Sawblade Scratchpad

A quick way to generate and transform text strings, aimed at developers.

Version 1.0.1 • Supports Windows 7 and later • Learn what's new

Key features

Whether you're a developer, IT professional, writer, or power user, Scratchpad puts common text utilities in a single, distraction-free tool.

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Comprehensive

Scratchpad offers a wide variety of generators and transformers for you to choose from.

all_inclusive

extension

Extensible

The defaults don't fit your needs? Extend Scratchpad with community plugins – or write your own!

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speed

Fast & native

Because Scratchpad is a native Windows application, it feels fast and responsive to use.

speed

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Offline

Everything you enter into Scratchpad stays on your machine¹, and it even works without an internet connection².

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Flexible out of the box

Scratchpad ships with a powerful collection of 22 built-in text generators, encoders, decoders, and cleanup tools.

Base64 Decode Decode Base64-encoded content back into readable text.
Base64 Encode Convert plain text into Base64 for use in APIs, configuration files, data storage, and other technical workflows.
Binary to text Convert binary values into readable characters and words.
Text to binary View the binary representation of text data.
Convert to lowercase Transform all characters into lowercase with a single click.
Convert to uppercase Convert text entirely to uppercase for formatting or normalization.
Deburr Remove accents and diacritical marks, converting text such as “café” into “cafe”.
Generate GUID Instantly create globally unique identifiers for software, databases, and testing scenarios.
Hex to text Convert hexadecimal values back into ordinary text.
Text to hex Represent text as hexadecimal values for debugging and analysis.
Lorem ipsum Generate placeholder text for mockups, layouts, testing, and prototypes.
Normalize whitespace Clean up inconsistent spacing, tabs, and line breaks.
Punicode decode Decode Punycode back into its original Unicode representation.
Punicode encode Encode internationalized domain names into their ASCII-compatible form.
Replace smart quotes Replace curly quotation marks with standard ASCII quote characters.
Reverse lines Change the order of lines while preserving the content of each line.
Reverse text Reverse every character in the selected text.
ROT13 Apply the classic ROT13 substitution cipher often used in examples, puzzles, and simple obfuscation.
Sort lines Quickly arrange lines alphabetically to make lists easier to manage.
Unique lines Remove duplicate entries and keep only distinct lines.
URL decode Convert encoded URLs back into their original readable form.
URL encode Safely encode text for use in URLs and query string parameters.

Extensible by design

The functionality of Scratchpad can be extended using plugins. Creating plugins is easy – it's just a .NET class library. Below is a simple example for a plugin that provides a Pig Latin transformation. For more details see the plugin documentation.

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 1using System;
 2using System.Collections.Generic;
 3using System.Text;
 4using Sawblade.Scratchpad.PluginAPI;
 5
 6namespace MyScratchpadPlugin
 7{
 8    public class Plugin : IPlugin
 9    {
10        public string ID => "com.example.scratchpadplugin";
11
12        public string Name => "Example Plugin";
13
14        public (string Name, string URL) Author => ("Your Name Here", "https://example.com/");
15
16        public IEnumerable<IAction> ProvidedActions => [
17            new PigLatinTransformation(),
18        ];
19    }
20}

 1using System;
 2using System.Linq;
 3using System.Drawing;
 4using Sawblade.Scratchpad.PluginAPI;
 5
 6namespace MyScratchpadPlugin
 7{
 8    public class PigLatinTransformation : ITransformation
 9    {
10        static string[] vowels = [ 'a', 'e', 'i', 'o', 'u', 'A', 'E', 'I', 'O', 'U' ];
11
12        public string LocalID => "piglatin";
13
14        public string Name => "Pig latin";
15
16        public string Description => "Convert sentences into pig latin";
17
18        public Bitmap? Icon => null;
19
20        public string Transform(string @string)
21        {
22            if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(@string))
23                return string.Empty;
24
25            return string.Join(" ", @string.Split(' ').Select(w =>
26            {
27                if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(w))
28                    return "";
29                
30                // Check for starting vowel
31                if ("aeiouAEIOU".Contains(w[0]))
32                    return w + "way";
33
34                // Find standard vowel index
35                int idx = w.IndexOfAny(vowels);
36                
37                // Handle "qu" exception
38                if (idx > 0 && char.ToLower(w[idx]) == 'u' && char.ToLower(w[idx - 1]) == 'q')
39                    ++idx;
40                
41                // Fallback to 'y' if no standard vowels exist
42                if (idx <= 0)
43                    idx = w.IndexOfAny(new[] { 'y', 'Y' });
44
45                if (idx <= 0)
46                    return w + "ay";
47
48                // Shift consonants and check for TitleCase capitalization
49                string res = w[idx..] + w[..idx] + "ay";
50                return char.IsUpper(w[0])
51                    ? char.ToUpper(res[0]) + res[1..].ToLower()
52                    : res;
53            }));
54        }
55    }
56}

Download Scratchpad

Give Scratchpad a try for yourself. You'll love it!

Version 1.0.1

Published Thursday, August 13th 2026, 6:18 AM

Fixed a bug where the Setup wizard could not reliably detect the installed .NET runtime version

download Download for Windows All versions »

System requirements

Windows 7 SP1 or later (Windows 11 recommended)
Microsoft .NET 10 Desktop Runtime
30 MiB free disk space

FAQs

Is Scratchpad free to use?

Yes, Scratchpad is free to use, even for commercial use.

If Scratchpad is really free to use, where is the catch?

There is none! I do not make any money from Scratchpad and it's being developed soley in my spare time.

Does Scratchpad work offline?

Scratchpad works fully offline. All built-in actions do not require an internet connection and content entered into Scratchpad does not leave your device. Please note however that this cannot be guaranteed for third-party plugins. Please consult the plugin's author beforehand if you are unsure. Furthermore, Scratchpad can optionally check for software updates online. You have the option to disable this behavior during the setup process.

Is Scratchpad vibe coded?

No! Scratchpad was carefully built by human hands. Only occasional helper methods were written with LLM assistance, but only used after careful validation. The bulk of the code as well as the architectural engineering was made by humans.

Is there commercial support available for Scratchpad?

Currently, I can only offer best-effort support, as Sawblade Software is currently only a project I pursue in my spare time. However, please get in touch via the contact page and I'll try my best to figure something out, although I can't guarantee anything.

What technology does Scratchpad use?

Scratchpad is written in C# and built using the Microsoft .NET 10 framework, utilizing Windows Forms as its GUI toolkit. Additionally, we make use of the Krypton Toolkit. The setup wizard for Scratchpad is built using Inno Setup.

Can I read the End User License Agreement (EULA) before I download the application?

Yes, of course! The EULA for Scratchpad can be read on the dedicated EULA page.

I have a problem with Scratchpad! How do I report it?

For now, the best way is to reach out to us via out contact form. We're actively working on providing a dedicated ticketing system for bug reports and feature requests.

¹: Third-party plugins might transmit data to other services. Please check plugins before use and only install plugins you trust.
²: Scratchpad can optionally utilize an internet connection to check for application updates.
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