How to search your clipboard history on macOS
You can do this with Paste My. One word is usually enough — and when it is not, there are tokens and filters that will get you there.
A history that you cannot search is a list you have to scroll. Once you have been using one for a few weeks, searching is how you actually use it — you stop browsing and start asking.
There are three levels here, and most days you only need the first. Type a word. If that is not enough, add a token. If you would rather click than type, use the filters panel.
Search your history
Press ⌘F and type
The list narrows as you type, live, across everything you have ever copied. There is no search button and nothing to submit.
Your terms are highlighted in the previews, so when several rows match you can see at a glance which part of each one matched and pick the right one without opening anything.
Type and the list narrows as you go. What does not match falls away; what does stays and lights up. Narrow it with a token
Tokens go in the same field as ordinary words and can be combined with them freely.
So
type:link invoicefinds links containing the word invoice, andpinned:yes keyboardsearches only the things you pinned.type:text— plain and styled texttype:link— anything recognised as a URLtype:image— images you copiedtype:file— files copied from the Finderpinned:yes— only the clippings you pinnedpinned:no— everything except those
Decide what search looks at
Search can match on the content of a clipping alone, or on the content and its details together — the name of the app you copied from, for instance.
The wider scope is useful when you remember where you copied something but not what it said. Searching for an app name finds everything that came from it.
Or click instead of typing
The filters panel does the same narrowing with controls rather than syntax, which is easier when you are browsing rather than hunting.
You can filter by kind (everything, text, images, files), by date (any time, today, yesterday, the last 7 days, the last 30 days, or a range you choose), and by the app a clipping came from.
That last list is worth knowing about: it includes every app you have ever copied from, not only the ones running right now, so an app you closed hours ago is still there to filter by.
Group the results by day
Results can show as one flat list or grouped by day, and you can flip between them whenever it suits.
Grouped is the better view when you are reconstructing a session — everything from Tuesday afternoon together — and flat is better when you just want the closest match.
Four searches worth knowing
- Every link you copied today —
type:linkwith the date filter on Today. Good for reconstructing a morning's research. - That screenshot —
type:imageand nothing else. Images are hard to describe in words but trivial to filter for. - Only the things you rely on —
pinned:yes. Your own shortlist, without everything else in the way. - Everything from one app — widen the scope to include details, then search the app's name.
Searching does not change anything. It filters what you can see, and clearing the field brings the whole history straight back.
Search or filter — which to reach for
They narrow the same list and you can use both at once, but they suit different states of mind.
- Search when you know something about the content. A word, a fragment, part of a URL. Typing is faster than clicking when you have a specific thing in mind.
- Filter when you know something about the circumstances. It was an image. It was yesterday. It came from your browser. None of those are words you can type into a search box and expect to match.
The combination is what makes short work of the hard cases: filter to images from yesterday, then read the four results rather than trying to describe a picture.
Grouping the list by day is the quiet third option. When you are reconstructing a session rather than hunting one item, a day-grouped list is easier to scan than any search you could write.
If search is not finding it
You get no results at all
Check whether a token is doing more than you intended. type:image with a word next to it means both must be true, so an image whose preview does not contain that word will not appear.
Clear the field entirely and search again with one word first, then add narrowing.
You are searching for the app, not the content
Widen the scope so search covers a clipping's details as well as its content, or use the source-app filter, which is built for exactly this.
It was copied before you started
Only what was copied while saving was on can be found. Anything copied before you installed the app, or while saving was paused, was never recorded.
The menu-bar icon shows whether saving is on right now; ⇧⌘K toggles it.
Questions people ask
Does search look inside images or files?
Search works on a clipping's content and its details. For images and files, the fastest route is usually type:image or type:file combined with the date filter, rather than trying to describe them in words.
Can I combine tokens with each other?
Yes, and with ordinary words. Tokens and text sit in one field and narrow together, so type:link pinned:yes is a perfectly good search.
Is search case sensitive?
Type naturally. The point of live search is that you stop thinking about the query and watch the list instead — if the first attempt is close, the second usually lands.
How do I search from the menu bar?
The menu-bar picker has its own search field, so you can narrow and paste without opening the main window at all. Type a word, then press ⌘1 through ⌘9.
Does searching change my history?
No. It only filters what is displayed. Clear the field and everything is back.
Can I search from the keyboard without touching the mouse?
Entirely. ⇧⌘V opens your history, ⌘F puts the cursor in the search field, and ⌘↩ copies whatever you have selected. Three keystrokes from anywhere to the thing you wanted.
Does search cover clippings from other devices?
Yes. Anything that reached your Mac over Universal Clipboard is in your history like any other clipping, and searchable in the same way — with a mark showing it arrived from another Apple device.
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