A clipboard manager for your Mac: what it does, and what to check before choosing

What is a clipboard manager?

A clipboard manager is a utility that records each thing you copy and lets you paste any of them later, not just the most recent. Without one, copying a second link loses the first. With one, you copy five things in a row, then paste them one by one, find the address you copied this morning, or pin the reply you send every day.

What should I check before choosing one?

1. What it keeps. Text only, or images and files too. A history of text and links is lighter and covers most copying; designers and people who copy screenshots need images.
2. For how long. Some histories clear after a few hours or days, others keep a fixed number of items, others never expire.
3. Where the history goes. A file on your Mac, or a cloud that syncs it to your other devices. Sync is convenient; it also means everything you copy leaves the machine.
4. What it does with passwords. Password managers mark what they copy as concealed or transient. A careful clipboard manager skips those copies.
5. How it is sold. Free, one-time purchase or subscription. A history you rely on every day is a long relationship: check what happens if you stop paying.

Two more questions are worth a minute: how you open the history (a keyboard shortcut, a menu, a gesture), and whether you can pin the items you reuse.

What does macOS include?

Since macOS 26 (Tahoe), Spotlight includes a clipboard history: press ⌘ Space then ⌘ 4, and macOS offers to turn it on. It is built in and free, but off by default, and it clears itself after 30 minutes, 8 hours or 7 days (a choice since macOS 26.1). According to Apple, it keeps text, images, links and files. On macOS 14 Sonoma and macOS 15 Sequoia there is no clipboard history at all.

If a short history is all you need and your Mac runs macOS 26 or later, try Spotlight first. Our clipboard history guide walks through it.

How does Tack+ answer these five points?

Tack+ isn't only a clipboard manager: it's a panel at the edge of the screen (music, Messages, calendar, a file Stash) where the clipboard history is one card. Push the cursor against the edge, or press ⌥ Space, and it's there.

• One click puts an item back on the clipboard, ready for ⌘ V.
• Pin, delete, send through Messages, and a "Clear history" that spares pinned items.
• Search ignores case and accents, and the panel's main search field goes further: it looks through the clipboard, the Stash, recent conversations, today's appointments and reminders.

When is Tack+ not the right clipboard manager?

Tack+'s limits, plainly:

• No images or files in the history. Files have their own place, the Stash, but a copied image is not kept.
• No sync with the iPhone or between Macs. The history stays on the Mac where you copied. Apple's Universal Clipboard still carries your latest copy from one device to another.
• An account and a subscription. Tack+ costs $4.99 USD a month, cancel anytime, after a 3-day free trial in the app, no card needed.

If one of these is a must for you, a dedicated clipboard manager built around it will serve you better. If you want a text history that never expires, next to your music and your messages, that is what Tack+ is for.