Get back a file you copied earlier
- Copy it in Finder. Select files or folders and press ⌘C. Items copied together are saved as one clip.
- Keep working. Copy other text, links or files; the earlier item stays in your history.
- Open your history where you need the file. In a Finder window, an email or a chat, press ⇧⌘V (the default shortcut; you can change it).
- Type the start of its name. “report” finds Q2-Report.pdf. Part of the folder it lives in works too.
- Paste it, or find it. Press Return to paste the file itself, or ⌘R to reveal the original in Finder. Return pastes for you once you allow the optional Accessibility permission; otherwise the file is copied and you press ⌘V.
What’s saved for each kind of copy
| What you copy | What’s saved | What pastes back |
|---|---|---|
| A file in Finder | Its location, name, folder and a thumbnail. Not the file’s contents. | The file itself. |
| A folder in Finder | Its location and name, with a folder thumbnail. | The folder. |
| Several items at once | One clip, named after the first three (“hero.png, logo.png, card.png +2 more”). | All of them, together. |
| An image file in Finder | A reference, like any other file, whatever its format. | The file. |
| A PNG or TIFF image, like a screenshot on the clipboard | The image and a thumbnail, up to the maximum item size (10 MB by default). | The original PNG or TIFF. |
| Formatted text (RTF or HTML) | The formatted version plus plain text. If the two together are over the maximum item size, only the plain text is kept. | Both; the app you paste into picks one. |
Screenshots and copied images
Press ⌃⇧⌘4 and drag across the screen, and macOS copies the screenshot to the clipboard instead of saving a file; adding Control works with the other screenshot shortcuts too (Apple). Clipboard History keeps each one as an image clip with a thumbnail, so you can take several and paste them wherever they go, in any order.
Images copied in other apps are kept too, as long as the app puts them on the clipboard as PNG or TIFF. Press ⌘Y to see one full size.
Limits for images: an image larger than Maximum clipboard item size in Settings → Storage (10 MB by default, 1 to 100 MB) isn’t kept; if the app copied text along with it, only that text is saved. Clipboard History doesn’t read text in images or search what they show; you find an image by its type (“PNG image”) or the app it came from. JPEG, HEIC, GIF and PDF data on the clipboard isn’t kept unless the app also offers PNG or TIFF.
A reference, not a copy of the file
For Finder items, Clipboard History saves where the file is, not what’s in it. A 20 GB video folder takes the same room in your history as a text file, and pasting always gives you the real, current file.
The reference follows a file you move or rename on the same disk, so a moved file usually still pastes. If the original can’t be found any more (it was deleted and the Trash emptied, its drive is disconnected, or it moved to another disk), the clip turns dim and struck through, with an orange ⚠ whose tooltip reads “File has been moved or deleted,” and pasting it gives you the file’s name as text instead.
So a clip is not a backup: starring a file keeps the reference, not a snapshot of the document. Keep backups with Time Machine or another backup tool.
Find files by name or folder
Search matches the start of any word in a file’s name or its folder path, ignoring case and accents. “report” finds Q2-Report.pdf and “launch” finds the files inside a Launch Assets folder, but “port” finds neither, because matching starts at the beginning of a word.
The list shows your 100 most recent clips; search looks through everything you’ve kept, 1,000 clips by default and up to 10,000. Files you reuse can be starred with ⌘D or put in a group, and then they’re never removed to make room.
Where it saves time
- Attachments. Paste the PDF you copied an hour ago into an email without hunting for its folder.
- Assets you reuse. Keep the logo, brand folder or template in a group, one keystroke away.
- Finding where something lives. ⌘R opens the folder when you remember the file but not the path.
- Screenshots. Capture several to the clipboard, then paste each where it belongs.