615: The Clipboard Manager Roundup

2 Likes

I’ve been looking forward to this one! I’ve considered a clipboard manager to be an essential part of computing forever. Hopefully, with this episode I will get some tips on how I can use it more effectively.

1 Like

Great episode, thx! Gonna check a couple of these out.

Great episode as always!

FWIW, I’m a dedicated PasteBot user almost entirely for the sequential paste board!

Since David mentioned wondering how the sequential paste would work in practice, I figured I’d share this video I did a few weeks back.

3 Likes

Thank you for a great episode! You pushed me into finally trying out a clipboard manager and I hope to find one to suit my needs. I would really benefit from a clipboard manager that can transform HTML-/Rich text to markdown on the fly, anyone here know of a manager that supports that?

Really good episode…thanks so very much. I’ve used Launchbar for many years and I find that it works very well.

Great episode. The kind of episode I appreciate the most. I went ahead and got Paste from Setapp. I have been using Unclutter for a long time and it has a built-in clipboard feature that has been fine.

Unclutter - Files, Notes and Clipboard Manager for Mac (unclutterapp.com)

1 Like

Great Episode, happy to hear the praises for Paste, which I heard at normal speaking speed!

1 Like

Used PasteBot for years, currently trying Paste for the fun of trying something new.

1 Like

Currently using Copy’Em but after listening to this episode I may have to try Paste (especially since I’ve already got access via SetApp).

You asked for weird uses of clipboard managers: I’m going to experiment with using Copy 'em as a bookmark manager, one which will allow me to rotate through a series of bookmarks sequentially, with the most recently accessed at the bottom of the list. Solving this problem:

Also: It did not occur to me to use two or more clipboard apps simultaneously. I expect I’ll stick with Copy 'Em, but I may experiment with using Paste to take advantage of that nice big ribbon of clippings.

2 Likes

Not associated with the developer.
Paste also has a sequential paste (they call it Paste Stack).
I also like that I can just start typing and it will start searching.

Great episode! I really enjoy these round-ups.

I’ve been using Paste for a while now and continue to find it indispensable. It’s a bonus that it’s included with my Setapp subscription, though it saves me so much time that I would gladly pay for a stand-alone subscription.

A few of the things I appreciate about Paste:

  • It’s thoughtfully-crafted user interface makes it delightful to use. I especially like how easy it is to visually identify things on the clipboard. The app icon and previews are exceptionally well done.
  • I like that Paste occupies the bottom area of my screen, making it less likely to get in the way of content that I’m working on.
  • Keyboard shortcuts make it quick and convenient to use. I rarely take my hands off of the keyboard whoen using Paste.
  • The intelligent search feature makes it easy to hone in on what I’m looking for, even if I copied it weeks ago (I have my clipboard history set to a month). For example, searching for “Keynote OmniFocus” quickly surfaces text containing “OmniFocus” that I copied while in Keynote.
  • It’s helpful to be able to create and access custom pinboards that are available across all of my devices. I tend to rename what I add to these pinboards to make them easy to identify and search.
  • I find it very convenient to have access to my clipboard history on my iPhone and iPad. It’s also helpful to be able to add to Paste on iOS/iPadOS in a variety of ways (e.g. using the Share Sheet, within a Shortcut, and by copying something to the clipboard and switching to Paste).
  • I make extensive use of the Universal Clipboard and appreciate that it works in Paste.
  • I’ve recently started using the Paste Stack feature and can see how that will be helpful.

While Paste fits the bill nicely for most of my use cases, I may also experiment with using Keyboard Maestro alongside Paste so that I can tap into more advanced functionality when I need it. Paste supports editing of text (plain text only, currently), but otherwise doesn’t have any features for manipulating what’s stored in its clipboard.

Excellent show. I now have Keyboard Maestro clipboard history on a shortcut, cmmnd option spacebar. I really didn’t know it had the powers mentioned though I owned and used the clipboard manager it has for years now. I rely on clipboards and this makes Keyboard Maestro worth its money alone.

1 Like

I know we are on a Mac power user but just in case a simple version for this on Windows can be accessed using Window key + V.

3 Likes

You beat me to it. Windows V and you get a pop up list to paste from, with some caveats. For example, if you copy a graphic in PowerPoint and Windows V paste it, it will turn into a bitmap, whereas with Control V it will remain as a PowerPoint graphic.

It’s surprising that Mac OS still has a single item copy paste buffer, and that Windows only just introduced this - it seems so obvious with hindsight.

2 Likes

I was really quite surprised that CopyClip and Clipy didn’t rate a mention.

I have both and find it hard to choose one over the other. Currently using Clipy.

Thank you for the insight about the graphics, didn’t knew. I agree, MAC OS should have something at least basic built in into the OS.

Has anyone heard of an app called Seamless? I’m pretty intrigued with it.

I was a little disappointed in the iOS clipboard managment options. Are Yoink & Paste the main “top-tier” options available?

I remember seeing several reviewd over the years on MacStories, including Clips, Command-C, Copied, and Pstebot. But it seems that several of these have quit working and/or seemed to have stopped development, so I was looking forward to more recommendations.

Paste has been my “work” clipboard manager for years. But, if there aren’t many alternatives, I’ll have to revisit my work/personal separation.

Thanks for the show!