Clipboard History

Overview

Clipboard History keeps the text and images you copy, so you can use them again. Press ⇧⌘ Space to open Quick Search on the Clipboard tab, search for an item, and press Return to copy it or ⌘V to paste it into the app you were using.

Each item shows the app it was copied from, and for a web page the site’s domain, whenever macOS can tell. Screenshots you take with ScreenGrabs land here too, ready to paste.

Shortcut

⇧⌘Space

Tab in Quick Search

Clipboard ⌘2 by default

macOS permissions

None neededOptional: Accessibility

How to use it

1. Copy text or an image the way you always do.⌘C
2. Open the Clipboard tab from any app.⇧⌘Space
3. Type to search, then press Return to copy it again, or ⌘V to paste it.↩

Key features

• Keeps your 50 most recent copied text and image items, plus your 50 most recent screenshots, so neither pushes the other out
• Search everything you copied; Return or ⌘C copies an item again, and ⌘V pastes it into the app you were using
• Shows the app each item came from, and the website’s domain when a browser says which page it was
• Copying an image file in Finder keeps the image, not its icon
• Delete (⌫) removes the highlighted item, and each copy confirms with a notice at the notch
• Text that Dictation inserts stays out, so the history holds only what you copied

Commands

Open its tab in Quick Search, or use its shortcuts from any app. You can change the shortcuts in Settings › Clipboard History.

• Clipboard tabIn Quick Search, with its default key⌘2

• Open Clipboard History⇧⌘Space

Permissions and privacy

Clipboard History needs no macOS permissions.

It can use this too, but works without it:

• AccessibilityLets ⌘V paste a clipboard item into the app you were using. Without it, ⌘V copies the item instead.

Questions