What it keeps
Capture & formats
Clipboard History records what you copy in any app, in the format you copied it, together with where and when it came from.
Plain text
Anything you copy as text. The list shows the first two lines; the preview shows all of it.
LinksNew in 0.0.27
A copy that is exactly one web address, domain or email address becomes a Link clip. Text that includes a link among other words stays text.
Formatted textNew in 0.0.27
Text copied as RTF or HTML is saved together with a plain-text version. When you paste it, the receiving app uses the richest format it understands.
ImagesNew in 0.0.27
Images placed on the clipboard as PNG or TIFF, such as a screenshot copied instead of saved, with a thumbnail in the list. Pasting gives back the original image.
Files and folders
Files and folders copied in Finder are saved by reference with a thumbnail, so their contents aren’t duplicated. Paste them anywhere that accepts files.
Missing files
A file you move or rename on the same disk is usually still found. If the original can’t be found (it was deleted, its drive is disconnected or it moved to another disk), the clip is dimmed and marked ⚠, and pasting it gives the file names as text.
Source app and time
Every clip shows the icon and name of the app you copied it in, and when: now, minutes, hours or days ago, then the date.
No accidental duplicates
Pasting from the history doesn’t record the clip again. Copying the same thing twice within 30 seconds moves the existing clip to the top.
Maximum item size
Plain text over the limit is skipped. Formatted text over it is kept as plain text, and an image over it only as any text copied along with it. The limit is 10 MB by default, adjustable from 1 to 100 MB. Files don’t count, because only references are stored.
Settings → Storage
Find any clip
Search
Start typing as soon as the panel opens. Search covers your entire history, not just the clips on screen.
Search as you type
The search field has focus when the panel opens, and the list updates as you type.
Matches the start of words
Each word you type matches the beginning of words in a clip, ignoring case and accents, so “caf” finds “Café”. Type several words to narrow the results.
Text and names
Search looks through text, links, formatted text, file and folder names, and the folders they’re in.
Search by appNew in 0.0.27
Search also matches the name of the app you copied from. Type “Safari” to see what you copied there.
Your whole historyNew in 0.0.27
Search reaches every stored clip, including ones older than the 100 shown in the list, and returns up to 100 results, most relevant first.
Per tab
Search looks in the tab you’re on: All, Favorites or one of your groups.
Keys
⌘F or ⌘K returns to the search field from the list. ⎋ clears the search.
Favorites & groups
Organize
Keep the clips you reuse apart from everyday history, where they’re never removed automatically.
Favorites
Press ⌘D or click the star on a clip to add it to Favorites, which has its own tab.
Groups
Click + in the tab bar, or right-click a clip and choose Groups → New Group… to create one. A clip can be in several groups, and each group gets its own tab.
Switch tabs
⌥1 shows All, ⌥2 Favorites and ⌥3–9 your first seven groups. Or click a tab.
Kept for good
Favorites and grouped clips never count toward the history size and are never removed automatically.
Rename or delete a group
Right-click the group’s tab. Deleting a group keeps its clips in your history; they just lose the group’s protection.
Delete a clip
Click the trash button that appears when you point at a clip, or right-click it and choose Delete. Deleting is immediate and can’t be undone.
History size
1,000 clips by default, adjustable from 100 to 10,000. Past the limit, the oldest clips that aren’t favorites or in a group are removed.
Settings → Storage
Use a clip
Preview & paste
Choose a clip and it goes straight back into the app you were using.
Paste with Return or a click
⏎ or a click pastes the selected clip into the app you were using. Pasting for you needs the optional Accessibility permission; without it the clip is copied and you press ⌘V.
Paste one of the first nine
⌘1–9 pastes one of the first nine clips directly. Each of those rows shows its number.
Copy without pastingNew in 0.0.27
Right-click a clip and choose Copy, or use Copy in the preview, to put it on the clipboard and paste it yourself later.
PreviewNew in 0.0.27
⌘Y shows the whole clip: full text, formatted text, the full image, or every file with its folder and size, plus Paste and Copy buttons. Formatted text shows its styling when it was copied as RTF.
Larger thumbnails
Click the thumbnail of an image or file clip to see a bigger version without leaving the list.
Reveal in Finder
⌘R shows a copied file or folder in Finder. It’s also in the clip’s right-click menu.
Move through the list
↑ and ↓ move the selection, ⇞ and ⇟ jump eight clips, and ⌘↑ or ⌘↓ (or Home and End) go to the first or last clip.
Step back
⎋ closes the preview or shortcut list first, then clears the search, then closes the panel. ⌘/ shows the shortcut list.
Always at hand
Window & screens
One shortcut from any app, and the panel comes to the screen you’re working on.
Open from any app
⇧⌘V opens and closes the panel. Change the shortcut during setup or in Settings, or choose Open Clipboard History from the menu bar.
Settings → General
On the screen you’re using
The panel opens centered on the display you’re working on: the one with the pointer if you’ve just used the mouse, otherwise the one with the active window.
Over full-screen apps
It appears over full-screen apps and on every Space, and doesn’t take focus from the app you’re in, so the paste lands where you were.
ResizeNew in 0.0.27
Drag any edge to resize the panel from 560 × 340 up to 1400 × 1000 points; it remembers the size.
Move
Drag the panel’s background to move it. It opens centered again next time.
