Translate selected text on a Mac with a keyboard shortcut

Highlight the text in any app and press ⌃⌥T (Control-Option-T): Kalila opens in the menu bar with the translation. Without an extra app, Control-click the selection and choose Translate “…” — it works in any app, but has no keyboard shortcut.

Updated: 2 November 2026

Download for Mac

Version 0.2.3 · macOS 26.4 or later · Apple Silicon

Translate highlighted text with one shortcut

Install Kalila for Mac and open it once: its icon appears in the menu bar.
Select a word, a line or a whole paragraph in any app: a browser, Mail, a chat app, a PDF in Preview.
Press ⌃⌥T. The first time, macOS asks you to allow Kalila in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility: that is how it reads the selection.
Read the translation in the window that opens. Copy it with the copy button, or press Esc to close the window.

If another app already uses ⌃⌥T, you can change the shortcut in Kalila's settings. If an app doesn't share its selection with macOS, Kalila copies it for a moment with ⌘C and then puts your clipboard back as it was.

Replace the text with its translation

To answer a message in another language, write it in your own, select it and use the Services menu:

Select your text.
Control-click it and open Services.
Choose Translate and Replace with Kalila. The translation takes the place of your text, in the same field.

Translate with Kalila, next to it in the same menu, opens the window instead and leaves your text as it is.

Without an extra app: the Control-click menu

macOS has its own Translate command: select the text, Control-click and choose Translate “…”. The panel can copy the translation or replace your text with it. To keep the text on your Mac, download the languages and turn on On-Device Mode in System Settings › General › Language & Region › Translation Languages. See how to translate on a Mac for step-by-step instructions.

What you get with the shortcut

A window that keeps translating as you edit the text, with the language detected for you.
For a single word, a dictionary card: translations by part of speech, meanings, examples and pronunciation. It knows word forms, so “ran” opens “run”.
A language pair you set once: text in your language is translated into the other one, and everything else into yours.
A searchable history and a phrasebook (☆), kept on your Mac.

Translation runs on your Mac with Apple's on-device engine, so the text you select never leaves your Mac, even when you're online.

Questions

What is the shortcut to translate on a Mac?

With Kalila, ⌃⌥T (Control-Option-T) translates the selected text in any app, and you can set another shortcut. macOS itself offers Translate in the Control-click menu.

Why does Kalila ask for Accessibility access?

To read the text you selected in another app, macOS requires that permission. Kalila uses it only when you press the shortcut. Without it, the shortcut just opens the window.

Does it work in Safari, Mail and PDFs?

Yes, in any app where you can select text, including Safari, Mail, Notes, Pages, Messages and Preview. Text in a picture can be translated only if you can select it, for example with macOS Live Text.

Does it work offline?

Yes. Once the two languages are downloaded on your Mac, the shortcut translates with Wi-Fi off.

Is it free?

Yes. Kalila for Mac is free, with no account and no limit on how much you translate. It needs macOS 26.4 or later on a Mac with Apple Silicon.

Select, press ⌃⌥T, read