How to access clipboard and view clipboard history on macOS? You can open Finder app on Mac, click Edit tab at the toolbar, and select Show Clipboard to open Clipboard on Mac. Check the details in this post from MiniTool Software. To recover any deleted or lost files on Mac, you can use a professional Mac data recovery program.
Where is the Clipboard on Mac? The Mac Clipboard runs in the background when you are using copy and paste on your computer. It stores the item you copied recently. Sometimes you may want to access Clipboard on Mac and see the stored items on Clipboard.
Check below for how to access Clipboard and view Clipboard history on Mac, how to clear Clipboard on Mac, etc.
How to Access Clipboard and View Clipboard History on Mac
To access Clipboard on Mac, you can open Finder app on your Mac computer, click Edit tab at the top, and select Show Clipboard to open Clipboard program on Mac.
In Clipboard window, you can see the last item you copied. Unfortunately, you can’t see other clipboard history items on Clipboard of Mac.
Once you copy another item, the previous item you copied will be replaced and disappear from the Clipboard screen. This is different from Windows Clipboard.
You can use Command + C to copy, Command + X to cut, Command + V keyboard shortcut to paste on Mac.
To paste from Clipboard on Mac, you can press Command + V keyboard shortcut to paste the copied item to the destination.
How to Clear Clipboard on Mac -3 Ways
If you want to clear Clipboard on Mac, you can try the 3 ways.
Way 1. Restart your Mac computer to clear Clipboard. Since Clipboard history is stored in computer system RAM, restarting computer will clear everything and release the used RAM.
Way 2. Go to Finder -> Applications -> Terminal. Type pbcopy < /dev/null in Terminal, and press Return key.
Way 3. Open any text file on your Mac computer. Select the space between two words or any blank area and press Command + C shortcut. Your Mac Clipboard history will be cleared.
Use Universal Clipboard on Mac to Copy and Paste across Apple Devices
If you want to paste Clipboard content from Mac to iPad or iPhone, you can use the Universal Clipboard feature on Mac. This feature was introduced in macOS Sierra and iOS 10. It uses iCloud to sync data between your devices.
To use Universal Clipboard to copy and paste between Apple devices, it’s required you sign into the same iCloud account, connect to the same network, switch on the Bluetooth, and make the devices close to each other.
Top Third-party Clipboard Managers for Mac
As stated above, if you’d like to view clipboard history on Mac, you have to turn to another third-party application.
Paste
Paste is a clipboard manager for Mac and iOS. It keeps everything you copy and paste on your Mac and lets you access clipboard history on Mac.
Unclutter
Unclutter is another handy Mac clipboard manager that tracks what you copy and paste on your computer and lets you browse your clipboard history on Mac.
Fix Clipboard Not Working on Mac
Fix 1. Open Applications -> Utilities -> Activity Monitor. Type pboard in the search box. Click “X” at the top-left and click Force Quit to force close Clipboard on Mac.
Fix 2. Open Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal. Type killall pboard in Terminal window, and press Return to force quit Clipboard on Mac.
Fix 3. Restart your Mac computer and then try to copy and paste again.