• Stored on this MacA local database inside the app’s sandbox. No account and no server.
  • Online only for updatesThe app connects only to check for updates, and only to GitHub.
  • Password managers skippedCopies from 7 password managers, and items marked concealed or transient, are never saved.
  • Yours to controlPause recording, delete a clip or clear everything, whenever you like.

What the app stores

Each time you copy something, Clipboard History saves it as a clip:

  • Text and links: the full text.
  • Formatted text: the original RTF or HTML, plus a plain-text version.
  • Images copied as PNG or TIFF: the image as copied, plus a small thumbnail.
  • Files and folders: a reference to each item, not its contents. That’s its name, location, size and modification date, a read-only bookmark so the app can find it again, and a thumbnail.

With each clip it also keeps the time you copied it and the app that was in front, by name and bundle ID, which is why searching “Safari” finds what you copied there. Your favorites and group names are stored too.

Where

In a SQLite database inside the app’s sandbox container:

~/Library/Containers/app.clipboard-history/Data/Library/Application Support/Clipboard History/clipboard.sqlite

The app doesn’t encrypt this file; turn on FileVault to encrypt it with the rest of your disk. The app’s settings, such as the excluded apps, your shortcut, the history size and the appearance, are in the same container.

How much

  • History size: 1,000 clips by default, adjustable from 100 to 10,000 in Settings → Storage. Past that, the oldest clips are removed automatically, except favorites and clips in a group, which don’t count toward the limit.
  • Maximum clipboard item size: 10 MB by default, 1 to 100 MB in Settings → Storage. Text over the limit isn’t saved. Formatted text over it is kept as plain text, and an image over it is kept only as any text copied along with it. Files and folders are references, so their size doesn’t count.

Copy the same thing again within 30 seconds and the existing clip moves to the top instead of being saved twice. Pasting a clip from Clipboard History doesn’t save it again.

Versions before 0.0.27 kept history outside the sandbox, in ~/Library/Application Support/Clipboard History. The first time a newer version opens, macOS moves it into the container.

What it skips

Anything copied while one of these apps is in front is never saved:

  • 1Password 8
  • 1Password 7
  • Bitwarden
  • Dashlane
  • Dashlane (legacy)
  • Keychain Access
  • Passwords
  • LastPass
  • LastPass for Safari
  • KeePassXC

That’s seven password managers, in ten app versions. Change the list in Settings → Privacy → Excluded apps: + adds any app, − removes the selected ones (defaults included), and Reset to defaults brings the original list back.

Clipboard History Settings, Privacy tab: the Excluded apps list, starting with 1Password 8, 1Password 7, Bitwarden, Dashlane, Dashlane (legacy), Keychain Access, Passwords and LastPass, with add and remove buttons and Reset to defaults. Clipboard History Settings, Privacy tab: the Excluded apps list, starting with 1Password 8, 1Password 7, Bitwarden, Dashlane, Dashlane (legacy), Keychain Access, Passwords and LastPass, with add and remove buttons and Reset to defaults.
Settings → Privacy → Excluded apps.

It also skips any clipboard item that the copying app marks as concealed, transient or auto-generated, following the conventions documented at nspasteboard.org. Many password managers mark passwords and one-time codes this way, so those copies are skipped whichever app you’re in.

Know the limits. Excluded apps are matched by the app in front when the copy is noticed (the clipboard is checked twice a second), not by the program that copied. A password manager’s browser extension copies while your browser is in front, so it’s skipped only if it marks the copy as concealed. The same goes for pbcopy in Terminal.

The app also can’t tell a password from other text. A secret copied as ordinary text from an app that isn’t excluded is saved like anything else, so pause recording first or exclude that app.

What leaves your Mac

Nothing you copy. The app has no account, no analytics and no telemetry, and its privacy manifest declares that it collects no data.

Its only network connection is the update check (Check for Updates… in the menu bar). The check downloads the list of releases (appcast.xml, from raw.githubusercontent.com) and, if you choose to install a newer version, the update from GitHub Releases. GitHub sees those requests like any other download.

What this website measures

This website counts visits; the Mac app doesn’t. Nothing on this site can read your clipboard or reach the app.

Plausible, on every page

Plausible Analytics counts page views, referring sites, browser, device type and country, without cookies and without storing IP addresses. It also counts a few anonymous events: download button clicks, Send to my Mac, theme changes, links to other sites, which FAQ answers are opened, and use of the in-browser demo.

Google Analytics, only if you allow it

Google Analytics loads only after you choose Allow in the analytics prompt; until then nothing is sent to Google. If you allow it, it sets first-party _ga cookies and measures pages viewed, referral source, approximate region, browser and device, scrolling, outbound links and download clicks. Google Signals and ad personalization are turned off. Google explains how it uses information from sites that use its services.

Your choice is saved in your browser. Changing it deletes the analytics cookies and asks again.

GitHub

To show the newest version number, pages ask GitHub’s public API for the latest release. GitHub receives that request like any other web request.

Your controls

  • Pause: Pause Recording in the menu bar stops recording until you resume, even across restarts. Pause For stops for 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours, then resumes on its own. Nothing copied while paused is ever saved, and the panel shows a Paused label.
  • Exclude apps: Settings → Privacy → Excluded apps.
  • Delete a clip: point at it and click the trash button, or right-click it and choose Delete. It’s deleted at once, with no undo.
  • Clear all history: Settings → Storage → Clear all history, then confirm with Clear All. Every clip is deleted at once, favorites included; group names stay. Words from deleted clips can stay in the database’s search index.
  • Keep less: lower the history size in Settings → Storage.
  • Remove everything: follow the uninstall guide. Deleting the app’s data also removes whatever the search index kept.

Check it in the source code

Clipboard History is open source, so every statement on this page can be checked on GitHub: