StitchPencil Stick for Mac — send files from the computer

What is StitchPencil Stick for Mac?

A small, free Mac app for the files you already have — purchased designs, files from other software, designs you exported earlier. Drop them on its window and they are on the stick; delete what you no longer need. No previews, no conversions: designs are made in StitchPencil on the iPad, and they leave the iPad through the Export Unlock as before. The Mac app only carries files.

Download: the StitchPencil Stick for Mac section on stitchpencil.app/esp32.

What do I need?

macOS 14 or newer.
Bluetooth 4.2 or newer. The stick only pairs over a secure connection, which older Macs and Bluetooth 4.0 dongles cannot make. Macs from about 2015 on have it.
Firmware 1.0.9 or newer on the stick. The app’s footer shows the stick’s firmware and says when a newer one is available.

How do I install it?

Open the downloaded DMG and drag StitchPencil Stick into Applications. The app is notarised by Apple, so it opens like any other. The first time, macOS asks whether the app may use Bluetooth: allow it.

How do I pair the stick?

Once per Mac:

Plug the stick into the machine or a USB power source, and keep the Mac close.
Open StitchPencil Stick. It looks for sticks and lists what it finds; click yours.
The stick’s display shows a six-digit code, and macOS asks for it: type exactly that code.
The stick shows its name on its display. Look at the stick in your machine: only if that display shows the name, click Yes, that one.

From then on the app finds its stick by itself whenever the window opens.

A stick with no pairing takes the first device straight away. A stick that already knows an iPad takes a Mac only while it is ready to pair: hold its button for 3 seconds until the display says so, then you have two minutes.

How do I send files?

Any of these:

Drop one or more files anywhere on the window.
Click Choose Files… in the dashed box, or press ⌘O.
In the Finder, right-click a file and choose Open With › StitchPencil Stick.
Drop files on the app’s Dock icon.

The stick takes stitch files (DST, EXP, PES, PEC, JEF, SEW, VP3, VIP, HUS, XXX, TAP) and their companion files (INF, COL, EDR, RGB, PNG, BMP). Anything else is left out, and the app names what it left out. Drop a Bernina pair (Herz.exp and Herz.inf) together: the colour file goes first, so the machine never sees the design without its colours.

Files dropped before the stick is connected wait and go out as soon as it is. A bar shows the progress; Verified: the stick read it back unchanged means the stick saved the file and read it back from its memory. If a file of the same name is already on the stick, the app asks before it replaces it.

The name on the stick is the file’s name, folded to what the machine can display: Grüße aus Köln.pes becomes Gruesse aus Koeln.pes.

Where do I see what is on the stick?

The list On the stick shows every design with its file types, size and date, newest first, with the number of designs next to the heading. From twenty designs on, a search field appears above the list. Files with the same name are one design: Herz.exp and Herz.inf show as one row, Herz, with EXP INF.

The line under the stick’s name shows which memory is active and how much is free — the stick’s own memory, or the microSD card when one is in.

How do I delete from the stick?

Click the bin at the right of a row (or right-click the row and choose Delete from the Stick). The app asks once and names every file that goes. Deleting a stitch file also deletes its colour file; deleting only the colour file would keep the stitch file, which the machine then sews in its own colours.

The window is the connection

A stick takes one connection at a time. While the StitchPencil Stick window is open, the stick belongs to the Mac, and your iPad cannot reach it. Close the window, or choose Stick › Release the Stick, and the stick is free again. After five minutes without you doing anything, the app lets go by itself and offers Connect again.

The stick symbol in the menu bar carries a dot: green when the stick is connected and ready, orange when a stick is in range but not connected yet (found, pairing, waiting for your confirmation), grey when none is near or the app has let it go. Its menu opens the window, chooses files, releases or connects the stick, and quits.

With the menu bar item on, closing the window keeps the app running (and lets the stick go). You can switch the item off in the app’s settings (⌘,); then closing the window quits the app.

Something does not work

This Mac cannot talk to the stick: it needs Bluetooth 4.2 or newer. An external Bluetooth 4.2 adapter helps on older Macs.
Pairing did not work: if the stick showed no code, it was not ready to pair. Hold its button for 3 seconds, then try again. If it showed a code, type exactly that one.
The stick no longer knows this Mac: after its pairings were erased or its firmware was installed fresh. Open System Settings › Bluetooth, remove the stick there, then pair again.
The stick does not answer: an iPad may hold it. Close the stick sheet on the iPad, then try again.
The machine is reading from the stick: wait a moment and send again. The stick never changes a file while the machine reads.
Every Bluetooth step is written to a log you can send along with a report: Help › Show Log in Finder.