Copy and paste: Library guide

Clipboard

Library keeps a history of what you copy. You can copy an item back, paste it into a text field, pin the items you keep, and queue several items to paste in order. The history is reached from the clipboard menu, from the Clipboard submenu in the Library menu, and from Quick Open.

What it records

Library records each copy with every format it was copied in, so copying an item back loses nothing. It records:

• Text, and links. A link is text that is a web address.
• Images. A copied image is kept in one format, PNG when there is one.
• Files, by name and icon.
• Screenshots and screen recordings, when Add screenshots and recordings is on. See Screenshots and recordings.
• Any other copy, which shows as Clipboard Item.

Library checks the clipboard about twice a second. A copy appears in the history a moment after it is made.

Copying the same thing again does not add a second entry. The existing entry moves to the top, and keeps its pin.

Library does not record a copy when:

• The copy is marked as private by a password manager or a system field.
• The copy is made while a password manager is in front. The apps are 1Password, Bitwarden, KeePassXC, LastPass, Dashlane, Keychain Access, and Passwords.
• The copy is larger than 25 MB.

Screenshots and recordings

When Add screenshots and recordings is on, Library adds each new screenshot and screen recording to the clipboard history as soon as macOS saves it. Take five screenshots, and all five are in the history, ready to paste.

• Screenshots are added as images, in the same way as a copied image.
• Recordings are added as a link to the file. Library does not copy the recording, because recordings are large. If you move or delete the file, the item stays in the history but can no longer be pasted.
• Only captures made after you turn the setting on are added. Turning it off stops adding them. Items already in the history stay until you quit or clear them.
• The setting is on by default. To turn it off, open Settings > Clipboard and clear Add screenshots and recordings.

Library finds new captures with Spotlight, which macOS already uses to index them. It does not watch a folder, and it never changes what is on the clipboard.

Pin an item

Pinned items stay in the history after you quit, and they are never removed by the limits below.

1. In Quick Open, find the item, and press Tab.
2. Choose Pin.
3. To remove the pin, press Tab on the item again and choose Unpin.

Pins are set in Quick Open only. Pinned items show first in the clipboard menu, under Pinned, and first in Quick Open.

Open the clipboard menu

1. Press Control-Command-V. The menu opens at the pointer.
2. Choose an item to copy it back, or press a number key from 1 to 9 to choose one of the first nine items.
3. Hold Option over a rich-text item. Its entry changes to Copy as Plain Text, and choosing it copies the text without formatting.

The menu lists pinned items under Pinned and the 20 most recent other items under Recent. It has Clear History at the bottom. When a text field has the keyboard, the headers say Paste Pinned and Paste Recent, and choosing an item pastes it. See Paste into text fields.

If the clipboard or the selected text in the app in front holds a link or app that is not in your library, the menu starts with a row that adds it.

To change the shortcut, go to Settings > Shortcuts and change Show Clipboard Menu.

The Clipboard submenu in the Library menu

The Clipboard submenu in the Library menu lists the ten first items, pinned items first. Choosing one copies it. It never pastes. It has Clear History, and the paste queue when the queue has items.

Paste into text fields

When Paste into text fields is on, choosing an item from Quick Open or the clipboard menu pastes it, if a text field had the keyboard when the menu or Quick Open opened. Otherwise it copies the item.

Library checks for a text field as the menu or Quick Open opens. When you then choose an item, Library presses Command-V in the app in front, a moment later.

This needs Accessibility access. Without it, choosing an item copies it.

Paste queue

Use the paste queue to paste several items in order.

1. In Quick Open, find an item, press Tab, and choose Add to Paste Queue.
2. Repeat for each item. The queue lists them in order in the clipboard menu.
3. Choose Paste Next in the clipboard menu. Library copies the first item and removes it from the queue.
4. Press Command-V in the app you are working in. Repeat from step 3 for the next item.

Clear Queue removes every item from the queue. The queue is kept in memory only, so it is empty when Library starts.

Choosing Paste Next copies the item. It does not paste it into the app for you.

Copy as

Copy as turns a text item into a new clipboard entry. The original stays in the history as it was.

1. In Quick Open, find a text item, press Tab, and choose Copy as….
2. Choose one of the options:
   • Plain Text copies the text without formatting.
   • Trimmed Whitespace removes spaces and line breaks at both ends.
   • Lowercase and Uppercase change the case.
   • Joined Lines turns each line break into a space.
   • Smart Punctuation turns straight quotes into curly quotes, ' into ’, -- into an em dash, and ... into an ellipsis. A quote opens when it comes first or follows a space, a bracket, or a dash. An apostrophe before a year, such as '90s, becomes ’90s.

Copy as is offered for text items only. Links and pictures do not have it.

Markdown links

Use Markdown links to paste a title and its address in a document.

1. In Quick Open, find a bookmark, or a copied link, press Tab, and choose Copy as Markdown Link.
2. Paste into a Markdown document. The result is [Title](address).

