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. Copied is a terrific clipboard manager and available on a variety of Apple devices for free. Availability: iPhone, iPad, iMessage, and Mac Cost: Free with an in-app purchase to upgrade and receive iCloud sync, list-organizing, and automation rules.
The clipboard manager I’m thinking about is not a manager who stands around holding a clipboard.
From what I can suss out, this is how Macs still work, but I have an option for Mac users (and another option for Windows users) at the bottom of this email. The new Windows clipboard manager. The new Windows clipboard manager will hold multiple things that you copied—up to 4MB of data. It’s hard to picture 4MB of data. Apple Clipboard Manager. Universal Clipboard, as Apple likes to call it, works between iPhones.
Your computer clipboard holds onto things you’ve copied, making them available for you to paste. Apps that manage this clipboard are called clipboard managers.
Historically, computer clipboards have not been very useful. The clipboard could hold one item. You would copy something, such as text or an image, and it was available for you to paste, until you copied something else. And then that first copied item would no longer be on your clipboard. From what I can suss out, this is how Macs still work, but I have an option for Mac users (and another option for Windows users) at the bottom of this email.
The new Windows clipboard manager will hold multiple things that you copied—up to 4MB of data. It’s hard to picture 4MB of data. For those of you who remember floppy disks*, the most common disk size was 1.44MB, so picture what could be held on 2.77 disks. If you don’t remember floppy disks, 4MBs would be the equivalent of two or three novels. If you’re copying images, it would be about two high resolution photos.
Windows calls this your “clipboard history.”
So, let’s get you access to your clipboard history.
On your keyboard, hit the Windows key and v. You’ll get this little pop-up. Click “Turn on.”
You are now good to go. Everything you copy will be available in your Windows clipboard history. To access it, click the spot in your document, email, etc. where you want to paste. Click Windows key + v. You’ll see a pop-up with the items you’ve copied with the most recent items at the top. Click on the item you want to paste.
Once the clipboard limit of 4MB has been exceeded, the items will start being deleted from the bottom of the list. If you want to delete an item now, click the 3-dots to the right of the item and select “Delete.” If you don’t ever want it to be deleted, select “Pin.” If you want to completely clear the clipboard, select “Clear all.”
This does not affect CTRL + v to paste. CTRL + v will still paste your most recently copied item.
If you try out this clipboard history, you’ll notice that it’s a little clunky to use. For example, there is no search function; the only way to find what you want to paste is to scroll. And scroll. And scroll.
There are a lot of third party programs… er, apps… that bring much more functionality to the clipboard. These are called “clipboard managers,” and that’s a fair term. They really do manage your clipboard. Or, rather, allow you to better manage your clipboard.
For Windows, I recommend Ditto (free). For Macs, I recommend Copyless 2 (free, but $6.99 for additional functionality). While I’ll be showing you Ditto, Copyless 2 works in a similar way.
When I use my keyboard shortcut to open Ditto, I have access to the last 2,000 items I’ve copied. The default is 500, but in Ditto’s “options,” I increased the limit. (Copyless 2 can handle up to 1,000 copies.)
Clipboard Manager Windows
When I use my Ditto keyboard shortcut, I get a pop-up that gives me access to my clipboard history. Below is my current Ditto pop-up. Items with a yellow sticky note icon are items that I’ve designated with a “sticky clip.” These are items that will remain at the top of my Ditto list until I remove the sticky setting. What I especially appreciate about Ditto is the live search. As I start typing in the “Search” box, Ditto will return all copied items that match what I type… as I type. It’s fast!
I have gold-starred some items. These are items that have been marked as “Never Auto Delete.” Ditto will not delete them until I remove the gold star, or until I manually delete them myself.
* The floppy disk remains with us today as the “Save” icon in a lot of computer apps**. I found some 3.5″ floppy disks when I was cleaning out my office. I kept them. I also found zip disks, but I don’t think I kept those.
**In case you missed it, “programs” are no longer called “programs.” They’re now called “apps,” as in “applications.” “Apps” originally just referred to programs on mobile devices, but at some point the terminology made the jump to computers. I’m not completely on-board with that shift, but this is not the first time I’ve lagged behind an English language change. Nor, I am certain, will it be the last.
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.
What is clipboard on Mac?
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.
Clipboard Manager Mac Os
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. Pdf for pc windows 10. 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.
![Clipboard Clipboard](https://cdn.setapp.com/blog/images/show-clipboard-780x418.png)
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.