

Find and select Show Clipboard to see the last item you copied. However, if you want to view the clipboard, it can be located through the Finder menu in the top toolbar. It is a basic program, which is why it takes up almost no processing power or space. The clipboard is one of those programs that run in the background, and often this is something you wouldn’t need to give a second thought. In this article, we cover the most effective ways and options for viewing and managing the clipboard history on a Mac. Thankfully, there are ways around these limitations, and you can view and access the clipboard history on a Mac. It can be a pain and sometimes costs as much time as you were hoping to save due to these limitations of the clipboard. So, if you copy something, then forget to paste it, and copy something else, then paste that, you need to go back to the thing you were originally trying to copy and paste to complete that task. macOS only comes with one built-in clipboard, and whatever you want to paste is limited to the last thing you copied. However, there is a drawback to this remarkable time-saving tool. Everything you copy and paste goes to the same place: the clipboard. When working on a Mac, the keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste are Command/⌘+C to copy, then Command/⌘+V to paste. But to help you do it all by yourself, we’ve gathered our best ideas and solutions below.įeatures described in this article refer to the MacPaw site version of CleanMyMac X. I would prefer that the Cmd+ Shift+ 4 behavior would remain always saving to a file as a separate preference from Cmd+ Shift+ 5.So here’s a tip for you: Download CleanMyMac to quickly solve some of the issues mentioned in this article. I commonly use Cmd+ Shift+ 5 to capture to the clipboard. I understand I can toggle these back and forth thru Cmd+ Shift+ 5 and Save to options but it's an extra step. Adding Ctrl to the sequence ignores the preference and just dumps to the clipboard as before (good). Since I started using Cmd+ Shift+ 5, sometimes (a newer version of screenshot that has some nice pop-up options and features), the preference I set in there now seems to govern where my screenshots end up for Cmd+ Shift+ 4 as well?įor example, if I hit Cmd+ Shift+ 5 and under Options select Preview in the Save to section, that becomes the new default for Cmd+ Shift+ 4 also. The only requirement of the user to toggle between 1) saving a file of the screenshot and 2) putting the image only in the Clipboard was inclusion or exclusion of the Ctrl in the sequence. The distinction between these two options was helpful when one wanted to capture as a file for perusing later vs. For a long time, Cmd+ Shift+ 4 would enable a custom screenshot (drag cursor) that would dump a file to the Desktop in addition to putting the image in the Clipboard.Ĭmd+ Shift+ Ctrl+ 4 would dump only to the clipboard but not to a file.