The title is the bookmark's name, or the copied link's host. Characters that have a meaning in Markdown are escaped. Spaces and parentheses in the address are percent-encoded. In a rich-text field, the title pastes as a link.

Templates do not offer this action.

Filter by the app you copied from

Each copy records the app that was in front when you copied it. You can list only the copies made in one app.

1. Open Quick Open.
2. Type from and the app's name, such as from Safari.
3. Add words after the name to search those copies, such as from Safari invoice.

The name matches an app in your history, ignoring case. Copies made while Library itself was in front have no app name, so they do not appear in any app filter.

Quick Look and the Space key

Quick Look shows a clipboard item in the system preview panel.

• In Quick Open, select a clipboard item and press Space. Keys for closing it are in Keyboard.
• In Quick Open, press Tab, and choose Quick Look.

Text and pictures are shown from a temporary copy. Files are shown where they are. Items with nothing to show, such as a format Library does not display, cannot be previewed.

The temporary copies are in a private folder in the system temporary folder. They are deleted when the preview closes. Any left by a quit or a crash are deleted the next time Library starts.

Quick Open stays open when you click into the preview; see Preview.

Actions for text

For a text item, Quick Open's Tab actions also include three actions that work on the text. Each appears only when the text has the matching thing in it:

• Open in Maps opens an address in Apple Maps.
• Copy Phone Number copies the number with its digits and plus sign only.
• Add to Calendar opens Calendar's add-event sheet for a date or time. The event's title is the first line of the text. An event with no length lasts one hour.

Library finds these on this Mac. It looks at the first 10,000 characters of the text.

Play copied GIFs

Browsers copy a still picture when you copy an animated GIF. With Play copied GIFs on, Library downloads the original GIF from the page, so it plays in the list and the preview.

• The setting is off by default.
• It applies to copies made while it is on. It does not download GIFs for copies you made earlier.
• Library asks the page's server for the GIF file only. It sends no cookies, and it stops after 10 seconds or 25 MB.
• Animated GIFs show a small animated icon in the list.

Turn it on in Settings > Clipboard.

Lock pinned items

The lock asks for Touch ID or your Mac password before pinned items are shown or copied.

1. Open Settings > Clipboard.
2. Turn on Require Touch ID or password to show pinned items.

Library will not turn the lock on when your Mac has neither Touch ID nor a password. Add a password in System Settings, then turn it on again.

With the lock on:

• A locked pinned item shows a lock icon and the words Pinned Item, in the list, the menu, and the queue.
• Search does not find a locked pinned item.
• Copying, Quick Look, Show Pinned Item, Add to Library, and Paste Next ask you to authenticate first. If you cancel, nothing changes, and the item stays locked.
• Pin, Unpin, Delete, and Add to Paste Queue do not ask, and they do not show the item's text.

After you authenticate, the items stay unlocked until one of these happens:

• You choose Lock Pinned Items in the Library menu. The item appears only when the lock is on, and it is dimmed while the items are already locked.
• Your Mac goes to sleep.
• You turn the setting on. Turning it on always locks the items.
• Library quits. The next launch starts locked.

Keep clipboard history across restarts

By default, unpinned history is kept in memory and is gone when Library quits. Pinned items are always kept.

To keep unpinned history:

1. Open Settings > Clipboard.
2. Turn on Keep clipboard history across restarts.

With this on:

• The unpinned history is saved to a file when a copy is made, about a second after it.
• Copies from password managers and copies marked private are never saved.
• Images over 5 MB are not saved. Other items are.
• Turning the setting off deletes the saved history file.

To copy the newest saved item to the clipboard when Library opens, turn on Put the Latest Item on the Clipboard When Library Opens. It needs the setting above. It does nothing when you have copied something since Library opened. A password copied before a restart could be pasted by someone else at this Mac.

Settings

Clear History in Settings > Clipboard removes unpinned items. It is unavailable when every item is pinned.

Limits

• Unpinned items: the 50 most recent. Pinned items are not counted.
• Memory: the history holds up to 200 MB in total, including pinned items. When the total is over, the oldest unpinned items are removed first.
• Each copy: up to 25 MB. A larger copy is not recorded.
• Search: the first 100,000 characters of each text item are searched.
• Saved images: 5 MB each, when history is kept across restarts.
• Clipboard menu: the first nine items have number keys. The menu lists pinned items, then up to 20 recent items.

What it stores and whether it syncs

Clipboard history stays on this Mac and does not sync, even with Keep Library in iCloud Drive on. Where each part is kept is in Storage and sync.

Caveats

• Turning off Keep clipboard history stops recording. It does not clear what is already in the history.
• A copy is recorded about half a second after you make it.
• Hold Option for Copy as Plain Text only works on rich-text items in the clipboard menu. Other items do not offer that choice.
• The paste queue is cleared when Library quits.
• Quick Look temporary copies are removed when Library starts, so a preview left open by a crash does not leave its copy behind.