When working on a Mac, the keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste are Command/⌘+C to copy, then Command/⌘+V to paste. Everything you copy and paste goes to the same place: the clipboard.
However, there is a drawback to this remarkable time-saving tool. macOS only comes with one built-in clipboard, and whatever you want to paste is limited to the last thing you copied. So if you copy something, then forget to paste it, and copy something else, then paste that, you need to go back to the thing you were originally trying to copy and paste to complete that task. It can be a pain and sometimes cost as much time as you were hoping to save thanks to these limitations of the clipboard.
Thankfully, there are ways around these limitations and you can view and access the clipboard history on a Mac. In this article, we cover the most effective ways and options for viewing and managing the clipboard history on a Mac.
Paste, PasteBox, and Alfred Clipboard /Snippet viewer are probably your best bets out of the 16 options considered. 'Available on Mac, iPhone, and iPad' is the primary reason people pick Paste over the competition. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that. Use Universal Clipboard with any Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that meets the Continuity system requirements. It works when your devices are near each other and set up as follows: Each device is signed in to iCloud with the same Apple ID. Each device has Bluetooth turned on. Each device has Wi-Fi turned on. Each device has Handoff turned on. The Mac clipboard is a virtual data storage spot for information you copy and paste on a Mac computer. You can view what's in your clipboard without having to paste it using the Mac's built-in clipboard viewer.
What is clipboard on Mac?
Paste for a Mac has set a standard for clipboard managers which is hard to surpass. Its fluent UI and organizational and search features are top-notch. ClipClip is the only Windows clipboard manager that comes close to it. It is the best clipboard manager for Windows you can get today. It strikes the perfect balance between features and usability. About two weeks into using Maccy, I began to realise I couldn't do without it - not only as a Mac clipboard manager, but as a very minimalist note taker and a security blanket from silly mistakes. It stays out of the way, is super fast, and does exactly what it needs to.
The clipboard is one of those programs that runs in the background, and often this is something you wouldn't need to give a second thought. It is a basic program, which is why it takes up almost no processing power or space. However, if you want to view the clipboard, it can be located through the Finder menu, in the top toolbar. Find and select Show Clipboard to see the last item you copied.
It will only show the most recent item. Once you copy something else, the item before that disappears.
Universal Clipboard
Introduced in macOS Sierra and iOS 10, Apple devices now come with a Universal Clipboard which means you can copy on one device and paste on another. Providing these devices are logged into the same iCloud account and connected to the same WiFi network, with Bluetooth switched on - and not too far apart - this is another fantastic time-saver from Apple.
Not only Apple thinks about the convenience of its users. A lot of developers work on creating better tools for Mac users. CleanMyMac X is one of such tools, that is meant to clean and optimize your Mac. The app is notarized by Apple, so there is no better and safer cleaner for your Mac. I have been using CleanMyMac X for a long time, and my Mac has been performing flawlessly ever since. So, if you’re eager to speed up your Mac, this is a tool for you.
Hidden secondary clipboard
It should also be noted that Apple has a hidden secondary keyboard. It is a well-kept, practically an insider secret. Select whatever you want to cut - not copy - and press Control + K to cut the text an image or a document. To paste it in its new location, press Control + Y. Because this cuts an item, it won't remove whatever you copied most recently from the main keyboard.
How to view and manage clipboard history on a Mac?
Your Mac clipboard is not unlike the human short-term memory. It is transient and tends to only hold onto one thing at a time. Once it's gone, it's gone. So, it can only reveal the latest thing you copied. You can view clipboard through the Finder menu. Here’s what you need to do:
- Open Finder.
- Click Edit in the top-left.
- Select Show Clipboard.
In the window that opens, you will see the latest thing you copied. Here’s how my clipboard looks like:
If you expected to find everything you copied in your clipboard, you could be disappointed. Clipboard only saves the last item you copied. This is a massive drawback of the macOS clipboard, and there is no way to view the clipboard history without applying other special tools.
Developers have been busy coming up with solutions that work with macOS to solve this problem. In order to give people more control over the Mac clipboard, they even create apps that provide you with more than one clipboard on a Mac.
Tools to view clipboard history on Mac
Because the macOS clipboard is limited to the most recent item copied, gaining the advantage of more functionality means using a third-party app - such as a clipboard manager - to effectively create a secondary clipboard within your Mac.
Paste is one of such apps. It keeps everything you copy to let you access it later. Rocket Typist is a similar tool, but its main purpose is to save the phrases you use the most. Another app, called Unclutter, is great at keeping your copied info organized - it saves everything you drag and drop and allows you to create notes.
How to fix clipboard if it isn’t working?
If copy and paste isn’t working on Mac, Activity Monitor may help you.
- Go to Applications and choose Utilities.
- Launch Activity Monitor.
- Type pboard in the search bar and hit Enter.
- Click the X in the top-left to quit the process.
If quitting the clipboard didn’t help, then the issue may be with your keyboard. To fix it, you need to highlight some text, either double-clicking it and choosing Copy or selecting the Copy option from the Edit menu. Then choose Paste from the Edit menu. If it works, then your keyboard, not clipboard, is the one to blame. In this case, the restart of the Mac may help you fix the issue. Go to the Apple menu and choose Restart.
Although clipboard is a simple background program, something can always go wrong. So if you ever find yourself in a situation where clipboard isn't working - which will impact apps that rely on that functionality to make your life easier - there is an app that can solve this and many other problems.
One way to clean up a Mac and improve the performance is one of the most powerful and popular Mac cleaner apps on the market: CleanMyMac X.
CleanMyMac X is a powerful, easy-to-use and versatile Mac performance improvement tool. To use this app to clean your Mac - including clearing caches and browser history, follow these steps:
- Download CleanMyMac X.
- Run a Smart Scan.
- Click Review Details to check the junk CleanMyMac X detected. Usually, these are user cache files, system logs, etc.
- Click Run to clear and speed up your Mac. Delete with confidence, knowing your Mac will run smoother and faster with files that aren't needed finally tidied up.
It should be noted that CleanMyMac X knows what can be removed and what should stay on your Mac, so it excludes crucial system files from the search.
Now, you know that you can quickly view clipboard history on your Mac through the Finder menu. Apple clipboard isn’t perfect, though, so you can’t check out everything that you’ve copied. Thankfully, some special apps can help you with that. Install any of the apps I recommended above to keep all your copied items at hand.
Copy or cut
Start by selecting the text or other item to be copied or cut. Then use one of these steps to save the item to your Clipboard so that it can be pasted elsewhere.
Copy
- Press Command-C.
- Or choose Edit > Copy from the menu bar.
- Or Control-click (or right-click) the item you selected, then choose Copy from the shortcut menu.
Cut
- Press Command-X.
- Or choose Edit > Cut from the menu bar.
- Or Control-click (or right-click) the item you selected, then choose Cut from the shortcut menu.
Paste, or paste and match style
First click to place your insertion point, then use one of these steps to paste your copied item at that location. When you paste and match style, the pasted item matches the font, color, size, or other style of the surrounding content.
Clipboard For Mac
Paste
Multi Clipboard For Mac
- Press Command-V.
- Or choose Edit > Paste from the menu bar.
- Or Control-click (or right-click) the item you selected, then choose Paste from the shortcut menu.
Paste and Match Style
- Press Option-Shift-Command-V.
- Or choose Edit > Paste and Match Style from the menu bar.
Learn more
Mac Clipboard History App
- You can also drag and drop items to move or copy them to another location.
- If you press and hold the Control key while taking a screenshot, the screenshot is saved to the Clipboard, ready to be pasted.
- With Universal Clipboard, you can copy and paste content between your Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.