615: The Clipboard Manager Roundup

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)

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

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

It’s a giant category of apps, and honestly, I didn’t come across either of those, but we’ll touch on them in the next feedback episode.

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Copy’Em is available on iOS, too.

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I also want to thank @MacSparky and @ismh for this episode. This comes out at the right time and I am hoping that there may be some good deal on CyberMonday. I am on a 2w trial for Paste. Like it so far

Just wondering how the family plan in Paste works compares to Apple App store family plan, getting confused there. Does it mean that family can share clipboards to each other ? Can it be selective share or all or none ?

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You can share Paste’s data between your devices using iCloud, but there isn’t currently a way to share data with other people. If you subscribe to Paste using an in-app purchase, it looks like other people in your Family Sharing family can use Paste (just not share data);.