemes, open-with, macOS Services, and native imports. Pricing is straightforward: the app is free to download and use, including future updates, with no subscription; the only cost you may incur comes from the API provider whose key you use for AI features. The download is delivered through the linked Gumroad page, and the app is native to macOS. Thoughts for Mac keeps capture at the edge of your screen: a menubar click or a custom shortcut, a written note, a dragged image, or a spoken thought, all saved locally with no account required. Search, pinning, export, and light and dark modes make the notes usable afterwards, while optional bring-your-own-key AI actions add transcription, OCR, summaries, and translations through OpenAI, Claude, or Gemini. It is free, and every feature is available at no cost with future updates included.