Appearance
System, Light or Dark. The button in the panel’s search bar switches it too.
Settings → General
Out of the way
The panel closes when you paste, press ⎋ or click another app. The app itself lives in the menu bar, with no Dock icon.
You decide what it keeps
Privacy controls
Your history stays on this Mac, and you choose what gets recorded.
Stored on this Mac
History is a local SQLite database inside the app’s sandbox container. There’s no account, and the app contains no analytics.
~/Library/Containers/app.clipboard-history/Data/Library/Application Support/Clipboard History/clipboard.sqliteOne network connection
The app connects only to look for and download updates, and its updater starts when you choose Check for Updates… in the menu bar.
Password managers skipped
Nothing is recorded while 1Password (8 or 7), Bitwarden, Dashlane, Keychain Access, Apple Passwords, LastPass (the Mac app and the LastPass for Safari app) or KeePassXC is the frontmost app.
Exclude any app
Add apps to the excluded list, remove them, or reset the list to its defaults.
Settings → Privacy
Concealed copies skipped
Items that apps mark as concealed, transient or auto-generated, following the nspasteboard.org conventions many password tools use, are never recorded.
Pause recording
Pause Recording stops recording until you resume it. Nothing copied while paused is ever recorded, a pause survives a restart, and the panel shows “Paused”.
Menu bar
Pause for a set timeNew in 0.0.27
Pause For stops recording for 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours, then resumes on its own. The menu shows the time it resumes.
Menu bar
Clear all history
Deletes every clip, including favorites; group names remain. The database file is compacted afterwards, but words from deleted clips can stay in its search index. To remove everything, delete the app’s data folder.
Settings → Storage
Set it once
Setup & settings
A short setup on first launch, then a few settings you’ll rarely need to change.
Short setupNew in 0.0.27
First launch asks for your shortcut, offers the optional auto-paste permission and a launch-at-login switch. Recording starts when you click Start Clipboard History.
Launch at login
Off for new installs. Turn it on during setup or later in Settings. Versions 0.0.26 and earlier turned it on at first launch, so after an upgrade it may already be on.
Settings → General
General
The open shortcut, launch at login and appearance.
Storage
History size (100 to 10,000 clips), maximum clipboard item size (1 to 100 MB) and Clear all history.
Privacy
The excluded apps list, with + and − buttons and Reset to defaults.
Menu bar menu
Open Clipboard History, Pause Recording, Pause For, Settings…, Check for Updates… and Quit Clipboard History.
Free and open
Updates & requirements
A free, open-source Mac app, signed by its developer and notarized by Apple.
Requirements
macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel, as one universal app.
Free and open source
No account, trial, ads or in-app purchases. The source code is on GitHub under the MIT license.
Signed and notarized
The app is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
Verified updates
Check for Updates… in the menu bar shows whether a new version is out and can install it through Sparkle, which verifies each update’s EdDSA signature first. Installing that way from version 0.0.27 may fail. Downloading the new version and dragging it over the old one in Applications always works, and your history is kept.
Honest limits
What it doesn’t do
Knowing the limits up front saves you a download. If you need one of these, another app will suit you better.
No sync
History stays on one Mac. There’s no iCloud or other sync, and no iPhone or iPad version.
No search inside images
Images are found by their source app or the words “PNG image”, not by what they show. There’s no OCR.
Only PNG and TIFF image data
JPEG, GIF, HEIC, PDF or SVG data on the clipboard isn’t kept unless the app also offers PNG or TIFF. Files of any type copied in Finder are kept as references.
No snippets or text expansion
It doesn’t store templates or expand abbreviations.
No editing
Clips can’t be changed. Edit the text where you paste it and copy it again.
No export or backup
There’s no way to export, import or back up the history.
No plain-text paste command
Formatted clips carry both versions and the receiving app chooses. To drop formatting, use the app’s Paste and Match Style, usually ⌥⇧⌘V.
No detection of password fields
It can’t tell that ordinary-looking text is a secret. Protection comes from excluded apps, concealed-item markers and pausing. App exclusion goes by the frontmost app, so a password manager’s browser extension is covered only if it marks its copies as concealed.
No encryption of its own
The history database is protected by your macOS account and the app sandbox, not encrypted by the app. For disk encryption, turn on FileVault.
No update check at launch
It doesn’t look for updates when it starts. To see whether a new version is out, choose Check for Updates… in the menu bar.
One clip at a time
There’s no multi-select, paste queue or drag and drop. Paste clips one after another, or with ⌘1–9.
No pinning to the top or type filters
The All tab is always newest first, and favorites live in their own tab. You can’t filter the list by kind.
No deletion by age
History is limited by the number of clips (100 to 10,000), not by how old they are.
Only recent clips are listed
Each tab lists its 100 most recent clips. Older ones are there, but you reach them with search.
Rapid copies merge
The clipboard is checked every half second, so several copies made between two checks are recorded as one: the last. Copying the same thing again after 30 seconds adds a second clip.
Fixed keys in the panel
Only the open shortcut can be changed. A few keys in the app’s own shortcut list (copy, delete, jump to Favorites, next or previous tab) don’t work in the current release; use the pointer ways above.
Mac only, from GitHub
It doesn’t run on macOS 13 or earlier, and it isn’t on the Mac App Store.
English only
The app’s interface isn’t translated into other languages.