Settings, privacy, and help: Library guide

Every setting, the permissions Library asks for, updates, and troubleshooting.

Applies to the current release of Library. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

Stay up to date

While Library runs, it checks GitHub for a new release every hour. It also checks at launch if the last check was an hour or more ago.

When a newer version exists, one item appears at the top of the menu. Nothing pops up. To turn checks off, use Settings > General. Choose Check for Updates… at any time. It offers the newer version. If you choose to install it, Library opens Terminal, clones the release, and runs its installer. It does not install silently. See what is sent.

Settings

Press ⌘, to open Settings. It has three tabs: General, Shortcuts, and Clipboard.

General

Open at login starts Library when you log in.
Name new bookmarks from their pages. Library reads each new bookmark's title from its page. Until the title arrives, or when the page has none, the bookmark is named after its host. Off by default.
Keep Library in iCloud Drive. See iCloud Drive. Off by default.
Check for updates automatically. On by default. See Stay up to date.
Check links periodically. Off by default. See Check links.
Export… and Restore… save and restore your library. See Back up and restore.
Show… opens the welcome screen. It walks through finding things, your shortcuts, copying and pasting, organizing, working with other apps, and setting up access.
Confirm Terminal Commands. Off by default. Asks before a terminal command runs, whether it starts from a shortcut, Spotlight, a menu, or Open at Login. See Terminal commands.

Shortcuts

Show Library Menu, Show Quick Open, Show Clipboard Menu, and Open Copied Link. Click a field and press the new keys. These work in every app. Open Copied Link opens the web link you last copied. A beep means the clipboard has no link.
Library menu opens: At the Pointer or From the Menu Bar.
Allow… asks for Accessibility access. Clicks, scrolls, pinches, swipes, and suggesting a selected link need it.
Restore Defaults puts the shortcuts back to their defaults: Control and right-click for the Library menu, Control-Space for Quick Open, and Control-Command-V for the clipboard menu. macOS may use Control-Space to switch input sources.

Clipboard

Keep clipboard history. On by default. Turn it off to stop recording new copies.
Paste into text fields. On by default. If a text field has the keyboard, choosing an item pastes it. Otherwise it copies. This needs Accessibility access.
Play copied GIFs. Off by default. See What is sent.
Clear History removes the unpinned history.
Keep clipboard history across restarts. Off by default. See Keep what you copy.
Put the Latest Item on the Clipboard When Library Opens. Off by default. The newest saved item is copied when Library opens, so you can paste it right away. Clipboard history and its restart setting are covered in Keep clipboard history across restarts.
Require Touch ID or password to show pinned items. Off by default. See Touch ID or password lock.
Remove tracking parameters when copying links. On by default. Copy a link back from the history to use it. Library removes tracking codes such as utm_source, fbclid, and gclid from a link you copy. The rest of the link stays the same, and the saved link is not changed.
Add screenshots and recordings. On by default. Adds each new screenshot to history as an image, and each recording as a link to its file. See Screenshots and recordings.

Storage and sync

This is the one place that says where each kind of data is kept and whether it syncs. Other sections link here.

Data	Where it is kept	Syncs
The library: bookmarks, folders, colors, notes, Recently Deleted, the Reading List, and link check results	`bookmarks.json` in the `.library` folder in your home folder	With Keep Library in iCloud Drive on, it is kept in iCloud Drive and syncs to your other Macs.
Item shortcuts	`bookmarks.json`, with the item	When the library is in iCloud Drive.
Global shortcuts	App settings on this Mac	No.
Open counts and when each item was last opened	App settings on this Mac	No. They drive Most Used and Recently Opened.
Screenshots added to clipboard history	In clipboard history, like a copied image. Recordings are a link to the file, which stays where macOS saved it.	No. Stays on this Mac.
Pinned clipboard items	`~/.library/clipboard.json`	No. Stays on this Mac.
Unpinned clipboard history, when Keep clipboard history across restarts is on	`~/.library/clipboard-history.json`	No. Stays on this Mac.

Clipboard files are encrypted with a key kept in your login Keychain, on this Mac only. The folder and each file are readable only by you.
If a clipboard file cannot be read, it is moved aside, to clipboard-damaged.bin or clipboard-history-damaged.bin, and is not deleted.
Export does not include clipboard items.
Edits to the library are saved about a quarter of a second after you make them.
If two Macs change the library at the same time, Library asks which version to keep. Review lists each difference so you can choose for each one.
Library reads shortcuts again whenever they change. You do not need to restart the app.

Permissions

Keyboard shortcuts, hot corners, Quick Open, and the menus don't need any permission.
Click, scroll, pinch, and swipe shortcuts, pasting into text fields, and suggesting a selected link need Accessibility access. Turn it on in System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility. Library reads your selection only when you open Quick Open or one of its menus, and it doesn’t keep it.

Help menu

Help is at the bottom of the Library menu, the menu bar icon's menu. Open that menu, then choose Help. The Help menu also appears in the menu bar while the Edit Library window is active.

Library Help opens this guide on the website.
Keyboard Shortcuts opens the shortcuts section of this guide.
Welcome Tour… opens the welcome screen. It is the same as Settings > General > Show….
Report an Issue… opens a new issue on GitHub.
Support Library… opens the support page, which is the only place Library asks for support.

Help, support, and issue links open in your default browser. Library does not load them.

Troubleshooting

A shortcut doesn't work. Another app may use the same keys. Check Settings > Shortcuts. If the shortcut conflicts, see Conflicts.
Clicks stop working after a macOS update. Remove Library from Accessibility, then add it again.
Open at Login does nothing. Move Library.app to /Applications first. The login item remembers where the app is.
Services don't appear. Log out and back in, or run /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs -update.